Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
T he surgical floor is always quieter at night. No visitors and far fewer staff. I always prefer it this way, no one stopping to talk, boring me with their banal existences, or asking me for patient updates. The last thing I want to do right now is chat with anyone.
Every imbecile in the hospital is gossiping about their engagement. It’s all they can talk about. How happy they are for Doctor Mancini. What a charming man her fiancé is. Every time I’m forced to listen to another platitude of simpering congratulations, it makes me want to bury a surgical scalpel in his chest.
This is his fault.
Stefano Tiero. The walking cliché. The criminal in the tailored suit. I knew what he was the first time I saw him. He’s a predator, hidden behind a veneer of respectability. I’m done waiting for her and I refuse to allow trash like him to keep on touching what’s mine.
He was all over her at the gala. Every lingering touch and longing gaze made my skin crawl. But it doesn’t matter. She’ll find out who she belongs to soon enough.
As I turn the corner, I come face to face with my second least favourite person. That pathetic excuse for a man who thought he was good enough for my doctor. Nurse Costello.
Another man who’s not worthy of the air she breathes. The pathetic little man-child who only got this job because his daddy was on the board. Everything about him makes my blood boil. The affable pretty boy. A vapid little prick with the intelligence of an amoeba.
I dismiss his muttered apologies, shoving the cart he’s pushing out of my way and storming off down the corridor. I try to calm myself, yet every time I think of him on a date with my Katerina, my temper flares. I can practically hear the rage thundering in my ears.
By the time I reach the doctors' lounge, I know exactly what my next step is. She doesn’t realise the depth of my devotion to her. But I’ll show her. I’ll make her see.
I’m done waiting for her to accept that she’s always been mine.