Page 89 of Yours to Keep

“Absolutely not.”

“Wow. You really are a monster.”

“A cold-hearted one, apparently,” I agreed.

Her smile softened just slightly, but before she could say anything else, my phone buzzed sharply on the table, shattering the moment. I glanced down and frowned. “It’s a message from Facilities. They say it’s urgent. Will you excuse me for a minute? I need to deal with this before someone sets the building on fire.”

“Take your time,” she said lightly.

“Don’t eat my muffin,” I said.

She gasped in mock offense. “I brought that muffin all the way over here.”

I shook my head. “Technicalities. Okay, you can have a bite if you really want. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Her laughter followed me out into the hallway, and although I wondered if her showing up at my office meant she was slowly getting ready to admit publicly that we were together, I was already dialing the Facilities supervisor as the door clicked shut behind me.

Leaving Bree alone in the conference room the first time she’d actually come to see me at work wasn’t ideal. Seeing her in the middle of a random day was actually pretty awesome, but I wouldn’t be long. I just hoped she’d still be there by the time I got back.

CHAPTER 33

BREE

Ihadn’t expected him to take this long, but I didn’t mind. The conference room was quiet and cool, a reprieve from the constant beeping in the halls and chatter out in the breakroom. Five minutes stretched into ten. Then fifteen.

Eventually, I tipped my head toward the windows overlooking the parking lot, but I couldn’t see properly from here. Standing up, I figured I might as well do some people-watching while I waited, so I walked to the other side of the table where the view was better.

Staff filtered in and out of the employee entrance, some laughing with others, some scrolling on their phones, and a few moving with the purposeful strides of people already running late. As I watched them, I realized I should probably be getting back to work myself.

I was still on shift and my break was almost over. I glanced over my shoulder, hoping to see him coming back down the hall, but there was still no sign of him. Deciding to give it five more minutes so I could at least say goodbye, I was turning back toward the window when my gaze drifted across the laptop he’d left open on the table.

I wasn’t trying to snoop, but the spreadsheet filled most of the screen and the bold red column was impossible to ignore. My eyes snagged on the header. Projected Staffing Adjustments.

My stomach tightened and I leaned forward before I could stop myself. Names filled the list, organized by department, seniority, and salary brackets. Notes filled the adjacent column and my heart stammered when I saw a name I recognized.

Emily Hart.

The air left my lungs in a sharp, silent burst. I stared harder, hoping I’d misread it or that it was another Emily, but the notes beside her name confirmed it. Twenty years of service. Senior intake nurse.

Twenty. Years. That was how much of her life she’d given to this place, and a memory slammed into me so vividly it almost made my chest ache. Emily gripping my hand while paramedics wheeled my father through the ER doors, her voice calm and steady while my world teetered on the brink of destruction.

She’d stayed past her shift to update me after his surgery and she’d gotten me a bag of peanut M&M’s from the vending machine. This was the same Emily whose birthday party he’d interrupted so rudely and now he was firing her. Just crossing her off like a number that didn’t balance properly.

My fingers curled around the edge of the table. I can’t fucking believe this.

Heat crawled up my neck, sharp and furious. I scanned further down the list, bile rising as more names blurred together. So many people had been reduced to bullet points and percentages, their hours cut or their jobs about to be gone.

Did he even care who these people are outside of a payroll line? Has he looked them in the eye and engaged them as human beings?

Of course not. He just swept in with his tailored suits, talking about sustainability and efficiency like those words didn’t translate into mortgages, groceries, and kids’ school fees. He crossed names off a list, not caring it meant someone’s world would come crashing down.

Every time I started thinking there was something softer under that polished exterior, he proved exactly what he was. A cold, calculating businessman. He claimed to care about people, saying his technology would help patients heal, but it seemed his compassion didn’t extend to the people who actually provided the healing.

My pulse hammered as I reached for my bag. My hands trembled with adrenaline, rage, and something that felt a lot like betrayal even though he’d never promised or even implied this wouldn’t happen. But I couldn’t just sit here. I couldn’t breathe in the same room where he’d casually decided people like Emily were expendable.

“Bree?” Sullivan’s voice was edged with confusion, sharpening a moment later. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

I spun to face him, the words bursting out of me hot and jagged around the edges. “What’s wrong? You’re firing Emily Hart, Sullivan. Emily and so many other people I care about.”