Chapter 1
Three hours before the wedding, I got a call from the rescue center. My husband, Leon Murphy, had been trapped in a road collapse, and no one knew if he was alive or dead.
Two hours before the wedding, I found his wedding suit at the scene, stained with blood.
One hour before the wedding, I was on my knees, clawing at the rubble with my bare hands, desperately screaming Leon's name.
"Dr. Sanford, the chances of your husband's surviving are slim. You need to prepare yourself," the rescue worker said.
I shook my head, sobbing uncontrollably, my hands raw and bloody from digging, but I couldn't stop.
It wasn't until nightfall that I finally found Leon, buried beneath a pile of wrecked cars.
He was naked, locked in a tight embrace with my best friend, Rhea Smith, his waist covered in hickeys.
*****
The rescue workers swarmed in, quickly lifting Leon and Rhea, both unconscious, onto the ambulance.
"Look at her belly. She's probably six or seven months pregnant," one of the rescue workers muttered, glancing at Rhea.
The nurse just shook her head at Rhea, who was barely covered.
My fists clenched tight at my sides as I desperately wiped away my tears, following them onto the ambulance.
"Dr. Sanford, did you find your husband?" A colleague rushed over as soon as I arrived at the hospital.
Seeing my tear-streaked face, she quickly added, "Where's the woman who needs an emergency C-section? The operating room is ready."
I glanced back and saw Rhea, already awake, as she was being wheeled toward surgery.
Our eyes met for a moment, and her face went white as a sheet as she cried out, "Natasha, please, save my baby. She's only six months along."
I took a deep breath and handed the initial assessment to my colleague.
"Notify her family right away. Rhea has congenital anemia, so get ready for a transfusion. And rush to hospitals within 3 miles for emergency type-A blood bags," I said.
Once I was done, I glanced at the clock. It was exactly the hour my wedding was supposed to begin.
I should have been at the altar, exchanging rings with Leon.
But then, I was about to help bring into the world the child he had with my best friend.
With my professional ethics front and center, I forced myself to stay composed, even as my emotions threatened to spiral out of control.
Inside the operating room, I examined Rhea's lower body. There was a fresh mark, clearly the result of some violent impact.
As the memory of what I saw when I found Leon flashed through my mind, my face grew cold.
It was clear that, in the hours leading up to the wedding, Leon had been making the most of every stolen moment with Rhea, more than once.
Just thinking about it made me feel sick.
In that distracted moment, the scalpel nicked my fingertip, and blood welled up instantly.
"Dr. Sanford, are you okay?" My colleagues looked at me in shock.
"I'm fine. Let's keep going," I said, forcing myself to stay calm.
Cold sweat broke out on my forehead as I disinfected the cut, wrapped it up quickly, and powered through the pain to finish the most critical part of the surgery.
An hour later, a sharp cry rang out. The surgery went smoothly.
My colleagues breathed a sigh of relief as they placed the newborn into the incubator.
I stepped out of the operating room, pressing my bleeding hand, when a nurse hurried over to me.
"Dr. Sanford, Mr. Murphy in bed 72 keeps asking for you. You should go see him," she said.
I pulled off my mask and headed for Leon's room.
The moment Leon saw me, his eyes welled up with tears. He ripped out his IV, jumped out of bed, and held me tight.
"Honey, I'm so glad I made it to see you," he choked out.
He sobbed, "When I was trapped under those rocks, I was terrified. All I could think was, 'If I die, who's going to look after you?'"
Leon, usually the towering CEO of the Murphy Group, was acting like a nervous kid in front of me.
In the past, I would've been so heartbroken that I couldn't stop crying.
But just picturing him wrapped up with Rhea made me nauseous. I reached out and gently pushed him away.
I asked, "The rescue workers said Rhea was brought in with you. How did you end up together?"
Leon froze for a moment, then quickly looked all aggrieved and started whining.
"Honestly, it's all her fault. If she hadn't been late and insisted on riding in my wedding car, we wouldn't have ended up in that mess," he said.
He was really selling it, even acting all outraged.
But the concern for Rhea was obvious in his eyes.
"Is she okay? She's got a baby on the way," he asked.
I gave a wry, self-deprecating smile and handed him the test results.
"She just had a C-section. Both she and the baby are safe," I told him.
"The baby's in the incubator. Honestly, she looks a lot like you," I couldn't help but say.
Leon didn't pick up on my sarcasm. His eyes flashed with happiness for a second before he just laughed it off.
"You say stuff like that. Aren't you worried her boyfriend will mess with you?" he joked.
"Seriously, my wife can handle any surgery you throw at her. She's a total rockstar in the operating room," Leon said.
His voice was soft, and his fingers played with my hair, but his eyes were glued to Rhea's test results. He didn't spare me a single glance.
He didn't even notice the blood soaking through the bandage on my fingertip.
Back in the day, if I just scraped my knee, he'd freak out and want to drag me straight to the ER.
I slipped my hand out of his grasp and came up with an excuse to get out of there.