Fatal Love

My billionaire husband spent three years and a fortune to find a donor heart to save my life. He was my hero, my entire world after a woman named Karma Smith framed my father and destroyed my family.

Then, I discovered he'd been protecting her all along. She was his mistress, pregnant with his child.

Overnight, I became the villain in his eyes. He ignored my calls for help as her thugs beat me and dragged me behind their car. He forced me to kneel in the snow all night as punishment for the miscarriage she faked and blamed on me.

The final act of his cruelty was a sea burial for the "baby" I had "murdered." On his yacht, he held her in his arms, his eyes burning with a hatred that seared my soul.

When she "accidentally" dropped the urn into the ocean, he turned his rage on me.

"Then you'll jump in and find it!" he roared.

I looked at the monster who wore my husband's face, the man I had loved more than life itself.

And without hesitation, I threw myself into the icy water.

Chapter 1

"Are you absolutely certain, Mrs. Solomon?"

The doctor' s voice was gentle, but his eyes held a seriousness that cut through the sterile air of his office.

"Yes, Dr. Evans. I am." My own voice was a whisper, a dry rustle of leaves.

He sighed, leaning forward and folding his hands on the polished desk. "Eleanor, your husband, Mr. Solomon, spent three years and an astronomical amount of money to find this donor heart for you. He personally funded the advanced research wing where the procedure was developed. This is the only compatible match we' ve found. It's your only chance."

His words were meant to be a lifeline, but they felt like an anchor.

"If you refuse this transplant," he continued, his tone becoming more urgent, "your heart will fail. Based on your current condition, you have less than a month. At best."

A strange calm washed over me. One month. It sounded like a lifetime and no time at all.

"I understand," I said, my gaze fixed on a point just past his shoulder. "I am refusing the transplant."

Dr. Evans stared at me, a complex mix of pity and frustration on his face. He saw a fragile woman, the beloved wife of a tech billionaire, inexplicably giving up a chance at life. He couldn't see the wasteland inside me.

He pushed a form across the desk. "You'll need to sign this. It's a waiver, releasing the hospital and myself from all liability."

I picked up the pen, my hand surprisingly steady. "I need this to be kept confidential. My husband is not to be informed of my decision until after the scheduled surgery time has passed."

"Eleanor…" he started, but I just looked at him. He fell silent and nodded.

I signed my name, the ink a final, dark stroke. Then I stood up and walked out of his office, my steps feeling light, almost disconnected from the ground.

I didn't leave the hospital. Instead, I took the elevator to the top floor, to the private VIP wing that Cole had essentially bought out for the last three years.

This entire floor was a monument to his wealth and, I had once believed, his love for my family.

It was silent, except for the quiet hum of medical equipment. For three years, this floor had been my mother' s home.

The doctor's diagnosis had been blunt. "Massive stroke. She's in a persistent vegetative state. I'm sorry, there's nothing more we can do."

I pushed open the door to her room and walked to her bedside. I took her hand; it was warm but lifeless.

"Mom," I whispered, my throat tight. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

It was all my fault. All of it.

Three years ago, my father, a respected architect, had his world collapse. A downtown skyscraper he designed suffered a catastrophic structural failure. The investigation pointed to falsified materials reports. The public disgrace and financial ruin were too much. He took his own life.

The key to his exoneration was his junior project manager, a young woman I had mentored and taken under my wing. Her name was Karma Smith. She was the one who signed off on the materials. But the day the building failed, she vanished.

My husband, Cole, and I searched for her relentlessly. We poured millions into private investigators, but it was like she had evaporated.

Without her testimony, my father was found posthumously liable. The lawsuits bankrupted our family. My mother, overwhelmed by the grief and shame, suffered the stroke that left her like this.

One night, I lost everyone.

Cole held me through it all. He was my rock, my entire world.