Chapter 3

Craig posted photos on his private social media feed, the one he set to me as the only viewer, showing the two of them tangled together in the afterglow.

I sank to the floor, gutted.

Hit one time too many, I pulled out my phone and posted something of my own.

[My mother is dying in her hospital bed while Dr. Hartigan is off having an affair with her male protégé, the same one who committed malpractice against her last year.]

The post shot to the top of the trending page within minutes. While it was still hot, I uploaded their intimate photos too.

The whole internet turned on Craig at once, calling him a homewrecker who belonged in prison.

Ann's call finally came through, and she tore into me before I could even get a word out.

"Have you lost your mind, Shawn Bryant?

"You'd actually threaten Craig like this? Let me ask you one thing. Do you still want your mother alive or not?"

I gripped the phone tight, my eyes burning red. "You care about her that much? Then get over here right now and operate on her."

There was a pause on the other end, then a cold, contemptuous snort. "You'd fabricate a story this pathetic just to smear Craig? I never received any surgery notification."

The call cut off. A few minutes later, a top comment appeared under my post, already racking up likes.

[My husband, Shawn Bryant, has a mental illness. Everything above is a delusion of his, brought on by nothing but jealousy over how young and handsome Dr. Craig McDermott is. That's why he made these inappropriate statements.]

[As his wife, I apologize to everyone on his behalf.]

[I'll make sure he personally apologizes to Dr. McDermott, and I welcome the public to hold him to it.]

Attached was a certificate diagnosing me with a mental illness.

My phone exploded with notifications in an instant.

[If he's sick, go get treated, don't come out here hurting people!]

[His mother dying is karma. Guy can't stop getting jealous over another man. What a loser.]

[Don't heal his mother until he apologizes. That's letting him off way too easy!]

...

I listened to the abuse pour in, helpless to defend myself against any of it.

Ann's next call came through, her tone frozen solid. "Get to the third floor right now and apologize to Craig. Think about your mother before you refuse."

She was actually using my mother's life to threaten me.

But the situation in the operating room wasn't good, and I raced against the clock up to the third floor. The moment I walked in, countless livestream cameras swung toward me, and strangers stared at me like I was something diseased.

Craig was hunched against Ann, sobbing.

"Man, you've ruined my reputation..."

A storm of slaps rained down on me before he'd even finished speaking, and my clothes were torn to shreds in seconds. Someone's foot slammed into the back of my knee.

"Apologize, you bastard!"

I was practically stripped bare in front of all of them, blood seeping from the corner of my mouth. Ann furrowed her brow and looked away, probably thinking I'd embarrassed her in front of everyone.

But I couldn't afford to care about any of that. I begged, humiliated. "I'll apologize. My mother's condition flared up. Please..."

Before I even finished, Ann's face went dark.

"That's enough, Shawn! If you still want me to operate on your mother, slap yourself a hundred times in front of everyone and apologize! Or do you want to stand there and watch Craig's whole future get destroyed instead?"

I thought of my mother's breath growing weaker by the second. I nearly bit through my own cheek, and I didn't have the strength left to even clench my hands.

Just as I was about to give in, a doctor's call came through, frantic.

"Mr. Bryant, your mother is about to pass. If you come now, you might still make it in time to see her."