Chapter 1

My family and fiancé begged me to donate my last remaining kidney to my twin sister, Kyleigh. They didn't know I was already dying.

My fiancé, Axel, gave me an ultimatum.

"Donate the kidney, or I'll break our engagement and marry Kyleigh. It's her dying wish."

I agreed, only for them to frame me for plagiarism with my own thesis, forcing me to confess on camera. They never knew I was the one who secretly saved our father with my other kidney five years ago-a sacrifice Kyleigh had stolen all the credit for.

As they wheeled me into the operating room, they celebrated with Kyleigh, promising her a future built on my death. I was already a ghost to them.

But I died on the table. The surgeon, seeing the old surgical scar and the poison riddling my body, walked out to face them.

"This wasn't a donation," she announced, her voice cold as steel. "This was murder."

Chapter 1

Jana Doyle POV:

The bitter truth was a quiet hum beneath my skin, a melody of inevitability. My life, meticulously crafted by others, was finally reaching its crescendo, not in triumph, but in a silent, tragic fade. It was a strange kind of peace, this surrender.

Axel walked into the sterile waiting room, his usually impeccably composed face now a mask of heavy concern. His eyes, normally sharp and calculating, were clouded with a torment that wasn' t for me. He looked at me, then past me, as if I were a ghost already.

"Jana," he began, his voice rough, "it's Kyleigh."

Of course, it was Kyleigh. It always was. Five years ago, her health issues had first cast a long shadow over our lives. Now, her remaining kidney was failing, a ticking clock that echoed the one inside me.

He didn't waste time with pleasantries. "She needs a kidney. Immediately." The words hung in the air, heavy and absolute, a demand rather than an plea.

My breath hitched. I knew this was coming. I' d seen it in my parents' strained smiles, in Kyleigh' s increasingly desperate pleas for attention. My sister, the fragile one, the golden child, needed saving again. And I was expected to be the savior.

Axel pulled a folded document from his jacket. It was a prenuptial agreement, but with a horrifying twist. "If you refuse, our engagement is off. I'll marry Kyleigh. It's her dying wish, Jana." His voice was low, but the threat was clear, cold steel. He would sacrifice me to fulfill a morbid fantasy, to play the hero to her damsel in distress.

Marry Kyleigh. The thought was a fresh wound, but my existing ones were too deep to let it truly sting. I was already dying. What did a broken engagement matter when my own breath was a borrowed gift?

"Axel," I said, my voice barely a whisper, "you know the risks. She's delicate. Time is critical." I was talking about Kyleigh, but the words felt like a cruel joke, a twisted echo of my own silent countdown.

He leaned closer, his voice laced with a desperate urgency. "This is her last chance, Jana. She won't make it without you. You're strong. You always have been." His words were a balm, a poison, a testament to how little he truly saw.

"Your parents... they agree," he added, his gaze flicking away. "They say it's your duty. For the family." That was a familiar refrain, one that had played on an endless loop for as long as I could remember. My duty. My sacrifice.

His hand reached for mine, a gesture that once meant comfort, now felt like a leash. "Jana, I love you," he whispered, his thumb caressing my knuckles. "I do. Just... just get through this. After Kyleigh is well, after... after this is all over, we'll be together. I promise."

The words tasted like ash. After Kyleigh is well. After I am gone. Did he even hear himself? He was promising a future that had no room for me, built on a foundation of my imminent demise.

I remembered the quiet agony of five years ago, my father' s fading strength, the frantic search for a donor. I remembered the hushed conversations, the desperate prayers. And I remembered stepping forward, anonymously. My body still bore the scar, a silent testament to a sacrifice no one knew I' d made.

I had only one kidney left. My kidney. The other was beating in my father' s chest.

My family, blinded by their adoration for Kyleigh, had always viewed her as Fred' s savior. They had praised her "bravery," her "selflessness," never once questioning the convenient narrative. If I told them the truth now, they would simply dismiss it as malice, as a twisted attempt to steal Kyleigh' s glory. They had done it before.

When I tried, once, years ago, to hint at my own contribution, their dismissal was swift and sharp.

"Jana, don't be ridiculous," my mother, Joyce, had snapped, her eyes wide with feigned offense. "Kyleigh was so brave. You were... well, you were just being difficult, as usual."

My father, Fred, had added, "Don't be ungrateful. Your sister saved my life. You just stood there, so selfish."

The words were a physical blow, a dull ache that resonated in my chest. They painted me as resentful, jealous, unfeeling.

They had thrown me out that day, not with a bang, but a chilling quiet. "Go on then," Joyce had said, waving a dismissive hand. "If you can't be supportive, you can leave."

And Axel, my Axel, had been there. He had found me, a lost, broken thing, and he had promised to be my sanctuary. But even he, in his misguided loyalty, had called me "ungrateful" for challenging Kyleigh's narrative. He saw my pain as a flaw, my voice as a complaint.

Now, here he was, asking me to perform the ultimate sacrifice, again, with my last vital organ. And I was so tired. The illness, this insidious poison stealing my life, had worn me down to a fragile husk. The fight had long since left me.

I looked at Axel, at the desperation in his eyes, at the way his hand trembled slightly on mine, not with love for me, but with fear for Kyleigh. A ghost of a smile touched my lips, a bitter, private acknowledgment. They would never understand. They never had.

"I'll do it," I said, my voice flat, devoid of emotion. "I'll donate."

Axel' s head snapped up, his eyes widening. Relief flooded his face, quickly followed by a triumphant glint. He stared at me, astonished, as if I had just pulled a miracle from thin air. He hadn't expected me to agree, not without a fight. He hadn't known how truly broken I was.

"Jana!" he exclaimed, his voice thick with gratitude. He crushed me in a hug, a desperate, almost painful embrace that was meant for his own relief, not for my comfort. "Thank you. Thank you so much. You're a lifesaver."

He pulled away, his eyes shining, and then, without a word, he snatched up the prenuptial agreement. He tore it in half, then again, the sound a sharp rip in the quiet room. The pieces fluttered to the floor like discarded promises. My fate was sealed. The contract dissolved, but my death sentence remained.

The next few hours were a blur of frantic activity. I was whisked away, a mere commodity, a spare part. My parents arrived, a flurry of agitated whispers and worried glances directed solely at Kyleigh' s room. They didn't even look at me as I was prepped for surgery.

Joyce, my mother, rushed to Kyleigh' s bedside, collapsing into a chair, tears streaming down her face. "My poor baby," she sobbed, clutching Kyleigh' s hand. "You'll be okay. You have to be."

Fred, my father, his face etched with worry, paced the hallway, barking orders at nurses, demanding updates. "She's strong," he kept repeating, as if to convince himself. "She'll pull through. Our family will be whole again."

He returned with the consent forms, his pen already poised. He signed quickly, without a second glance at the details, his focus entirely on the perceived outcome for Kyleigh.

Then, he looked at me, a flicker of something in his eyes-not genuine concern, but a distant, almost perfunctory acknowledgment.

"You're being so mature, Jana," he said, patting my arm, a gesture devoid of warmth. "This is what family does. We look out for each other."

Mature. A word they used when I complied.

"We know we haven't always been... fair," Joyce added, dabbing her eyes. "But Kyleigh needed us more. She was always so fragile. You were always so independent." It was their usual excuse, a thinly veiled justification for decades of neglect.

"Don't worry," Fred interjected, pulling out his wallet. He waved a credit card. "Your share of the family trust is still yours. This doesn't change anything, financially."

"I don't want it," I said, my voice dull. The words felt foreign, even to me. What good was money when I was signing away my life?

Joyce stared at me, her eyes narrowing. "Jana, don't be ungrateful. That's a substantial amount. It' s for your future."

But I had no future. The poison in my blood ensured that. The world seemed to tilt, blurring at the edges. My body was a battlefield, and the war was nearly lost.

My mind drifted, five years back. The hospital corridor, the hushed fear. Fred, lying pale and still, waiting for a kidney. Kyleigh, my twin, suddenly hailed as a hero, her "sacrifice" whispered with awe. Her scar, a thin, perfect line from a cosmetic surgeon, became the emblem of her selflessness. And my scar, deep and ragged, the one that truly saved him, remained unseen, unknown.

From that day, Kyleigh became untouchable. Every whim, every complaint, every fabricated illness amplified. She accused me of mocking Dad' s condition, of being jealous of her "bravery." My parents believed her, their golden child, without question.

"Jana, you're just trying to hurt your sister," Joyce would sigh, whenever I tried to speak.

"Why can't you be more like Kyleigh?" Fred would demand, his voice laced with disappointment.

I stopped fighting. It was easier to disappear, to become the silent shadow they expected me to be.

Now, in the pre-op room, they gathered around Kyleigh's bed, a tableau of love and concern. Joyce stroked Kyleigh's hair, Fred held her hand, Axel sat on the edge of the bed, his gaze fixed on my sister with an intensity that burned. They laughed, hushed and nervous, shared private jokes, whispered words of encouragement.

I stood by the window, a silent sentinel, watching the last rays of sun bleed across the sky. I was on the brink of giving my life, yet I was utterly alone, an invisible presence in my own tragedy.

They don't even see me. The thought was a dull throb, a truth that no longer stung, only resonated with an empty echo. I was a means to an end, a forgotten sacrifice.