LOGINCharles and Chris both froze, their eyes locking onto Mrs. Higgins as panic washed over them. Charles’s analytical mind immediately went into a tailspin, his thoughts racing at a million miles an hour.Please, God, do not let her talk about what’s been going on in this house lately, he thought, his stomach twisting with worry.He was praying she wasn’t about to expose the whole mess with Spirit when she had come to treat them, or the disaster from last night when he had brought her home completely hammered.Chris was having the same internal crisis.Both brothers stared at the old woman, their fearful expressions growing more desperate as they waited for her to reveal what she had come to report. Neither of them dared to speak or even exchange a glance. They just remained on their knees, hoping she would somehow change her mind and keep whatever she knew to herself.Alexander Voss leaned back in his chair, his tired eyes narrowing as he adjusted his grip on the armrest.“Oh, really, M
Alexander let out a long, weary breath and slowly shook his head. He looked obviously fed up, and the beads of sweat on his forehead did little to hide how exhausted he was already. He reached up and briefly rubbed his temple, as if the memory alone was giving him a headache. “I set up exceptional matches for you with women from reputable families, and you three collectively chose to insult my arrangements, sending me messages claiming you were suddenly too sick to attend.” “We were actually sick,” Charles lied smoothly, keeping his gaze anywhere but on his seething grandfather. “Of course you were. You always have an excuse,” Alexander huffed in annoyance. Then he looked around the sprawling living space. “And where on earth is Chase? Is he not aware of my arrival?” “I called him already,” Chris muttered respectfully. “He was busy at the hospital, but he’s on his way home now.” “Good. Because I’ve already heard about the nonsense he’s been pulling while I was gone, bringing al
None of the brothers had a single clue that their grandfather would be touching down anytime soon. They thought they had at least three weeks to get everything ready for the hospital’s yearly fundraising gala. The event was huge for the pediatric wing, and they needed everything to be perfect before their grandfather, the chairman, returned and started asking questions. Usually, Alexander wasn’t expected to return until a couple of days before the gala, so seeing him walk in three weeks early caught the brothers completely off guard. Even Ben, their father’s personal assistant, who usually kept them abreast of the chairman’s itinerary, hadn’t breathed a single word about an early return. But in this family, nobody questioned their grandfather. Whatever he said, went. Now, the tension from the terrace had shifted into the North Wing, which had been shut down since Alexander’s departure two months ago. The mansion was so huge that everyone had their own private area, but the grandfat
Chris let out a mocking cough.“Since when did the great Charles Voss start lying? Aren’t you always the one who’s so upright? So damn proud that you don’t care what people think or say about you? So why the hell are you scared to admit that you fucked a little trainee nurse at the hospital? Oh, sorry, I mean in the hospital’s supply room.”The second the words supply room left his mouth, Chris watched as the blue veins along Charles’s neck and forehead suddenly bulged. His face turned red, and for a brief moment, he looked like he was struggling to keep himself from snapping.Chris knew he’d hit the bullseye. He gave his brother a menacing smile as he stepped right into his personal space.“See? Turns out I’m not lying after all,” Chris whispered. “You did fuck her.”Charles couldn’t even find his voice. He stood there, completely trapped in his own skin, his breathing growing heavier and more ragged by the second as he tried to contain the beast raging inside his chest.Behind his b
Charles shifted in his outdoor lounge chair, staring blankly at the afternoon sky from his private terrace. He had tapped out and left the hospital early today, something that was completely unheard of for him. As the chief surgeon, his entire reputation was built on being an untouchable, ice-cold machine who never made mistakes.But today? Today had been an absolute train wreck.After that explosive encounter with Spirit in the medical supply room earlier that morning, his focus had completely gone out the window.During a routine post-op check on a trauma patient, his hands had been shaking so badly that he almost misread a critical arterial pressure reading, nearly resulting in him ordering a potentially lethal dose of blood thinners.Thankfully, the nurses on the floor had been keeping an eye on the monitors and caught the problem before anything happened, but the close call had chilled him to the bone. Realizing he was becoming a walking liability, he’d called in sick, grabbed h
But Ivy?Ivy was brilliant, successful, and perfectly capable of handling her own life. She had her own money, her own career, and the ability to work through almost any problem that came her way. She didn’t need a man to step in and save the day, and she wasn’t afraid to prove it.Chris loved Ivy. He admired her intelligence, respected her independence, and knew how much she cared about him.But standing there beside her, he realized he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt truly needed in their relationship.He’d spent so much time thinking about how much he loved her that he’d never stopped to ask himself whether he felt fulfilled, either. Somewhere along the way, he’d started confusing being needed with being loved. And now he wasn’t sure he knew how to separate the two.He didn’t want Ivy to become helpless just so he could feel important. That wasn’t what he wanted, and he knew it wasn’t fair to her.He just wanted to feel as though he had a place in her life that no one els
Spirit had spent the remainder of the afternoon tucked in the bedroom, the television playing in the background while her tired eyes tracked the slow hands of the wall clock. Despite the ridiculous luxury surrounding her, her stomach was beginning to growl with hunger. Chris had told her to u
For ten agonizing seconds, the only movement in the room was the slow drift of dust in the morning sunbeams.Spirit’s hand remained suspended in mid-air, the palm burning as if she had struck an open flame instead of human skin. The vibration of the impact rattled right up to her elbow. Then, t
A mocking chuckle vibrated through Charles’s chest. “You’ve got a lot of nerve for a rookie, Nurse Browne,” Charles murmured, straightening to his full, imposing height. He took a step forward, using his tall body to crowd her into the glass side table. “But let’s get something straight. This is
“I don’t care where or how you’re gonna do it, John! Find someone!” The furious voice cut right through the silence of the lobby where Spirit Browne was seated with her messenger bag strapped to her shoulder. It was her first official day at Voss Memorial Hospital as a licensed Registered Nurse r







