Stealing My Father's Heart The Cost of a Monster's Life

My mother loved one person above all else: her husband's younger brother. To save Julian, my father and I were merely collateral damage. Ten years ago, Julian’s heart was failing. My mother drugged my father. She strapped him to an operating table in an underground clinic and forcibly harvested his heart, buying Julian another ten years of life. That very night, I ran away from home and buried myself in medicine. I graduated top of the country and joined the National Institute of Cardiovascular Research. Ten years later, I developed the world’s first total artificial heart. I became the most sought-after specialist in the nation. Hundreds begged at my door for a single spot in the clinical trials. My assistant handed me the new batch of priority applications. Sitting right at the very top was my uncle’s name: Julian Moore. I picked up a pen and drew a thick, black line straight through it. "Denied. And blacklist him permanently." The list was ranked by donation size. Julian was at the top because my biological mother, Eleanor, had put up an obscene amount of cash. Yet, I crossed him out without a second thought. He had been using my dad’s stolen heart for ten years. It was time to pay the bill. My assistant, Lucas, stared at the paper in shock. "Ethan... the Moore Corporation offered a hundred and fifty million dollars in research funding." "Fifteen million a year, for ten years." "If we take this case, our lab will never worry about funding again. We could double the number of charity patients we treat each year..." I looked at Lucas. His voice grew quieter and quieter until it trailed off. Ten years. It had been ten years since my dad died. I glanced at the picture frame on my desk. The original family photo had been torn in half. Only my father remained, holding a young boy in his arms, his smile gentle and warm. "I know our budget situation," I said calmly. "But this case is a permanent no." Lucas didn't understand. The day the artificial heart passed its trials, I set a strict rule: A fixed percentage of our grants must be used each year to provide free surgeries for underprivileged young patients with terminal heart failure. Accepting the Moore Corporation’s money would save dozens of kids. Yet I turned it down. Seeing the cold finality in my eyes, Lucas swallowed. "Then... should I notify their reps?" "Yes." He left my office, glancing back three times before closing the door. On my screen, the system blacklist count went from 0 to 1. Lucas had been with me since the start of the project. What he didn't know was that my charity rule was never about charity. It was about honoring my father. I built this mechanical heart so no one would ever have to go through what happened to him. My dad was only thirty-eight when he was murdered. That night, my college acceptance letter had just arrived. We stayed up late in my bedroom, mapping out my future. After I fell asleep, my mother handed him a glass of warm milk laced with heavy sedatives. When I woke up the next morning, the illegal surgery was over. Julian was breathing. My dad was already reduced to ashes in an incinerator. I didn't even get to see his body. All I saw was Julian waking up in a private recovery suite, and my mother throwing her arms around him, weeping tears of joy. Julian looked at me and whispered that he would take care of me in my father’s place. But he wasn't my father. And I would never have one again. The moment I uncovered the truth, I vanished into the night and switched my major to cardiothoracic surgery. From that day on, I tore through medical textbooks thick as bricks. I dissected cadaver hearts over and over until my fingers bled. I lived in the lab from dawn until midnight for eight relentless years. By the time I finished my fellowship, the artificial heart prototype was complete. It took another two years of clinical trials to bring it to market. Ten years. I never contacted them once. Until today. I leaned back in my chair. The updated patient list landed in my inbox. Almost involuntarily, I clicked on the old file I had kept locked away. A photo popped up. The man on the screen bore an uncanny resemblance to my father. A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it. My phone began to buzz furiously. Lucas burst back into the office, out of breath. "Ethan! Eleanor Moore is on the line. I don't know how she got your private number—she bypassed the front desk—" I stared at the vibrating screen. I wiped my face with the back of my hand. "It’s fine." Ten years. "It’s about time we had a talk."I swiped to accept the call. A voice both terrifyingly familiar and foreign came through the speaker. "Dr. Moore? I’m Eleanor Moore. You should know who I am." "I do." "What do you want? Money? Prestige? Power?" "Twenty million? Thirty million? I can wire it as an unrestricted gift today to pray for my partner’s recovery." "I’m close friends with your board of directors. If you perform this surgery, you’ll be named Chief of Surgery by the end of the week." "Think about it." I said nothing. She raised the stakes. "On top of that, I’ll transfer private equity shares directly into your name..." I let out a soft laugh, cutting her off. "Mrs. Moore, none of that interests me." The line went silent for a few seconds. "Then name your price." I chuckled. "It’s not about the money." "I won’t operate on that man." Eleanor scoffed, her patience wearing thin. "You won't?" "My sources tell me you’re the only surgeon on the continent qualified to implant this specific model. And now you tell me you won’t?" "Are you playing games with me?" Realizing she still needed something from me, she forced her tone back down. "Look. Save Julian." "I will give you five percent of the Moore Corporation's core equity immediately." "That is more money than you could make in ten lifetimes." I repeated myself, steady and slow. "Mrs. Moore. It’s not about money." "Then what the hell is it about?!" Eleanor finally snapped, her voice piercing through the speaker. "You’re a doctor! Your oath is to save lives! Refusing him is murder!" She took a ragged breath and sneered. "My team looked into you." "You bled for this project." "You were so desperate for seed capital that you signed a brutal venture debt milestone agreement—one you still haven't paid off." "You even tested biocompatible materials on your own body, nearly dying of anaphylactic shock in the lab." "That loan matures this year, doesn't it?" "The Moore Corporation dominates the biomedical supply chain. One word from me, and every single institutional investor will pull their money out of your lab." "Your runway will vanish overnight." "Your research, your career, your entire life—gone." "Is that so?" I smiled coldly into the phone. "Don't lose any sleep over me, Eleanor." "Because if I go down, the man you’re trying so desperately to save will die long before I do." "Feel free to try." The line went dead silent. All I could hear was her heavy, ragged breathing. "Who are you?" she whispered, paranoia creeping into her voice. "Do I know you? Did I cross you somewhere?" Hearing no reply, her conviction hardened. "I don't care who you are. You will do this surgery whether you want to or not!" "You have three hours to prep the OR. If you aren't scrubbed in by then, you’ll regret ever being born." "I’ll be waiting," I said softly. I hung up. The busy tone droned in my ear. I wasn't afraid of her background checks. My security clearance on the defense-funded project classified my personal records under federal protection. She couldn't touch them. I clicked open an encrypted folder on my desktop. Inside was the evidence I had spent ten excruciating years piecing together. The crime Eleanor thought she had buried deep in the dirt. It was enough to shatter the Moore empire and drag both Eleanor and Julian straight into federal prison. With a single click, their lives would be ruined. I glanced at the torn photograph on my desk and whispered into the empty room. "Dad. I know." "Your heart must be so tired of beating inside that monster." "Just wait a little longer." "I still have a part to play." "People only feel the impact when they fall from the highest peak." "I want Eleanor to bleed just like we did. That’s the only justice that counts."Three hours passed. Eleanor didn't get me in her operating room. Instead, her retaliation arrived right on schedule. Two federal investigators and campus security stormed into my lab, their faces rigid. "Dr. Ethan Moore? We received a formal whistleblower complaint alleging embezzlement and grant fraud. You need to come with us for questioning." Before I could answer, Lucas lunged forward. "That’s complete bullshit!" His eyes were wide with disbelief as he blocked their path. "You’ve got the wrong guy! Anyone else in this hospital could steal, but not Dr. Moore!" Tears of fury welled in Lucas's eyes. "When our budget ran out three years ago, he sold his own house to pay the team's salaries!" "He put up his late father’s estate as collateral just to secure the bridge loan! How dare you—" "Lucas, that’s enough!" I cut him off sharply. Lucas clamped his mouth shut, his shoulders shaking with rage. I looked around the room. Several lab technicians immediately looked away, staring at the floor in guilty silence. I had personally recruited them. They had been by my side since day one. I had never once shortchanged them. "You guys did great," I murmured softly. "I’ll remember this." My security badge was confiscated on the spot. My hard drives and research logs were seized. To ensure I didn't flee the country, they held my passport. Moments later, my personal phone rang. It was Eleanor. "Ready to surrender?" she purred. "Never." The next morning, Eleanor launched a full-scale PR offensive. A video went viral on TikTok and Twitter. She sat in front of a camera, tears streaming down her face, begging the cold-hearted doctor to save her dying soulmate. "I don't know what grudge this surgeon holds against us, but my partner is innocent." "He has been confined to a hospital bed for ten years, watching the world only through a window." "His only wish before he dies is to feel the ocean breeze one last time, to see the winter snow." "I beg of you, give him a chance." "If Dr. Moore agrees to operate, the Moore Foundation will donate fifty million dollars immediately to pediatric cardiology research!" The internet exploded. With paid bots fanning the flames, I became public enemy number one within hours. [Who the hell is this monster? A complete sociopath!] [A dying man is begging for his life and this doctor is playing god? Revoke his license!] [Moore Foundation, please notice me! If he won't do it, someone drag him into the OR! My little brother needs a transplant, can we get assistance...] [Whatever happened to the Hippocratic Oath? He’s a murderer in a white coat!] [Rot in hell!] Online vigilantes doxxed me by noon. My real name, my license plate, my apartment address—everything was leaked. Coupled with the news that I was under federal investigation for fraud, the mob went wild. Furious protesters and frantic family members gathered outside my apartment complex. The moment I stepped into the underground garage, rotten eggs and plastic bottles rained down on me. "Murderer! Scumbag!" "Cancel his license! Put him in jail!" In less than twenty-four hours, I had been turned into a hunted rat.I barely managed to dive into my car and lock the doors. My phone lit up instantly. "How does it feel to be hated by the entire world?" Eleanor's voice was dripping with malice. "Giving up yet, my dear son?" My blood ran cold. "Shut up." "Hearing that word come out of your mouth makes me sick." "Does it? How tragic." "Too bad that no matter how much you hate it, I am the one who gave birth to you." She let out a dry, chilling laugh. "I’m giving you one last chance to agree. If you don't, there’s another way to save him." "Then find someone else," I spat, ready to hang up. I slammed on the gas, but before I could clear the garage ramp, three black SUVs boxed me in from the front and sides. Tires screeched. I was forced to a dead halt. The door of the lead Mercedes opened. Eleanor stepped out. She leaned casually against the hood, a mocking smile playing on her lips. "We tried the easy way. You picked the hard way." Two hulking bodyguards smashed my driver's window, dragged me out, and threw me into the back of her SUV. Eleanor slid into the leather seat beside me. "I really didn't expect this, Ethan." "I actually wanted you to live." "Truly. All you had to do was say yes." "What a shame." "Since you won't give him an artificial heart... your own heart will just have to replace your father's." Pinned down by the guards, I glared at her, my eyes burning with pure hatred. "That’s how my dad died ten years ago, isn't it?" Eleanor clicked a lighter, lit a slim cigarette, and inhaled slowly. She blew a cloud of gray smoke into my face. "You’re smart. But just as stubborn as Arthur was." She cast a disdainful sideways glance at me. "I tried reasoning with him. He wouldn't listen." "He kept saying he promised to take you on a graduation road trip. He insisted he’d only donate after keeping that promise." "He thought I was stupid. He was just stalling." "He wanted to drag it out until Julian died so he could keep living his pathetic life. Did he really think I’d let that happen?" A roar tore from my throat. "So you drugged him! You tied him to a table and ripped his heart out to give to Julian!" "Yes," she said casually. "Though it turned out his heart was just as useless as the rest of him. It barely lasted ten years." She turned to look at me, her eyes as dead and cold as marble. "Lucky for me, the moment I realized his tissue matched Julian's, I forced him to give me a child." "His heart is giving out, but yours is young and healthy." "If you hadn't run away ten years ago, I wouldn't have had to waste time hunting down an artificial heart in the first place." I stared at the woman who gave birth to me, my teeth grinding together. "The embezzlement charge. The smear campaign. The doxxing. You orchestrated all of it." She chuckled. "Didn't you figure that out already?" The SUV pulled into the subterranean bay of a private clinic. Julian's private sanctuary. Her men dragged me out. Eleanor stopped in front of me, looking earnestly into my eyes. "Don't worry. You’ll do just what your father did. You’ll sign an 'Organ Donor Consent Form' to save Julian." "When the public hears about it, they’ll say you died to atone for your crimes. A tragic, noble redemption." I bared my teeth, shouting through the grip of the guards, "Eleanor, you will burn for this! You will pay for every single thing you’ve done!" She didn't even look back. She gestured to the surgical staff waiting by the doors. "I’ll be waiting." As my back turned to Eleanor, a faint, cold smile finally touched my lips. Deep inside my jacket pocket, the tiny red indicator light of a live-streaming transmitter blinked steadily. Every word Eleanor had spoken. Every confession of murder and conspiracy. It had all just broadcasted live to millions of viewers. Including the cold-blooded murder of my father ten years ago. I was wheeled into the sterile white operating room. On the neighboring table lay Julian Moore. He looked at Eleanor with tears spilling down his hollow cheeks. "Thank God... you found him." "We can finally be together forever." Right. Julian was never an innocent bystander. He knew everything from the very beginning. He was an accomplice to his brother's slaughter. I cast one final, icy glance at him. They strapped my arms down to the steel table. A nurse tapped the vein on the back of my hand, the cold metal tip of the anesthetic needle pressing against my skin. Just as the plunger began to move— A massive crash echoed from the double doors down the hall. My cavalry had arrived. The OR doors were kicked open with a thunderous bang, slamming against the tiled wall. "FBI! Nobody move! Hands where I can see them!"