Chapter 4

Emma Carter POV

I knew it was time for me to leave.

The day after Serena returned, Adrian announced to the entire hospital that it would be receiving a massive strategic investment from an overseas corporation.

Serena was the corporation’s chief representative for North America.

Adrian had once been a workaholic, but he began arriving late and leaving early. In the hospital parking lot, his Maybach’s passenger seat now held a special pillow that belonged only to Serena.

Everyone discussed the couple’s reconciliation. I stood among them and listened to their praise, feeling the blood in my body turn cold.

I submitted my resignation immediately.

But just as I finished packing and prepared to survive the final month of handover, fate played its cruelest joke.

That afternoon, I was checking medication in the emergency department when the piercing siren of an ambulance approached from a distance. It screamed through the hospital entrance.

“Move! Get out of the way! Chemical plant explosion! Severe burns!”

The emergency responders were covered in soot as they shouted and pushed a stretcher into the trauma room.

I rushed forward on instinct.

Then I saw the body on the stretcher—a figure burned beyond recognition, barely human.

My feet stopped.

A bloody hand hung over the edge of the stretcher. Around its wrist was a crooked woven bracelet.

It was the bracelet I had made for my younger brother, Noah, just last month.

“Noah…”

My mind went blank. All the blood seemed to drain from my body at once. I screamed and threw myself toward the stretcher.

My brother Noah Carter had just turned twenty-two. He was a young firefighter. He was the boy who always told me, “Don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you,” whenever I was hurt.

Now his body was charred black. The sharp smell of roasted flesh and chemicals filled the room. The numbers on the monitors flashed wildly as alarms screamed.

“Ms. Carter, calm down!” The ER director grabbed me as my legs gave way. “The burns cover ninety percent of his body, with severe inhalation injuries. Get him to surgery immediately! He needs an emergency tracheotomy and escharotomy, or he’ll go into shock!”

“Save him! Please, Director, please save him!” I clutched his white coat like it was a lifeline.

“His injuries are too severe. The burn specialist is out of town at a conference. Mr. Black is the only person in the entire hospital capable of performing this level of debridement and flap surgery!” the director said urgently. “Go get him! Now!”

I ran out of the trauma room.

I called Adrian like a madwoman, but an icy automated voice answered every time.

“We’re sorry. The person you’re calling is currently on another call…”

I rushed to the director’s office on the top floor. It was empty.

His assistant, Mr. Lewis, stared at me with blood covering my hands, as if I were a lunatic.

“Mr. Black took Ms. White to meet Mr. Smith from the overseas corporation. Apparently, today’s meeting will determine whether the five-hundred-million-dollar investment goes through…”

“Give me the address!” I screamed, my eyes bloodshot.

The moment I got the address, I ran out of the hospital without even removing my white coat and hailed a cab.

My hands shook so badly I could barely hold my phone. I called again and again.

The first call was rejected.

The fifth call was rejected.

The fifteenth call went straight to voicemail.

Tears blurred my face. I bit my finger until it bled and forced myself to stay calm. Then I sent Adrian a message:

[Adrian, please answer! My brother suffered severe burns in a chemical plant fire. He’s dying. You’re the only person who can perform this surgery! Please come back to the hospital!]

There was no response.

Finally, on the twenty-third call, he answered.