Chapter 1

The fluorescent lights of the hospital waiting room cast harsh shadows across my face as I clutched Emma's favorite stuffed rabbit to my chest. Its worn fur was soft against my fingertips—the same fingers that had buttoned her little blue dress this morning, that had brushed her hair from her forehead when she'd complained of stomach pain at breakfast.

"It's probably just something she ate," Maverick had said when I called him, his voice distracted by whatever patient had captured his attention that morning. "Give her some Pepto and keep an eye on her."

But then the school had called. Emma had collapsed during recess.

Now she was somewhere behind those double doors, undergoing emergency surgery at the hospital where her father worked, where he was supposed to be saving lives.

I checked my watch for the hundredth time. Three hours. How could it take three hours for appendicitis surgery? The nurse had promised updates, but each time I approached the reception desk, they offered only vague reassurances.

"Dr. Thompson is aware of your concerns, Mrs. Thompson. He'll update you as soon as possible."

Finally, a nurse with tired eyes approached. Her face told me everything before she spoke a single word.

"Mrs. Thompson? Please come with me."

My legs moved mechanically as I followed her down the sterile corridor. The antiseptic smell burned my nostrils as we turned toward the surgical wing. And then I saw him—Maverick—emerging from the operating room, still in his surgical scrubs, his face a mask of professional detachment.

"Emma!" I cried out, rushing toward him. "How is she? Is she okay?"

He raised his hand, stopping me in my tracks. The gesture was so casual, so dismissive, as if he were directing traffic rather than delivering news about our daughter.

"I'm not God, Louise," he said, his voice flat. "She didn't make it."

The words didn't register at first. They couldn't register.

"What? No... that can't be right. She was just... she was fine this morning..."

"She developed complications. There was nothing I could do."

And then he walked past me, his surgical boots squeaking against the polished floor. I watched in disbelief as he pulled out his phone, already moving on to his next task, leaving me standing there with Emma's rabbit clutched to my chest.

---

My screams echoed through the hospital corridor, drawing nurses and orderlies who surrounded me with concerned faces and gentle hands. Someone was trying to guide me to a chair, but I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

"I want to see her," I demanded, my voice raw. "I need to see my daughter."

"Mrs. Thompson, we understand, but there are procedures—"

"I don't care about procedures! She's my baby!"

They kept saying I needed to wait, that there were forms to be completed, that the body—Emma's body—needed to be processed. Words that reduced my vibrant little girl to a bureaucratic inconvenience.

Hours later, I found myself wandering the hospital halls in a daze. Maverick's office door was closed. I pushed it open without knocking, expecting—what? That he would be grieving with me? That we would console each other in our shared loss?

He was on the phone, his back to the door.

"I know, I know. This evening? No, I can't. Tomorrow maybe. I have paperwork to finish."

He turned, noticing me for the first time. "Louise. You should go home. There's nothing more to do here."

"But Emma—"

"The hospital will contact you about arrangements. I have work to finish."

Work. He had work to finish while our daughter lay dead somewhere in this building.

---

Three days passed in a blur of darkness. I hadn't left our house, hadn't eaten, hadn't slept more than a few hours at a time. The stuffed rabbit sat propped against Emma's pillow in her bedroom—a room I couldn't bear to enter.

I scrolled mindlessly through my phone, seeking any distraction from the crushing weight of grief. Social media updates, news articles, anything to quiet the screaming in my head.

That's when I saw it—Teagan's Instagram post from last week. My best friend, smiling in surgical scrubs, looking confident and proud.

"Grateful to Dr. M for providing such valuable practice material. Every case teaches us something new. #MedicalExcellence #AlwaysLearning #BlessedWithOpportunities"

My hands began to shake as I stared at the screen. The post was dated the day before Emma's surgery.

Practice material?

I clicked through to Teagan's profile, finding more posts over the past months. "Special training opportunities." "Hands-on practice that money can't buy."

The dates aligned perfectly with Emma's appointments, with her "routine checkups" that Maverick had insisted on handling personally.

As understanding dawned, grief transformed into something colder, harder. More dangerous.

My daughter hadn't just died from complications. She had been used as practice material for a veterinarian who wasn't qualified to perform human procedures.

And my husband—her father—had allowed it.