Chapter 49
[ 499 words ]
Chapter 49:
Caroline looked at the three women. They were staring at her like she was a vault holding the winning lottery ticket, and they were demanding the combination.
The danger Jarrod had warned her about wasn’t just assassins. It was this. The absolute destruction of her anonymity.
The stairwell was dead silent, save for the hum of the fluorescent lights.
Caroline looked at Melanie’s outstretched phone. The screen was open to the keypad, waiting for Jarrod’s digits.
A cold, hard knot formed in Caroline’s stomach. She remembered Jarrod’s warning: You are a loose end. You need my clearance to stay alive. She couldn’t tell them they were married. She couldn’t give them his number. Any leak of information could compromise the military operation and her own life.
She carefully folded the wrapper over her half-eaten sandwich. She stood up, forcing the three nurses to lean back to give her space.
“I’m sorry,” Caroline said, her voice completely steady and devoid of emotion. “I don’t have his private number. As I said, we are not close.”
𝗕𝖾 pа𝗿t 𝘰𝗳 𝘰𝘂𝗿 со𝘮𝗺𝗎𝗇𝘪𝘁𝘆 𝗼n 𝘨a𝗅𝗇о𝗏𝗲𝗹𝗌.сo𝘮
The hungry anticipation on Melanie’s face froze.
For two seconds, nobody moved. Then, Melanie slowly lowered her phone. The artificial friendliness evaporated, replaced by a toxic, ugly sneer.
“Wow,” Melanie scoffed, letting out a harsh, mocking laugh. “You really think you’re something special now, don’t you?”
The other two nurses stood up, crossing their arms, their eyes filled with sudden, vicious contempt.
“You’re just a nobody intern, Thompson,” the second nurse spat. “You get lucky and catch the eye of a billionaire, and suddenly you want to hoard him all to yourself. You’re pathetic.”
“Let her keep her little secret,” Melanie sneered, stepping past Caroline and deliberately bumping her shoulder hard against Caroline’s. “We’ll see how long he keeps a boring little mouse like you around once he gets bored.”
The three women marched up the stairs, the fire door slamming shut behind them with a loud, echoing bang.
Caroline stood alone on the concrete landing. She took a deep, shaky breath, her hands trembling slightly. She had maintained her cover, but she knew she had just declared war on the entire nursing staff.
The afternoon shift was a living nightmare.
The fake smiles vanished, replaced by a coordinated, brutal campaign of workplace isolation.
When Caroline approached the nurses’ station to ask for the code to the new IV pump, the senior nurse didn’t even look up from her screen. “Read the manual, Thompson. We don’t have time to hold your hand.”
When she walked into the break room to get a glass of water, the four people chatting inside instantly went dead silent. They picked up their cups and walked out, leaving her standing alone in the empty room.
The worst part was Dr. Cromwell.
During rounds, Melanie deliberately handed Caroline the wrong patient chart. When Cromwell asked for the vitals, Caroline read the wrong numbers.
Cromwell’s face turned red, but he remembered Jarrod’s threat. He didn’t yell at Caroline. Instead, he forced a strained smile and said, “It’s fine, Caroline. Take a break. Melanie, please take over.”
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