Chapter 1

Grace Cooper is a top surgeon racing against the clock. Two critical patients are bleeding out in her ER. But a wedding stands in her way—her ex-boyfriend's wedding to her former best friend.

The bride, Linda Hayes, is convinced Grace is there to crash her big day and immediately calls Grace a shameless bitch in front of everyone.

But that isn't enough for her. She then produces a detailed list of every gift her new husband has ever given Grace, demanding repayment for every gift her new husband ever gave Grace.

Furious, Grace turns to walk away.

But Linda grabs her arm. "You're not going anywhere until you pay what you owe."

She has no idea that her own parents are just in a horrific car accident.

The "emergency" Grace is trying to get to is her parents, bleeding out on my operating table.

*****

Running into Linda Hayes and Jason Reed on the street completely blindsided me, like the universe had just slapped me in the face.

Jason was my ex. It had only been a month since he had dumped me.

The second Linda spotted me, her whole face twisted with rage. "Grace Cooper! Are you seriously this shameless? You knew today was my wedding. Are you actually here to crash it?"

I didn't have time for her drama. Every second counted.

Just moments ago, my boss, Charles Grant, had just called me from Riverside General Hospital. A massive car accident happened at Rivercross Bridge. He needed me back now.

I turned to hail a cab, but Linda grabbed my arm, her nails digging into my skin. "Perfect timing," she said sweetly. "We've been best friends forever, so don't blame me for airing you out."

She shoved a fat stack of printed receipts under my nose. "Every single thing Jason bought you while you were together cost over 70 grand. Because we go way back, I'll do you a favor. Just give me 70 grand, and we'll call it even."

Before I could even process that, she raised her voice. "Today's my wedding day. I'm officially Jason's wife now. Which means I want every penny he wasted on you returned.

"Seventy grand. That's totally fair, right?"

I actually laughed.

Sure, Jason had given me gifts.

But they were all cheap knockoffs, maybe worth a hundred bucks, tops.

Linda's list, however, was priced at full retail, as if a one-hundred-dollar fake were a ten-thousand-dollar original.

I knew Jason was always broke. I had pretended not to notice the fakes, even secretly buying the real versions for myself so that he wouldn't be embarrassed.

And for every cheap trinket he gave me, I'd given him something real in return, including ten-hundred-dollar sneakers, an eight-hundred-dollar watch, and a ten-thousand-dollar laptop.

If we were really doing math here, Jason would owe me way more than I supposedly owed him.

I stood up, barely keeping my fury in check. "Linda, I have to get to the hospital right now. We can talk about this when I get back."

I turned to leave.

Her hand clamped around my arm like a vise. "Grace, you're not going anywhere until you transfer that money to me. Not one step."

Just then, my phone buzzed with a new message.

Charles: [Where are you? Patients are critical. Need you now.]

I locked eyes with Linda. "If you don't let me go right now," I said, the words tumbling out before I could stop them, "your parents are going to die."

Linda's eyes went wide with shock before narrowing into slits of pure rage. She slapped me, screaming, "You bitch! How dare you curse my parents! I should beat you to death!"

She slapped me again, then again.

The world tilted. My face burned like it was on fire.

I couldn't keep my balance, and I crashed onto the pavement.

But she wasn't done. She kicked me.

Then she stepped on my hand, grinding her stiletto into my palm.

"My hand! Help!" I screamed, a white-hot pain shooting up my arm.

"Babe, chill," Jason said, finally pulling Linda back. "It's our wedding day. No blood, okay? Bad luck."

"Oh, now you're soft?" she snapped. "Did you not hear her cursing my parents?"

I pushed up on shaky legs. "Linda, listen to me. I'm not cursing anyone. Your parents really were in a car accident. They need my blood.

"I have a rare type that can save them. If you don't let me go right now, they might not survive."

Linda spat directly on me. "Still lying? You're not leaving until you transfer that seventy grand!"

Panic clawed at my throat.

I turned to Jason. "Jason, tell her! The bags were fakes! They weren't worth a fraction of that. Just tell her the truth!"

He froze, his face turning a blotchy red. "What the hell are you talking about? They were real! Do you think I'd buy you a fake?"

"Grace, I can't believe you," Linda sneered. "Not only are you a gold-digger, you're a liar. Are you that pathetic?"

"I'm not lying," I insisted, frowning. "The bags were fake. And if you don't let me go, your parents are going to die!"

I shoved my phone in her face, showing her the text from Charles.

She glanced at it and burst out laughing.

"Seriously? This is your proof?"

I nodded firmly. "Yeah, it's Charles Grant, the chief of surgery at Riverside General Hospital."

Linda rolled her eyes and said, "Seriously? The chief of surgery has a capybara as his profile picture? If you're going to fake a text, Grace, at least make it believable."

I looked down at Charles' avatar.

It was a cartoon capybara.

I remembered Charles complaining yesterday that his daughter had changed it as a prank.

He had been about to change it back when a trauma case came in.

He never got around to it.

So, to this day, his profile picture was still that capybara.

"It really is him!" I explained desperately. "Look, I'll video call him!"

I hit the call button. It rang, and rang, and rang. But there was no answer.

Of course not. He was in the ER, trying to save Linda's parents.

If he was too busy to answer his phone, things were even worse than I thought.