Chapter 1 - The Woman Who Wouldn’t Step Aside
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that again.”
The sentence should have cost Audrey Hail her job.
At least, that was what every person standing on the cardiac floor seemed to believe.
The corridor went so quiet Audrey could hear the faint hum of the fluorescent lights above her head.
Her fingers were wrapped around the thin metal frame of her glasses. The other hand still held the edge of the door to Trauma Room 3.
Six feet away stood Callum Ror.
He was taller than she had realized when he first stepped off the elevator. Broad shoulders beneath a black coat. Dark hair pushed back from a face that looked carved rather than grown. Short stubble sharpened his jaw, while black-and-gray ink climbed from beneath his collar along one side of his neck.
Behind him stood two men in expensive suits.
They said nothing.
They did not have to.
Everybody in the building knew who the Ror family was.
Audrey knew enough.
She knew Patrick Ror controlled companies whose names appeared on half the skyline.
She knew Callum was the son who rarely appeared in newspapers but somehow frightened people more than the relatives who did.
She knew hospital executives had started appearing on the cardiac floor within ten minutes of Patrick Ror’s ambulance arriving.
And she knew none of that mattered while Patrick Ror was crashing behind the door she was guarding.
Callum stared at her.
For several seconds, neither of them moved.
Then his eyes narrowed.
“You work for this hospital,” he said quietly. “Don’t confuse that with having authority over me.”
Audrey removed her glasses.
Without them, Callum blurred around the edges.
It helped.
A little.
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that again.”
Someone near the nurses’ station inhaled sharply.
“Ms. Hail,” the administrator whispered.
Callum lifted one hand without looking away from Audrey.
The administrator stopped talking immediately.
Audrey waited.
She expected anger.
A threat.
A cold instruction to somebody standing behind him.
Instead, one corner of Callum’s mouth moved.
Then the other.
He smiled.
It was not cruel.
That surprised her more than anger would have.
It was brief, genuine, almost disbelieving.
Audrey pushed her glasses back onto her face.
“You find this funny?”
“No.”
His gaze stayed on her.
“I find you interesting.”
“I’m not here to interest you.”
That nearly made him smile again.
Then an alarm screamed behind Audrey.
Everything changed.
The door opened and a nurse hurried into the corridor.
“Pressure’s dropping.”
Audrey turned.
Callum moved at the same time.
For one instant, he saw into the room.
Patrick Ror lay beneath the white lights, gray-faced beneath an oxygen mask.
Physicians closed around him.
Callum took a step.
Audrey put her palm against his chest.
“Stay here.”
His gaze dropped to her hand.
Everyone else’s did too.
Audrey realized exactly what she had done.
Slowly, she removed it.
“My father—”
“Needs doctors, not an audience.”
Something changed in Callum’s face.
Not anger.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Save him.”
For the first time, his voice sounded like that of a son rather than a man accustomed to being obeyed.
Audrey held his eyes.
“We’re trying.”
Then she went inside.
Forty-seven minutes later, Audrey emerged exhausted.
A loose strand of dark hair had fallen against her cheek. Her neck hurt. Her feet hurt. Her brain was still replaying numbers from the monitor.
Callum had not moved.
“Your father’s stable.”
The change in him was almost invisible.
His shoulders lowered by perhaps half an inch.
But Audrey noticed.
“He had a serious cardiac event,” she continued. “Dr. Park will explain everything. He needs quiet. No business meetings. No crowd around the bed. No stress.”
Callum glanced toward the men behind him.
“You heard her.”
One of them nodded.
“Clear the floor.”
Audrey blinked.
So did the administrator.
Within minutes, half the hallway emptied.
Callum walked past Audrey toward his father’s room.
Then he stopped.
“What’s your name?”
Audrey looked deliberately at the badge clipped to her scrubs.
“You can read.”
The smile returned.
“Audrey Hail.”
“Mr. Ror.”
“Callum.”
“Mr. Ror.”
He looked at her for another second.
Then entered his father’s room.
Audrey told herself the strange tension in her chest was exhaustion.
Nothing more.
At seven the next morning, she discovered she had been wrong about one thing.
The Ror family did not simply visit hospitals.
They occupied them.
Two suited men stood near the elevators.
Another remained by the stairwell.
Hospital administrators appeared with coffee and forced smiles.
Audrey ignored them.
She entered Patrick’s room carrying his chart.
Then stopped.
Callum sat beside the bed.
His coat was gone. His sleeves were rolled to his forearms.
He looked tired.
Human.
Patrick opened his eyes.
He saw Audrey.
“The nurse with the glasses.”
Audrey approached the monitor.
“That’s me.”
Patrick looked at Callum.
Then back at her.
“Good. I want her.”
Audrey frowned.
“Excuse me?”
“On my rotation.”
“You don’t get to order nurses like room service.”
Patrick’s mouth twitched.
“I like her.”
Callum leaned back slightly.
“That makes one of us.”
Audrey turned.
He was almost smiling.
She ignored him.
Two hours later, she returned and found Patrick holding a tiny silver espresso cup.
She stared at it.
Patrick froze.
“The coffee.”
“It’s espresso.”
“Your heart doesn’t care.”
Callum stood near the window with a phone.
“My father asked for it.”
“And I’m taking it.”
Patrick looked at Callum expectantly.
Callum looked at Audrey.
Audrey held out her hand.
After a moment, Callum calmly removed the cup from Patrick’s fingers and placed it in hers.
Patrick stared at him.
“Traitor.”
“You raised me badly.”
Audrey almost laughed.
Almost.
The morning remained oddly peaceful until Malcolm Ror arrived.
Audrey saw him before anyone introduced him.
Older than Callum.
Silver beginning at his temples.
Same controlled posture.
Same expensive clothes.
But something in Malcolm’s face felt colder.
Three men followed him.
Audrey moved into Patrick’s doorway.
“One visitor.”
Malcolm barely slowed.
“They’re family.”
“Then the family can take turns.”
His gaze settled on her.
“You’re Audrey.”
It was not a question.
That unsettled her.
Behind Audrey, Patrick shifted.
His heart rate climbed.
Eighty-six.
Ninety-two.
Ninety-eight.
Callum appeared at the end of the corridor.
Malcolm gave him a thin smile.
“Tell your nurse to move.”
“She isn’t my nurse.”
“Then this should be easy.”
Patrick’s heart rate hit 106.
Audrey looked at the monitor.
“Everybody out.”
Malcolm took another step.
Audrey pressed the staff-assistance button.
Two nurses appeared.
“Visits are over.”
Malcolm’s expression hardened.
“You understand who this man is?”
“Yes.”
Audrey looked directly at him.
“My patient.”
Callum stepped between them.
“My father needs quiet.”
Something passed between the brothers.
Or cousins.
Audrey did not yet know their exact relationship.
But she recognized hatred when she saw it.
Malcolm finally backed away.
Before leaving, he looked at Audrey.
Not angrily.
Carefully.
As if committing her face to memory.
Minutes later, Patrick suddenly clutched his chest.
The monitor screamed.
Callum rushed toward the bed.
Audrey caught his arm.
“Callum.”
It was the first time she had used his first name.
His eyes found hers immediately.
“Let us do our jobs.”
For a heartbeat, he looked completely helpless.
Then he stepped back.
Twenty minutes later, Patrick was stable again.
Audrey left the room and found Callum standing alone by a vending machine.
His men were gone.
For once, nobody surrounded him.
Audrey bought two coffees.
She held one out.
He looked at it.
“You confiscated my father’s.”
“Your father had a cardiac event.”
“And I didn’t.”
“Yet.”
He accepted the cup.
For a while, they stood silently beside the window.
Finally Callum spoke.
“My father thinks he’s immortal.”
“Most difficult patients do.”
“He likes you.”
“He barely knows me.”
“That has never stopped him from deciding things.”
Audrey glanced at Callum.
“And you?”
His eyes remained on the skyline.
“I don’t decide quickly.”
She should have left.
Instead she asked, “About people?”
“Especially people.”
Audrey took another sip.
“Smart.”
Callum looked at her then.
The expression on his face was different from yesterday.
Less amused.
More thoughtful.
“You’re not afraid of me.”
Audrey considered lying.
“I am.”
That surprised him.
“But fear isn’t the same thing as obedience.”
A quiet smile touched his mouth.
Then Callum’s phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
The smile vanished.
Audrey saw only three words before he tilted it away.
MALCOLM KNOWS EVERYTHING.
Callum’s face became unreadable.
“Something wrong?”
“No.”
But Audrey had already learned something important about Callum Ror.
His voice became quieter when the truth was dangerous.
And when Audrey returned to Patrick’s room ten minutes later, she discovered something even worse.
Patrick was awake.
Watching her.
“Audrey,” he whispered.
She approached.
“What is it?”
Patrick’s hand closed weakly around her wrist.
His expression had changed.
Fear filled his eyes.
“Don’t trust Malcolm.”
Audrey froze.
Patrick swallowed painfully.
“He didn’t come here to visit me.”
“Then why did he come?”
Patrick glanced toward the door.
And whispered five words that would change everything.
“He came to make sure.”
Audrey leaned closer.
“Make sure of what?”
Patrick’s eyes met hers.
May you like
“That I don’t wake up.”
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