All Chapters of Ten Years of Waiting, One Chance to Love Her: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

After failing to convince Rory to join him for drinks, Jason had accepted a last-minute dinner invitation from a business partner who happened to be hosting an event at the same garden estate.He didn't expect to see Alisha there.The moment she stepped into the corridor, surprise crossed his face. "You're dining here?"Alisha ignored him and kept walking, but Jason stepped in front of her."Didn't you use to love coming here with me? Since we're already here, why don't you join us for dinner?"Before Alisha could answer, Rory stepped out of the private dining room.He had heard the last part of Jason's invitation, and his eyes immediately fell on her. Something dark flashed across his face.Alisha couldn't explain why, but she sensed at once that his mood had soured even further. He had already seemed unusually cold during dinner, and now he looked even more withdrawn."Rory?" Jason paused. "You had a dinner date here too?"Rory gave a slight nod.Jason almost asked where Ro

When Alisha left the director's office, she had received more than a formal suspension notice. Her recently approved promotion to attending physician had also been put on hold.She returned to the consultation room and had just hung up her lab coat when her mentor, Helen Walters, the chief of neurosurgery, walked in."Dr. Walters," Alisha greeted."I heard about your conversation with the director this morning." Helen looked at her with a mixture of concern and helplessness. "You really had the nerve to confront him about his affair to his face. Can't you ever learn to keep your composure?""No. I can't.""Do you know who leaked the video?""Yes."Helen let out a quiet breath of relief.She had mentored Alisha for years and knew her better than most.Alisha had never allowed her personal feelings to interfere with her judgment as a doctor, nor had she ever compromised her ethics because of them.Whenever Alisha said she understood what was going on, Helen knew she had already

This time, Alisha knew it was no trick of her imagination.Rory was staring at her with the unmistakably possessive gaze of a husband looking at his wife. Except they were not married. Not yet."Why aren't you answering?" Rory asked, his voice flat and unreadable.The light turned green, and he shifted his attention back to the road.After a beat of hesitation, Alisha swiped her thumb across the screen and brought the phone to her ear.Jason's voice came through. "Honey, where are you?"Before the intimate endearment could even register, Rory cast another heavy, lingering glance in her direction.Her scalp prickled beneath the oppressive weight of his gaze. Instinctively turning toward the window, she watched the city blur past outside and spoke into the phone."What kind of crazy fit are you throwing now?"On the other end of the phone, Jason was already fuming.He had rushed over the moment he got off the phone with his mother, leaving his meeting before it was even over, o

"Are you ever going to stop?" Jason barked, his voice dripping with hostility. "The moment you step into this building, you start making a scene. Just how many people do you intend to drive to their deaths?"Alisha kept her eyes lowered, unfazed by his outburst.She simply pulled out her phone, played the video through to the end, and then brought up the audio recording from her confrontation with Fred."Katie Taylor asked me for the video. She said Jason wanted it, so I sent it to her."As the audio faded, she lifted her head, her voice razor-sharp. "The two of you can figure out who's guilty. So, which one of you is coming with me to the police station?"Jason shot a lethal glare at Katie, who bit her lip and shook her head frantically. "Mr. Wiley, I didn't..."Jason cut her off with a look, taking a quick moment to weigh his options before turning back to Alisha. "I'll explain everything to the hospital board. You can go back to work tomorrow. Let the matter end here."Alisha

Alisha could sense that something inside her was beginning to slip dangerously off course as well."It won't happen again," she murmured, offering Colette a reassuring look."You were injured, and Jason didn't even come to see you once?" Colette asked, folding her arms."Things between Jason and me have reached the point of no return," Alisha said thoughtfully. "If he comes here, either he or I will end up dead. What good would a visit do?"Colette considered that for a moment. "Fair enough. Honestly, the marriages that last the longest are probably the ones where the husband and wife haven't spoken to each other in years—just like my husband and me."Alisha nodded in amused agreement and speared another slice of apple with her fork.Then Colette suddenly remembered something else and leaned forward, her eyes lighting up. "What about Rory? Has he come by to check on you?"Alisha nearly choked on her apple. She quickly swallowed and composed herself."Why bring him up? I'm not c