Page 94 of Yours to Keep

I frowned at her. “It’s not my timeline, Liana. There are people out there right now praying for the technology I’ve got but can’t use because we’re not operational yet. People who are going to die if I don’t get that place up and running as fast as humanly possible, maybe even in time to save them.”

“Your technology is available,” she said, shifting into that precise, razor-sharp professional tone she wore like a second skin, “Just not there and perhaps not all of it yet. I know you’ve got the best teams you could find working on a whole lot of different projects, but they’re already working on them.”

I sat up slightly. “So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying you have options,” she said simply. “You usually don’t want solutions that involve patience, but if you want her, you’re going to have to compromise.”

Fuck.

She leaned forward. “Look, I’m not telling you to blow up your business plan for a woman. I’m just telling you to actually decide whether she matters enough for you to consider other paths. If she doesn’t, fine. Own that. If she does, then you need to stop hiding behind progress and have a real conversation with her.”

I rubbed my palms together, tension coiling tighter in my chest. Liana’s voice softened slightly. “Just, whatever you do, don’t be like Neil.”

My head snapped toward her. “I’m not⁠—”

“Don’t lie. Don’t dodge. Don’t make decisions for someone else and pretend it’s for their own good,” she said firmly. “Have the courage to be honest and direct with her. Even if she hates what you say.”

The room went quiet again and I stared across the apartment, looking at the skyline that used to be proof I was winning at something, but I suddenly couldn’t remember what the prize was supposed to be anymore. Liana reached over and squeezed my shoulder before letting her hand fall away.

“Pull your head out of your ass,” she said gently. “Then tell me what you want to do.”

I didn’t answer, but not because I didn’t want to. It was because, for the first time in a very long time, I genuinely didn’t know.

CHAPTER 35

BREE

Life went on. Hospitals didn’t stop for heartbreak. They didn’t pause for moral dilemmas or messy personal fallout.

They just kept moving, one patient at a time, one crisis bleeding into the next. Meanwhile, I stared at a cursor flickering on a screen at the nurses’ station, doing my best to focus. Whatever this place had become, I still had patients who needed me, and if staying here meant I had to learn how to exist in the same building as the man who’d broken my heart and shattered my trust, then I could do it.

The whispers had been swirling around all morning though, making it even harder to concentrate. They slid through the hallway like antiseptic fumes. Conversations dipped as I passed and voices lowered just enough to make it obvious they weren’t meant for my ears, which only made them louder.

“Bree,” Jenna called, catching up beside me as I started pushing away from the counter. Her eyes flicked around nervously before settling on my face. “Is it true? You and Crowne had some kind of confrontation?”

I kept my expression neutral, but only because I didn’t want her to see how badly I was hurting. Although I’d briefly considered dismissing the rumors, I’d decided to not lie for him. These people had a right to know their lives were about to blow up in their faces.

Plus, if he was going to make this kind of decision, he was sure as hell going to have to own up to it. I lifted my chin slightly, needing something—anything—to give me the courage to say this out loud.

“There are more cuts coming and they’re going to hurt. All I did was tell him exactly what I thought about his brilliant ideas.”

Her lips parted. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Another nurse leaned closer. “What kind of cuts?”

“The kind that affect people who’ve been here a long time,” I said, my voice flat. “He has no idea how fast this place to going to go to hell in a handbasket if he goes through with it.”

Both nurses nodded and took off, and the truth spread like wildfire from there. I could practically feel it catching, hopping from one staff member to the next. Someone squeezed my arm in solidarity as they passed by me a few hours later. Someone else muttered, “Good for you.”

I didn’t feel good about it. All I felt was hollowed out, and I kept my head down from then on, doing my best to go about my day and take care of my patients without getting distracted. The last thing I needed was to become the unofficial spokesperson for hospital outrage. I barely trusted my own emotions right now, let alone everyone else’s.

Naturally, that meant karma had to go out of her way to distract me. Sullivan stepped out of an elevator at the far end of the hall in one of his crisp suits, his posture rigid and his presence instantly commanding attention the way it always did. For a split second, my heart reacted on instinct, a stupid, traitorous flutter that hadn’t gotten the memo that we were over.

His gaze found mine almost immediately, but I pivoted before he could even take a step toward me, ducking into the stairwell and letting the metal door slam shut behind me. The echo rang through the concrete shaft as I leaned back against it, pressing my palms flat against the cool surface.

My chest rose and fell too fast, my entire being yearning to go to him. But no. Absolutely not.