Jumping to my feet, I walked towards an older man dressed in scrubs. He looked exhausted, and from the look in his eyes, I knew he was about to give me some bad news. Shaking my head, I simply said, “Doc, if you are here to tell me that my brother is dead, you can just leave. I already have to bury his wife, don’t make me bury him too.”
“He’s alive,” the doctor quickly said.
My body sagged as solid arms grabbed me before I fell to the floor. “He’s alive?”
“Yes, but he won’t be for long. Look, Mr. Doherty, when the bullet entered your brother’s chest, it broke apart. I was able to get all the fragments out but one. One of the fragments went straight into his heart. There is no way I can safely repair that without killing him. Right now, your brother is on bypass. I have notified UNOS, and your brother is at the top of the list. He needs a heart transplant. Without it, he will die.”
Nodding, I said nothing as the doctors’ words began to soak into my brain.
“It is my understanding that his wife was also brought into the hospital. Is that correct?”
Nodding, I stayed silent.
“I know of her condition, and I am truly sorry for your loss, but do you know if his wife was an organ donor?”
I snapped my head at the doctor.
He couldn’t be suggesting.
I had to have misheard him.
There was no way.
It was inconceivable.
Dylan would kill me.
“Mr. Doherty, I know this is out of left field, and the ramifications of such a thing aren’t for the weak, but if your sister-in-law is an organ donor, her heart could be given to your brother.”
“Get away from me,” I sneered.
“I will give you some time to think about this. Just understand, Mr. Doherty, your brother, can only stay on bypass for so long before his body starts shutting down. When that happens, no transplant will save his life.”
“Get. The. Fuck. Out!”
Minutes ticked by as I glanced up at the clock for the millionth time. I knew what I should do, but doing it was another thing. How in the hell would I ever explain why I did what I did to Dylan when he woke up. It was bad enough that his wife was dead, but to knowingly walk around alive, with his wife’s heart in his chest.
Talk about a total mind fuck!
I was a strong man, but I could never do it.
I couldn’t go on living knowing my wife’s heartbeat in my chest.
And that was precisely what the doctor was asking me to do.
To harvest Kitty’s heart and put it in her husband.
I looked up at the clock again.
Time was moving too damn slowly.
I needed to plan.
Savage was unable to. He was too distraught. Nurse Jessica had to give him something to calm him down after a hospital employee walked into Kitty’s room, talking about harvesting her organs.
Harvesting.
What a fucking insidious word.