Chapter 4

I knew damn well she wasn't there to "learn."

A glance at the monitors showed the patient's vitals trending downward again.

We didn't have a single second to waste.

I forced my mind into total focus.

"Forceps," I demanded, holding my right hand out.

I waited. And waited. Nothing.

Lily's grating voice chimed in.

"Oh Claire, there are so many forceps here. Did you want toothed or smooth?"

"Smooth."

Only after I answered did she finally slap the tool into my palm.

And that was only the beginning.

Every single instrument I requested was delayed, second-guessed, and fumbled.

By the fifth time, she leaned in and asked,

"Did you want the laser scalpel or the harmonic scalpel?"

I shot her a lethal glare. The smug satisfaction on her face made me want to drive the scalpel straight into her chest.

How could someone treat a human life with such utter disregard?

"If you don't know what you're doing, step back and watch," I said coldly. "Brenda, take over."

I didn't have time for her games. The scalpel was in my hand, and I had a life to save.

Lily sneered under her breath.

Shunted aside, she stood nearby, yammering incessantly.

"Claire, if all domestic doctors were as rigid as you, medicine would never evolve."

"Come on, teach me! I've only read about these techniques; I haven't tried them hands-on yet."

I kept my eyes fixed on the wound.

"If you haven't done it hands-on, go practice on cadavers or watch training videos."

Stung, she bit her lip and scoffed.

"Keep your little secrets, see if I care. Acting like you're hot stuff."

"You've just been stuck in this hospital longer, that's all. You're nowhere near as smart as Ethan."

"He's the Chief of Surgery, and you're just a glorified technician who slices people open."

I blocked her out entirely, which only fueled her rage.

Suddenly, she shoved my shoulder.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Don't you dare ignore me!"

That shove couldn't have come at a worse time.

I was in the middle of resecting necrotic tissue along the brachial artery.

Her force threw my hand off balance.

The tip of my blade nicked the arterial wall.

Blood erupted in a high-pressure jet, spraying across the drape.

The entire room gasped in terror.

"Clamp it! Suction, now!"

"BP is tanking to sixty! We have to stop the bleed immediately!"

Lily froze, pale and stunned by her own screw-up.

Ethan's voice cut through the panic.

"It's fine. Just achieve hemostasis and keep moving."

Hearing his reassurance, Lily seemed to find her spine again.

She leaned down, whispering venomously into my ear:

"Oh my, Claire... look at the massive mess you've made!"

"If Director Harrison finds out you botched his daughter's surgery and caused this, how badly do you think you'll be punished?"

I snapped my head toward her, eyes burning with rage.

"What did you just say?"

Right then, the anesthesiologist sounded the alarm.

"Dr. Bennett! Oxygen saturation is dropping fast! You have to close this bleed now!"

Lily leaned closer still, whispering softly against my ear.

Between the shrieking monitors and her hushed words, she sounded like a demon crawling straight out of hell.

"I don't think this girl is going to make it."

"But that's okay. Even if she dies on the table... you're the one taking the fall."