Kaleigh swept the business card into the deepest corner of her desk drawer, slamming it shut. Out of sight, out of mind. A childish hope, but it was all she had.
She tried to focus on her afternoon patients, but his voice echoed in her head. "I've been looking for you."
Her phone buzzed on the desk. A text from an unknown number.
"Kaleigh, I need to see you tonight. It's important."
Her breath hitched. He knew how to spell her name. She'd never told him. She silenced her phone and shoved it into her pocket, a cold knot of dread forming in her stomach.
By the time she left the hospital, exhaustion had settled deep in her bones. The employee parking garage was dim and mostly empty, the air thick with the smell of gasoline and damp concrete.
She was just reaching her beat-up Toyota Corolla when the roar of an engine shattered the quiet. A brand-new BMW M4 shot backward out of the adjacent spot, its rear bumper smashing into hers with a sickening crunch of metal and plastic.
Kaleigh flinched, her heart sinking as she saw the deep dent and cracked taillight.
The BMW's door swung open, and a man in a tailored suit stepped out. Julian Sharp. Her ex-boyfriend.
His initial look of annoyance vanished when he saw her, replaced by a familiar, dismissive sneer. He puffed out his chest, looking every bit the smug, arrogant prick he had become.
"Well, look at this," he said, his eyes flicking over her old car with contempt. "Still driving this piece of junk, Kaleigh? I thought you'd have done better for yourself after me. But I guess without me, you are just destined to live a miserable life."
Kaleigh's eyes darted to his passenger seat. A limited-edition Hermès bag sat there, a gaudy trophy. It belonged to Chloe Hayes, the hospital dean's daughter. Julian had cheated on Kaleigh with Chloe for the sake of his career and wealth. Worse, he had flipped the script, spreading vicious rumors that Kaleigh was the one who had been unfaithful. If she had not been so well-liked by the hospital staff, people might have actually believed his lies.
She swallowed her anger, her voice tight but even. "You hit my car, Julian. We need to exchange insurance information."
He laughed, a short, ugly sound. "For this little scratch? Don't be so dramatic, Kaleigh. How much? I'll just pay you. Save us both the hassle." He pulled out a thick leather wallet, the gesture reeking of condescension.
His attitude ignited a spark of fury in her chest. "This isn't about money. It's about responsibility. You hit my car because you weren't looking."
Julian's face darkened. He hated it when she got like this, all stubborn and principled.
"Responsibility?" He stepped closer, his cologne acrid and overpowering. "You are the one who came stalking me in the parking lot because you know how hard your life is now. You are so shameless, clinging to me like a leech when I have already moved on."
She trembled with rage. "Clinging to you? Need I remind you who was following me around like a lovesick puppy, begging for my attention when we first met?"
Julian scoffed, his lips curling into a nasty smirk. "If I had known you had been passed around by so many men, I wouldn't have even looked in your direction."
Instead of shrinking back, Kaleigh let out a sharp, mocking laugh that echoed in the empty garage. The sound wiped the smirk right off Julian's face.
"Passed around?" Kaleigh stepped forward, her eyes blazing with icy contempt. "Don't project your own cheap choices onto me, Julian. We both know exactly why you spread those pathetic rumors. You had to make me the villain because the truth is too embarrassing."
She looked him up and down, her gaze stripping away his expensive suit. "You're a mediocre surgeon who had to sleep his way into a promotion. You didn't leave me because I was unfaithful; you left because Chloe Hayes was your shortcut to the top. You're nothing but a parasite feeding off her father's power."
Julian's face turned a mottled, furious red. She had hit the exact nerve he tried so hard to hide.
"You shut your mouth!" he snarled, his facade of superiority completely shattering. He pulled a wad of hundred-dollar bills from his wallet and threw them violently at her. The heavy stack hit her chest before fluttering to the concrete floor. "Take your charity and get out of my sight, you cheap bitch! You're nothing in this hospital, and I can ruin you with one word!"
Staring at the money scattered at her feet, and then at the ugly, venomous look on his face, something inside Kaleigh snapped. There was no humiliation this time, only pure, righteous fury.
She didn't say another word. She just raised her hand and swung.
The sound of her hand connecting with his face was a sharp crack in the quiet garage. She poured every ounce of her disgust into that slap, her palm stinging with the sheer force of it.
Julian stumbled back, his head snapping to the side. Five red finger marks blossomed on his cheek. He stared at her, his expression a mixture of shock and disbelief.
Then, his face contorted with rage.
"You bitch," he snarled, his voice low and dangerous. "You dare hit me?"
He raised his hand, his intention clear. Kaleigh braced herself for the blow, her chin held high in defiance.
Just as his palm was about to swing, a hand, larger and far more powerful, shot out from the shadows and clamped around his wrist like a vise.
"Touch her," a deep, chilling voice rumbled from the darkness, carrying a dangerous aura that instantly sucked the air out of the garage, "and you will never use this hand to hold a scalpel again."
