Chapter 91
The night was cool and still inside the quiet room.
Maeve Sinclair lay in bed, her forehead beaded with a fine layer of sweat.
Her chest felt suffocatingly tight, as if a heavy stone had been placed over her lungs.
In her dream, the bloodshot intensity of Frederick Fairchild’s eyes just before he walked away remained terrifyingly clear.
There were too many dark, unfathomable emotions hidden within that predatory gaze.
It wasn’t until his parting words—”Fine. Don’t regret this!”—echoed in her ears that Maeve snapped her eyes open, gasping for air.
The silent room amplified the sound of her heavy, muffled breathing.
Maeve slowly sat up and switched on the bedside lamp, her heart pounding frantically against her ribs.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a hidden threat in Frederick’s words; that somber, aggressive look in his eyes was something she had never seen before.
An ominous premonition swelled in her chest, and no matter how hard she pressed her hand against her heart, the dread refused to fade.
She could only hope she was overthinking it.
Haunted by the nightmare, Maeve drifted in and out of a restless sleep for the rest of the night.
When she dragged herself out of bed the next morning, her mind was in a fog, and her limbs felt like lead as she stumbled into the bathroom.
Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she took in her pale complexion and the dark, exhausted circles beneath her eyes.
Her mother had a fully booked schedule of patients today, and Maeve needed to drop off her lunch.
If Vivian saw her looking like this, she would definitely worry.
Maeve hastily applied some tinted moisturizer and swiped on a rose-nude lipstick to bring some color back to her face. She grabbed the lunchbox her father had prepared early that morning, slicing up some fresh fruit for extra vitamins.
Stacking the fruit container and the lunchbox neatly into a tote bag, she headed out the door.
She made her way to the hospital and stepped into the elevator.
With a soft ping, the doors slid open.
Maeve stepped out onto the floor, but as she walked down the hall, the hushed gossip of two young nurses caught her attention.
“Did you hear Dr. Sinclair lost the Vice President promotion? Why? Wasn’t she the top candidate this year p>
“Word is she offended someone powerful, so the board blocked it at the very last minute p>
“How is that possible? Dr. Sinclair is the sweetest person here. She’s so dedicated, and every resident she mentors turns out brilliant, How could they block her? lust whe exactly did she offend p>
“Who knows? Maybe it was someone with serious corporate connections p>
The nurses’ voices faded down the corridor, but Maeve felt as if she had been plunged into an ice bath, her body stiffening as the world around her faded away.
Just last night, Frederick had laid down his ultimatum, warning her not to regret her choices.
And this morning, her mother’s hard-earned promotion was suddenly blocked because she had offended some “powerful figure p>
It went without saying exactly who that figure was.
Maeve gripped the handles of her tote bag so tightly her knuckles turned white, the sharp sting of her nails biting into her skin the only thing keeping her grounded.
Even though her father despised Frederick, her mother had always treated him like her own son.
Whenever Frederick visited their home in the past, Vivian would cook a massive feast of his favorite foods and replace all the bedding with brand new sheets terrified that he might experience even the slightest discomfort.
Vivian had been a doctor for nearly two decades. Every promotion she earned was built on years of blood, sweat, and tears.
This Vice President position was the culmination of countless surgeries and thousands of patients saved.
But now, because of Frederick, all of her mother’s tireless efforts were being flushed down the drain.
How dare he?
Maeve was trembling so hard her teeth chattered. The rage building inside her chest felt like an active volcano, seconds away from an explosive eruption.
“Mae? You brought lunch, why are you just standing out there p>