Living Again, I Watch My Boyfriend and Childhood Sweetheart Self-Destruct

My boyfriend's childhood sweetheart had a congenital heart condition, and she'd finally landed a surgery slot with the top specialist in the country.

But with four hours still to go before her operation began,

my boyfriend showed up at the operating room doors with her in tow,

and demanded, hard-line, that the patient inside undergoing a heart transplant be dragged out so his sweetheart could go in and wait for her surgery.

The moment I heard, I rushed to the hospital,

and threw everything I had into stopping him before he could charge in with a knife and threaten the lead surgeon.

Everything could have gone on as normal. But because things hadn't gone her way, his sweetheart stormed out of the hospital alone in a fit of temper,

and was killed in a car accident on the spot.

Gordon Delgado, oddly enough, said nothing. He calmly handled her funeral,

then went on to propose to me, marry me,

and yet on the very day of our wedding,

he drove me out to the intersection where his sweetheart had died,

and watched, wide-eyed, as a truck came head-on and smashed the drunk me to pieces,

and looking at me, drenched in blood, he laughed with wild triumph.

"Harper Pruitt, you're the one who got Marina killed! If you hadn't stuck your nose in where it didn't belong, how could Marina ever have died under that truck?! This is the debt you owe her. You should go be buried alongside her!"

I died with that hatred lodged in me, watching Gordon's back as he walked away without a shred of pity,

and when I opened my eyes again, the Gordon in front of me was gripping a knife, about to charge into the operating room.

He didn't know

that the person lying inside that operating room right now was the mother of that top surgeon,

and that the one operating on the elderly woman

was the very top surgeon Marina Simmons had waited eighteen years for.

"Harper Pruitt, who told you to come?! I'm telling you, Marina's already waited eighteen years for this surgery, and I can't wait one more minute! I'm getting her into that operating room right now!"

Gordon's vicious voice pulled me back to myself.

I looked down at him, one hand clamped tight around my wrist, the other gripping the knife,

and understood that I really had been reborn.

In my last life, this was the exact moment I stopped Gordon.

With everything I had, I held him back, and the heart transplant going on inside proceeded without a hitch.

It wasn't until two hours later that I learned

the person lying in that operating room

was the mother of that top surgeon,

and the one operating on the elderly woman

happened to be the very top surgeon Marina had waited eighteen years for, the only one who could save her life.

Because I stopped Gordon and Marina from causing a scene,

that surgeon thanked me over and over and promised to take charge of all of Marina's future treatment himself,

and said, in his own words, that as long as he was around,

Marina would recover completely.

Everything had been heading toward the best possible outcome,

except that Marina, because things hadn't gone her way, because she hadn't been sent early to wait outside the operating room, got angry.

She stormed out of the hospital in a temper,

barreled across the street without looking, and was killed on the spot by an oncoming truck.

That time, Gordon stayed remarkably calm.

After attending Marina's funeral,

he proposed to me right away.

We walked into marriage even sooner than we'd planned,

and I thought it was all behind us,

except that on our wedding day, after the guests had gone,

Gordon took me, drunk from drinking on his behalf, out to that same intersection by the hospital,

and just stood there, watching, as an oncoming car ground me to pieces,

and looking at me, covered in blood, he laughed, happy and unrestrained.

"Harper Pruitt, this is the debt you owe Marina! Three months ago, if you hadn't stuck your nose in and stopped me outside that operating room, Marina never would have died!"

"Go and die! Go be buried alongside Marina!"

Watching Gordon walk away without looking back, I lay in that piercing agony and watched my own blood drain out of me, drop by drop.

The memory of that miserable last life made me shiver before I could stop myself.

"Hey! Can't you see the surgery time we booked?! It's less than four hours to the operation, and you still won't let us in to get ready?!"

Gordon's furious voice yanked me back.

He was jabbing a finger in the nurse's face, cursing her without any restraint at all.

Marina, who'd said nothing this whole time off to the side, shot me a glance,

then stepped forward, took Gordon's hand, and spoke up in that pitiful, teary little voice,

"Gordon, just let it go, stop fighting. I can see Harper's upset again. I'd rather not have the surgery at all than have you and Harper always fighting over me..."

Marina was always like this, always this same wretched act.

From start to finish I hadn't said one word against her having the surgery,

and yet she would pin all these made-up crimes on me,

and yet, of course, that idiot Gordon ate it up more than anything.

Sure enough, before Marina had even finished speaking,

Gordon's face went cold all at once,

but this time around, I wasn't going to be that stupid again.

I looked at that operating room with its lit sign, took a hard step back, wrenched my wrist out of Gordon's grip, and said coldly,

"I'm not the least bit upset."

"Marina Simmons getting her treatment has nothing to do with me. Do whatever you want."

With that, I turned and walked away from the operating room.

Something flickered in Gordon's eyes.

But only for an instant.

Because Marina had already dropped to the floor, both hands clutching her chest.

It was a scene that had played out almost daily in our old life together.

Sure enough, the next second,

Marina's voice came through, thick with tears.

'Gordon, it hurts so much, save me...'

Just like always, that sobbing, moaning plea pulled Gordon's eyes off me in an instant.

He sprang up from where he stood like he'd lost his mind,

and lunged toward the operating room.

He grabbed the nurse blocking the door by her collar, glaring with bloodshot eyes as he snarled,

'My friend's heart is killing her! What are you all just standing around for? Clear out the operating room now and let her in to prep for surgery!'

The young nurse, eyes brimming with tears, tried to explain.

'Sir, there are still three and a half hours until your friend's surgery. There's plenty of time.'

'And right now there's a surgery in progress inside, a very high-risk heart transplant, so please stop making a scene...'

'Who's making a scene?!'

Without another word, Gordon swung his hand and slapped the young nurse full across the face.

Blood ran down her cheek at once,

but Gordon acted like he didn't see it.

He raised his hand high again and slammed another slap across her face,

and this time her head struck the operating room door.

Blood poured out over her scalp in an instant,

but perhaps because the surgery inside really was that important,

even so,

the young nurse still guarded the operating room door with everything she had.

She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and looked at Gordon, teeth gritted.

'Sir, please, I promise we won't delay your friend's surgery. I'm begging you, don't do anything reckless.'

'If you actually delay the surgery on the patient inside and that patient dies, that's killing someone. That's a crime! You'll be held legally responsible!'

The bystanders around them stepped in one after another to talk him down.

'That's right, son. The hospital has its own schedule. Your friend looks perfectly fine to me. You've waited eighteen years, so what's a little longer?'

'Exactly, miss. If something hurts, let the staff take you to get checked. But you can't keep letting your friend charge at that operating room!'

'Right. I'm a lawyer, and I can tell you plainly, if you delay the surgery in there and the patient dies because of it, you'll be held legally responsible.'

The moment the lawyer said it,

a flash of fear crossed Gordon's eyes.

He really was scared now.

He looked hard in Marina's direction, clearly wanting to tell her to wait.

But I knew perfectly well,

Marina would never let it end there.

Sure enough,

before Gordon could get a single word of comfort out,

she shot to her feet and buried herself in his arms.

'Gordon...'

The moment those two words left her mouth,

the next second her tears had soaked straight through Gordon's shirt.

That was one trick I'd never learn in this lifetime.

'I think that specialist is dragging his feet on purpose because he doesn't want to operate on me. Because I just overheard the nurses talking, and the patient being operated on right now is that specialist's own mother...'

'The old woman must have cut in line ahead of me. Before I came I already looked it up online, my kind of surgery needs four hours of prep, and they still won't let me in, so obviously they don't want to do my surgery at all...'

Marina's forearms locked tight around Gordon's waist.

'Gordon, I have a feeling my life might end today. Forgive me for not being able to walk a little further at your side...'

With each new sob from Marina,

Gordon's face slowly turned a mottled purple...

"Ma'am, there's no way we would refuse you the surgery"

The young nurse, badly hurt already, forced herself upright and fought to explain.

But it was too late.

Gordon slammed his foot into her stomach.

She flew back more than a dozen feet and hit the wall behind her.

A sharp crack of breaking bone carried across the room.

A splintered shin bone punched clean through the skin and jutted out of her leg.

No one else dared step forward to talk him down.

Once Gordon had settled Marina somewhere safe,

he charged toward the operating room like a rabid dog,

and drove his foot into the door.

"Bang! "

One deafening crash, and he forced the door open.

In that instant,

Marina turned her eyes to me where I stood at the corner, smug all the way through.

But my own satisfaction stayed buried deep.

Every reckless thing Gordon does under your goading pushes you one inch closer to the cliff's edge.

"Anyone who tries to stop me, I'll kill you!"

Gordon's vicious voice yanked me back.

In front of him stood several operating-room nurses, hands covered in blood, eyes full of shock.

He gripped a knife and swung it fast, back and forth, right in their faces.

The instinct to flee danger drove them back, step by step,

and Gordon pressed forward, step by step.

I could already see the specialist standing there, holding his breath over the surgery,

and his mother lying on the operating table.

The specialist and the old woman were both good people.

He had the resources all along, yet he had waited in line for the surgery until today.

"Hey! You!"

Gordon had reached the operating table now.

Maybe out of some regard for the specialist's reputation, still hoping the man would operate on Marina,

his tone softened a little.

"Put down whatever you're doing and go prep the surgery for my friend!"

The specialist said nothing and kept working,

but his presence pressed down until you couldn't breathe.

Gordon was clearly rattled. He shifted his feet a little, swallowed hard several times,

and seemed to force himself to speak again.

"Are you deaf?!"

"Don't think I don't knowthat's your mother lying here! This old hag cut in line ahead of my friend! If you won't operate on my friend"

"Wait outside."

The specialist cut through Gordon's ranting.

"She's next."

Gordon froze, and then joy rose in his eyes.

Still gripping the knife, he shouted toward Marina out past the operating-room door,

"Marina, the specialist says you're next! He's not going to refuse you"

"Don't believe him!"

Marina came running forward, every trace of her weakness gone.

"Gordon, he's just saying that to get you out, he's lying to you. I asked the AI, my surgery really does need four hours of prep beforehand"

"Gordon, I want to live, I want to be with you"

As she spoke, tears spilled down her face again.

The smile Gordon had just shown froze on his face,

and almost in the space of a blink,

he lunged forward and yanked the old woman's oxygen tube out.

In an instant a shrill alarm ripped through the operating room, and every monitor flared red at once.

Ten years ago, the sight of my parents dying together right in front of me came flooding back. That feeling of watching a person die with your own eyes was more than I could stand. I ducked into a corner and called the police.

But I'd barely pressed the first 1, then the second, when I heard Marina cry out behind me.

"Gordon, Harper's calling the cops!"

In the space of a blink, Gordon had already rushed at me. His big hands tore the phone out of mine, and with a crack it slammed to the floor. Then his fist drove straight into my face. Pain shot through the bridge of my nose, and warm, crimson blood streamed out of my nostrils, but Gordon acted as if he didn't see it at all.

"Harper, you help outsiders hurt Marina. You think you've lived too long, is that it?"

He was like a rabid dog, his bloodshot eyes fixed on me as he screamed for all he was worth.

"From the day Marina got diagnosed, you've had it in for her!"

"Tell me, have you been out to get her killed this whole time?"

The more he said, the more worked up he got, until he just brought the knife in his hand up to my throat. The cold blade settled against my neck, and every tiny move Gordon made sent a sharp sting through it.

"Harper, I'm asking you a question. Answer me!"

Maybe Gordon was too worked up. This time the blade cut clean into the skin of my throat.

The scene from my past life, my body crushed under a truck, flashed through my mind. I couldn't help a bitter smile. After living again, after being so careful about everything, was there still no escaping the fate of dying...

In the space of a blink, a tall figure appeared in front of me, and a blood-stained hand clamped down hard on Gordon's wrist.

It was that expert. He looked at Gordon with cold eyes and spoke coldly.

"Let go, you animal."

Gordon tried to struggle, but he couldn't move an inch. However much he didn't want to, the hand gripping the knife loosened all the same.

With a clang, the knife fell.

Watching that cold-gleaming blade hit the floor, the expert turned to leave. But the moment he turned, Marina cried out behind him.

"Gordon, you can't let him go! Then who'll do my surgery?"

The relief I'd just felt shot straight back up to my throat. I moved at once to stop it, but it was already too late. Gordon had snatched the knife off the floor, sprung up, and lunged at the expert.

"Don't move!"

He roared it as he grabbed the doctor by the collar, the knife going straight to the doctor's neck. His bloodshot eyes locked on the expert, and he ground the words out.

"Back into that operating room, now, and get my friend ready for surgery!"

The commotion had drawn a thick crowd around them. Officers had come up too, but they didn't dare move any closer with the knife in Gordon's hand.

The hospital director came running up from the far end of the corridor, out of breath, forcing down his own alarm as he tried to reason with him.

"Son, let him go. Because of your interference just now, Dr. Roman's own mother has slipped into a coma, and even so, he didn't cancel your friend's surgery!"

"That's right, let go, quick. Dr. Roman is on his way to do the pre-op prep for your friend. You're only wasting time!"

Panic and unease tangled in Gordon's eyes. He turned his gaze to Marina again.

I let out a silent sigh. Marina was going to get herself killed.

Sure enough, Marina shook her head at Gordon, signaling him not to release Dr. Roman. Gordon clearly got the message. He pressed the knife in deeper, his voice harsher.

"Go! Get in that operating room now, or I'll kill you!"

The place fell dead silent in an instant, every eye on Dr. Roman and Gordon.

Dr. Roman glanced at Marina, who had just shaken her head, then turned his face to Gordon beside him, his eyes going suddenly cold.

Dr. Roman was a man of hard, absolute resolve. I knew then that Marina's life might truly be nearing its end...

If I stepped in to stop this now, there'd surely be a chance. But the pain of my flesh and bone being crushed under a truck last life forced down the urge to go over and try to talk him down.

In that moment of distraction, Dr. Roman suddenly raised his right hand. He seized the blade at his own throat and pressed down hard...

Watching the blood spurt out, he looked at Marina and spoke coldly.

"I'm sorry. Your surgery, I can't do it anymore."