My Heart Keeps Him Alive 1 Chapter 06
They took Nathaniel and me to the top floor critical care unit at the same time.
Two operating rooms were separated by a single sheet of glass.
I lay on the left, Nathaniel on the right.
Julian stopped my bleeding himself, cleaned the wound, and tried to reattach the sync chip that had been
ripped out.
But the chip’s connector was damaged. The base frequency signal kept flickering on and off.
My heart waveform looked erratic, like a thread that couldn’t be tied back together.
On the other side, Nathaniel’s artificial heart alarms went off every few seconds.
Doctors kept adjusting the parameters, but nothing seemed to stabilize.
Eleanor stood outside the glass. Her face was pale under the harsh operating lights.
“Julian,” she said, her voice heavy. “What is the real relationship between Ivy and Nathaniel?”
Julian’s hands kept working as sweat ran down his face.
There was no point hiding it anymore.
He spoke quietly. “The artificial heart inside Mr. Croftfield’s chest isn’t a standard mechanical heart. It’s the only successful bio-neural artificial heart ever created by Croftfield Labs.”
“It has self-regulation capabilities, but it also has a flaw. It needs an exceptionally stable natural heartbeat as
its base frequency calibration source.”
Eleanor’s hands trembled.
Julian kept going. “The Croftfields spent over a decade screening global medical databases. Ivy was the only
match in the world.”
“Her heartbeat is naturally stable, almost no fluctuation.”
“When she’s steady, Mr. Croftfield is steady. When she falls apart, he falls apart. If she dies, his artificial
heart will lose its base frequency forever.”
Everyone outside the operating rooms heard it.
Margot stood in a corner, two guards watching her. Her face was ashen.
She whispered, “So… she’s not a fraud?”
No one answered her.
The answer was already lying in those two operating rooms.
Julian took out a sealed vial.
Eleanor recognized it: the neuro-cardiogenic stabilizer, the last dose in the world.
It was supposed to be saved for Nathaniel if his artificial heart ever completely failed.
Julian held the vial and looked at Eleanor. “It has to go to Ivy.”
Eleanor’s breath caught.
Margot suddenly stepped forward as if grasping at one last chance. “Why her? Nathaniel is a Croftfield. That drug was meant to save Nathaniel’s life. Who is she?”
Julian’s voice went cold. “If we give it to Mr. Croftfield, his artificial heart might last another ten minutes. If
we give it to Ivy, her base frequency recovers, and Mr. Croftfield has a chance to live.”
Margot opened her mouth to argue.
Eleanor raised her hand and struck Margot across the face. The sound echoed through the corridor.
Margot’s head snapped to the side. She froze.
Eleanor’s voice shook. “You haven’t done enough damage?”
Margot held her face. Tears finally fell. “I didn’t know…”
Eleanor closed her eyes. “That’s not true. You just don’t care about anyone’s life.”
She took the authorization form and signed it. “Administer the drug.”
Julian pushed the stabilizer into my vein.
Nothing happened at first. My heart rate remained erratic.
Julian stared at the monitor without blinking.
Ten seconds. Twenty. Thirty.
Then the chaotic waveform paused for just a moment.
Then it began to settle, gradually, like someone drowning who finally grabs a rope.
My heartbeat found its rhythm again.
On the other side of the glass, the artificial heart alarms in Nathaniel’s room began to slow.
A doctor’s voice broke with relief. “Calibration restored.”
Eleanor pressed her hand against the glass. Tears spilled down her face.
‘They’re alive…”
But I didn’t wake up, and neither did Nathaniel.
Outside Blackwood Institute, the news was already spreading.
The head of Croftfield Industries was dying.
The institute’s medical program was being accused of illegal human experimentation.
The Sheffield family dispatched cars racing toward Croftfield headquarters overnight.
They came fast, as if they had been waiting for this moment.