Chapter 9

Else snatched the signed papers from his hands, a victorious grin plastered on her face. She followed Nurse Jenna down the hall to the blood draw room, practically skipping.

The bag of blood, warm with Else's body heat, was rushed into the operating room. The dark red liquid snaked down the IV line, slowly entering Crista's veins.

The frantic beeping of the monitors began to slow, the rhythm stabilizing. Caleb let out a long breath as her blood pressure crept up.

But then he looked down at the uterus. The damage from the secondary hemorrhage was catastrophic. He shook his head, a look of profound sadness in his eyes. "The bleeding has stopped," he announced to the room, his voice heavy. "But the trauma to the uterine wall is irreversible. We couldn't save her fertility."

Outside in the hall, Conrad sat slumped in a chair, his head in his hands. He looked like a man who had been hollowed out from the inside.

Meanwhile, on the top floor of the hospital, a very different scene was playing out.

In the hospital president's office, Cristin slid a check across the desk. It had a lot of zeros.

Dr. Croft, the president, stared at the check, swallowing hard. But he hesitated. "This is a HIPAA violation," he said nervously. "Altering medical records is a federal offense."

Cristin gave him a cold, sharp smile. "If you don't do it, the Cherry family will withdraw every cent of funding for the new hospital wing. We'll make sure your name is mud in this city."

Dr. Croft's resistance crumbled. He turned to his computer and logged into the electronic medical records system.

With a few clicks, he deleted the notes about the successful uterine repair. In their place, he typed in a new diagnosis: "Irreversible severe trauma resulting in permanent infertility."

The printer hummed, spitting out the falsified report, complete with the hospital's official red seal. Cristin snatched it up, slipping it into her purse with a satisfied nod.

Downstairs, the OR light finally clicked off. Caleb walked out, pulling down his surgical mask. He looked exhausted.

Conrad shot to his feet, rushing over. "How is she? Is the baby...?"

Caleb looked at him, his face devoid of any emotion. "She's alive. But she will never be able to have children again."

The words hit Conrad like a physical blow. He stumbled backward, his back hitting the wall with a thud.

Caleb stepped closer, grabbing Conrad by the collar. He spoke in a low, dangerous voice. "If you come near her again, if you cause her one more second of pain, I will kill you myself."

He shoved Conrad away. Conrad didn't fight back. He just stood there, staring at the wall, his soul seemingly extinguished.

Crista was wheeled into the ICU. She was hooked up to a dozen machines, her face as pale as the sheets.

As Conrad moved toward the glass window to look at her, Dr. Croft approached, holding the falsified report.

The president put on a somber face. "Mr. Anderson, I'm afraid I have some terrible news regarding Mrs. Anderson's future fertility."

He handed over the paper. Conrad took it with shaking hands. He read the words "permanent infertility" over and over again. The guilt that crashed over him was suffocating.

He believed he had done this. He believed that his actions on that freezing beach had destroyed her chance to ever be a mother.

Cristin stepped out of the shadows, sighing dramatically. "The Anderson family can't have an infertile matriarch. It's a tragedy, really."

She touched Conrad's arm, her voice soft and persuasive. "You've already signed the papers, Conrad. Let her go. Don't torture her anymore. Don't torture yourself."

Conrad looked through the glass at the unconscious woman in the bed. The pain in his chest was so intense he thought his heart would stop. He was the source of all her suffering. He was the poison in her life.

To protect her from himself, driven by an overwhelming sense of self-loathing, Conrad made a coward's choice. He would let her go. He didn't go inside. He just stood there, staring at her through the glass, his hand crushing the fake medical report. Then, he turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing down the empty hall. He walked away, but a frantic voice in his head screamed that he couldn't just leave her with nothing in this cold world. The crushing guilt demanded he stay far away from her, but some deeper, unacknowledged instinct-a desperate need to still be tethered to her-forced him to decide he would provide for her from the shadows.

Inside the ICU, a single tear slid down Crista's cheek, as if even in her coma, she could feel the finality of his departure.