The Day He Donated My Heart, I Reset the World Chapter 03

The Day He Donated My Heart, I Reset the World Chapter 03 Borrowed Time
When I came to, I was in a hospital.
Cassian’s voice leaked through—talking to the doctor, broken, drifting in and out.
“Mr. Hayes, if we don’t remove those gems within the next ten minutes, she’ll lose her sight permanently. The damage is already extensive—whoever did this was trying to destroy her.”
Cassian listened. His eyes swam with guilt.
“No. No, it’s not true. I should have found her sooner. That’s on me. God.”
“They’re all in cuffs.” He bit the words out, jaw tight. “Every last one. They’re not getting out. I made sure of that.”
The doctor gave him a few words of comfort, then sighed and left.
The moment the door closed behind the doctor, the guilt just—left. Like someone flipped a switch. His eyes went flat. Calm.
Then he noticed I was awake. He lunged for the bed.
“Hey—babe. Look at me. You’re okay. I’m right here. Nobody’s touching you again, you hear me? Nobody. Those animals are handled.”
I stayed quiet. But my body didn’t. It started shaking—and in my chest, the mechanical heart hummed low, like a warning.
I laughed to myself.
The real animal isn’t them—it’s you.
The monitor started beeping—sharp, urgent. The nurse glanced at it, then at Cassian.
“Sir, she needs rest, and you’re stressing her out.”
He blinked. All wounded.
“She’s my wife. I’m the one who holds her together. Without me, she doesn’t sleep. She doesn’t eat. I’d never do anything to upset her.”
Every word he said was a lie—and they kept coming, each one a needle in an open wound. My chest locked. The monitor spiked, screaming.
Then I was moving—ceiling lights flashing past. They wheeled me back into surgery.
The system pinged him—
“Heads up: your ‘wife’ is about to flatline. If she goes, this whole world goes with her. Might wanna do something about that.”
Cassian sat in the hallway, legs spread, scrolling his phone. He snorted under his breath.
“Die? She doesn’t get to die. I already bought her a new heart from the shop—spare parts. She’s fine. System’s just being dramatic.”
…
I survived—again. Lying in that bed, I listened to the news broadcast on the TV.
Celeste was on the hospital TV, standing on a stage, accepting first prize for the embroidery I’d stitched with my own hands.
Then—outside the closed door—a voice that crawled up my scalp and nested there.
“Shit. Bitch ain’t dead yet?”
The head guy turned to Cassian, grinning.
“Sir. Double the rate. You know how this works.”
Cassian glanced at the bed. His voice was ice. And underneath it, something sharp—something that promised blood.
“Cut the chatter. Finish her. Billion each.”
Five men filed in. I lay there, paralyzed—couldn’t move, couldn’t stop them. So they just used me like I was nothing but a body to fill. One after another.
Then his thoughts slid into my skull.
“That’s it. Just take it, Aurelia. Can’t kill you—system won’t allow it. Fine. Then I’ll make staying alive the worst thing that ever happened to you.”
I heard every word.
A laugh escaped me. Small. Hollow.
Then the heart in my chest stuttered—three ugly beats, each one weaker, each one angrier.
“ERROR. World collapse countdown triggered.”
Cassian’s yelling bled through the door.
“Bullshit! I didn’t kill her! The system can’t pin this on me! How is this even—this isn’t how the rules work!”