Raymond James was hauled away by security, half-escorted, half-shoved out the door.
Charlotte Cooley ran crying toward the doctors' offices.
I knew exactly who she was going to find.
Sure enough, within five minutes, Kevin Dickerson stood in front of me, furious.
"Brooklyn, what did you do to Charlotte? She's crying so hard she can barely breathe!"
I didn't even look up. "She broke an HIV patient's blood sample. I told her to follow protocol and write an incident report. Is there a problem?"
"You could've been gentler! Charlotte just started her internship—of course she's scared of you!"
"It wasn't easy for her to test her way out of a small town. Her parents are farmers. They went into massive debt to pay for her schooling…"
I cut him off. "A hard background doesn't mean she gets to ignore hospital regulations."
Kevin choked on that. His expression darkened.
"Brooklyn, I'm starting to realize you've become cold-blooded."
He looked at me with disappointment. "Charlotte is just a simple, brave girl. Why do you have to target her?"
I looked at this man I once loved, the one I thought I'd spend my whole life with, and said softly:
"Kevin, if one day Charlotte causes someone's death—will you help collect her body, or take the fall for her?"
He frowned. "What nonsense is that? Don't curse her!"
He took a deep breath, like he'd made up his mind.
"Brooklyn, if you keep making things hard for her—"
"Then there's no need for our engagement to continue."
For an intern, he was threatening me at work.
How ridiculous.
In my last life, hearing this would've shattered me.
Now, I only felt relieved.
"Fine. Since you brought it up, I'll give you an official answer."
"I'm not marrying you."
Kevin froze. Clearly not the reaction he expected.
"Brooklyn, don't be impulsive. I was just saying that in the heat of the moment…"
I took off the engagement ring I'd worn for three years and held it out to him.
"I'm serious."
"I'm returning the ring. Tomorrow I'll sort out the bride price and return it to your family."
"Starting today, we're just coworkers. Nothing more."
I exhaled. "Dr. Dickerson, go comfort your scared little intern."
"My brother's here to pick me up. Don't make me late."
Slumped in the passenger seat, I scrolled through my phone and saw the post Charlotte had just made.
Brave Little Lamb Outsmarts the Old Witch: Some people are SO jealous of me~ But Little Lamb has a knight and a prince protecting her, so I'm not scared at all!
The attached picture was a blurry side profile—obviously a sneak shot of me.
She'd described me as a vicious head nurse, jealous of her youth and beauty, always making things hard for newcomers.
Most comments were tearing her apart, but some equally unhinged people were taking her side.
My brother glanced at my screen and snorted. "This woman is really something."
I sighed. "I broke off my engagement with Kevin today."
Silence. He didn't ask why.
"Good. That kid never deserved you."
"He came over for dinner, Mom made a whole spread—bird's nest, shark fin—and he said we were wasteful."
"When you were on your period, pale from the pain, he drank all the tonic soup I'd made for you."
"Brooklyn, you deserve better."
My nose stung. "Why didn't you ever say any of this before?"
He shot me a look. "Back then, you only had eyes for him. If I said one bad word, you wouldn't talk to me for three days."
In my last life, I really was deaf and blind.
The car stopped smoothly outside our building. My brother ruffled my hair.
