Chapter Twenty-Four: When Silence Becomes a Weapon

The hospital had never felt this cold.

Iris noticed it the moment she stepped inside. The way conversations stopped when she passed. The way nurses avoided her eyes. The way doors that once opened easily now felt sealed shut.

Nathaniel was gone.

Suspended. Silenced. Removed like a stain they were eager to scrub away.

She kept her head high anyway.

“Miss Carter,” a senior nurse called sharply. “You’re late.”

It was five minutes past her shift.

“I was cleared to resume at eight,” Iris replied calmly.

The nurse smirked. “That was before yesterday.”

Iris swallowed the sting and nodded. “Understood.”

She moved through the ward on autopilot, hands steady even as her chest burned. Cardiology rounds continued without him. Machines beeped. Hearts beat. Life went on.

But hers felt paused.

Everywhere she turned, reminders of Nathaniel followed her. The way he liked charts arranged. The questions he asked trainees. The calm authority that used to fill the unit.

Now, it was replaced by whispers.

“She slept her way in.”

“She ruined him.”

“She should be expelled.”

Iris clenched her fists and kept walking.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

Unknown Number.

She hesitated, then answered quietly. “Hello?”

“You’re being watched,” Nathaniel’s voice said.

Her breath caught. “Where are you?”

“Safe,” he replied. “For now.”

Relief flooded her so hard her knees weakened. “They’re trying to break me.”

“I know,” he said softly. “That’s why you must not react.”

“They took your career.”

“They can’t take what they don’t own,” he said. “Listen to me. There’s a file. Hidden under patient archives from six years ago.”

Her pulse spiked. “What kind of file?”

“One they buried,” he said. “And one they never thought I’d need.”

Before she could ask more, the line went dead.

That night, exhaustion dragged Iris back to the empty apartment Nathaniel had arranged for her. The silence pressed in on her chest.

She was halfway through changing when a knock sounded.

Her heart jumped.

She opened the door slowly.

Nathaniel stood there.

Unshaven. Eyes dark. Shirt open at the collar like restraint had finally given up.

“I shouldn’t be here,” he said.

“But you are,” she whispered.

He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. The air shifted instantly, thick with everything they’d been holding back.

“I tried to stay away,” he said hoarsely. “I really did.”

She walked toward him without thinking. “I needed you.”

His hands found her waist, gripping like he was afraid she’d vanish. The kiss that followed was hungry, desperate, filled with weeks of fear and restraint breaking all at once.

Iris gasped into his mouth, heat rushing through her as his lips trailed down her jaw, her neck. Her fingers slid into his hair, tugging.

“Tell me to stop,” he breathed.

She didn’t.

He lifted her effortlessly, pressing her back against the wall, his body a solid promise against hers. Their breathing was ragged. Hearts racing.

Then his phone vibrated.

Reality crashed back in.

Nathaniel froze.

He pulled it out, face draining of color as he read the message.

“What?” Iris whispered.

“They know,” he said quietly. “About the file.”

Her stomach dropped. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” he said, meeting her gaze, “they’re running out of patience.”

Another message followed.

A photo.

Her grandmother’s house.

Lights on.

A shadow at the window.

Iris’s scream lodged in her throat.

“They said I have until morning,” Nathaniel whispered, fury shaking his voice. “To surrender.”

The knock came again.

Louder.

Urgent.

Someone was at the door.

And this time…

Nathaniel wasn’t sure who had found them first.