To Love is To Let Go

Love is both salvation and torment.

If Bella Ramsey were given another chance, she swore—she would never fall in love with Seth Rogan again.

The one thing Bella Ramsey regretted most in life was falling in love with her late father's friend.

She was ten the first time she met Seth Rogan—a tall man who held the newly orphaned girl in his arms and promised to protect her for the rest of his life.

He adopted her, raised her, and treated her like a real uncle.

At fifteen, when Bella was being bullied, it was Seth who showed up and made her tormentors kneel and apologize.

At eighteen, when one of Seth's missions failed and he was on the brink of death, Bella ignored the doctors' warnings and donated part of her liver to save him.

That same day, she stole a kiss from him, only for Seth to wake up at that very moment and see it happen.

There was no sweetness, only shock in his eyes—and a distance that never seemed to close.

Later, when Seth's one true love, Faye Walters, was critically ill, Bella was the only compatible donor.

The usually aloof Seth came to her then. He said that if she agreed to donate her kidney, he would do anything she asked.

Bella gave no reply. Her silence was her refusal. Faye died on the operating table.

Seth didn't shed a single tear. Life continued as if nothing had happened.

But on the seventh day after Faye's death, Seth made Bella's diary—filled with the secret longings of her teenage years—public.

He nailed her to a pillar of shame for loving her uncle.

On Bella's birthday, Seth drugged and kidnapped her. She was assaulted.

He stood by and watched, saying only, "Don't even think I'd touch you. You disgust me."

Just before she lost consciousness, Seth threw a bucket of cold water on her.

Dazed, she saw him walking toward her, knife in hand.

Then came the blade, swift and cold as ice. "This is what you owe Faye."

When she opened her eyes again, Bella found herself back on the day he had asked her for the kidney.

…

"I'm begging you. This kidney might mean nothing to you, but without it, Faye will die. If you agree to donate it to her, I'll do anything you ask."

Seth's pleading voice rang in her ears, snapping Bella fully awake.

She had come back to life.

In her past life, she had turned him down on this day and ended up suffering a fate worse than death.

But she had already lost part of her liver for Seth. How could she survive losing a kidney too?

Yet now, living this day again, Bella understood everything.

If not donating meant death anyway, then this kidney would be repayment—for eleven years of care from Seth. After that, they'd be even.

Gripping her hands into fists, she answered firmly, "I'll do it."

The words caught in Seth's throat. The doctor