Page 14 of Medical Malpractice

I smirked. “I’ll be whatever she wants me to be.”

Nico looked on the verge of vaulting over the bench and tackling me to the ground, aggression pouring off of him in waves.

I hadn’t meant for it to sound sexual, but I wasn’t going to contest his assumptions.

That was my cue to leave, because if I stayed any longer, I knew we would literally end up killing each other. There was no point in wasting my time on a delusional fool. I have someone else waiting on me.

With that thought, I made for the exit, and before I shut the door behind me, I spared one last glance at the former best friend I once considered a brother.

He stood proud and resolute, but I could see the fissures beginning to crack. That was when I gave him my unerring truth, blatant and raw.

“You lost two people who truly loved you, Nico. Two people who would have had your back through everything. I don’t know what happened over the years that made you think this shit would ever be acceptable, but it doesn’t matter. You’re alone now. No matter who you surround yourself with from here, you are alone.”

Chapter 7

GABRIELLA

The past month had been brutal, my emotional state snapping back and forth to the point of giving me whiplash.

I hadn’t seen Nico despite his numerous contact attempts. I didn’t see the point.

There was betrayal, and then there was betrayal.

No excuse or justification could ever measure up to the turmoil he had put me through. It was surreal when the extent of his dreadful secrets were revealed with the help of a private investigator.

Who is this man I once considered my husband?

It was time to concentrate on me. To get to a place that I could heal and move on—hence why I resigned from my role as head paediatrician.

I walked out of the children’s hospital, leaving my farewell party with a bouquet of flowers in one arm and a gigantic box of chocolates in the other.

I was saddened to leave the kids behind, however, it was a necessity. I couldn’t stay in that hospital, in that city, in any place that reminded me of him.

A memory was stitched into every facet of my surroundings, tethering me to the places where we shared our love and lived our marriage.

What once brought me joy suddenly carried forth a deep-seated sense of melancholy.

Nearly four weeks later, I still woke in the night, a silent scream caught in my throat as reality managed to penetrate my dreams, converting them into nightmares that I couldn’t escape even while unconscious.

I was ruined. He ruined me.

Except there was one who was always ready to pull me back from the brink, offering to hold those shattered pieces together with his bare hands, only if temporarily.

Leonardo. My best friend and guiding light.

He refused to leave my side, even in the early hours, when I jolted myself awake. Leo would take me in his arms and simply hold me.

No promises were exchanged, no empty words. Just the subtle calm of knowing I had someone in my corner, someone who truly cared about me.

He couldn’t know that, in those silent moments, his soothing presence helped barricade against the harsh severing of my heart, making that ache less severe each time I opened my eyes.

Nico had betrayed and hurt him, too. I liked to think that we were healing each other.

As I turned the corner into the staff car park, a lone figure leaning against my vehicle snapped ramrod straight. I scrambled backwards, and my spine hit the wall.

Nico rushed forward, and my beautiful goodbye gifts crashed to the ground as I raised both hands to stop his approach. “Don’t touch me,” I said, my voice shaky.

His eyes were black, almost deranged as they drank me in. He looked how I felt—haggard and stripped raw—except he had more of an unhinged quality peeking through.