Chapter 2

Claire wet her dry lips. “He went to get her?”

“Yes,” Cameron said. “Lily’s coming back to work as an attending neurosurgeon here.”

Cameron had trained under the same mentor as Nathan and Lily. He had been a senior to them. For years, he’d wanted the two of them together, and he was fiercely protective of Lily.

The night before Nathan married Claire, Cameron had shown up at the Brooks house drunk. He’d grabbed Nathan by the collar and demanded to know why he couldn’t wait for Lily to come back.

Now, at last, things were getting back to the way they should have been.

“Nathan offered to pick her up himself,” Cameron added. “He was eager to see her. After all, he had waited a whole year.”

“Oh.” Claire gave him a faint smile. “Oh. I see. Sorry to bother you.”

Cameron snorted.

As Claire walked away, she heard voices behind her.

“Aren’t you worried she’ll make a scene with Nathan?”

“Does she dare?” Cameron said. “She’s pretty, and she used that to get between him and Lily. That makes her the other woman.”

One of his colleagues gave a low laugh. “You’re her mother’s doctor. Why talk about her like that?”

Someone else lowered their voice. “I feel a little sorry for her. A friend of mine works in gynecology. She said Claire just found out she can’t have children.”

“What? Poor Nathan. Good thing Lily’s back.”

Claire quickened her pace and stepped into the elevator.

She hadn’t expected her diagnosis to spread so quickly.

Outside the hospital, the last of the sunset caught her eyes, making the world blur for a moment.

“Lily was coming back, and Nathan had flown halfway around the world to bring her home himself.”

Claire walked down the steps with a bitter little smile.

In their entire year of marriage, she hadn’t even been allowed to sit in the front passenger seat of Nathan’s car.

Fine. She would wait until he and Lily got back.

That evening, Claire asked her supervisor for two weeks off and took her mother to Linden Valley.

Her mother had been diagnosed with a brain tumor two years earlier. The surgery hadn’t gone well.

More than anything, she wanted to see Linden Valley while it was covered in flowers.

—

Nathan and Lily landed in Riverton five days later.

Lily had shipped most of her belongings ahead, but she still had plenty with her. Nathan carried three suitcases and four bags into her apartment.

Lily was already stretched out on the sofa, her arms above her head. Her loose curls spilled around her shoulders, and she’d stripped down to a low-cut camisole.

Nathan looked at her coat and the things she’d scattered across the floor. He sighed.

Lily had always been brilliant in the operating room and helpless at home. She was rebellious, exceptionally intelligent, and terrible at taking care of herself.

Then again, she was the cherished daughter of the Quinn family, who owned Quinn Corporation. People had pampered over her all her life.

“Nathan, my head hurts,” she murmured with her eyes closed.

“Want me to call someone over to give you a massage?”

“No.”

Nathan made her a cup of honey water and set it on the coffee table. Then he picked up the things she’d dropped, opened a window, and went to run her a hot bath.

Only then did he head for the door.

Lily watched him from the sofa with a seductive gaze. “Could you stay tonight?”

Nathan’s hand stilled on the doorknob.

He stood with his back to her, lips pressed together.

For a moment, neither of them moved.

Before he could turn around, Lily let out a teasing laugh.

“Go on. Get out of here and let me rest. You’re a married man.”

She put a sharp emphasis on ‘married man’, as if the words disgusted her.

The air between them grew tense. The promises they’d once made to each other meant nothing now. Nathan was married, and neither of them could ignore that fact.

Veins stood out on the back of his hand where he gripped the doorknob.

He took a slow breath. “I’m leaving. Get some rest.”

Lily lay on the sofa and stared at the ceiling, a cold smile on her lips.

Nathan left her apartment and went home to the place he shared with Claire.

He’d spent days traveling. But when he opened the door, the apartment smelled even dustier than his luggage.

Nathan hated dirt. His expression darkened.

He called a cleaner before going to his bedroom.

As he slowly unbuttoned his shirt, his gaze drifted across the room. He let out a long breath and fell back onto the bed.

The travel had worn him out. So had everything with Lily.

He hadn’t been with Claire in a week. When he caught the faint scent she’d left on his pillow, he remembered the last time he’d lost control and carried her into his bed.

Her hair had fallen over her shoulders. She’d been flushed and damp with sweat, clutching the sheets and biting her lip as she tried to keep quiet.

The memory made him crave for her body.

He checked the time. She wouldn’t be home for another two hours.

Nathan slept to regain some energy. When he woke, it was dark.

He got up and went into the living room. The lights were off.

Claire still wasn’t home.

He frowned.

Since their marriage, she had never spent a night away.

The next morning at work, Nathan checked her mother’s chart first.

Diane Parker’s condition hadn’t worsened, but she’d missed a follow-up appointment.

Then a colleague mentioned that Claire had come looking for him.

“I told her you went to Mieda to pick up Lily,” Cameron said, sounding pleased with himself.

Nathan rubbed his brow. “Why would you tell her that?”

“She was going to find out sooner or later.”

Cameron’s meaning was clear. Lily was back. Claire, who couldn’t give Nathan children, needed to step aside.

Nathan didn’t respond. He raised Diane’s chart. “Why didn’t my mother-in-law come in for her follow-up?”

“You weren’t here, and we were swamped that day. I told her and Claire to go home and come back another time. Then I forgot to schedule them.”

“Cameron, I need to remind you that a mistake by this department left my mother-in-law with cognitive impairment after her brain surgery. Her condition is unstable, and hospital policy says she should be given priority. Give her a thorough examination next time. That’s in your best interest, too.”

Nathan walked away with the chart, his face cold.

Cameron stood there, baffled.

—

Sophie was still in medical school. The moment she heard Nathan had brought Lily home, she skipped class and hurried to the hospital.

“Nathan!”

He had just finished his rounds and was walking back with a group of staff behind him.

He frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“Where’s Lily? I want to see her!”

To Sophie and her fellow medical students, Lily was a legend.

Something shifted in Nathan’s eyes at the sound of her name.

“She’s meeting with the hospital director. Don’t bother her.”

Sophie stuck out her tongue. “Relax. I won’t cause trouble for your precious Lily.”

Nathan drew Sophie aside. He wanted to ask whether anything had happened at home while he was gone, and why Claire had come to the hospital looking for him.