Chapter 2
NINA
“Did you hear? Some rich asshole is using our helipad.”
I can feel Lily’s excitement from across the room. I’m taking a very late lunch break — in the early morning, because I’m on the night shift — and cannot relate to her perkiness right now.
“I heard about the helicopter.” I shoot her a smile. She’s overly energetic about mornings, but Lily is nonetheless my best friend. She’s coming in for the day shift, and this ten-minute chat might be the only time we get together all week.
“Seriously rich,” she says through a mouthful of croissant. “He made some eye-watering donation to the hospital so they’d let him use it, and then signed all these freaking waivers about how he would uphold our patients’ confidentiality and everything.”
“Hmm,” I feign interest, spooning cereal into my mouth.
When I get home, I have to pick up Ava from our neighbor’s place, fix her breakfast, take her to daycare, run for groceries, shower, cook dinner-slash-breakfast for my night shift, and figure out how the hell I’m going to scrape together our bills for the month.
Then, finally, I’ll be able to head to sleep for a luxurious four-hour nap.
If I ever manage to leave this shift.
“And the best part is, apparently he’s gorgeous. Some kind of hot-shot billionaire.” She waits for my reaction.
“Cool, a billionaire.” I feign another smile. “Cool.”
A thought snags in the back of my mind, but I shut it down fast. It could be anyone. This city is full of billionaires.
“Mysterious, too. Apparently no one knows the source of his money — offshore investments, trusts, crypto, nothing in Forbes. It’s all off the books.”
I frown into my cereal. That narrows things down a bit. “Sounds dodgy.”
Lily nudges my arm. “C’mon, Nina, I know you’re coming off a shift, but this is the most exciting thing to happen at Middlefield in millennia.
” We have only been residents here for two months, but Lily is prone to exaggeration.
“There will be paparazzi outside. I’m going to start doing my hair and make-up for the shifts.
” She tosses her straight red hair over her shoulder to demonstrate.
I laugh at the image. We are so overworked that any hair styling or make-up would immediately melt away in stress-sweat. “I’m sure the patients will appreciate it, Lily.”
“You should go look. The helicopter is so shiny—”
“You’ve been up there? I’m not entirely sure that’s allowed.”
“I’m serious. It’s worth a look. I didn’t even know Aston Martin made helicopters.”
I breathe a little easier. The only billionaire I know is rich, but not designer-helicopter rich. More like standard-issue Black Hawk rich.
“Fancy.”
“Sooo fancy. It even looked like it had tinted windows, which is ridiculous. Who’s even gonna see you in your helicopter? A bird?”
“That’s probably bulletproof glass,” I reply automatically. I almost spit out my coffee when I realize my mistake.
Lily tilts her head, interest flashing into her crystal blue eyes. “How would you k—”
“Anyway, you’re actually not the first person to tell me the gossip.” I stir a creamer into my coffee, even though I normally take it black. I just need something to do with my hands.
“What? Who else knows?”
“The entire nursing department. You’ve gotta be here earlier if you want to spill the tea. This hospital runs on a 24-hour news cycle.”
“Ugh. I’d better do the rounds before the nurses spoil it for me. Still, can you believe the management are allowed to rent it out like that?”
I shake my head. It does feel like grim news for the future of this city that a helipad once used for emergency medicine is now serving some billionaire who wants to get to his business meetings a minute sooner.
“I guess money can buy you anything.”
“Wouldn’t know.” Lily picks at her dry croissant from the hospital canteen. I toast my mug of lukewarm filter coffee across the fluorescently lit break room. We are not living a glamorous life.
“But hey, maybe they’ll decide the money should be used to pay their dirt-poor residents better.”
I forget about the mysterious billionaire and his shiny helicopter for the rest of my shift. Finishing two hours late means that I’ll only just make it home in time to take Ava to daycare.
If our neighbor didn’t look after her for my night shifts, I literally have no idea how I would survive. I tug my hair out of the tight ponytail and pull on a jacket as I head for the exit.
I’m just putting on music when I turn the corner and recognition hits me like a bucket of ice.
I only see flashes of him at first.
Windswept blonde hair. A suit jacket slung over one shoulder. Guards on either side of him, though they’re dwarfed by his height. A vintage Rolex.
His vintage Rolex.
Fresh pain needles at my heart.
No freaking way.
Every rooftop in the city and he picked this one? My one?
Artyom Petrov is the billionaire using our helipad.
Fuck.
My feet, already aching from a ten-hour shift, are suddenly blocks of lead, my bag unbearably heavy.
His gaze sweeps over me. Unmistakeable. Damning.
One blue eye, one hazel eye.
He keeps walking without pause, leaving me questioning my own sanity.
Did he not recognize me?
Would it be so bad if he hadn’t?
Yes, my heart screams.
No, my brain tells me.
Flying under Artyom Petrov’s radar is the right place for me to be.
That man is unpredictable, dangerous and unreliable.
My fingernails dig into my hands so hard I think I’m going to leave scratches. I can’t breathe, can’t think, I can only stare after that retreating figure and think that after five years I’m breathing the same air as him again.
“Are you okay, Nina?”
No.
“Your face is pale.” Cool, adept fingers find my pulse. Terry, my brain registers distantly. One of our most experienced nurses.
I knew I never should have come back to this city.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He snaps his fingers in front of my eyes and I bring my focus back to his sympathetic smile. “Phew, I thought you were about to faint. They work you residents too damn hard. Long shift?”