CHAPTER 58 – ANTONIO
Caspian drops me off in front of the trattoria, leaning in to kiss me one more time before I have to go. I step out of the car and miss him immediately.
I miss his presence, the solid weight, the way he smells.
“Tesoro!” Mom hugs me when I head into the kitchen. “How was your sleepover?”
“It wasn’t a sleepover!”
“Okay,” she says, smiling knowingly. “How was your grown-up night with your amore?”
I scowl.
“Where’s Maria?” I tie my apron, thinking back to our rotation. “Or is Leo in tonight?”
My parents hired Leo two weeks ago. As a person, he’s very grumpy. As a waiter, he’s worse. Mom is convinced his people skills will develop over time with enough nurturing, but I think a career in a windowless room without human contact would suit him the best.
Mom checks the time and frowns. “Your sister should be here already.”
“Leo had the morning shift,” Dad explains. He smiles benignly, glancing at Mom. “Only two customers left in tears.”
“We’re making wonderful progress!” Mom says firmly.
“I’ll text Maria and start setting the tables,” I say, but I don’t even get my phone out before the door swings open and Maria rushes in. Sophia is with her. They’ve both been crying.
“What’s wrong?” Mom asks, worried.
“Penelope Stone just destroyed Sophia’s life,” Maria says, her voice sharp with fury.
“What?”
“We lost a patient,” Sophia says quietly.
My stomach drops. “What happened?”
“It was a high-risk surgery,” she explains. “We all knew the odds, but…” Her voice trails off.
Maria rubs her back as I struggle to process.
“I’m so sorry, Sophia. But I don’t understand. How does this ruin your life?”
“Because Dr. Stone blamed her,” Maria hisses.
Sophia puts a hand on Maria’s arm. It’s a gesture she’s made for as long as I remember whenever Maria gets too worked up.
“She did what?” I stare at them, horrified.
A cold dread is already pooling in my chest. I try to ignore it, but on some level I know this is bad.
This is really, really bad.
Sophia’s voice is flat, her eyes hollow.
“She told the department I didn’t follow her instructions. That I deviated from protocol, and by doing that, I…” She breaks down.
“You didn’t,” I say immediately. “I know you didn’t.”
“I didn’t,” Sophia whispers. She looks so tired, so desperate, that my chest coils with worry.
With fury, too.
I’ve been here before.
I’ve fucking been here.
Maria’s hands curl into fists.
“Penelope Stone let Sophia take the fall just because she could.”
“How is that even possible?” I ask. “She was the attending surgeon. Isn’t the responsibility automatically hers?”
“If she says I disobeyed her, that’s what everyone’s going to believe.” Sophia lets out a long, shaking breath. “I’m nobody. She’s a—she’s a legend.”
“Nothing is impossible for people like Penelope Stone,” Maria seethes.
Something inside me shatters.
Maria is right. Penelopes of this world can crush good people like Sophia because society lets them. Old money weighs more than justice—I have scars to prove it. They might be invisible, but I carry them with me every single day.
The Stones are one of the oldest, wealthiest families in North Carolina.
More powerful even than the Rutherfords .
If Penelope Stone wants to destroy a life, she will destroy a life, the Hippocratic Oath be damned.
Families like theirs hold all the power. They don’t suffer the consequences, they deliver them.
“They’ll take away my license. I just know it. Then everything I’ve worked for is gone,” Sophia says, tears streaming down her face.
Maria pulls her best friend into a tight hug and lets her cry.
Bile rises to my throat as I watch them.
I think of Caspian—how proud he sounds when he talks about his sister, how much he respects her skills. Even after everything his family has done to him, Caspian loves her. When I told him about Sophia’s residency on our first date, he said she was in good hands.
Now those capable, miracle-performing hands have brushed Sophia aside like she’s nothing.
“We’re not letting this stand,” Maria says fiercely. She turns to me. “You can talk to Caspian. He’ll help.”
My chest feels tight. Unbearably so. He would help—if he believed me. But he won’t. Not in a million years. Not when it’s his sister.
People like him believe people like her. Not people like me.
I’m going to lose him.
He would never choose me over his family.
“He’ll help us bring her down,” Maria insists.
A metallic taste floods my mouth and I realize I’ve bitten my lip hard enough to draw blood.
It’s like I’m seventeen again, standing in the principal’s office, being told to stop provoking one of the most promising young men in Cove Bay High.
“There’s something about your son that agitates Mr. Rutherford.”
That was her message for my parents. Now it’s happening all over again.
Only this time, the person I love might be standing on the other side.