“Thanks,” I replied, flat and distant.
The assistant paused, clearly thrown off by my response. It wasn’t like me—no questions, no complaints, no frustration. Just a calm, almost detached acknowledgment before hanging up.
I gathered my things, ready to leave when a nurse burst in.
“Something’s wrong!”
“Dr. Green, we’ve got a serious situation.”
Her hands were covered in blood, and my stomach sank. I knew what this meant.
“The pregnant woman is hemorrhaging again?”
“Yeah.”
I started packing faster, then hopped on the computer to pull up Samantha Hill’s prenatal check-up and pre-surgery blood work reports.
Nothing.
Just basic ID info. No records, no details.
The nurse glanced over, looking a little guilty. “She was an emergency case. She’s been treated at Central Hospital before, but we don’t have her full history here.”
“Get a blood test. Now.”
I threw on my scrubs and mask and headed straight for the room.
As soon as I walked in, Jason Lee was there, seething. He marched right up to me and slapped me across the face.
He glared at me, his eyes wild with rage. “Quack! You call yourself a doctor? What happened? Why is this happening right after the surgery?”
His face was red, tears brimming in his eyes, but his fury was all-consuming.
The rest of the medical team stepped in between us, but Jason wasn’t backing down.
He grabbed my wrist with a vise-like grip. “If anything happens to her, I swear to God, it’ll be a life for a life.”
“Stop making this harder for the doctor,” one of the nurses snapped. “Nobody wants this to happen. If it’s so bad, why didn’t you take her to the top specialists at Central?”
“Yeah, if you don’t trust him, just transfer her there,” another patient chimed in.
Jason’s face went pale at the mention of Central Hospital. His voice dropped low, but with a force that made it clear this wasn’t up for discussion. “The hospital where it happened should fix it.”
I fought the urge to smile, but I couldn’t help it. Is that so?
Of course, it was because I ran the gynecology department at Central Hospital.
I shoved Jason out of the way, and just then, the blood test results landed in my hands.
Looking at the numbers, disgust rolled through me. I stood there, seething at him.
“Are you out of your mind? She’s pregnant! Women this far along shouldn’t be doing anything strenuous! How could you let her take this medication?!”
“Get her to the operating room, now! I want every available doctor in there, no exceptions!”
Jason’s face twisted again. He muttered, “The label said no side effects.”
I snapped back, my voice sharp as a whip, while Samantha Hill, barely hanging on, gripped my hand. “This is not between you and me, Jason. This is between her and her baby. So stop interfering.”
Jason sneered, “You want the name of the medicine? I’ll tell you. But a woman like you won’t even know how to handle it.”
Before I could retort, Samantha gasped, her face contorted in pain.
“Take her to the OR, now,” I ordered, my voice sharp.
Samantha held onto Jason’s hand the entire time. As they wheeled her down the hall, she cried, her voice barely audible, “Tell me, am I still the most important woman to you? Am I?”
“I’m about to die, Jason. Can’t you just say something? Am I the one you love the most, or is she?”
Her questions, desperate and relentless, finally got to him.
Jason let out a long breath, his voice cracking. “Of course, I love you the most. If I didn’t, why would I have left her to be with you?”
Samantha’s face softened, and she finally let go of his hand as they rolled her into the OR.
As the door shut behind them, Jason locked eyes with me, then reached into his bag and pulled out a envelope, holding it out to me.
“I don’t need it,” I said coldly, brushing him off.
But he grabbed my arm, insisting, “Isn’t this what you’ve been waiting for?”
With a bitter laugh, I snatched the envelope from his hand and tossed it onto the floor. Without a second glance, I walked into the operating room, ignoring his curses.
