Chapter 16

Dr. Keller comes running the instant he hears me shouting his name.

As Dr. Brooks raises her arm for a third swing, Dr. Keller suddenly lunges forward and grabs her wrists. Twisting her around, he pins her back against his chest and wrenches the bloody scissors out of her grip. With a powerful toss, he hurls the weapon deep into the overgrown bushes near the building.

I lie on the dirt floor, writhing in agony. Dr. Keller glances down at me, his eyes wide with horror at the sight of my bleeding arm, and releases his grip on Dr. Brooks. But she isn’t done. She turns on him aggressively, striking out with fury.

“You need to leave right now,” Dr. Keller warns, his voice deadly low as he blocks her blows. “You’ve done enough damage.”

She comes at him again, flailing with both hands. He uses his forearms to defend himself, pushing her back. “Leave us alone, Nellie! You’re only making it worse. Just leave us alone!”

Realizing her efforts against him are futile, her manic gaze returns to me with double the strength of pure vengeance. I am curled in a fetal position, facing them, when she suddenly steps forward and delivers a sharp kick to my knees. I let out a scream, curling further into a ball as the fear takes over. As she draws her leg back to kick me in the abdomen, Dr. Keller yanks her backward by the collar of her top. His hand cracks across her face in a brutal, resounding slap. He then shoves her hard toward the exit, completely ignoring the blood dribbling from her mouth. She stumbles forward, glaring back at him.

“I wasn’t going to do anything, but you wouldn’t let me!” he screeches as he stalks behind her and shoves her forward twice more until she stumbles blindly into the shadows behind the building and disappears.

Dr. Keller rushes back to my side, dropping to his knees. “Where did she stab you?” he asks, his eyes wide and wild with fear.

I weakly gesture to my arm. He examines the wound quickly, breathing a ragged sigh. “It’s not too deep.” Then his eyes scan my body. “Where else?”

I point toward my back. The moment he pulls up my torn scrub shirt to inspect the damage, a sensation like skin peeling away violently flares through my body. A scream tears from my throat, but he instantly presses his palm gently over my mouth.

“Don’t make a sound, please,” he begs.

I look up at his face, completely bewildered and terrified.

“We don’t want to draw attention,” he says gently, removing his hand from my lips.

He swiftly pulls his own scrub shirt over his head and tears the fabric into long, thick strips with his bare hands. He wraps a piece tightly around my bleeding shoulder and back.

“I think I broke my arm,” I gasp, staring at it blankly. “I can’t move it.”

He gently checks the alignment of the bone. “It looks more like a severe strain,” he says after a brief examination.

“You’re not taking me to the hospital?” I ask.

“I think I can manage it.” He takes a deep, steadying breath and looks directly into my eyes. “Do you trust me enough to let me take care of this my own way?”

The sheer agony is overwhelming; all I want is a dose of heavy pain medication. The massive hospital standing yards away feels like the only logical answer.

“I know, Amelia. I know you’re in a lot of pain,” he says softly, gathering me into a loose embrace. “I don’t think anything is fractured. The wounds are a bit deep, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. Think about what happens if we walk into the ER right now. Think about the aftermath. The entire hospital will know, and then there won’t be an escape for either of us.”

I close my eyes, cradling my injured arm against my chest. “How do you expect to manage this without a hospital?”

“Give me ten minutes,” he pleads. “Will you give me just ten minutes?”

I nod weakly.

“I want you to know that I prefer we don’t go to the hospital, but the decision is ultimately yours,” he adds, his voice dropping to a whisper. “If you want to go, and you think that’s what’s better, tell me, and we will go.”

I keep my eyes squeezed shut, forcing myself to think past the blinding pain. Going to the hospital will be an absolute disaster. The moment they see me with stab wounds, the police will be notified. They will pull the security footage, track the timelines, and start demanding answers about what I was doing with Dr. Keller at an abandoned construction site. I will lose my job instantly. Even if I don’t, continuing to work in this hospital will be impossible. Dr. Keller will somehow survive the scandal; it’s his hospital, after all, but I won’t.

“I don’t want to go to the hospital,” I whisper, opening my eyes.

An intense relief breaks through his gaze, his eyes suddenly glistening with water. He gives me another gentle squeeze before scooping me up into his arms. A sharp cry of pain escapes my lips.

“It’s okay, Amelia. Take deep breaths,” he instructs, his tone shifting into authority.

Wearing nothing but his scrub pants, he carries me out toward his car in the parking lot, his eyes darting around to ensure that no one sees us. Thankfully, the lot is entirely deserted.

“Do you see Dr. Brooks anywhere?” I murmur against his shoulder.

“No, she’s gone,” he replies.

“How do you know?”

“Her car isn’t where it was parked,” he says, his jaw clenching. “Don’t worry about her. I’ll deal with her.”

He opens the back door of his car and carefully lays me across the seat. Just as he shuts the door, a familiar voice calls out his name from across the pavement.

Dr. Keller immediately presses his back flat against the window, completely blocking the view of the interior.

“Are you okay?” the voice asks. My heart stops - it’s Jake.

“I fell,” Dr. Keller lies smoothly, his voice devoid of panic. “Just got a few cuts, that’s all.” He is covered in my blood, which explains the quick excuse.

“Do you need a ride or any help?” Jake asks. Dr. Keller politely but firmly refuses.

A moment later, the driver’s door opens, and Dr. Keller slides into the front seat. “That was Jake. He’s gone,” he murmurs, catching my eye in the rearview mirror. He shifts into drive and slowly navigates the car out of the lot.

“Where are you taking me?” I ask, my voice cracking.

“I have a house in town.”

“You told me you have staff working there,” I remind him, trying to keep my facts straight through the haze of pain.

“Not at this one. That’s my apartment. I have a house as well.”

“Is it like an Airbnb?”

“Kind of,” he replies quietly.

He drives cautiously, but my breath catches when he suddenly maneuvers the car into the driveway of the hospital’s emergency department.

“Are you taking me in?” I ask, wondering if he has changed his mind.

“No,” he says, shifting into park. “I need to grab some medical supplies from inside. I’ll be back in five minutes.”

I look at his bare, blood-streaked torso. “You’re going inside the hospital looking like that?”

“I have clean shirts in the trunk,” he says quickly. “I’ll be right back.” Before I can utter another word, he slips out of the car and disappears through the doors.

I wait in the back seat, tracking the seconds. One minute passes, then three, then five. The pain escalates from a severe throb into an excruciating, burning torture that consumes my entire body. I can’t take it anymore. The interior of the car feels suffocating.

Driven by pure desperation, I make a painful effort to shift my weight. After several torturous attempts, I manage to pull myself into a sitting position. There is no way I can endure this agony without proper medication. I don’t care about the investigation or the fallout anymore. Rather than going through this suffering, I could lie, I think frantically. Tell them a stranger attacked me on the way home; anything to make them stop asking questions.

Trembling violently, I reach for the handle, push the heavy door open, and step out into the cool air. Limping and tightly cradling my mangled shoulder, I begin the long, excruciating walk toward the glass doors of the emergency room.

Suddenly, I hear a car approaching. I turn around to look, instantly recognizing Dr. Brooks’ car. Behind the wheel, her eyes are glaring right into mine. Before I can even twitch, the engine roars and the car charges straight at me. I close my eyes, a scream trapped inside my throat.