I Heard Their Hearts Before Mine Stopped Chapter 02

I Heard Their Hearts Before Mine Stopped Chapter 02

Just as I was about to stop fighting, a blinding light pierced the murky water above me.

A powerful searchlight beam cut through the dirty water, shining straight toward me.

I faintly heard chaotic shouts from the surface.

Had they come back for me?

The light grew closer.

Somehow I found the strength to kick hard, breaking through the surface and coughing violently.

I spat out muddy rainwater and gulped air, clutching a piece of drifting wood.

It was Owen.

He was in a small inflatable kayak, holding a flashlight and paddling toward me with the current.

When he saw me surface, he paused, then guided the kayak beside me.

I wiped water from my face and looked up at him, voice weak but full of hope. “Owen…”

My heart raced. Tears mixed with the rain.

Even if Mom and Dad favored Sadie, Owen was my only love.

He had come back. He still cared.

But before I could reach out, Owen’s brows furrowed.

He didn’t offer his hand. Instead he swept the flashlight around me, voice urgent.

“Lena, have you seen Sadie’s bracelet? The one I gave her for her eighteenth birthday. She said she thought it fell off somewhere around here when we got on the boat.”

The roar of the storm seemed to vanish.

I heard his real thoughts loud and clear:

Sadie is crying so hard at the shelter she can barely breathe. That bracelet means everything to her. Lena is a strong swimmer. Why is she not helping me look? She is causing trouble again. If we do not find it, Sadie will not sleep tonight.

My hand, still stretched out, slowly dropped.

He hadn’t come back for me. He came back for Sadie’s bracelet.

“I didn’t see it,” I said. My voice was flat, cold as the pouring rain.

Owen struck the paddle against the water in frustration and looked down at me from the kayak.

“You’re such a strong swimmer. Can’t you just dive down and feel around? It’s a bracelet. How heavy can it be? Sadie isn’t well. She can’t handle this kind of stress. Lena, you’re her older sister. How can you be so selfish? Why are you taking your anger out on her?”

He did not wait for an answer. He turned the kayak and paddled toward deeper water.

The flashlight beam left me, throwing me back into darkness.

All the memories came rushing back.

I remembered the day Owen proposed. He slipped the ring on my finger and kissed my forehead gently.

That night I found a receipt in his pocket.

The diamond ring he bought me cost three thousand dollars, while the custom necklace he bought Sadie that same day cost nine thousand.

When I asked why, he smiled and ruffled my hair. Sadie was my younger sister and had always been frail, he said, so taking extra care of her was natural.

The signs had been there all along.

Their affection was only a token gesture meant to hide their favoritism.