CHAPTER 13

Amanda’s POV

If the hospital had felt like a war zone yesterday, today it was a full-blown battlefield.

The halls were louder, hotter, more crowded. The waiting area overflowed with patients and their families, bodies packed shoulder-to-shoulder, voices climbing over each other in frustration. I’d started my shift less than two hours ago, and already my scrubs clung to me from the constant movement.

The front desk nurse flagged me down as I passed. “Dr. James, we’re getting a surge from two separate accidents. Four incoming ambulances, maybe five.”

I took the clipboard from her, scanning the notes as we walked. “Assign two to Trauma One and Two. Prep the surgical suite for emergency. And get radiology ready.”

She nodded, already speaking into her headset as she peeled away from me. I kept moving. My pulse felt high, not just from the patients, but from the tight knot of tension left over from last night.

Ryan.

The image of him standing in my hallway with Levi at his side was burned into my mind. He’d looked steady, calm… too calm. Like he believed what he did was perfectly reasonable. As if showing up with my son after a restraining order meant nothing.

I gripped the folder in my hand tighter. No matter how many patients I saw today, my mind kept looping back to his voice measured, almost defensive telling me he was “just helping.”

Helping?

I’d felt the floor shift under me the second I saw them together. The dizziness from my office had almost knocked me over, but adrenaline had surged in its place. It wasn’t until hours later, when I’d finally collapsed into bed, that I remembered the strange taste of that water I’d gulped down before leaving my office.

Coincidence? Probably. But a part of me didn’t like the way the thought lingered.

By midday, I’d handled two emergency surgeries, signed off on a dozen charts, and calmed down a furious mother whose child had been waiting over three hours. The sheer volume of cases was unnatural not just from accidents and emergencies, but from walk-ins with mild fevers, sore throats, and minor sprains. Things that could have been handled at home or in a small clinic.

Too many people. Too fast. And all asking for me by name.

“Dr. James?”

I turned to find Mia, one of the newer nurses, clutching a tablet. Her expression was tense. “You’ve got six more waiting, and two of them are refusing to see anyone else.”

I exhaled slowly through my nose. “Put them in Exam Rooms Three and Five. Tell them I’ll be there in ten.”

Mia hesitated. “Amanda… they’re saying they read about you online. That you’re the best doctor in Seattle.”

The words made me pause. My name was out there sure but this sudden wave of praise? It was too neat. Too coordinated. And it felt… deliberate.

Someone wanted me drowning in work.

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By the time I finally made it back to my office for a five-minute break, my head was pounding. I locked the door, leaned against it, and closed my eyes.

Levi’s face swam into my mind again — the way he’d looked at me when he asked what I meant about never giving him back to Ryan. That brief flicker of uncertainty in his eyes had gutted me.

I’d covered it up with a smile, but the truth was, I didn’t trust Ryan. Not with Levi. Not with anything.

The knock at my door jolted me.

“Dr. James?” Mia’s voice.

I opened it just enough to peer out. “What is it?”

“You’ve got a call on line two. Says it’s urgent.”

I stepped inside, grabbed the phone, and pressed the button. “Dr. James.”

A familiar voice slid through the line smooth, low, measured. “Busy day, Amanda?”

My stomach sank. I didn’t recognize the number, but I knew the tone. It was the same man who’d been handling hospital management arrangements.

“I’m in the middle of a crisis,” I said flatly. “What do you want?”

“Just checking in,” he replied easily. “I hear you’ve been quite the headline lately. Word of mouth is a powerful thing.”

My fingers tightened around the receiver. “If you’re behind this sudden influx, it needs to stop. You’re burning out my staff.”

He chuckled, like I’d told him a good joke. “Pressure brings out the best in people. And in you, Amanda, it’s going to prove something I need to know.”

“Which is?” I bit out.

“Whether you can keep performing when every part of your life is being pulled thin.”

There was something in the way he said it like he knew about Ryan, about Levi, about the restraining order. Like this wasn’t just about the hospital anymore.

Before I could respond, he added, “Oh, and Amanda… drink plenty of water. You’ll need the energy.”

The line went dead.

That evening, my shift ended late again. By the time I made it home with Levi, he was half-asleep in the back seat. I carried him inside, settled him into bed, and stood there for a while just watching him breathe.

He looked so peaceful like this. Safe. Protected. Everything I wanted for him.

But deep down, I could feel the edges of my control fraying. Someone was pushing me at work, in my personal life trying to find a crack big enough to split open.

And if I didn’t find out who it was soon, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold everything together.