Chapter 13
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Chapter 13
William was always so busy that he could rarely spare 30 minutes for her. Now that they were finally face-to-face, it was the perfect time to bring up the divorce.
But Scarlet found herself hesitating. She didn’t want to break the rare moment of intimacy between them.
“It’s nothing,” she murmured.
She thought to herself that she would discuss it at another time.
William let out a soft chuckle. “If it’s nothing, why did you say my name so beautifully?”
Scarlet’s ears burned with embarrassment. She didn’t know how to respond. She had merely said his name, and she didn’t see what was so special about it, unless he thought his name sounded nice.
“Are you always so narcissistic?” she asked.
William arched an eyebrow, looking completely unfazed. “Is this your first day knowing me?”
As he spoke, he reached for her waist, intending to pull her closer. But a sharp, intrusive ringtone suddenly shattered the harmony.
Scarlet grabbed her phone. It was her colleague, Madison Carter.
“Dr. Benson, we have a car crash victim here. There’s a complex trauma to the right eye. Dr. Parker is asking for you specifically. Get here as fast as you can!”
It was clearly an emergency.
“I’m on my way,” Scarlet said immediately.
She ended the call and looked at William. “I have to get to the hospital.”
William withdrew his hand. “Go. I’ll have Lester drive you.”
By the time Scarlet rushed into the conference room, it was already packed with neurology and neurosurgery teams. An elegant middle-aged woman sat off to the side, her eyes red from crying. She must be the patient’s family.
The hospital’s director, Rowan Parker, beckoned Scarlet over. “Scarlet, take a look at these scans.”
Rowan had been the Chief of Ophthalmology before his promotion and had highly regarded Scarlet ever since she first joined the hospital.
Scarlet wasted no time studying the CT scans and began her analysis.
“It looks like compression and contusion from a high-velocity impact. There’s hemorrhaging and edema in the optic nerve and the sheath. It’s being crushed inside the narrow nerve canal.”
“Will she lose her sight?” the woman asked, her voice trembling.
“Is the patient conscious?” Scarlet asked.
“She’s still in a coma,” Madison replied.
With the patient unconscious, they had to rely entirely on the scans. The window for treating optic nerve damage is small— usually less than 24 hours. If they missed it, the blindness would be permanent.
Scarlet didn’t hesitate. “Based on the damage, we need to operate immediately. Since she already has a hematoma, we should perform the optic nerve decompression during the craniotomy.”
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Chapter 13
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Rowan nodded in approval. “My thoughts exactly.”
Clementine stood up so abruptly that her chair screeched against the floor, and she stormed out of the room.
Scarlet looked after her in confusion. Madison leaned in and whispered, “She saw the scans first and suggested waiting until the patient woke up to see if surgery was necessary. But as soon as Rowan got here, he called for an immediate operation.”
Scarlet shook her head. “She made the wrong call. We don’t know when the patient will wake up. If we miss the window, her vision can’t be saved. Besides, putting her through a second surgery later would be even more traumatic.”
“You and Rowan said the same thing!” Madison said with full admiration.
“The family doesn’t trust her now, and since Rowan handpicked you as the lead, Clementine’s probably fuming,” Madison whispered.
Scarlet didn’t care about Clementine’s ego. Her only focus was on the unconscious patient. Rowan’s personal involvement in the consultation made it clear just how high the stakes were.
Scarlet represented the ophthalmology team, finalizing the treatment plan with the neuro teams, and then moved straight to
prep.
The patient’s mother, Lilly Norton, followed them all the way to the operating room.
Madison offered her a reassuring smile. “Dr. Chesson is out of town on an exchange, but Dr. Benson has the steadiest hands in the department. Your daughter is in good hands, Mrs. Turner.”
Lilly grabbed Scarlet’s hand, her eyes red with tears. “Dr. Benson, please save my daughter.”!
Having grown up as an orphan, Scarlet felt a familiar pang of envy whenever she saw a parent’s fierce devotion. She squeezed the woman’s hand and put on a small, confident smile. “Trust me.”
Madison added, “Dr. Benson always keeps her word. Trust her. The surgery will be a success.”
The Chief of Neurosurgery led the first half, clearing the hematoma and damaged brain tissue. Once the path to the optic nerve was clear, Scarlet took over. Working under the microscope with a high-speed micro-drill, she carefully opened the nerve canal to relieve the pressure.
The procedure was a complete success. By the time Scarlet stepped out of the operating room, it was nearly 2:00 am.
Once the adrenaline faded, a dull, throbbing ache took over her head. She touched her forehead. It was warm. The chill she’d caught at the party earlier was finally turning into a fever.
Lester, who had been waiting outside the hospital, called her. “Mrs. Cooper, it’s very late. Are you finished?”
Scarlet wasn’t sure if it was the exhaustion or her reluctance to face William, but she couldn’t bring herself to go back. Between his sudden tenderness and the looming threat of their divorce, she didn’t have the energy to deal with him.
“It’s too late to head home. I’ll just crash in the on-call room.”
Lester could hear she was coming down with a cold. He asked, “Have you caught a cold?”
“I’m fine. The hospital has plenty of medicine.” She ended the call, swallowed two pills with some water, and fell asleep in the staff room.
The next morning, Scarlet walked into her office to find a massive bouquet and a luxury designer handbag sitting on her desk. The thought popped into her head before she immediately shut it down. He would never.
Before she could ask Madison about the gifts, a snide voice came from behind her. “If I’d known the family was this rich, I would have insisted on the night shift. An Hermes just for one surgery? It must be nice.”
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Chapter 13
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Clementine rolled her eyes. “Why bother? She’s got Rowan in her pocket. Good opportunities don’t exactly fall into people like us.”
Madison shot back with a glare. “The opportunity fell to you first, Clementine. You’re the one who blew the diagnosis. Don’t blame others because the family doesn’t trust you.”
Scarlet ignored the bickering. “Did Mrs. Turner send these?”
Madison nodded. “The patient is awake. All her vitals are perfect.’
She leaned in close, whispering, “Dr. Benson, do you have any idea who she is?”
Scarlet was focused on the charts for her morning rounds, completely uninterested. “No.”
“She’s Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ heiress!” Madison said excitedly. “Half the equipment we use in this department was donated by them.
“That’s why Clementine was trying so hard yesterday. She was desperate to suck up to the family, but it backfired. She must be fuming.”
Scarlet knew the name. Vertex Pharmaceuticals was a titan in the pharmaceutical industry. But a patient’s bank account didn’t change the way she practiced medicine.
When Scarlet entered the VIP suite, Lilly was sitting by the bed. She looked exhausted from staying up all night, but she lit up
the moment she saw Scarlet.
“Dr. Benson, thank you for everything!”
Scarlet set the designer bag back down on the nightstand. “I was just doing my job, Mrs. Turner. I’ll keep the flowers, but I really can’t accept this gift.”
“It’s just a small token of my appreciation,” Lilly insisted. “Please, just take it.”
As they were going back and forth, a voice came from the bed. “It’s you.”
The patient’s right eye was bandaged, and her face was covered in scrapes, but she was clearly a pretty young woman. Along with the eye injury, she had a leg in a cast and various other bruises. She was looking at Scarlet with a sharp, skeptical squint.
“I told you she wouldn’t take it, Mom. Your hospital has a code of conduct, right? If you take that bag, I’ll report you for taking bribes.”
It was a classic trap. One would offer a gift, then report the person for accepting it. Scarlet caught the sarcasm in her tone.” Do I know you?”
That young woman’s expression soured. “You really don’t remember me?”
End of the Contract,Start of His Obsession
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