Page 226 of Toxic Temptation
“Not that surgery.” She won’t meet my eyes. “Dr. Fleming called last week. He said there was something concerning in Leo’s post-operative bloodwork. Something you missed. He asked us to come back in for an emergency follow-up.”
The floor seems to tilt beneath my feet. “What did he find?”
“An ulcer. Near where his appendix was.” She’s speaking in a panicked rush, like she’s afraid she’ll lose her nerve if she speaks too slowly. “They had to operate again to remove it.”
We’ve gone from tilting floors to a spinning room. I grip the doorframe to steady myself. “Mrs. Sawyer, I need to see his medical records. All of them. Right now.”
“I’m sorry, Dr. Fairfax.” She finally looks at me, and I can see the guilt written across her face. “You were wonderful with Leo, and we were comfortable with you as his doctor, but…”
“But?”
“Well, that was then. Now, we’ve been told you’ve been making mistakes. Missing things you should have caught. Leo wouldn’t have needed a second surgery if you’d found that ulcer during the appendectomy.”
It’s hard to force a reply out of my mouth. “Mrs. Sawyer, I can assure you there was no ulcer. I examined every inch of?—”
“Please.” Her voice breaks. “Leo and I have been through so much this week. Could you just… let us rest? Please?”
Every instinct I have screams at me to fight.Demand answers, goddammit! Shake this woman until she tells me exactly what Jeremy said to convince her that I’m incompetent!
But she’s scared. Her child is sick. She’s been through hell—and I won’t add to that burden.
“Of course,” I manage. “I hope Leo feels better soon.”
I back out of the room on wobbly legs, pulling the door closed behind me. Then I run to the nurses’ station.
“You.” I point at the first nurse I see. “Pull up Leo Sawyer’s complete medical file. Right now. Everything from his initial admission to today.”
The nurse looks scared but complies. After a few keystrokes, the screen fills with data, and I lean in to read.
Initial surgery: routine appendectomy, no complications noted.
Second surgery: exploratory laparotomy with ulcer excision.
My hands shake as I scroll through the operative notes. According to Jeremy’s report, I somehow missed a bleeding gastric ulcer located directly adjacent to the appendix. An ulcer that would have been impossible to miss during the procedure I performed.
Because it wasn’t there.
I know it wasn’t there because I checked. I always check. I’m obsessive about checking every millimeter of tissue before I close.
Someone is lying.
Why?
78
VESPER
I’m an idiot.
The thought pounds through my skull like a migraine as I pace the empty hospital corridor. An idiot with a medical degree and eight years of surgical training, but still—a world-class, grade-A fucking idiot.
There were so many red flags. So many questions that went unanswered. So many glaring inconsistencies that I chose to ignore because I was too busy playing pretend.
Why didn’t I see it?
Because I was distracted. Preoccupied with tummy butterflies and stolen kisses and whether the man sharing my bed actually loved me back. I let myself get swept up in the fantasy of being wanted, of mattering to someone, of finally having the family I never knew I craved.
And while I was busy being a lovesick fool, something horrible was happening right under my nose.
