My phone vibrates against my hip, and instinctively, I knowit’s Aston calling to tell me what happened. I also know I have to do something about it. I can’t let this stand. Josh knows about the baby now. That secret is out. So all I can do at this point is save the people I love from the man in front of me.
By staying silent, I protected Josh. Allowing my fears of others’ opinions and scrutiny to rule, I hid what he did. That was wrong. If I had come forward about him sooner, maybe none of this would have happened.
“I understand,” I tell him, ignoring my phone. “I need to get back.”
“You didn’t eat anything.”
I snort because his concern over me eating is the most fucked-up and ironic thing ever. I can’t pretend to understand him or his actions. Frankly, I don’t. I don’t get the sick obsession. I can’t fathom intentionally hurting anyone in any way. But he’s not well. That much is obvious. It’s more than he’s hurt and threatened me. He’s risked innocent children with his fixation and cruelty. And he did all of that against the man I love.
“I’ll be fine.”
I push past him and head out of the alley.
“I’ll walk with you.”
“No.” I turn and hold his gaze even as I walk backward toward the front entrance. “I need time alone to think about everything you said to me.”
This makes him smile. He thinks I’m planning to come back to him when, actually, I’m planning to get rid of him from my life once and for all.
36
SKYLAR
Idon’t call Aston back. Not yet. I only have half an hour left on my lunch break, and time is of the essence. I make it to Dr. Weinberg’s office and greet his assistant. “Hi. Is he available? I just need a few minutes.”
“He’s in a meeting.” Then she gives me a funny look. “Are you okay? Your neck is… red.”
The blessing and curse of having fair skin. “That’s because Dr. Josh Wesley just squeezed it.”
Her eyes round and her lips part. Maybe I shouldn’t have fired that one off, but oh well. Her eyes glue themselves to my neck, and she grimaces. Yikes. How bad is it? I pull out my phone and use the camera app to see it. I’ve got red lines across my neck that look like a handprint. I snap a quick photo of it and put my phone back in my pocket.
“I’m sorry, but his meeting will have to wait. I’m on the clock.” Without waiting for her to argue with me, I burst into his office only to stumble over my feet as I come to a screeching halt. “What are you doing here?”
Michaela is sitting at the round table in the corner of the office with Weinberg directly across from her. They appeardeep in conversation, and Michaela is visibly upset with tears in her eyes and staining her cheeks.
“Shut the door, Skylar,” Weinberg orders, and by some miracle, I manage the task, though I can’t remove my gaze from her. “Please, come have a seat. I believe you’re likely here to discuss the same matter Michaela is.”
My heart hammers in my chest, and my palms tingle with adrenaline as I take a seat at the table.
“What’s going on?” I ask, unable to wait another second.
Weinberg holds up his hand to stop Michaela before she can speak. “It is my understanding that Dr. Hughes told you that he believes Dr. Wesley somehow altered medication orders under Dr. Hughes’s name and tampered with OR equipment before his surgeries. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” I utter. “Dr. Hughes and I spoke about it this morning after he had equipment issues during a surgery, followed by a changed medication order. He was very upset and adamant that he never made those errors. He was paged to the ER following our conversation, and I went back to work, only to have Dr. Wesley follow me out of the building on my lunch break. He did this”—I point to my neck where it’s red—“when he squeezed my neck and pushed me harshly against a brick wall in the alley outside the hospital. He was angry with me because…” Shit. I swallow. “Because I’m pregnant with his child and didn’t tell him because I didn’t feel safe with him knowing yet. You see, I left him because he was emotionally and psychologically abusive with me during our relationship, and he likes to squeeze my neck, as you can see.”
Michaela gasps and covers her face as she starts to cry again.
Weinberg wearily rubs his forehead.
“That’s only part of why I came here right now,” I continue. “The main reason, other than filing a complaint against him for his actions just now, is to inform you that Dr. Wesley admittedto me that he’s the one who altered the medication orders and tampered with the equipment.”
Weinberg hisses out an expletive. “You’re willing to make a formal statement about all of this?”
“Absolutely. Dr. Wesley is dangerous and put patients’ lives at risk to set Dr. Hughes up because he wanted to get rid of him.”
“I gave Dr. Wesley Dr. Hughes’s credentials,” Michaela admits, and my jaw unhinges for the second time in two minutes. I shift in my chair to look at her, her expression broken and contrite. “I was jealous of you. I had liked Josh, but he went straight for you and never noticed me. Then it happened again with Aston. I told you I liked him, and three days later you were married to him, which didn’t make any sense to me since you had told me you didn’t even like him. Anyway, I was angry and hurt and jealous. Josh knew I used to work in the badge office before I got my RN license. He approached me about making a duplicate of Aston’s badge. He told me he needed it because Aston hated him and made it impossible for him to do what he needed to do for his patients as his resident. He said if he had the badge, then he could go around Aston and wouldn’t have to bother with him.”
She blows out a breath and stares up at the ceiling.
