Chapter 3

I swallowed two heavy-duty painkillers and called Richard, my mentor.

"Professor, I've thought it through. I'm joining the Doctors Without Borders program in Kenya."

There was a long sigh on the other end. "All right, Lillian. I'll put your name in. You leave in a month."

I'd barely finished unpacking and fallen into bed when someone started pounding on my door.

It wasn't until I reached the administration floor that I learned what had happened. Arthur and Cecilia had filed a formal complaint against the hospital. Worse, the medical foundation Arthur controlled had withdrawn every dollar it had pledged to the new emergency building.

The director's door stood half open. Someone inside was shouting, and my mentor, a man the whole hospital looked up to, stood with his head bowed, taking it.

"Richard! Lillian's credentialing isn't even finalized, and you let her lead the operation? Tens of millions in foundation money, gone!"

"But she didn't make a single mistake in that emergency..." Richard tried.

"Enough! This isn't up for discussion. You're suspended, effective immediately. Go and apologize to Arthur and his fiancée in person. You come back when the money does."

Richard came out gray-faced. When he saw me at the door, he quickly put on a reassuring smile. "Don't listen to him. You focus on getting ready for Kenya. I'll take care of this."

That emergency building was ten years of his life. I was not going to let my old mess wreck it.

For the next two weeks I haunted the lobby of the foundation's headquarters.

The receptionists looked at me like something stuck to their shoes. The staff didn't bother lowering their voices.

"That's her, right? I heard she slept her way into the boss's bed back in the day, then went after some other rich guy and got dumped."

"And now she's back hanging around him. Cecilia's his actual fiancée. Who does she think she is?"

I'd heard all of it seven years ago, so many times it had stopped landing.

None of it touched me now.

I just wanted this mess resolved so I could leave for good.