The Day He Donated My Heart, I Reset the World Chapter 04

The Day He Donated My Heart, I Reset the World Chapter 04 Severance

Csian didn’t believe I was dead.

He stared at the screen, unblinking. Then his fist connected with the wall–once, twice, three times–until his knuckles were raw and the plaster was dust.

“I’m the protagonist. I don’t die just because a nobody destroys the world!”

The text burned his retinas-

“WARNING: Protagonist Aurelia Vance’s death confirmed. World collapse imminent. Host option: INITIATE RESET? [Yes/No]”

He didn’t think twice. Clicked YES.

I thought I was gone. Then I heard yelling. Familiar yelling.

Guess even death couldn’t buy me some quiet.

“Aurelia, for God’s sake, she just got here. She doesn’t know anything. You can’t expect her to get it right overnight.”

“So what if she used your embroidery? You’re not hurting for opportunities–there’ll be more competitions. Can’t you just be happy for Celeste?”

Then–CRACK. Palm met cheek. Hard.

I cupped my face. The sting hit first, then the realization–slow, sick.

I was alive again.

My father, Marcus Vance, didn’t like that I shut up. Hand flew again–I leaned, and it cut air.

He clutched his chest, chest heaving.

“The hell is wrong with you, Aurelia? You ain’t even blood–we still raised you! And this is what we get? You ungrateful snake.”

I watched the three of them. Not the way a daughter watches her family–the way a surgeon watches a

tumor.

My mouth pulled into something that wasn’t a smile and scoffed..

“Okay. Celeste can have the piece. Two conditions.”

My mother’s eyes lit up.

“Like what? Go ahead.”

“First.” My finger tapped the table. Voice went flat. Steady.

“I want the adoption legally terminated. I walk away clean. Second–divorce Cassian. Papers first, public

Silence.

Then Celeste lunged in, eyes wide, voice climbing.

“Aurelia–serious? Are you really going to get a divorce from Cassian?”

I shot her a look, one eyebrow lifting.

“What else? A man like that–all shine, no substance–is exactly the kind of trash your family would

treasure.”

That did it.

The room shifted. I watched it happen across their faces–the slow, ugly crack of a mask they’d been holding for years.

My mother, Margaret Vance, tried to sound reasonable, but it came out thin.

“Aurelia. Are you sure? You’re really going to walk away with nothing and go running back to your poor brother? The one who can barely afford to keep you?”

I didn’t say anything. I just smiled on the inside–small, cold, final.

They’d wanted me gone for years. They just needed a reason–and I just handed them one.

Marcus pulled a check from the drawer, laid it on the table like he was handing out a prize.

“Fill it out. Any amount. Then you’re done here. We took you in because you were the same age as Celeste- thought maybe someday she’d come back. And look at that. She did.”

I picked up the check without glancing at it. My fingers closed–and I tore it in pieces. Then again. And again. Until nothing was left but confetti falling between us.

I looked down at them, my eyes cold with contempt.

“Keep it. I don’t need your handouts.”

I walked out of the Vance house and there were two of me.

One was the woman with the phone, walking steady, voice level, already dialing. The other was the thing that had died many times.

The living one called my lawyer Mia. The one they were all’scared of. The dead one listened.

“Mia. Full divorce filings. Marital asset dissolution–Cassian Hayes. I want it all. Every dollar, every property, every offshore account. He doesn’t get to keep a single thing.”

Phone buzzed. Cassian.

“Baby, what’s going on? Heard you went by your parents. What happened? Your mom called me, she was

hysterical, said your dad collapsed. Are you okay?”

him talk himself out.

“Since when do I need your permission?”