Helped, albeit heartlessly, when given attention (4)
I believe the answer is:
heed
'attention' is the definition.
(heed is a kind of attention)
'helped albeit heartlessly when' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'when' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'hed' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'given' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for heed that I've seen before include "Regard" , "Take to heart" , "Consider" , "Listen to carefully" , "Attend to, mind" .)