Arthur and Eleanor were devastated looking at their daughter’s bruised and battered body.

They had rushed over the moment they received a call from the maid, only to find their daughter already cold.

After the initial waves of grief, they forced themselves to handle her final arrangements.

They contacted the hospital, intending to fulfill their daughter’s organ donation agreement. However, they received a regretful answer from the doctor: "I’m so sorry, Mr. Sterling. The body has been deceased for more than seventy-two hours. The organs have lost their viability for transplant. It is no longer possible."

"What?"

The thought of her daughter suffering such agony before death, only to have her final wish remain unfulfilled, made the world go black for Eleanor. She nearly fell. "My baby... she couldn't even achieve her one last wish..."

Arthur held his wife tightly, his eyes filled with pain and hatred.

They never expected that the last shred of value their daughter had fought so hard to leave behind would be destroyed by Julian.

Chapter 8

Three days later, Sera’s funeral was held at the suburban cemetery.

A fine drizzle washed over the photo on the tombstone. In the picture, Sera was smiling brightly—a piercing contrast to the solemnity of the moment.

Julian had been released on bail. His hair was a mess, his eyes hollow. Dressed in black, he stumbled into the cemetery.

The rain soaked his hair and clothes, but he didn't notice. He just staggered toward Sera’s grave.

"Let me in! I need to see her one last time!"

He was blocked by the bodyguards Arthur and Eleanor had brought. He struggled desperately, his voice hoarse.

Arthur looked at him coldly, the hatred in his eyes enough to consume him. "Julian, you have the nerve to show your face? Sera was beaten and tortured by your men before she died. Her body was nearly rotting before you let her out. Even her organ donation agreement was useless. You destroyed her while she lived; are you not going to let her rest even in death?"

"No... that’s impossible!"

Julian froze. Rain slid down his cheeks, mixing with his tears. "I only ordered them to lock her up. I didn't tell them to hit her! I found a heart! I wanted to save her. I found it..."

"Save her?" Arthur shouted. "I’m telling you, from the day you gave her life-saving heart to Bianca, she had no intention of living! You! You killed my daughter! Julian, you will pay the price sooner or later!"

It felt like a heavy hammer had struck Julian. Memories of Sera’s recent behavior flashed through his mind.

So, her peacefulness during those days wasn't compliance or maturity. It was total despair.

She had already prepared herself for death.

"No... I don't believe it!"

He shook his head, trying to charge into the cemetery like a maniac. "Sera! Tell me what they’re saying isn't true! You’re just angry, right? I know I was wrong. I’ll listen to you from now on. Don't do this to me!"

"Get out!" Arthur roared.

"You aren't fit to see her! You ungrateful wretch, you murdered her! Throw him out!"

The bodyguards immediately stepped forward, grabbed Julian, and threw him hard into the mud outside the cemetery gates.

Julian was bruised from the fall, but he didn't care about the pain. He just lay in the mud, looking toward the cemetery, crying out with a heart-wrenching sob, "Sera! I was wrong! Please come back!"

The only response was the cold sound of rain and the suppressed weeping of her parents.

Julian lay in the mud for a long time until his tears ran dry and his throat was too raw to make a sound.

He slowly crawled up, soaked through, looking like a stray dog.

Only one thought remained in his mind—find Bianca.

Find Bianca and take back the heart that belonged to Sera.

The car sped through the rain. Julian’s mind was filled with memories of Sera.

At her fifteenth birthday gala, she had grabbed his hand in front of everyone and arrogantly declared, "This man is mine." That night, her eyes were bright and full of confident pride.

Back then, even though he found her spoiled and willful, he had inexplicably fallen for her.

After they married, she controlled him. She wouldn't let him speak to other women or stay out late for social events. She even confiscated his salary cards.

Everyone called him henpecked and assumed his life was miserable. But only he knew that he enjoyed it.

He liked being managed by her. It proved that she cared.

When he was sick, she never left his side, personally brewing medicine and feeding him.

When he was suppressed by rivals, she used every Sterling resource to help him, even risking a falling out with her father.

When he returned late, she would scold him, calling him a "scoundrel," yet she always left a warm meal and a light on for him.

In his heart, she had always been a brilliant light—perfect and flawless—the person he wanted to protect with all his might.

But when did things change?

It seemed to start when Bianca appeared.

The day Sera was being resuscitated in the ER, Bianca had clutched her chest and stumbled into his arms, looking weak and helpless.

From then on, he always seemed to run into her. He heard about her lonely and tragic background from various sources and gradually felt pity.

While Sera was hospitalized, he would sneak into Bianca's ward to visit her.

He gave her the specialized medicine and the recovery villa meant for Sera, telling himself that Sera didn't lack such things and that Bianca needed them more. He told himself he would compensate Sera later.

But gradually, he began to compare Sera to Bianca.

He thought Bianca was understanding and gentle, while Sera was willful and unreasonable.

The more he thought, the more intense the regret became, nearly consuming him.

He couldn't understand why he had become this way—why he had personally pushed away the person who loved him most.

The car finally stopped at the hospital. Julian pushed the door open and rushed into the inpatient building toward Bianca's room.

But as he reached the door, he saw through the glass that Bianca was leaning against the headboard, chatting and laughing intimately with a man.

That man was Xavier!

Julian’s pupils contracted. His blood nearly froze.

Xavier was his arch-nemesis. Years ago, they had fought tooth and nail in the business world. It was because Sera had thrown every Sterling resource at him that he managed a narrow victory, forcing Xavier out of the city.

He knew Xavier had never moved on and was always looking for revenge.

Why was Bianca with Xavier?

Julian stopped, held his breath, and pressed himself against the door to listen.

"Bianca, thank you for your hard work."

Xavier’s voice was doting. "Now that Sera is dead and Julian has become a killer, our plan is halfway successful."

Bianca let out a soft laugh, her tone full of triumph. "This little thing was nothing. Julian is such a fool. He’s so easy to trick. A few pathetic words and he was wrapped around my finger. He actually gave up Sera’s life-saving heart for me."

"Is that all?" Xavier asked.

"Of course not." Bianca’s voice turned vicious. "I had to escalate things to make Julian truly loathe her and believe in me. I specifically hired someone to hit me and then blamed her. Then I provoked her on the stairs and threw myself down. Julian believed every word and naturally pushed her away."

"After he locked her up, I bribed his bodyguards to 'teach her a lesson' until she admitted her fault." Bianca sneered. "That idiot Sera never exposed me, even until she died. She probably still loved Julian to the very end. What a pity—her love meant nothing to him."

Outside the door, Julian watched Bianca’s self-satisfied face. He was cold, as if he had fallen into an ice abyss.

It was all a trap!

The Bianca he had trusted completely was nothing more than a pawn Xavier had sent for revenge.

And for such a poisonous woman, he had personally discarded Sera—the woman who had been devoted to him from the beginning and had given him everything.

Chapter 9

Julian felt the world spinning. A sharp pain in his chest made it almost impossible to breathe.

He kicked the door open violently. The two inside were startled but quickly regained their composure.

Xavier raised an eyebrow, his tone provocative: "Well, well. Did you hear everything, Julian?"

"You designed all of this?"

Julian’s voice was raspy and unrecognizable. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Bianca.

"So what if we did?" Xavier laughed. "Julian, you won once. Did you really think you’d win forever? If that idiot Sera hadn't helped you with everything she had, you would have lost long ago."

Julian rushed forward, grabbing Xavier by the collar, his fist clenched. "I’ll kill you!"