“When will it be official?”
“The paperwork is being drawn up as we speak.You’ll need to come in tomorrow to sign.After that, your professional record will be clear, and the settlement funds should be in your account within five business days.”
After I hang up, I sit motionless, trying to process what just happened.Zach moves behind me, his hands coming to rest on my shoulders.
“Good news?”he asks, though his tone suggests he already knows the answer.
“They settled,” I say, the words still feeling unreal.“Full salary for two years and complete clearance of my record.”I turn to look up at him.“Janice mentioned ‘compelling evidence’ that suddenly appeared.Wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
His half smile tells me everything.“Grey might have had a conversation with some people on the hospital board.About certain financial irregularities we happened to discover during our… research.”
“Research?”I repeat, raising an eyebrow.
“Mmmhmm.”He leans down to press a kiss to my forehead.“Amazing what people will agree to when presented with the right motivation.”
I should be appalled.Should lecture him about blackmail and ethics and letting the legal system work as intended.Instead, I find myself laughing, a release of tension I didn’t realize I’d been carrying for months.
“Thank you,” I say, reaching up to cup his face.“Though I probably shouldn’t be thanking you for what I suspect is highly illegal activity.”
He shrugs, unrepentant.“They hurt you.They deserved worse.”His eyes soften as he looks at me.“Besides, now you can practice medicine anywhere you want.Your reputation is clean.”
The implication hits me suddenly.With my record cleared, I could apply to any hospital in the country.Could return to a prestigious trauma center, resume the career trajectory I was on before everything changed.Before Zach.
“You think I’m going to leave?”I ask, searching his face.“Now that I have options again?”
Something vulnerable flashes in his eyes before he can hide it.“Would you?If you could go back to Johns Hopkins or Mayo Clinic?Somewhere worthy of your skills?”
I stand, wrapping my arms around his waist and pressing my face against his chest.His heartbeat is steady beneath my ear, a rhythm I’ve come to rely on.
“I have a clinic,” I remind him.“Patients who need me.A community that’s become home.”I look up, meeting his gaze directly.“And I have you.Why would I want anything else?”
The tension in his body releases as he pulls me closer.“The settlement money could help expand the clinic,” he suggests.“Maybe hire another doctor so you’re not working yourself to death.”
“I like that idea,” I agree, my mind already racing with possibilities.A pediatric specialist, perhaps.More examination rooms.Maybe even a small outpatient surgery center.
My phone buzzes again, with a text from Daphne this time.The ultrasound image shows a tiny, bean-shaped form, the message below simply reading,It’s a girl.Thank you for everything.
I show Zach the image, watching as something soft transforms his usually hard features.His finger traces the outline of the tiny form on my screen.
“She’s going to be okay,” he says, and I’m not sure if he means Daphne or her daughter.
“They both are,” I reply with certainty.“She’s strong.And she has us now.”
The weight of that statement settles between us.The expanding circle of people we consider family, and the responsibilities that come with it.Once, I might have found it overwhelming.Now, it feels right.
My phone rings again, Tiana this time, calling about a patient at the clinic with a complicated case.As I answer, explaining treatment options and medications, Zach moves around the kitchen, making more coffee, starting breakfast, and creating domestic normalcy in a life that’s anything but normal.
When I hang up, he slides a plate of eggs and toast in front of me.“Eat.You’ve got a full day ahead.”
I smile up at him, this dangerous man who makes me breakfast and helps clear my professional name through questionable means.“We both do.”
He nods, understanding everything I’m not saying.The clinic.The club.The growing family we’re building that includes blood relatives and chosen ones alike.The future stretching before us, complicated and messy and perfect in its own way.
“Wouldn’t have it any other way, Doc,” he says, and I believe him.
Later, as I pull into the clinic parking lot, I notice the new security cameras Zach insisted on installing after the brick incident.The front window, replaced and reinforced with bulletproof glass.The silent alarm that connects directly to the clubhouse.All reminders of the violence that touched this place, which touched me.
But inside, it’s still a place of healing.Tiana greets me with coffee and patient files.The waiting room is already half full with a mix of club members, their families, and regular community patients who’ve found their way here through word of mouth.
