Chapter 1

They found my body in an abandoned warehouse on the edge of the city.

My chest was cut open. So was my abdomen. Heart—gone. Liver—gone. The one kidney I had left—gone. They took everything worth selling.

The worker who found me threw up three times before calling the cops.

My face was too swollen to recognize. But the cuts were clean, professional. Surgical tools, not street knives. The police called St. Catherine's Hospital for help.

That's how my parents ended up at my crime scene.

Dad—Dr. Bennett Collins, Deputy Chief of St. Catherine's, Chair of the Organ Transplant Ethics Committee. Mom—Dr. Margot Collins, Chief of Cardiac Surgery. The cops wanted Dad to check if this was organ trafficking. They wanted Mom to evaluate the heart removal.

They came straight from the hospital. Still in their white coats. Three hours ago, Mom's hands had placed a heart into my sister Celia's chest.

My heart.

She didn't know that yet.

Mom pulled on gloves and crouched beside me. She checked the incisions, ran her fingers along my chest cavity. "Clean cuts. Professional instruments. Heart, liver, kidney—all removed. Skilled hands." She looked at my face. "She's young. What a waste."

Three hours ago, those same hands held a heart and said the donor heart is in excellent condition. That heart was mine. This empty chest she was touching—also mine.

Three years ago, I was brought back to the Collins house after being rescued. Mom stood in the doorway, looked me up and down—dark, bony, covered in scars. No hug. Just: "Come in."

That night I found my suitcase by the trash cans out back. Celia watched from the second-floor window, finger on her lips.

Mom's assistant handed her a silver bracelet from my wrist. "There's something engraved inside."

Mom flipped it over. AC. She dropped it into the evidence bag. "Log it. Probably the victim's initials."

Not a flicker on her face.

I bought that bracelet with three months of part-time pay. Dad glanced at it. "Cheap junk. Embarrassing to wear out."

I never showed it to anyone again. But I wore it every day. Until I died.

Avery Collins. My name. Right under her fingers. She picked it up, turned it over, looked at it, put it down.

Just like she did with me.

The detective looked up from his notes. "Dr. Collins, how many kids do you have? Killer's still out there—we need to keep your family safe."

"One son, Julian. Journalist, out of state." Dad paused. "Two daughters. Celia just had a heart transplant, she's recovering. And… Avery."

He stumbled on my name. Like he had to search for it.

"Both daughters home?"

"Celia's in the hospital. Avery…" He frowned. "Hasn't been home in days."

I was kidnapped at five. Eleven years later the police found me, confirmed I was their daughter by DNA. But by then, Celia—their adopted niece—had been their daughter for twelve years. Sweet, delicate, lovable. I came back bony, scarred, and silent. In that house, I was the intruder.

Dad's phone buzzed. Celia's post-op report. All stable. He exhaled. "Celia's numbers look great."

Mom cut in immediately. "Heart rate? Rejection markers? I'm checking on her myself when we're back."

The detective reminded them to secure family members. Mom nodded. "Put someone on Celia's room. Julian's out of state, he's fine. As for Avery—" Her voice went flat. "Tell her to watch herself. She never listens anyway."

Dad rubbed his neck and pressed on a pain patch. The detective noticed. "Neck again?"

"It's fine. This patch works. Av—" He swallowed the name. "Pharmacy brand."

I bought those patches. Found the best one for desk workers, left a box in his study. No note. He never asked who put it there.

The detective sighed. "Your daughter's been missing for days and you're not worried? When she was kidnapped you took six months off to find her. Now she's back and you treat her like a stranger."

Dad shook his head. "You don't know her. She came back nothing like our daughter. Can't follow rules, can't get along with Celia. Few days ago Celia's heart condition went critical—emergency surgery—and Avery? Phone off. Gone."

His voice went cold. "That girl—even if she died out there, she'd have no one to blame but herself."

Dad. When Celia was on the operating table, I was on one too.

The difference was—Celia's surgery gave her a heart. Mine took mine away.

They left the scene. Back to the hospital. Back to Celia.

Dad called ahead from the car. "Celia's transplant went great. The donor heart was excellent quality."

Mom stared out the window. "That girl today… horrible way to die. Her family must be devastated."

She added: "Remind Avery to stop wandering around. There's a killer out there." A pause. "Not that she'll listen."

Mom. Dad.

That body you just examined was me.

That donor heart you gave Celia three hours ago was mine.

You took my heart from a dead body and put it in a living one.

You don't know yet.

And I can never tell you.