Chapter 81 Pay The Price

"Yesterday, they were yelling the loudest. But today, they went silent," Mallory began. "People say someone high up called in to keep you here. "Since when did you have backing like that?" Mallory asked. Backing? Emily's fingers turned cold and numb. Gabriel's unreadable face suddenly flashed through her mind. Who else could it be? He had once bought this hospital outright for Amelia. This didn't feel like protection. It felt more like a warning. He had chosen a neat way to show her his reach, to remind her that everything she was proud of was under his control. He could crush it or save it with the same ease—so long as she behaved. This so-called kindness suffocated her more than his cruelty ever had. "I'm going in," Emily evenly said. "I've got a complex aortic dissection this morning. I need to prepare." She stepped past Mallory and went into the office without looking back. The operating room lights cast a stark white glare around the room. Meanwhile, monitors ticked in