My Wife Stole Daughter’s Heart, I Left

"Victoria, where is Mia's artificial heart?" I demanded.

Victoria frowned, tossing a grape skin into the trash.

"Why are you yelling? You're scaring Leo!"

She stood up, positioning herself between me and Dominic and his son.

"I'm asking you about Mia's heart! Her surgery is tomorrow!"

"Nathan, calm down!" Victoria swatted my hand away. "Mia's condition has been stable. The doctors said conservative treatment could buy her another six months."

"Leo is different. He's in acute heart failure—without the transplant tonight, he'll die."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Mia is your biological daughter! She was coughing up blood last night, and you call that stable?"

"She coughed blood because you don't take care of her! You're always locked up in that lab tinkering with your parts—when have you ever been a real father?"

Victoria shot back, her eyes dripping with contempt.

"I developed that heart. The patents are in my name. What gives you the right to hand it to someone else?" I said through clenched teeth.

Dominic walked over with that fake sympathetic look of his and sighed.

"Nathan, don't blame Victoria. I begged her. Leo's had it rough—growing up without a mother. She just feels for the kid."

"Shut up! Nobody asked you!" I roared.

"Nathan! Talk to Dominic like that one more time!" Victoria shoved me hard. "That heart was developed with company funds. I'm the CEO—I decide who gets it!"

"Are you really going to stand by and watch a child die?"

"When did you become so cold-blooded?"

Victoria jabbed her finger in my face.

I looked at this woman I'd been married to for seven years and felt like I was staring at a stranger.

"Leo's life matters, but Mia's doesn't?" My voice was raw.

"I told you—Mia can wait! Just go make another one. It's not that hard for you!"

Victoria rolled her eyes impatiently.

Make another one?

She had no idea how many sleepless nights it had taken, how many hundreds of failed attempts, just to build this one heart matched to Mia's physiology.

The imported core materials alone had a three-month lead time.

"Mia can't wait three months." I locked eyes with her.

"Stop being dramatic! You're just jealous that Dominic is back, using Mia's illness to get attention!"

Victoria sneered.

"It's settled. Leo goes into surgery now. You go back to the regular ward and keep Mia from wandering off." She turned to help Leo with his hospital gown.

I stood there, feeling the blood freeze in my veins.

"Victoria, you'll regret this."

I dropped those words and charged out of the VIP suite.

"Nathan, you've got some nerve!" she screamed after me. "Walk out that door and don't expect a single dollar of R&D funding approved tomorrow!"

I didn't look back.

Back in the regular ward, six-year-old Mia lay with an oxygen mask on her chalk-white face.

"Daddy, where's Mommy? How come she didn't come see me?" Mia's eyes cracked open, her voice barely a whisper.

I fought back tears and held her ice-cold little hand.

"Mommy's busy with work. Daddy's right here."

"Daddy, I had a dream. I dreamed my heart got better and I could ride a roller coaster."

Mia managed a weak smile.

"You will, sweetheart. You're going to get better very soon."

I buried my face in her palm, and the tears wouldn't stop.

Victoria, since you won't even fight for your own daughter's life, I don't need this family anymore.