Broken Knees, Unbroken Heart Novel – While working on an anti-cancer drug, Professor Stella Moore actually removed Eliana Hayes’s mother’s heart while she was still alive. The experiment failed. Her mother bled out on the lab table. Eliana’s best friend, reporter Layla Cross, immediately ran a blistering exposé on Stella’s cruel actions. But she was blacklisted across the industry within thirty minutes.
The police even had Layla committed to a psychiatric hospital, citing “mental instability.” Eliana sued Stella for murder and handed over thirty-three pages of airtight evidence. But Stella finally walked free. Eliana was accused of making a false report and sentenced to two years behind bars. What made it even more ironic was that the all-encompassing shield around Stella wasn’t anyone else.
It was Eliana’s own husband, Aiden Lancaster, Averton’s untouchable heir, the man she had loved for five years and been married to for three. *** In the cold visiting room, Eliana sat in her jumpsuit, her arms and face marked with bruises and scars. Aiden’s expression softened for a moment when he saw her through the glass, then snapped back to his usual hard expression. He slid a blank sheet of paper and a pen across the table. “Write an apology letter, and you can get out.” He made it sound like a fair deal.
But there was no choice. Eliana looked at the heartless man before her and smiled through reddened eyes. “What if I don’t?” she asked. The pen in Aiden’s hand suddenly stopped spinning, his eyes darkening. “Then you’ll stay in here for another two years.” After speaking, as if he knew exactly how Eliana would react, he pulled out his phone and played a video. Bound in the backseat, Robert Hayes faced a cliff that dropped hundreds of feet below.
“Three minutes,” Aiden said, tapping his watch. “Write the letter, and your father will be safe—you’ll walk free.” “Otherwise…” His finger traced the screen. The car engine roared. “The brakes… might have a little malfunction.” Eliana went rigid, trembling so hard she almost dropped her phone. She never imagined that the man who had once promised to protect her would send her to prison with his own hands, all to cover up Stella’s crimes.
And now he was using her father’s life to hold her hostage. “Aiden!” Her voice shook. “Have you forgotten the vows you made when we got married? You promised to protect me and my family!” “Was killing my mother not enough? Do you have to kill my only remaining blood relative too?” Aiden’s eyes turned bloodshot the moment she finished speaking. “Eliana, I haven’t forgotten.
I haven’t forgotten any of it. But I can’t forget the favor I owe to Stella!” “You know she’s got prosthetic legs now. Do you even know why?!” “If she hadn’t thrown herself in front of me in that car crash back then, it would’ve been me in those prosthetics!” he shouted. “She grew up with me. She saved my life.” “So even if it were you, I wouldn’t let you lay a finger on her.” Tears finally spilled down Eliana’s face; her voice broke into a ragged whisper. “So just because she saved you… even if she was wrong, and my mom died because of her… you’d still stick by her?” Aiden didn’t answer the question, but his words said enough. “Two minutes left, Eliana,” he said. Eliana stared at the man before her, feeling a sudden sense of unfamiliarity.
The Aiden who once couldn’t stand to see her frown now stared at her tear-streaked face, his gaze void of any emotion. Eliana and Aiden first met at a school assembly, where he returned as an honored alumnus to give a speech. By then, he was already the head of the Lancaster Group, a titan in the industry, radiating success, completely out of her league. Eliana never thought someone with a silver spoon in his mouth would go after someone as ordinary as her.
He wasn’t like the typical rich heirs who buy cars and mansions; he sent her to University of Cambridge, one of the best universities in the world. Instead of dragging her to fancy parties, he taught her how to use utensils and etiquette at Michelin-star restaurants. He took her to elite charity auctions. He handed her the bidding paddle and told her that if she wanted something, she should go for it. When rumors spread, he’d proudly hold her hand in front of everyone. When people doubted them, his eyes were full of pride and admiration for her. Day after day, with his relentless pursuit, she finally said yes to his proposal.
When they exchanged vows, Aiden promised to love her, to protect her, and to keep her and her family safe for the rest of their lives. And after they married, he kept his word. Whatever she so much as glanced at, the next day it was delivered right to her. He treated her parents with more care than he did his own. At first, Eliana thought she had married for love, thought she had found the right man. That was, until the day Stella returned to the country. As Ai