Chapter 1

Lilia Macias, the nurse, worked at the same hospital as me, and whenever something went wrong, she'd always dump it on me.

She'd sneak off to slack in the bathroom during her night shifts, miss a patient's emergency call, and then blame it all on me, saying my phone was off and I didn't show up in time to save anyone.

She once gave a patient the wrong meds by mistake, and when the poor guy died, she claimed it was because I'd given her a verbal order.

She even tried to hook up with a male patient, and when his wife caught her in the act, she said I was the one who told her to go snag a sugar daddy.

It all came crashing down when Lilia screwed up the equipment during a surgery I was leading, and the whole operation failed.

Her husband, the hospital director, covered for Lilia and dumped all the blame on me. In the end, the patient's furious family came at me with a knife, and I was killed right there in cold blood.

But when I opened my eyes again, I found myself right back in the middle of that deadly surgery.

"Isabella, anesthesia's ready. We can start the surgery now," a colleague called out.

At that moment, my eyes flew open in shock. I realized I was right back in the middle of the final surgery of my life.

Seeing Lilia lingering at the back of the group, I fought off a cold dread and forced my trembling hands to pick up the scalpel.

This wasn't the time to settle scores with her. My mentor always taught me that nothing was more important than the life in front of me.

The patient was in critical condition with a severe heart problem, barely alive when he was brought in. I had to act fast if I wanted to pull him back from the brink.

With the patient's case etched in my mind, and after double-checking that I hadn't missed a thing, I turned to Alissa Riley.

"Get Lilia out. The surgery starts now," I said.

Lilia, lurking in the corner, shot me a look of pure disbelief.

"Isabella, what the hell is that supposed to mean?" she snapped.

"I'm not some newbie. Why are you kicking me out?" she asked.

I wasn't about to waste time arguing with her. I shot Alissa a frown.

"Kick her out, shut the door, and let's get this surgery started. Now," I said.

Alissa hesitated for a moment, but did as told. She opened the door and told Lilia to leave, keeping it polite.

Lilia was furious. Instead of leaving, she planted herself right in the doorway and started yelling.

"Who the hell do you think you are, Isabella? You've got no right to kick me out!" she snapped.

"Why don't you call my brother over? I'd love to see who gets kicked out: me, the director's sister, or you!"

Watching her make a scene, I clenched my jaw in anger.

I snapped, "Lilia, since you're so dead set on staying, then stand aside and don't get in the way.

"And don't lay a finger on any of the equipment in this operating room."

Seeing me back down, Lilia let out a cold snort, rolled her eyes, and slunk off to the corner.

She didn't even have a nursing license, but my husband, Kelvin Macias, Lilia's brother, pulled strings to get her a spot at the hospital.

To pad his little sister's resume, Kelvin insisted she be present at every surgery I performed.

We mostly stayed out of each other's way, but it wasn't until after I died that I realized just how many times I'd unknowingly taken the fall for her screw-ups over the years.

Seeing Lilia looking annoyed in the corner, I turned to Alissa and reminded her once again, "Keep a close watch on all the equipment. Don't let anything slip."

After she promised, I took a deep breath to steady my nerves, picked up the scalpel, and began the surgery.

I graduated with a PhD from one of the top med schools, and in all my years as a surgeon, I'd handled hundreds of operations, and every single one was a flawless success.

This time, with Lilia, the resident chaos magnet, out of the picture and no one messing around with the defibrillator, I knew nothing could go wrong.

The surgery kicked off smoothly. I slipped right into that flow state, my mind and hands moving as one. The scalpel danced, the sutures threaded back and forth, and as I worked, the monitors finally returned to normal.

Watching those lines on the screen settle down, I let out a long breath. Time to close up.

But just as I bent over to stitch up the wound, every machine in the room let out a loud, endless beep, shrill enough to make my heart skip a beat.

Then the OR lights flickered twice, and in an instant, the whole room went pitch black.

The operating room was swallowed by darkness. I stopped mid-stitch, needle still in hand, and yelled at Alissa.

"What are you standing there for? Go get the backup power!" I shouted.

Alissa took off running, and a moment later, the lights flickered back on.

With everyone staring at her, Lilia stood there, awkwardly clutching the plug from one of the machines, and stammered, trying to explain herself.

"My phone was dead. I just wanted to charge it. Who could've guessed it'd mess everything up?" she muttered.

Right now, I wasn't even thinking about Lilia. My eyes were locked on the monitors, fixated on every number as they came back online.

When I saw the patient's condition hadn't gotten any worse, I finally let out a sigh of relief.

"What are you standing there for, staring at me like that? Waiting for a pat on the back?" I snapped. "Get lost!"

Lilia realized she'd nearly caused a disaster, and for once, she didn't talk back. Eyes brimming with tears, she mumbled under her breath and hurried out of the room.

I didn't have the luxury to worry about Lilia's drama. I threw myself back into the operation, and only when the last stitch was in place did I finally let out a shaky breath of relief.

Finally, the one regret that haunted me from my previous life was finally put to rest.

When I saw the patient was safe, everyone in the room broke into smiles. The scrub nurse grabbed the instruments from my hands, and after a round of "Good job"s, the patient was rolled off to the special care unit.