lungs. She manufactured a smile for Mrs. Davies, a b
an early meeting at the
or, her movements stiff. Each s
damp, likely from a shower he'd taken while she was asleep. He was on his phone, speaking to an assistant about an overseas acqui
s a fresh stab
you," he said, not looki
Her hand was on the doorknob, toked at her. His expression was neutral, as if he were
aid, his tone purely tra
the door. It was the coldest, most insulting thing he could
back to fac
can't afford, Julian. J
t was clean and sharp,
with ice. "It won't happen again. We will have no
stepped into the hallway, letting the heavy door click shu
hed bronze doors-her makeup smudged, her hair a mess, his scent still clinging to he
nt, she tore off the dress and threw it in the trash. The
until it was red and raw. She wanted to erase his touch, his scent, the memory of his b
ped a towel around herself and wiped
n she s
larbone, partially hidden by the towel. Hickeys. Marks
her fist against the marble countertop, the sharp pain a
a night; he had marked it. He ha
a consultation, a full day of being D
d out a thin, cashmere turtleneck. In the middle of a warm New York spring
forced her mind to focus on medical charts, on patient histories,
side entrance, changed into her scrubs,
e of the surgical ward, caugh
ight?" Linda's eyes were kind,
omnia," Chloe lied
ed like ash
red aortic aneurysm. A fifty-year-old man, cras
ctly what
cal lights, Chloe was transformed. The hesitant, shamed wom
, her instructions
alp
cti
ight he
Chloe's eyes, visible over her mask, flicked to him. The look was so cold, so
air crackled with her tension. She wasn't jus
t of reclamation. She was channeling the chaos of her personal
rge. Here, she could
in, tight line. Under the blue scrubs and the high-collared shirt, Julian's mark
save this
o herself, that she was st
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