I asked a nurse in the hallway if she had seen him lately. She told me she thought he was in meetings over in the administrative wing. I went to his office first, but the room was empty. It looked nothing like it used to—stacks of paper and a laptop open to spreadsheets covered the desk. A sign of the new life he had chosen for us.
I walked through the administrative wing, passing rooms where people talked about budgets and compliance. My pacequickened with each empty hallway. I turned a corner and found myself in an older part of the building.
I walked past the supply closet where our story first started. The door was open just a little bit.
Something made me stop—a pull in my chest, the memory of the day I fainted. His hands on my wrist. How everything changed after that moment.
I pushed the door open all the way.
Riven was standing there among the boxes of supplies, his back half-turned, one hand resting on a shelf. He looked like he was lost in his own thoughts. When he heard the door, he turned around and looked at me.
The way he stood in that small space—still, unguarded—told me he'd been thinking about the same memories. His eyes widened slightly when he saw me.
"I’ve been looking everywhere for you," I said.
His expression softened, something unguarded flickering across his features. "I was just..." He stopped and shook his head. "I'm not even sure why I came back to this room."
I stepped inside and let the door shut behind us. The room shrank around us, quiet and close. The air felt heavy with everything we hadn't said.
"I really need to tell you something," I whispered.
His eyes locked on mine, and suddenly the small room felt even smaller—filled with the weight of nine months of struggle, sacrifice, and a love neither of us had been brave enough to fully claim until now.
CHAPTER TWENTY
MIREYA
He watchedme closely and waited for me to speak, his shoulders braced, jaw set—like a man preparing for the worst.
"The surgery today was complex. Mitral valve prolapse with severe regurgitation, multiple coronary grafts." I took a breath to find the right words. "We ran into complications when she started hemorrhaging from the posterior aortic wall. Her pressure dropped critically fast."
His jaw tightened as he listened. “What did you do?”
“I changed the angle of the tools and suggested a different way to see the area.” I looked him right in the eye. “Dr. Bree actually listened to me. The adjustment worked perfectly and we were able to control the bleeding and complete the repair. We were able to save her.”
Something shifted in his face—his eyes softened, the tension in his jaw releasing. “Of course, you did.”
"She told me my surgical instinct was exceptional. That I have excellent clinical judgment." I stepped closer. "Everyone in that OR saw it, Riven. There's no question anymore that I earned my place on that team."
“I’ve never doubted your skill.” His voice dropped low. “Not for one single moment.”
I believed him. I always knew he had faith in me, even when I struggled to believe in myself.
“I know,” I said, taking a deep breath. “But I really needed to prove it to myself. Now, I finally feel like I have.”
Riven nodded slowly. Something in his expression told me he understood—that he'd always understood I needed to stand on my own merit, to know my success came from my own competence.
"I've been thinking about your new position," I said. "About you becoming the CEO and stepping away from surgery."
He looked guarded for a moment. "Mireya?—"
"Let me finish." I moved closer until I could see the tired lines around his eyes, the weight he'd been carrying. "You claimed the inheritance you'd run from for nine months. You faced your father's legacy and changed your entire career."
"It was the right decision," he said carefully. "I took the CEO position so it wouldn’t be an issue for the hospital anymore.”"
“It was the only way to protect you—and us,” he finished.
He didn't argue because we both knew it was true.
