“I don’t know… But Lynn doesn’t stay angry for long,” he answered softly.“She’ll calm down. We’ll talk again. And the security team will keep an eye on her, so she’ll be safe.”
CHAPTER 46
Jasper walked down the clinic hallway, each step pounding in his temples like a dull ache. He noticed how the nurses looked away the moment he appeared—how they whispered to one another as if he were contagious. His worst fear had finally come true.
He grit his teeth, fighting the urge to slam his fist into the glass partition he passed.
He reached the reception desk and planted both palms on the cold counter. The young woman behind it flinched. He tried to catch her gaze, but she stubbornly focused on the screen. Stalling. Jasper felt the heat rise in his chest. He was already on edge.
“What do I have today?” he asked sharply.
The receptionist started flipping through the schedule on her computer, her fingers trembling, her eyes fixed on the screen.
“We had a surgery scheduled right now. The patient isn’t here. What’s going on?” He glanced around and pulled on a surgical mask. Too many people were nearby—and every one of them had likely read the news.
The problem was real. The board could call him in at any moment—even though he owned part of the company. And he couldn’t imagine his life without surgery.
Karina finally lifted her eyes and looked away again. She hesitated, swallowed, and whispered:
“Mrs. Whitmore… canceled the surgery this morning.”
Irritation flared inside him. His hands curled into fists.
“What do you mean,‘canceled’? She begged me to fit her daughter into the schedule! Does she suddenly not need her child’s life saved? Has she lost her mind?”
Anger knocked the air out of him. He’d reworked his entire schedule for this. The girl was seven. So much effort—all wasted?
“I guess the rumors got to her,” Karina murmured.
Jasper looked at her, feeling the knot in his chest tighten even more. She wasn’t the enemy, he reminded himself. He needed to stay composed. If he showed just how shaken he was, everyone would assume the rumors were true.
“Call everyone on the waitlist,” he ordered.“Tell them a slot opened. I’m not going to sit around doing nothing just because someone prefers gossip over saving their kid.”
He turned to leave, then stopped sharply and looked back. She flinched again.
“And call every patient scheduled this week. I want confirmations.My time is too valuable to waste.”
She nodded quickly and buried herself in the screen. Jasper pivoted and walked away.
Only then did he realize that for the first time in years, he wanted to just… walk out.
Leave. Disappear.
He shut the office door and dropped into his chair. His breathing was heavy, anger rushing through him like blood. He wanted to act—to do anything—but impulsive decisions would only destroy more. So he forced himself to calm down, clicked his mouse, and opened the updated schedule.
He was standing in the hallway, finishing a conversation with the anesthesiologist, when his phone vibrated. Nolan. Finally.
“Yeah,” Jasper said into the phone, motioning to the anesthesiologist that the conversation was over.
“Don’t worry,” Nolan said right away.“Your runaway’s with me.”
“What runaway?” Jasper frowned. He’d expected something entirely different.
“Your daughter, man. Lynn.”
He fell silent for a couple of seconds. His hand tightened around the phone.
“You picked her up? Where was she?”
