All Chapters of The Surgeon’s Revenge Deal: Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

GwenI made it back to my room without running into anyone who wanted to talk.The second the door clicked shut I locked it, kicked off my heels, and sat on the edge of the bed for a long minute with my head in my hands. My lips still felt swollen. My skin still remembered the press of his hands. I hated how easily my body had answered him.My phone lit up on the nightstand.Rosa.I almost ignored it. Then I answered, because she would keep calling if I didn’t.“Hey,” I said, trying to sound normal.“There you are.” Her voice was bright, a little breathless, the sound of someone who had just stepped into pure happiness. “We’re at the hotel. The suite is ridiculous. There’s an actual champagne fountain. Who even needs that?”I managed a small laugh. “You do, apparently. You sound good.”“I feel good. Exhausted, but good.” She paused. “You okay? You left kind of fast after the reception. I didn’t get to say a proper goodbye.”I stared at the opposite wall.“I’m fine,” I said. “Just tire

AlexIt was an unexpected entertainment. Seeing her wishing she could be buried underground. Unfortunately, there was no underground on the plane. Only falling thirty thousand feet to your death.I carefully wrapped the clothes she had drooled over. It was going to come in handy very soon. The certainty had settled in my chest the moment she first glared at me from that aisle seat. The shape of her mouth. The way her eyes narrowed when she was cornered. The particular brand of stubborn silence she weaponized when she didn’t want to give someone the satisfaction of a reaction. Janessa, she called herself. Convenient. Clean. Forgettable.But I knew better.I had known the second her body answered that kiss at the reception like it had been waiting years to be touched that way. Gwen. It had to be. The same woman who had disappeared years ago without a single forwarding address, the same one whose file still sat in a locked drawer in my office because some debts never fully close. I was

GwenThe moment the seat-belt sign switched off I was on my feet.I grabbed my bag from the overhead bin before Alex could even unbuckle, muttered something that might have been “excuse me,” and forced my way into the aisle. People were still gathering their things. I didn’t care. I needed distance the way lungs need air.He didn’t try to stop me. That almost made it worse. I could feel him watching as I moved toward the front of the plane, calm and patient, like a man who already knew there would be another chance.Four hours.Four hours of his shoulder occasionally brushing mine when the plane hit turbulence. Four hours of him reading some medical journal while I stared at the same page of a book without absorbing a single word. Four hours of that low, controlled voice saying my new name like it amused him.I had kept my answers short. One-word replies. Polite enough not to make a scene, cold enough to make it clear I wanted silence. He had respected the silence, mostly. But every

GwenMarcus leaned back in his chair like a man who already owned the room.“I’ve always admired the way you handle numbers,” he said, almost conversational. “Most people in your position would have folded months ago. You didn’t. You kept the research alive, kept the staff paid, kept the doors open when others would have sold everything and walked away. That takes more than luck. It takes real spine.”I gave him a polite, empty smile.“Flattery before the offer. Classic.”He chuckled as if I’d said something charming—one of the men in suits returned with two plates. The branzino looked perfect; crisp skin, lemon slices, a neat pile of roasted vegetables. The smell alone was enough to make my stomach tighten with hunger I refused to acknowledge.Marcus picked up his fork without hesitation.“Eat,” he said. “We have time.”I didn’t touch the plate. Instead I reached for the water glass again, took a small sip, and set it down carefully.“Upset stomach,” I said lightly. “Airport food yes

Alex“Your damsel is in distress. If you want to save her, act fast.” No name. No explanation. Just those two lines and a location pin that matched the live share Janessa had sent earlier to her lawyer and Elias. I stared at the screen for half a second, then I was already moving.I took the stairs two at a time, shoved through the hospital doors, and drove faster than was safe. The address sat in a quiet residential pocket on the edge of the Riverside district, expensive houses, high fences, the kind of place people paid for privacy.I left the car running in the street and went straight for the front door. It was already open. Splintered near the lock. Someone had forced it.Inside, the house was too quiet.I followed the sound of low voices down the hall and stopped in the doorway of a bedroom that still smelled of steam and fear. Janessa was wrapped in a blanket, sitting on the edge of the bed. Elias had both arms around her, holding her like he had every right to. Her face was