The Heart He Stole, The Son He Lost

To let the imposter son he had raised, Jasper, steal the only matching life-saving heart from me,

My father, Raymond Blackwood, locked me in the basement with his own hands, covered my chest with electrode patches, and used electric current to forcibly suppress my heartbeat.

I knelt on the ground begging him to spare me.

But Raymond showed no mercy. He looked at my trembling body and said coldly,

"Jasper has been frail since childhood. He just wants a healthy heart. Are you really going to fight him for even this?"

"Ever since you came back, you've been targeting and making things difficult for Jasper. Today's piercing, bone-deep pain is your lesson!"

"The specialist said electrode patches combined with a dark environment can strengthen your heart. You can have the surgery after we find a second heart source!"

I lay on the ground nearly unconscious, still clinging to a last thread of hope, waiting for Raymond to have a change of heart and come get me.

But when news came that Jasper's surgery was successful, Raymond was overjoyed.

That very day, he packed his bags and took Jasper to Europe for a vacation, completely forgetting about me.

It wasn't until two months later, when Raymond saw my empty room, that he suddenly remembered me and impatiently ordered someone to rush me to the hospital.

The maid hesitated.

"Owen... he's already dead in the basement."

The electric current passing through my body, combined with the severe pain of angina, made me question whether I was still alive.

Only Raymond's cold eyes forced me to maintain a thread of consciousness.

Before the basement door closed, I desperately grabbed onto Raymond's pant leg.

"Raymond! I really can't hold on anymore. My heart hurts so much. If this continues, I'll die..."

"Please send me to the hospital, okay? I promise I won't fight Jasper for the heart. I'll just take medication to manage it..."

I cried and begged Raymond, but he remained unmoved. Instead, he turned to patiently comfort Jasper, who stood to the side watching the scene.

"Jasper, be good. Don't be nervous during the surgery. I will be with you the whole time."

"After you recover, I will take you on a world tour and give you all the assets, okay?"

Jasper looked at me provocatively and asked Raymond, "If you give me all the assets, what about Owen?"

"Owen? Ha." Raymond sneered. "He lived in poverty for so many years. He's long used to life without money. From now on, my love will be enough for him."

As he turned to take Jasper to the operating room, he suddenly received a call from Walter Blackwood, my grandfather.

"Owen should be having his surgery soon, right? You must take good care of him these days. Owen suffered so much before. This time, there absolutely cannot be any mistakes."

Raymond gave a perfunctory response and hung up.

I closed my eyes and used the last bit of my strength to speak.

"Raymond... I'm not lying to you. It hurts so much... If Walter finds out, he'll definitely blame you..."

After being found by the Blackwood family, Raymond had been cold to me to accommodate Jasper's feelings.

At Raymond's instruction, everyone in the Blackwood family kept their distance from me. Only Walter was happy about my return.

Even this heart source was found with Walter's help, but he didn't know Raymond had already forced me to give it to Jasper.

After hanging up, Raymond looked at me again.

By now, I was in so much pain that I'd lost almost all sensation, my face covered in blood and tears.

Looking at me, Raymond seemed momentarily dazed, even doubting whether the specialist's advice was trustworthy.

Jasper suddenly crouched down. At an angle Raymond couldn't see, he smirked, then pressed both hands hard onto my chest.

The electrode patches on my chest dug in several inches deeper. The tearing sensation in my chest made me grunt in agony.

But Jasper suddenly fell backward, landing on his bottom.

Then he accused me in a hoarse voice.

"Owen, I was just trying to comfort you. You know my heart isn't good, yet you still pushed me. Do you need me to die before you'll be happy?"

Raymond immediately showed a heartbroken expression, pulling Jasper into his arms and comforting him softly.

Jasper shook his head with reddened eyes.

"I know my brother doesn't like me, that he blames me for occupying the position of the Blackwood heir for so many years. But I genuinely care about him."

"Raymond, why don't you just send me away? That way I won't be an eyesore to my brother anymore."

Raymond snorted coldly. "If anyone's leaving, it's him."

After soothing Jasper, Raymond turned and roared at me.

"How can you be so vicious?"

"You always bully Jasper. He was just trying to care about you, yet you deliberately pushed him down."

"If anything happens to Jasper, I will never forgive you."

If I didn't look so horrifying right now, Raymond would probably punish me by locking me in my room or cutting off my allowance for weeks, like he used to..

Raymond clearly knew I'd been kidnapped and sold to the mountains, where I was tormented for ten years. After returning, I'd always been careful and cautious, never once blaming him for not watching over me back then.

Yet now he called me vicious?

In the end, Raymond left with Jasper, not even sparing a glance at me lying on the ground barely alive.

The angina and the pain of electrode patches piercing my chest seemed to pale in comparison to the pain in my heart.

I was Raymond's biological son. Before being kidnapped, I too had been his little prince, held in the palm of his hand.

Until I returned after ten years of being kidnapped, only to find a strange boy in the house who also called Raymond "Raymond."

The gentle father in my memory seemed to have changed overnight.

He was still as attentive as before, wishing he could pluck the moon from the sky for his son -- except the person in his heart wasn't me, but Jasper.

Blood had already blurred my vision when a sudden angina attack jolted me awake.

I hadn't gotten my heart transplant yet. How could I just die like this?

I drifted in and out of consciousness in the basement, unable to tell day from night. After recovering a bit of strength, I forced myself to crawl to the iron door and kept banging on it.

"Save me... is anyone there?"

"It hurts so much... let me out..."

The rough iron door cut my hands, but I could no longer feel the pain.

Finally, after I no longer had the strength to lift my hand, I heard footsteps outside.

I grasped at this lifeline and called for help again.

"Save me..."

But hearing my plea, the maid outside snorted coldly.

"Stop shouting. If you disturb Mr. Blackwood and Jasper, you'll really suffer!"

"A poor kid thinking he can fight Jasper for a heart? So what if you're the real son? In Mr. Blackwood's heart, Jasper is the Blackwood heir. Don't even think about replacing him."

Because of Raymond's differential treatment, even the household maids could humiliate me at will.

I was a year older than Jasper," calling me Owen to my face and "poor boy" behind my back.

I swallowed these humiliations and forced myself to speak.

"My heart hurts terribly. I already feel like I'm suffocating. If this continues, I'll die."

"Let me out now... If something happens to me, Walter won't let you get away with it!"

Though the maid was snobbish, she understood I still mattered to Walter. If I died in the basement, Walter would definitely seek justice for me.

After thinking it over, the maid decided to call Raymond.

"Sir, Owen says he's having a heart attack and is about to die. Should we let him out?"

Raymond sounded puzzled.

"He was fine when we left. How could he be dying now?"

After a pause, Raymond said hesitantly, "Why don't you open the door and check the situation inside..."

I thought I heard hope, but Jasper interrupted Raymond with certainty in his voice.

"I specifically consulted foreign specialists about using electrode patches to strengthen the heart. There definitely won't be any problems. Raymond, if you don't trust me, do you not trust the specialists either?"

Hearing Jasper's slightly displeased tone, Raymond panicked and quickly reassured him that he believed him.

The call continued. When speaking to me, Raymond's voice returned to its usual coldness.

"Owen, you'd better behave yourself!"

"He's just trying to trick you into letting him out so he can go to the hospital and steal Jasper's heart source. I already said I'd find him another heart. Can't he wait even that long?"

"Besides, I'm already strengthening his heart using the method the specialist recommended. What more does he want? Don't pay any attention to him. If he wants to make noise, let him."

With that, Raymond hung up mercilessly. The maid also left, not forgetting to spit before she went.

My world became quiet again. All I could hear was my own irregular heartbeat.

Everything before my eyes was pitch black. I felt my consciousness growing hazier.

Was I going to die like this?

I didn't dare close my eyes, afraid that once I did, they would never open again.

But I didn't want to die.

Sustained by a single thread of willpower, I actually managed to hold on until the basement door made sounds again.

"Is anyone there... is someone outside?"

"Help... please save me..."

The person outside seemed to hear my plea for help and yanked off the rusty lock hanging on the basement door.

By the faint light, I recognized him as Mr. Carter, a manager from the Blackwood company.

Mr. Carter was frightened by the smell of blood in the basement and staggered back several steps.

"Mr. Carter... it's me..."

I forced myself to get up, but collapsed heavily just as I reached the door.

Mr. Carter quickly caught me and asked what had happened.

I no longer had the strength to speak. I could only clench my teeth to keep from passing out.

Mr. Carter quickly pulled out his phone and called Raymond.

"Mr. Blackwood, Owen seems to be injured. You should come back right away!"

Raymond on the other end of the line immediately panicked.

"What? Jasper just said he wanted something to eat and asked me to buy it for him. How could something happen to him the moment I left? Where is he now?"

Hearing Raymond's anxious voice, Mr. Carter explained.

"I'm not talking about Jasper. I'm talking about Owen, your biological son you just found."

Raymond on the other end paused. After confirming that Mr. Carter had come to the house to deliver documents and heard my cries for help, he laughed contemptuously.

"This kid's getting bolder and bolder. Lies just roll off his tongue now."

"Mr. Carter, just leave the documents and go. Owen is perfectly safe in the basement. You don't need to worry about him."

Though Raymond's dismissive tone confused Mr. Carter, before leaving, he still called 911 for me.

I was in so much pain I nearly died. Through the haze, I seemed to see people lifting me into an ambulance.

But when I woke up again, I didn't receive the rescue I'd imagined. Instead, the pain in my chest grew even worse.

"Ah..."

I couldn't help but cry out in pain. Only then did I notice a nurse beside me.

"Please save me... it hurts so much..."

"If this continues, I'll really die..."

Though anxious, the nurse said hesitantly,

"I'm really sorry, sir. Right now, all the cardiology doctors in our hospital have been assigned to perform a heart transplant surgery. They really can't spare anyone. Can you wait a bit longer?"

My heart instantly turned cold. I was in too much pain to speak. I could only tightly grip the nurse's hand, eyes red, begging her for help.

The nurse seemed to take pity on me. After hesitating, she comforted me.

"How about this -- I'll go ask the patient's family in the operating room if they're willing to spare a doctor to treat you, okay?"

I nodded desperately, hoping fate would favor me just once.

The patient's family member the nurse mentioned seemed to be right next door. I could clearly hear their conversation.

"Mr. Blackwood, another heart disease patient was just brought to our hospital. He looks very serious. Could you spare a doctor to treat him?"

"There's another heart patient? This condition can't be delayed. Send two doctors over."

The nurse thanked him, and the man even asked a few questions about my condition.

This Mr. Blackwood was truly kind-hearted.

Willing to help even a complete stranger.

But how could someone so kind bear to let his own biological son suffer?

I recognized Mr. Blackwood's voice -- it was Raymond. That meant the person he was mobilizing the entire hospital's medical staff to save must be Jasper.

I clenched my jaw, not letting my tears fall.

I should never have hoped for this fatherly love.

Still, with Raymond's authorization, I was quickly wheeled into a room adjacent to Jasper's.

I heard the doctor making final pre-surgery confirmations with Raymond.

"Mr. Blackwood, this heart source was originally for Owen. Are you certain you want to transfer it to Jasper?"

"Certain."

Raymond's answer was decisive.

I should have expected this outcome.

Without a heart source, the doctor could only give me painkillers to temporarily stabilize my condition, but this would only accelerate my heart failure.

I endured the pain and grabbed the doctor's coat.

"My body can't take any more painkillers... Please save me. I can't hold on..."

Facing my plea, the doctor only said helplessly,

"These are all Mr. Blackwood's arrangements."

"Right now, all cardiac medications must be used for Mr. Blackwood's son first. Just wait a bit longer, or if you offend Mr. Blackwood, you might not even get painkillers."

Though my heart turned to ice, I knew my priority was staying alive.

I bit through my tongue. The sharp pain jolted me awake.

"Raymond! Save me!"

Hearing my heart-wrenching screams, the doctor only sighed.

"No matter who you call now, it's useless. Who told you not to have a father like Mr. Blackwood?"

"Your timing coming to the hospital was really bad. Mr. Blackwood's son just happens to be having surgery today. To avoid any accidents, Mr. Blackwood requisitioned all the doctors and medications."

"But don't worry. Once Mr. Blackwood's son's surgery is done, you'll be able to get medication."

...

I didn't catch the rest of what the doctor said, only that he was describing what great fatherly love Raymond had.

Ironically, I, his biological son, couldn't receive even a fraction of that love.

Meanwhile, surgery had already begun on the other side of the ward.

Afraid Jasper would be scared, Raymond kept encouraging him.

When rejection occurred during the surgery, Raymond nearly cried.

"Don't be afraid, Jasper. I'm right outside with you."

"After your surgery, I will take you on a world tour and transfer all the company assets to your name."

And just on the other side of the wall, with the painkillers taking effect, I could only lie on the cold hospital bed.

I couldn't speak. I could only stare at the ceiling, feeling my life slowly slipping away.

"Heart transplant complete. The surgery was a complete success!"

The moment the doctor announced Jasper's successful surgery, my life also reached its end.

I felt my body becoming light, actually floating into Jasper's operating room.

I saw Raymond crying tears of joy, carefully holding Jasper.

"Good son, the surgery was successful. I am so happy."

Everyone around praised the deep father-son bond between Raymond and Jasper, but no one knew.

In a dark corner, Raymond's biological son had taken his last breath.

Afterward, I watched Raymond take Jasper to Europe.

They ate together, took photos, celebrating Jasper's new life.

But I could only silently say in my heart.

Raymond, we'll never see each other again...

It wasn't until two months later, when Raymond came home and saw my empty room, that he remembered me and ordered someone to rush me to the hospital.

The maid spoke hesitantly.

"Owen... he's already dead in the basement."