LOGINTheir deep voices boomed through the room in perfect synchronization.Maya flinched, her eyes widening in shock. She squeezed her hands against her chest, her bottom lip trembling.“I… I know how much power the Chief Surgeon holds in this facility,” she said softly. “And I understand that I’m just a first-year resident.”She clasped her hands together.“But that doesn’t mean my statement should be dismissed. I don’t have a famous last name or a powerful family backing me. I’m just trying to do what’s right.”Spirit’s eyes narrowed.Oh, please.“Enough!” Charles barked, his rage exploding through the room like a thunderclap.The sound made Maya jump in shock, her feet shuffling backward.“Enough of your nonsense and your pathetic lies!” Charles growled, his eyes flashing with irritation.His teeth gritted against the subtle ache between his legs.“How could you stand before the panel with so much dishonesty? Your blatant disregard for the facts is an embarrassment to the medical profes
Maya arrived a few minutes later, stepping into the boardroom with her shoulders straight and her head held high. She immediately arranged herself, pulling off a hyper-respectful look designed to suck up to the three women on the panel.Her scrub was crisp, and she was practically beaming with triumph. “Pathetic,” Spirit gagged in her mind.“Is this the witness who reported the alleged interaction between the Chief Surgeon and Nurse Browne?” Dr. Sterling asked, tapping her pen against the top sheet of the compliance file.“Yes, ma’am. That’s me,” Maya said, nodding quickly as she took her spot right beside Spirit.Spirit stood there silently, watching Maya from the corner of her eye with a satisfied smile.Idiot, Spirit sneered to herself.Maya actually didn’t see a single thing from the beginning. She was nothing but a secondhand gossiper eager to steal the spotlight.The real person who had walked up and caught her with Chase was Chloe.But Spirit happened to be a ride-or-die frien
The hallway outside the boardroom felt like a countdown to an execution.Spirit paced back and forth, her heart beating wildly against her ribs as if it wanted to break straight through her scrubs. She had been trapped in this agonizing limbo for five minutes, and every second felt like a tick closer to losing everything she had sacrificed her youth to build.Chase was leaning flat against the wall next to her, checking his gold watch with an impatient look on his face. He adjusted his jacket, letting out a bored sigh.“Look, if I have to spend another five or fifteen minutes roasting out here while they prep the firing squad, I’m dipping,” Chase muttered, running a hand through his perfectly styled hair.“I bet Charles is definitely the one keeping Chris waiting. The guy thrives on being a drag.”“They’ll be here soon,” Spirit murmured, keeping her eyes locked on the end of the hallway.“Just stay put, Chase. My whole life is riding on this.”Chase shrugged. “Whatever.”Right on cue,
Charles let out a ragged grunt as he collapsed forward, his palms slamming against the edge of his desk to keep himself from hitting the floor. Sweat was literally pouring down his forehead, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the wood for dear life.Every single nerve in his lower half was screaming in agony. He was vibrating with unfiltered rage, his jaw clenched so tightly he was pretty sure he was about to crack a molar.“Fucking… little…” Charles choked out, his voice a gravelly, pained whisper as he hoisted himself into a nearby chair.He slumped backward, but even sitting down felt like a fresh punishment. Every slight movement sent another brutal pulse of pain through his battered groin, forcing him to suck in a shaky breath through gritted teeth.“I’ll kill her. I swear to God, I am gonna find a way to get that little menace kicked out of this facility.”BAM.The office door burst open.Charles snapped his head around, his eyes flashing with a venomous glare. He fully ex
“Hey,” Chase protested, placing a hand dramatically over his chest. “That was unnecessarily cruel, Browne.”“I merely stated a fact. Why are you so offended?”Chase let out an exaggerated sigh and clicked his tongue, shaking his head at her.“You really wound me, you know that?”He straightened in his chair, looking at her with mock disappointment.“Do you have any idea that I’m actually an orthopedic surgeon? Why do you think I’m not in the OR setting broken bones?”Spirit’s brows shot up in disbelief.“You? A surgeon?”“Grandpops put me in this position for a reason, Nurse Browne,” Chase continued, sitting up and resting his elbows on the desk, his eyes locked onto hers with an unsettling intensity.“He knows I have a golden tongue and a supernatural ability to talk my way into getting anything I want out of women. It’s a talent. I help them feel good, and they help the hospital budget. It’s a win-win.”The word help instantly struck a match in Spirit’s brain, dragging her back to
Spirit watched Chris walk away. She stood in the middle of the hallway for a second, her chest heaving as she tried to get her bearings.Suddenly, a realization hit her, and she smacked her forehead in frustration.Am I seriously this stupid? she screamed at herself.Why hadn’t she just asked Chris where Chase’s office was?Charles had mentioned yesterday that all three brothers worked at the hospital, which meant the playboy was definitely somewhere in this building.But Voss Memorial was a sprawling, multi-wing medical fortress. Hunting him down randomly would take hours she didn’t have. She needed a faster source of information.Spirit spun on her heel and sprinted back toward the Med-Surg nurse’s station. Just as she rounded the corner, she saw Chloe and a small group of first-year residents walking out of the scrub room.They were still adjusting their stethoscopes and checking their clipboards after coming down from a procedure.The moment Chloe spotted Spirit rushing toward her
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
Spirit froze, the kit suddenly weighing a hundred pounds. If she went back to the hospital now, she would lose the five-thousand-dollar bonus. Worse, Katherine would know she had failed on her very first day, completely ruining her credibility before her residency even truly began. She thought o







