Vitie

less steel and fluorescent light-sterile,

he mud off her face, leaving her skin pale and t

remate her,"

nte, listen to me. Let's just cremate her tonight. We can scatter the

from miles underwater. I couldn't look away from Elena's hands. The nails were

tch on her wrist. "The crematorium closes in an ho

to look at her.

feigned innocence. "To handle the logistics. You're gr

medical ex

ly for thirty years. He was carefully cutting through Elena'

scalpel hover

ed, the air suddenl

Elena's chest. It was a long, jagged zipper line running do

tiently, my patience fraying. "She n

gently peeled back the s

lin

id, his voice trembling slightly. "She *had

D implanted because her heart was damaged

ser, the cold of the roo

id. "And the scar tissue... it matches

didn't just stop; it solidif

immediately. I was in a coma. When I woke up, Sofia was there. She t

I said, my vo

Dante, are you crazy? My

oorframe, a performance I had seen a thousand ti

comfort. He grabbed her wrist with clinical d

need a doctor!

e straightened up, removing the earpieces

said. "And I see no surgical scars on her flank co

g instantly. Her face went pale, not

woman who had ruined her own heart to survive the surgery to save me.

who had sa

ing under the weight of the truth. "Match th

quietly. "But Dante... I don't need a t

ed the cold scar on her chest.

felt like someone had reached into my che

kill

ho had ever truly loved me. And I had spent fiv

ed to

er hands trembling. "Dante, wait.

" I said to the

with the finali

. I walked with slow, heavy steps.

heart, Sofia?"

ell to her knees, claw

abbed her by the throat, feeling her pulse flutter a