My Surgeon Husband's Ultimate Betrayal

mother's life-saving heart surgery. He bailed for a "major emergenc

other's hand, being called a "he

s and her mother into our home-into the nurs

ed my mother, the woman who helped pay for his medical

a man so addicted to applause h

my heart, I walked up to him with t

aid, my voice

pte

Burn

a.m., just as they were prepping my mother for the high-r

ting room chair. I expected it to be him, Jermey,

p with his name, but the

eup on the interstate. Unavoidable. Dr. Pet

my head. A multi-car pileup. It sounded catastrophic, official. It was the kind of emergency that

It was un

s being wheeled into the operating room down the hall. Her life was on the line, and the man who

o tell myself. That' s the bargain I' d made when I

stract from the knot of ice forming in my stomach. That's whe

ose mother, Fronia Harrington, had become

ing an older, wrinkled one. His Rolex gleamed under what was clearly not the harsh g

as written in a fl

ther's health scare. Some doctors just have a bigger heart

t just shatter

lth s

Harrington, a woman whose "health scares" were as frequent and predictable as th

't just there;

was facing a five-hour open-heart surgery with a replacement surgeon she' d never met. And

tanding facade I had so carefully constructed cracked. But unde

it. The l

to Jermey's colleague, a kind, competent surgeon named Dr. Easton Fox. I' d met him a few t

change of plans. I need your help. I want my mother

at went beyond the situation. He saw the truth without me

s safely out of surgery, her procedure a success thanks to the capable Dr. Pete

saved in my phone months ago, unde

ost ruthless divorce

o an empty stairwell. "It's Chl

papers drafted by morning," she replied, her

e call ending feeling like

re my mother would have stayed to recover. I' d been watching her sleep, her chest ri

wood floors, the weary sigh as he dropped his keys into the ceramic bowl on the

onstructed look of exhaustion on his handsome face. The faint

way." His voice was a low, concerned murmur, the one h

resting gently on her arm, feeling the warmth of her skin. "She's f

he's not me. I'm so sorry, honey. It was abs

rs believing his surgical genius was so vital, so indispensable, that his arrogance, his neglect, were prices worth paying

. "I'll go see her in the morning. I'll

ved sharp lines into his face, highlighting the

aback. "No? What

ice dangerously quiet. "You won't be seei

features. "Chloe, don't be dramatic. I know you're upset

ding up and facing him fully. "Which is why she's being transferred to S

what? Without consulting me? I'm her doctor! I'm the best in t

escaped my lips was bitter and hum

s voice rising. "I was dealing with a mass ca

ken man who was so addicted to the applause of strangers that

my voice dropping back to that icy calm

is jaw tight. "From what

ing my head slowly

s before he masked it with anger. "

here else, Jermey. Just not here. Not anymor

e that was part fury, part wounded pride. He

o handle this on your own? Then handle it. Don't come cr

the room. The sound of his footsteps fade

ist

in the soft lamplight. A single tear, hot and

believing for so long t