All Chapters of His Heart Stopped.. Mine Was Sold: Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

I walked out of Benjamin's building on legs that felt like they belonged to someone else. The night air hit my face, warm and thick, but I was shivering. My phone buzzed in my pocket. A text from Benjamin: "Sorry I missed your calls, babe. I was in the shower. Is everything okay?"I stared at the message until the screen went dark.A taxi pulled up at the curb and the driver honked at me. I had not waved him down, but I climbed in anyway. "Mercy Hospital," I said.The driver glanced at me in the mirror. "You alright?""Just drive."The city lights blurred past the window. My mind kept replaying Benjamin's words. "It was my idea. I suggested Shaznay's name." Every dinner we shared, every time he held my hand, every time he kissed my forehead and said, "I will always take care of you," was nothing but a chess move. He had set the board. Dorinda was his partner. Clara was his reward.And me? I was the pawn.By the time I reached the hospital, it was nearly midnight. The night nurse at th

Three weeks passed in the Emmanuel mansion. Three weeks of routine that I grew used to faster than I expected. Every morning, I woke up early, had breakfast with Mabel, then went to Victor's room. I would sit beside his bed, talk about nothing and everything, then leave for my university classes in the afternoon.The doctors came every three days. They checked his vitals, scribbled notes on their clipboards, and left without saying anything hopeful. Deborah, the night nurse, told me his condition was stable but unchanging. "Stable" in medical language meant he was not getting better, but he was not getting worse either.My father's hospital bills were paid in full within the first week. The relief of that was so enormous I nearly collapsed when Mabel confirmed the transfer had gone through. Dorinda received her thirty percent and disappeared from my life like smoke after a fire. Good riddance.Benjamin texted me every day. Sweet messages, concerned messages, messages asking when he co

Her reaction told me more than any answer could. The color drained from her face. Her lips parted but no sound came out. Her hands, hanging at her sides, curled into tight fists.She knew about Benjamin.Not everything, perhaps. But she knew something."How do you know about Benjamin?" she whispered.I did not answer immediately. I let the silence stretch between us, let it fill the room like smoke. Seven months of lying in that bed taught me that silence is a weapon sharper than any blade. People cannot stand emptiness. They rush to fill it, and in their rush, they reveal things they never intended to share.Shaznay did not rush. She stood at the foot of my bed with her fists clenched and her jaw tight, and she waited. That impressed me more than I would admit."Sit down," I said finally."I would rather stand.""Sit."She grabbed the chair by the bed and sat. Her movements were stiff, controlled. She was holding herself together by force of will alone."Benjamin is your boyfriend,"