Chapter 1

My daughter, Lila Hayes, lay with her small body covered in tubes and machines. Her pale face was tinged with a sickly red.

I rubbed my eyes. Somehow, I had returned to this familiar scene, witnessing the heart-wrenching moment from my past life once again.

With trembling hands, I reached for my little girl’s warm hand. My heart ached, and tears rolled down my cheeks.

"Dad misses you so much, my sweet daughter. I miss you… I’m so sorry..."

My wife, Emma Hayes, gently patted my shoulder.

"Don’t disturb her anymore, let’s go. It’s time."

At the nurse’s urging, I forced my shaky legs to move, and we left the ICU together.

We sat down in a cramped office, and Emma placed a pen in my hand.

"You’ve seen it for yourself. Every second Lila stays alive after brain death is just suffering for her."

She gestured to the organ donation consent form. "Sign it, let her be at peace."

Hearing the cold, matter-of-fact tone in her voice, a surge of hatred shot through me, drying up my tears instantly.

I slammed the pen onto the desk and shrugged off her hand from my shoulder.

"I’m not signing it! Lila is not brain-dead!"

Emma looked stunned.

"But… we agreed earlier, didn’t we? You saw the doctor’s diagnosis. This is the best hospital in the city. What else is there not to trust?"

Trust?

Looking into her eyes that feigned innocence and surprise, I felt like I could see the cruelty hidden behind them.

In my past life, I had trusted her far too much.

Lila had been admitted to this top hospital for pneumonia. I had no idea that the attending doctor, Blake Thompson, was Emma’s old flame.

Pneumonia was not supposed to be life-threatening. Yet after just one night away from Lila, her condition suddenly worsened, and she was rushed to emergency care.

By the time I returned to the hospital, I was told by Blake that Lila was already brain-dead.

Before I could process the devastating news, Emma was pulling me into signing the organ donation form.

"Lila was always kind. Her life can save others now. I believe she would want this."

I was beyond devastated. Half coerced, half convinced, I signed my name on the form.

What I did not know at the time was that once they removed the ventilator, Lila’s heart was immediately transplanted into Blake’s daughter, who had been born with a congenital heart defect.

While I remained lost in grief over the loss of Lila, Emma quickly resumed her normal life.

One day, purely by chance, I spotted them in a neighboring city’s amusement park, with a little girl on Blake’s shoulders, and my “wife” leaning lovingly against him.

I followed them, and when I confronted them for the truth, they joined forces and pushed me off a building.

As I lay in a pool of blood, I gripped tightly onto the locket that held a lock of Lila’s hair.

There were so many times I wanted to escape through death. But in that moment, seeing the joy on their faces, the flames of hatred burned through my weakness.

Now, given this second chance, I felt nothing but gratitude.

Even heaven wanted me to avenge my daughter!