Chapter 1

I quietly saved the screenshot, then turned off my phone.

From that moment on, I stopped paying attention to Ethan Blake.

Instead, I focused on noon tomorrow—the moment medical students across the country would log into the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) system.

Three days later, Mark Powell, one of Ethan's colleagues and a resident doctor at Redwood General Hospital, messaged me.

"Leah, Ethan's been waiting for you to reach out. The day after tomorrow is his celebration for being promoted to attending physician. Come by. You two can make up."

As I stared at the message, a mocking smile tugged at my lips.

Make up?

Why must I always be the one to give in?

I replied with only one line, "Sorry, I can't make it."

And I truly couldn't.

The day after tomorrow, I was going to be on a flight to Fedria. Northview University's affiliate hospital, Northview Memorial Hospital, was waiting for me to report for its residency program.

As Ethan wished, we would never see each other again.

…

Seven days earlier, Ethan had allowed Victoria Hartfield, his first love and the hospital board chairman's daughter, to sabotage the most important research project of my life.

​When I discovered what Victoria did, I completely broke down. She'd secretly deleted eight months of my experimental data. Even worse, she leaked my research framework to her best friend, who was also applying for the same residency program.

"Do you even understand what she did?" My voice trembled.

"She deleted my research data! My eight months of work! My paper and application for the residency program are all ruined!"

Ethan didn't think it was a big deal. He even set down his cup of coffee with a hint of impatience.

"Come on, Leah. It's just some data. Victoria was in a bad mood that day. Her dad's been pressuring her about marriage. You should try to understand the pressure she's under. You have backups, right? Just reorganize everything."

He said it so casually, as if my future were nothing more than a toy he could knead in his hands.

My voice shook with incredulous rage. "She was in a bad mood, so she gets to destroy someone else's research? Ethan, that's academic misconduct! I can report this to the school!"

"I said it was a misunderstanding!" He shot to his feet, towering over me. Irritation was plain in his eyes.

"It's just a minor issue. Now that you know, just fix it. You always overreact."

He paused, his voice turning colder. "Leah, if you keep being this aggressive, I'll have to reconsider our relationship."

That was a familiar threat.

Ethan knew I couldn't leave him. Every time we argued, he dangled a breakup over my head.

Every time, I compromised.

And every time, I despised myself for being so weak.

Before Victoria showed up, Ethan and I had been steady.

I was a full-scholarship student at Hawford Medical School. He'd been my supervising physician during my third-year clinical rotation.

My mother, a single parent, passed away from cancer while I was in college. The medical debt nearly forced me to give up medical school altogether.

Ethan was the one who helped me apply for financial aid so I could continue my education. From there, our mentor-student relationship evolved into something more.

But ever since Victoria entered the picture, she'd been the source of constant arguments between us.

This was the ninth fight we'd had because of her.

After the first eight, Ethan had always resorted to threatening a breakup. And spineless as I was, I'd always been the one to back down.

This time was no different. He was certain I would compromise again because I loved him.

After issuing his threat, Ethan waited for me to give him an out and apologize first.

But this time…