جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 10

"Ma'am. The Boss is going to the casino alone tonight. You don't need to go." Marco, the butler, wouldn't look me in the eye."He thinks I'm tired from surgeries." I clipped on my earrings. "It's fine. I'll go check on him."Three years of marriage. That VIP floor? I always walked in there on Killian's arm. Always.But for the last six months? He said he didn't need me. I didn't listen tonight.The elevator hit the top floor. The gold-rimmed door at the end of the hall. It was cracked open. Voices slipped out."Boss, is this Miss Hayes? She's beautiful." A new guy. Kissing up."Yeah. My personal medic." Killian sounded lazy. "As for my wife..."He paused. I heard the sneer in his voice. "She lives in the morgue. She reeks of formalin and blood. Bringing her here? Kills the mood."But his knuckles were white around his glass. I knew. Mexican cartels were coming tonight. Highly dangerous. He used cruel words to keep me away. Keep me safe. But his eyes on Brielle? They were soft. Too soft

My lungs felt like burning sand.Last thing I did before blacking out? I smashed the emergency valve on the wall.Sirens screamed. I remembered five years ago. Killian pinned me to the wall. He swore to me. "As long as I breathe, nothing will ever hurt you."Turns out, vows have an expiration date.I opened my eyes. White ceiling.Tube in my throat."Valerie, don't move." Carter. My coworker for ten years. His face was dark. "Severe lack of oxygen. Alveoli damage. You'll have chronic chest pain forever. No cure."I moved my lips. No sound."Don't speak." He held my hand. "You almost died last night."He paused. He was furious. "The siren went off. Killian ran back like a madman. Smashed the backup glass with his bare hands. Shredded his own flesh to get you out. But right after he brought you to the ER? Brielle fainted in the safe house. Claimed the shock was making her miscarry. He rushed out to hold her."Carter gritted his teeth. "You almost died in that chamber. And Brielle? She to

I dragged my bleeding body to the guest room. Gritting my teeth.My finger touched the micro-camera under my collar. My eyes were cold as a scalpel.Ever since the whipping. I started recording everything in this house. Never stopped.Five years ago. I pulled him from hell.Five years later. I'm sending him right back.I caught a high fever that night. Curled in bed. Shaking violently. My back throbbed. I grabbed my painkillers. Dry swallowed two pills.Closed my eyes. Just one thought. Survive this. Sign the divorce papers. Never see this man again.I passed out from the fever.Middle of the night. Someone ripped my blanket off. Freezing cold woke me up.Before I could see who. A hand grabbed my wrist. Dragged me off the bed.My torn back hit the floor. Explosive pain."What happened to your back?!" Killian saw the huge bloodstains in the hall light. His eyes went wide. Total panic. Total pain.Before I could speak. The door banged open. Brielle stumbled in. Holding her arm tight.Red

Killian's POVWhen the divorce papers hit my face, I thought I was losing my mind.Marco stood at the study door. He held the gold-stamped document. His face was paler than a corpse."Boss, this is...""I know what it is." I snatched it. My knuckles turned white from the grip.Valerie's signature. Neat like a scalpel cut. Right on the last line.I stared at that name for ten whole seconds. Then I grabbed the crystal glass on the desk and smashed it hard against the wall.Glass shattered everywhere. Just like my sanity."Is this woman playing hard to get again?" I gritted my teeth. "She thinks this will scare me?"I just went to a fake prenatal checkup with Brielle. My head was full of the doctor saying "the fetal heartbeat is normal." Now this piece of paper was messing with my head.I crumpled the papers and threw them into the fireplace.The flames licked the paper. I told myself I would go get Valerie back myself when this blew over.Suddenly, an email popped up on my private encryp

Valerie's POVThe shell hit less than two hundred meters from the medical tent.The ground shook. The hemostatic forceps jumped on the operating table."Dr. Pierce, blood pressure is dropping!" A nurse yelled over the explosions.I pressed down on the patient's abdomen. My fingers were steady as a rock."Keep going." I said. "No time for fear here."It had been six months since I left New York.Six months ago, I closed my eyes on a plane. My chest was emptier than ever.Six months later, I stood in the yellow sands of the Syrian border. I smelled formalin mixed with blood. Yet I felt grounded.No bulletproof SUVs here. No gold-plated VIP rooms. Nobody talking behind my back about my "corpse stench."Just emergency lights that might die in an airstrike. And endless surgeries.I cut my hair short. The moment the scissors snapped, I felt like I buried my past and my name in this sand.For six months, I did surgeries day and night. I used the brutal work to piece my shattered soul back tog