Chapter 5
Adrian looked at the screen for only a second.
Then he looked back at me.
His expression didn't change.
"I can explain."
"So explain."
The words came out colder than I intended.
I had spent the last few hours watching the people I trusted reveal who they really were. Ethan had chosen his career over our future. Chloe had stolen my wedding without a trace of remorse. My own hospital had quietly reopened a closed case and was preparing to sacrifice my reputation before sunrise.
I couldn't afford another surprise.
Especially not from the one person I'd just introduced to my father as my husband.
"You accessed Emma Lawson's file."
"Yes."
"You admit it?"
"I do."
His honesty caught me off guard.
There was no attempt to deny it. No excuse. No frantic search for another explanation.
He simply acknowledged it.
"Why?"
He glanced down the hallway before answering.
"Not here."
A bitter laugh escaped me.
"That's convenient."
"Ivy—"
"No."
I took a step back.
"I barely know your name, Adrian. Less than two hours ago, I let you walk into my father's room because I believed you were the only person who wasn't lying to me."
My voice remained steady, but every word felt heavier than the last.
"Now I find out you've been secretly accessing the same patient's records that the hospital is using against me."
"What would you think if you were me?"
For the first time, silence lingered between us.
Not awkward.
Measured.
As if he were choosing every word with extreme care.
"I'd think I had every reason to doubt me."
The answer wasn't defensive.
It was honest.
That somehow made it worse.
Before either of us could speak again, the elevator doors opened.
Two security officers stepped into the corridor.
They weren't looking at Adrian.
They were looking at me.
"Dr. Carter?"
"Yes?"
"The hospital president has asked you to remain available on campus tonight."
I frowned.
"For what reason?"
"The Board has scheduled an emergency disciplinary hearing at eight o'clock tomorrow morning."
Tomorrow morning.
Less than twelve hours away.
"The hearing concerns the Emma Lawson investigation."
One of the officers handed me an envelope.
I opened it immediately.
Across the top, stamped in bold blue letters, were the words:
NOTICE OF TEMPORARY SUSPENSION
The rest of the page blurred for a moment before I forced myself to keep reading.
Pending investigation...
Restricted from performing surgery...
Hospital identification under review...
Access to surgical systems suspended effective immediately...
My grip tightened around the paper.
"They're suspending me before the investigation even starts."
Neither officer answered.
They simply nodded politely before walking away.
The decision had already been made.
This wasn't procedure.
It was preparation.
Someone wanted me powerless before tomorrow's cameras started rolling.
"Ivy."
Adrian spoke quietly.
"We're running out of time."
I folded the suspension letter and slipped it into my purse.
"You still haven't answered my question."
"I know."
"Then answer it."
He held my gaze for several long seconds.
"If I tell you everything tonight, you'll think I'm insane."
"I'm already having the worst day of my life."
"I've had worse."
The sentence came so naturally that I almost missed it.
Almost.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Worse than watching your fiancée marry someone else?"
A faint shadow crossed his face.
"Yes."
Before I could ask what he meant, his phone vibrated.
Not the outdated company-issued phone clipped to his belt.
A different one.
Slim.
Black.
Expensive.
He glanced at the screen for the briefest moment.
That single glance changed him.
The quiet hospital janitor disappeared.
His posture straightened almost imperceptibly, and the calm in his eyes sharpened into something colder, more commanding.
He declined the call immediately.
A second later, a message appeared across the illuminated screen.
I wasn't trying to read it.
But one line caught my eye before he slipped the phone back into his pocket.
The Board is ready. Awaiting your instructions.
I was still staring at Adrian when the hospital's overhead speakers crackled to life.
"All department heads, Board members, and attending physicians, please proceed to Conference Hall One immediately."
A brief pause followed.
"Dr. Ivy Carter is requested to attend."
The announcement echoed through the corridor.
Neither of us spoke.
I folded the suspension notice and slipped it into my purse.
"Whatever you're hiding," I said quietly, "it'll have to wait."
Adrian gave a slight nod.
"Go."
"You aren't coming?"
His eyes shifted toward the conference hall at the far end of the corridor.
"This meeting wasn't arranged for me."
It was an odd answer.
Not I'm not invited.
Not I'm not allowed.
Simply, It wasn't arranged for me.
Before I could think about what he meant, Melissa came running around the corner, still out of breath.
"Ivy!"
She grabbed my arm.
"You need to see this."
"What happened?"
"The media got inside."
Conference Hall One looked more like a courtroom than a hospital meeting room.
Television cameras occupied the back rows.
Reporters packed every available seat.
Microphones bearing the logos of Chicago's largest news stations pointed toward a temporary stage where the hospital emblem hung behind a polished wooden podium.
Every chair reserved for physicians had already been filled.
The moment I stepped through the doors, hundreds of eyes turned toward me.
Conversations stopped.
Camera shutters began firing.
Someone whispered my name.
Another person simply pointed.
I had walked into operating theaters under impossible pressure before.
This felt worse.
At least in surgery, people wanted you to save a life.
Here, they had already decided whose life to destroy.
Melissa leaned closer.
"They announced the press conference only twenty minutes ago."
"Twenty minutes?"
I frowned.
"No hospital organizes this many reporters in twenty minutes."
She looked away.
"I know."
Neither of us said what we were both thinking.
This had been planned long before today's wedding.
Dr. Victor Lang stepped onto the stage precisely at eight o'clock.
His expression was solemn enough to suggest he was about to deliver tragic news.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he began, "thank you for coming on such short notice."
"As many of you know, St. Gabriel Medical Center has always maintained the highest standards of patient care."
"Today, we are reopening an internal review concerning the death of Ms. Emma Lawson."
A murmur spread through the room.
The cameras immediately swung toward me.
I kept my face expressionless.
Dr. Lang continued.
"Our responsibility is not to protect reputations."
"It is to protect patients."
The sentence sounded rehearsed.
Every word polished.
Every pause deliberate.
Then he looked directly at me.
"Dr. Ivy Carter has agreed to cooperate fully with this investigation."
I hadn't agreed to anything.
A reporter stood before anyone else could react.
"Dr. Lang, does this mean someone at the hospital was responsible for Emma Lawson's death?"
"We're investigating all possibilities."
Another hand shot into the air.
"Has any physician been suspended?"
Dr. Lang hesitated for exactly the right amount of time.
Then he answered.
"Pending the outcome of the investigation, Dr. Ivy Carter's surgical privileges have been temporarily suspended."
The room erupted.
Questions flew from every direction.
"Was she negligent?"
"Did the hospital cover this up?"
"Is this related to today's wedding scandal?"
The microphones turned toward me.
Flashes exploded so rapidly they blurred together.
Before I could say a single word, Dr. Lang raised one hand.
"I believe Dr. Ethan Walker would also like to make a brief statement."
My stomach tightened.
Ethan walked onto the stage wearing a dark suit instead of the wedding tuxedo.
He looked composed.
Respected.
Exactly like the brilliant surgeon everyone believed him to be.
He looked at the reporters first.
Then at me.
"As physicians," he said calmly, "our first responsibility has always been our patients."
He paused.
"No individual—regardless of position, talent, or personal relationship—should ever stand above accountability."
A reporter immediately seized the opening.
"Dr. Walker, do you believe Dr. Carter should continue practicing medicine while under investigation?"
Silence settled over the room.
Ethan lowered his eyes for a moment, as though the question genuinely pained him.
When he looked up again, his voice was steady.
"If mistakes were made..."
He let the sentence hang.
"...justice must be served."
The cameras exploded into another storm of flashes.
In that instant, I understood everything.
He hadn't merely left me at the altar.
He had just sentenced me in front of the entire city.
A member of hospital security walked toward me, holding out a small evidence envelope.
"Dr. Carter," he said quietly.
"We'll need your hospital ID badge."