Lahat ng Kabanata ng My Boyfriend’s Dad Is My Gynecologist : Kabanata 121 - Kabanata 130

StacyI called in the kind of favor that comes with blood in the ink.Nate Ellington—CEO of a biomedical tech company so rich it made the Fortune 500 blush. We’d met at a conference years ago, bonded over scotch and surgical horror stories. I never cashed the chip he owed me.Until now.“I need your jet,” I said without preamble.“You got it,” Nate replied. “Where and how fast?”“Puerto Vallarta. Immediately.”Silence. Then, “Who do I need to bury?”“Not yet,” I said. “But keep a shovel warm.”Within two hours, I was in the back of a black Escalade headed to the airfield. My phone buzzed constantly—messages from the PI, updates from Adam, confirmation the funds were ready to wire.But my head was somewhere else.On Beth.Tied up. Terrified. Alone.And I wasn’t there.I stared out the tinted window, jaw clenched so tight I could feel the echo of it in my temples.When the plane door opened, the pilot nodded. “We’ve been instructed to fly low and fast. Wheels up in five.”Good. Because

BethRoy was humming.Low and off-key, like a drunk pretending not to be drunk.He leaned against the far wall, peeling a clementine with slow, sticky fingers like he didn’t have a front-row seat to my kidnapping. Every so often, he’d glance my way and smile.“You know,” he drawled, licking juice from his knuckles, “if I were him, I wouldn’t be rushing back. Not when there’s a whole buffet waiting down south.”I didn’t answer.Didn’t blink.Didn’t even breathe too loud.He pushed off the wall and wandered closer—only a few steps—but enough to make my pulse spike.“Bet he’s enjoying himself,” Roy continued, cocking his head. “Sun. Sand. Maybe even a blonde or two.”Still, I said nothing.He crouched down in front of me, eyeing the zip ties at my ankles like he was trying to decide how fast he could cut them. His voice dropped to a whisper.“Won’t matter once Mick’s done with you. You won’t want him after that. Won’t want anyone.”My jaw clenched so tight I felt something crack behind m

BethThe double cheeseburger didn’t stand a chance.By the time we pulled out of the drive-thru, the smell had me clawing the wrapper like an animal. I shoved the first bite into my mouth before Stacy had even turned back onto the main road.The Dr. Pepper was cold, fizzy, and glorious.I didn’t even care about the grease dripping down my wrist.“Take it easy,” Stacy said, glancing over at me with a half-smile and a worried crease between his brows. “You don’t have a time limit, baby. No one’s gonna take it from you.”I paused mid-chew, blinking. “Was I eating fast?”He huffed a soft laugh. “Like a damn cartoon character.”I slowed down after that—barely. By the time we reached his house, the burger was gone, the fries were a memory, and my soda cup was a hollow graveyard of ice.He parked, cut the engine, and ca

StacyTonight mattered.That thought had been circling my head since noon, quiet but insistent, like my brain was afraid to say it too loudly in case it tempted fate.After being on leave for a week, Beth had finally gone back to work today.Not because anyone pushed her. Not because she felt obligated. Because she wanted to. Because she’d decided she was done letting one night define the edges of her life. And possibly because she was also going a little stir-crazy—though she would never admit it. I stood in my office, jacket folded over the back of my chair, hands braced on the desk, breathing through the familiar scent of antiseptic and paper and old leather. Normal. God, I wanted normal to stick.The suede ring box sat heavy in the inside pocket of my jacket, I’d gone ahead and put it there so Beth wouldn’t accidentally catch me doing it. Then I’d checked it twice already without meaning to. Still there. Still real.Dinner reservations were set. A quiet place. No crowds. Nothing

BethAt first, there was nothing.No sound.No light.Just black.Not the comforting kind. The hollow kind. Like I’d fallen into the space between breaths and forgotten how to climb back out.Then the ringing started.High. Shrill. Endless.I blinked.Once.Twice.Light bled back in around the edges, blurry and unfocused. Shapes moved. The night sky above me swam like it didn’t quite belong to this world.I sucked in a breath.I wasn’t dead.I wasn’t shot.“Oh my God,” I whispered, the words barely making it past the ringing in my ears.Relief surged through me so hard it almost knocked me back out again—And then I saw him.Stacy.On the ground.Blood.So much blood.“No—no, no, no,” I choked, scrambling forward on shaking hands and knees. My palms slipped on asphalt slick with red as I reached him. “Stacy—oh my God, Stacy—”He was on his side, one arm curled toward his chest, the other stretched out like he’d tried to reach for me even as he fell. His face was pale, eyes unfocused,