Chapter 1

My phone vibrated. I had just finished a six-hour surgery and was leaning against a locker in the changing room, too exhausted to even move my fingers.

On the screen, a single word flashed: Hubby.

I swiped to answer. Before I could say anything, James’s urgent voice came through the line, sharp and breathless, with the piercing wail of an ambulance siren in the background.

“Emily, are you at the hospital? Get to the ER! Now! Olivia’s been in a car accident!”

Olivia. The name hit like a needle straight into my already frayed nerves.

She was James’s first love, the woman who had lived in the softest corner of his heart for the past seven years.

My throat tightened. My fingers curled around the phone.

“I just got out of surgery,” I said. “I’m exhausted.”

“Come anyway! I need you. Olivia needs you!”

His tone was firm, commanding, leaving no room for refusal.

I fell silent. Through the receiver, I heard his voice soften, low, gentle, clearly meant for someone else. He was probably comforting Olivia, calming her down.

That voice…I never heard him use it with me.

“Emily? Are you still there? Hurry up!”

“…Okay.”

I hung up, peeled off my sweat-soaked surgical scrubs, slipped on my white coat, and headed toward the ER, the place that feels both familiar and suffocating.

The emergency department was chaos.

I spotted James immediately.

His tall frame was wrapped protectively around a petite woman as he spoke urgently with an ER doctor, his face etched with concern.

That woman was Olivia.

A bandage was taped to her forehead, blood seeping through the gauze. Her face was pale as paper, her body pressed against James’s chest, fragile enough to shatter at the slightest touch.

Beside them stood my six-year-old son, Jack.

His small hand gripped Olivia’s sleeve tightly. He looked up at her with wide eyes, eyes so much like James’s, filled with worry and confusion.

The scene looked almost harmonious and painfully ironic. And I was the outsider.

My steps slowed to a stop.

James noticed me and immediately waved me over, his voice tensed with urgency. “Emily, come take a look! Olivia’s leg might be fractured, and she hit her head. She’s dizzy and nauseous!”

I walked over, my expression calm as I scanned Olivia briefly, then turned to my colleague. “What’s her condition?”

The ER doctor hesitated, then opened the medical record folder: “Dr. Emily, suspected tibial fracture in the left leg, head trauma as well. We need a CT immediately to rule out intracranial bleeding.”

“Then proceed according to process,” I said evenly.

James’s brows snapped together. He grabbed my wrist hard enough to hurt. “Process?” he snapped. “You’re a cardiothoracic specialist. You can’t just examine her yourself? I don’t trust anyone else!”

The look in his eyes was sharp, suspicious like he had already convinced I’d let personal feelings interfere.

My heart clenched, a sharp sting spreading through my chest.

He didn’t trust me because the patient was Olivia.

“James,” I said slowly, meeting his gaze, “this is a hospital. There are trained ER physicians here. I’m a cardiothoracic surgeon. Cross-specialty diagnosis isn’t allowed.”

My composure only seemed to fuel his anger.

“Allowed? Emily, this is about a human life. You want to talk rules right now? Can’t you see how much pain Olivia’s in?”

Olivia let out a soft, pained whimper. She looked up at me, eyes glassy with tears, her voice weak and full of apology.

“James, please don’t talk to Emily like that… This is my fault… I shouldn’t have caused you any trouble…”

The more she spoke, the tighter James’s hold became, and the colder his eyes were when they turned back to me.