Chapter 4

The next day, I went to the lab like always. The first thing I did when I got to my office was export all the transfer records of the money I'd sent to Ethan over the years.

I paid for the down payment, mortgage, and home renovations. I advanced money for his father's hospital treatment. I then uploaded every chat log concerning his assistance with my mother's medical records to the cloud.

Ethan messaged me: [Don't blow this up. We'll talk when we get home tonight.]

I didn't reply.

At ten in the morning, Tara showed up at the lab window. She handed me a blood test form. "Summer, I might be pregnant. Can you put a rush on this for me?"

The office went dead silent. Some people made a show of drinking water. Others kept their heads down, typing away.

I kept it professional. "You need to register, pay, and wait in line."

Tara's eyes rimmed with tears. "Are you still mad at me?"

I handed the form back to her. "This is a hospital, not your living room."

She bit her lip and walked away.

To avoid any suspicion, I personally handed the sample over to a colleague and made sure everything was logged from start to finish.

The results came back at noon. HCG levels were normal. Tara wasn't pregnant at all.

When Tara saw the results, her face went pale in an instant.

Half an hour later, news came in from the ER. Tara was doubled over with stomach pain and bleeding. It looked like she was having a miscarriage.

Ethan burst into the lab, gripping a different report in his hand. This one said Tara's HCG was up, and she was pregnant. And the reviewer was me.

I glanced at the report number. "I didn't review this. My employee ID wasn't logged into this computer at noon."

Ethan wouldn't listen. He confronted me in front of everyone. "Summer, why did you change Tara's results?"

Tara came in, leaning on a nurse for support. Her face was pale, and she was clutching her stomach. "Summer, you can hate me all you want. But the baby is innocent."

My coworkers started giving me strange looks.

The director showed up. "Summer, you're suspended from work. Cooperate with the investigation."

I said, "Pull up the security cameras and check the login—"

Ethan cut me off. "Now's not the time to get hung up on procedures. Tara only had a miscarriage because she was emotionally distressed."

I looked at him. "How does someone who's not even pregnant have a miscarriage?"

Tara was crying so hard, her whole body was shaking.

Ethan tossed a pile of paperwork right in front of me. The papers flew across the desk. One was a bill for my mom's dialysis deposit. Another was a bed transfer form for her.

He stared at me coldly. "Get on your knees and apologize to Tara right now. And I promise your mom will get her dialysis tonight."

Everyone in the department was staring at me.

My professional reputation, my mother's well-being, and eight years of affection all hinged on whether I gave him the apology he demanded.

I stooped to gather the scattered papers. I wasn't giving in. I was only picking the papers up.

At the bottom of the pile was a test report from another hospital. Tara had it done last week. It read: [No evidence of pregnancy.]

I looked up at Ethan.

He finally looked scared.

Tara shrieked, "That's not mine!"

The next second, the director's office door was thrown open. Someone from the hospital disciplinary committee appeared in the doorway.

"Summer Hughes, you're accused of messing with test reports. You're suspended. Cooperate with the investigation right now," they said.

I looked at Ethan.

He wasn't looking at me anymore. He was staring at the report from the other hospital. So he'd known all along.