Chapter 1 “Ethan, my heart really hurts. I swear I’m not trying to bother you. Can you take me to the hospital?” I’d made Ethan mad. No matter how I tried to calm him down, nothing worked. Even when I felt sick, he didn’t panic the way he used to. The second I got off the train, I called him. “Ethan, I’m in New York for a heart checkup. Can you take me to the hospital?” His voice turned ice cold. “Your heart condition was fixed years ago. Ellie, quit acting pathetic.” Pain pressed hard against my chest. “It’s just a follow-up.” I whispered. He laughed once. “Fine.
Then wait.” So I sat in a corner of Grand Central Terminal and waited. And waited. And waited until my heart slowly stopped beating. Ethan still never came. Before I closed my eyes, I had no idea I was about to die so suddenly, in the waiting hall of Grand Central Terminal. I was just sleepy. I thought maybe if I slept for a little while, I’d see Ethan when I woke up. I imagined him standing in front of me, scolding me for not staying home and for running all the way to New York to cause trouble again.. As I drifted off, I kept making up reasons for why I needed him there.
Because he always took me to appointments before. Because the registration info was on his phone. Because if the doctor asked about the heart surgery from when I was little, Ethan would know more than I did. But deep down, I knew the truth. I missed him. I missed him so much it hurt. Then I opened my eyes again and saw my own body sitting in the noisy corner of the station. Head tilted. Lashes lowered. Still as stone. Like I was only sleeping. My phone suddenly buzzed and slipped from my hand. I bent to grab it. My hand passed right through.
I stared at my transparent fingers and slowly realized it. Chapter 1 L Lera Romance romântico e fantasia INSTALL 11.11% I was dead. Quietly. Alone. Dead in Grand Central while I was waiting for Ethan to come get me. My phone screen lit up. A message from Ethan, sent one minute earlier. [Still waiting?] [Then you’re obviously not feeling that bad.] [Ellie, you lied again.] I didn’t lie. I wanted to tell him that. It really hurt. I was born with a congenital heart defect. I had surgery at six and everyone said I was cured. But three months ago, the pressure in my chest came back.
Sometimes I couldn’t breathe right. If this had happened before, Ethan would’ve panicked. He would’ve rushed me to the hospital himself. But after that thing happened, he stopped believing me completely. He became sure I was the kind of girl who’d do anything to get what she wanted. That whole mess started three months ago. I was actually the daughter of a woman who worked for the Caldwell family. The Caldwells were part of Manhattan’s old-money elite. More than twenty years ago, my biological mother gave birth in the same private hospital as Mrs. Caldwell.
The moment I was born, the doctors found my heart defect and said I might not survive. My biological mother got scared. So while the nurses weren’t looking, she swapped me with the Caldwell family’s newborn daughter. The Caldwells had money, power, and connections. They got me surgery fast and saved my life. And just like that, I spent twenty years living as the Caldwell family’s eldest daughter. Then, three months ago, my biological mother was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Maybe because she was dying. maybe because guilt finally got to her, she told the Caldwells the truth.
She brought Finn with her, the girl she’d raised all those years. The real Caldwell daughter. Then she dropped to her knees outside the Caldwell estate and cried until she could barely breathe, “I was wrong. I’m already paying for it. I’m dying. I’m giving Finn back to you now. Please…. please let me see Ellie. She’s my real daughter.” But when the truth came out and she finally saw me, do you know what she said? “The Caldwell family cured your heart. You didn’t lose anything. You got twenty years of their life.
Now it’s Finn’s turn.” Chapter 1 11.11% L Lera Romance romántico e fantasia INSTALL I didn’t even break me the way it should’ve. Because she was right Finn moved into the Caldwell house that same night. The next day, she came to me pretending she wanted peace. She said she’d talk to Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell and convince them to let me stay. And like an idiot, I blushed and said. I want to stay too. I just don’t want to stay as Ethan’s sister anymore.” So I confessed to Ethen. I told him I’d known for a long time that what I felt for him wasn’t just family love.
I told him I felt sad and relieved at the same time. Sad because we weren’t really related. Relieved because that also meant we weren’t crapped by that line. I told him I wanted to stay with him forever. I locked straight into his eyes nervous and hopeful. And all I saw was coldness. Disappointment. He laughed like I was a joke. Forever? You mean you want to stay in the Caldwell family forever and keep living your Then he pulled out a recorder and bit play. I heard my own voice. My voice But not my words. I know how to stay. I get Brian, the Caldwells will never make me leave.
I’ve lived in this house for years. It won’t be hand to make him fall for me I stayed close to him all this time to prepare for this day. Now it’s finally time to use him.” I went numb. I never said that.” Ethan just looked at me and sneered. That’s your voice. So who do you think said it?” To was faked. Brian, I don’t know how, but I never said any of that.” He didn’t believe a word Later I found out Finn had made the recording with Al voice doning. That night she came to “make peace,” she kept me talking while secretly recording me.
Then she used all my old voice samples to build a fake confession that never happened She didn’t want me staying in the family. And she definitely didn’t want me anywhere near Ethan. Because if I stayed her place in the Caldwell family would never feel safe. So she set me up first. Then she handed Ethan the fake recording. Then the next day, when he was already angry and suspicious, he saw me confess to him with his own eyes. That was it. The recording became proof.
My confession became And Ethan, already shaken by the truth that our whole sibling bond had been built on a lie, believed it all almost instantly Because I’d always been sickly. Ethan had started acting less like a brother and more like my guardian while he was still Chapter 1 1111% L Lera Romance romántico e fantasia INSTALL a teenager. He was serious, strict, and always watching me. He worried I’d get hurt, worried I’d catch cold, and even controlled what I wore outside and the temperature in my room. One cough from me, one little frown, and Ethan would go tense. I loved it.
I loved the way he watched over me. I used to cling to him and say, “I’m never getting married.’ Then I’d wrap my arms around his waist and threaten, “And you’re not getting married either. You have to stay with me forever.” Ethan would smile and rub my hair. “Don’t talk nonsense.” Then he’d soften and add. “Fine. I’ll wait until after you get married. Is that better?” I never answered. I just looked up at him for a long time. Part of me wanted those days to last forever. Part of me wanted them to change. Eventually they did. Just not in the way I wanted.
If I’d known how it would end, I would have looked at him longer back then, At least then I would’ve had a better last memory. Because in the end, I never got one last look at him. Chapter 1 L Lera Romance romântico e fantasia INSTALL 11 11% George Orwell
