The day I nearly died in childbirth, Ian was cheating on me. For the entire month of my recovery, he gallivanted across the globe with her, indulging in a whirlwind of luxury shopping sprees. When he returned, he didn't forget to hand me a divorce agreement. “Brielle doesn't like being called a homewrecker, so I have to get a divorce.” “Just sign it. I made sure to wait until your recovery month was over. Consider it a courtesy.” “I don’t want the child anyway. You can keep her as a memento. Brielle will give me children of my own.” I didn’t say a word. I just took the pen and signed. Any hesitation, I feared, would delay my reunion with the man I truly loved by even a second. Three months later, I was paged with an emergency summons from the hospital, right in the middle of my own wedding. They said a female patient had ruptured her corpus luteum during a particularly… vigorous encounter. And because this patient had been juggling multiple partners, she had developed a host of severe complications, requiring my immediate attention in the ER. I pushed open the door to the operating room and took a look. What a coincidence. Lying on the surgical table was none other than my ex-husband's new fiancée. 1 I glanced down at the patient’s chart. Brielle Sterling. Before my divorce from Ian, I’d heard him say that name a thousand times. He called her Bri-bri, his voice dripping with an affection he never showed me. I thought he had found some perfect, flawless true love. Turns out, it was just this. I thought back to the day I gave birth. It was a difficult delivery, and I was hemorrhaging badly. The doctors were frantically calling for my husband, but Ian’s phone was unreachable. The tabloids, however, had no trouble finding him. Photos of him and Brielle, wrapped in each other's arms as they entered and exited a five-star hotel, were plastered everywhere. With the kind of power the Blackwood family wielded, he could have buried that story in an instant if he’d wanted to. The fact that he didn't made it clear: he was done hiding her. He was ready to make her his wife. When I finally woke up, having cheated death, Ian was there. His face was a mask of impatience. “Sienna, why do you always have to make such a mess of things?” “You were a top student, you’re a doctor yourself. Did you really have to go through with having this baby?” “I don’t even like her. This whole idea of using a child to secure your position is pathetic.” “I’m busy. I don’t have time for your melodrama…” His phone rang, cutting him off. He answered without a hint of shame. “Bri-bri…” The voice on the other end was sharp. “Decky, is my birthday surprise ready yet?” “You said you were just going to check on that hag in the hospital. It’s been half an hour. Why aren’t you back?” “I heard she bled everywhere. Gross. You better hurry back before you get any of that on you.” Ian chuckled. “You’re the only one who really cares about me, Bri-bri. I’m on my way back.” “The gift is ready. I promise it’ll be a surprise that’ll keep you in bed all night…” He walked out as he spoke, not sparing me a second glance. It never even occurred to him to look in on our daughter. But I wasn't heartbroken. After confirming that my baby was safe and healthy, a wave of relief washed over me. Finally, I could talk to Ian’s grandfather about the promise he’d made. I called him myself. “Grandfather, the baby is safe. Am I free to go now?” The old patriarch of the Blackwood family had sought me out when his company was on the brink of collapse. My birth chart, he claimed, was uniquely aligned to bring their family prosperity. As long as I produced an heir, the Blackwood fortune would be secure. I was already a medical intern. To me, it was utter nonsense. But the rich have always been slaves to their superstitions. When I refused, he had my younger brother, who was still in college, expelled. My parents called me, sobbing, telling me about a near-fatal car accident they had just survived. A near miss, they said. I had no choice but to agree. The truth was, I already had a boyfriend, Liam. We’d been together for ten years. He knew everything, and he was waiting for me. The old man sighed on the phone. “I’ve seen the news. There’s no point in forcing things. You can go.” “But you’re weak right now. I’ve arranged for a team of private nurses. Wait until your recovery month is over.” 2 Brielle’s screaming snapped me back to the present. I gave her a quick assessment. A severe laceration, accompanied by a nasty infection. Some of the local tissue was already showing signs of necrosis. The situation was worse than I’d thought. She was convulsing in pain, but that didn’t stop her from cursing. “Useless! All of you are useless! You can’t even handle a small injury like this? I could have this hospital shut down by tomorrow!” “And those damn men! Not a single good one among them! They get their fun and then leave me here to suffer! I’ll skin them alive when I get out of here!” I pulled on a pair of sterile gloves, my expression blank. “Ms. Sterling, the examination shows a severe tear with a multi-pathogen infection. We need to perform a surgical debridement immediately.” At the mention of surgery, she started screaming again, ignoring the pain. “Surgery? Who gave you permission to cut me open? I’m warning you, if you leave a single scar on my body, you’ll all pay!” “I have a custom-designed wedding gown to wear! I’m about to marry into the wealthiest family in the country! Can you afford to ruin that for me?” Her eyes bored into me. “Are you doing this on purpose? Trying to destroy me? My fiancé is the richest man in the city! One word from him, and you’ll all be fired!” “You should worry about that later,” I interrupted, my tone clinical. “If we don’t operate soon, the infection will spread. Forget about getting married; you could suffer permanent damage to your reproductive system, or even risk your life.” I was simply stating the facts. For a patient like this, sympathy was a waste of time. A nurse handed her the pre-op consent form. Brielle snatched it and ripped it to shreds. “Sign what? I’m not signing anything! You quacks are trying to kill me! I’m going to report you! I’ll have your licenses revoked!” she shrieked. Then, a sudden thought seemed to strike her. Her eyes filled with venom as she stared at me. “Who the hell do you think you are? You think you’re qualified to operate on me? Get your director in here! Now! Or I’ll have my fiancé tear this whole hospital down!” If her condition weren’t so critical, I would have walked away. But my duty as a doctor held me there. I had no patience for her games. “Besides me, there’s likely no other doctor in this hospital who can perform this surgery. Where is your next of kin? We need a signature.” At the mention of family, a flicker of panic crossed her face. “Family? I don’t need family. I make my own decisions.” “Just do the surgery! If you screw this up for me, you’ll all regret it!” “Hospital policy requires a signature from a family member,” I repeated calmly. “Or perhaps, your fiancé?” Brielle’s face twisted in a snarl. “You’d better keep your mouths shut. If a single word of this gets out, I’ll make sure you all disappear.” I raised an eyebrow but didn’t press further. We saw situations like this all the time. I placed another consent form in front of her. “Think it over and decide quickly. Time is running out. After your surgery, I have a wedding to get back to…” My words were cut off by a man’s voice from behind me. “Wedding? Who are you marrying?” “We’ve been divorced for three months and you’re already getting married?!”
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