The Rejected Trillionaire Surgeon

CHAPTER 8

Jaxon was late.

Too late; for when a nurse passed him with reddened eyes and a pale face, he asked breathlessly.

“Where is she?..The woman, Maziya, the one from the surgery. Where is she?”

The nurse stopped, shook her head gently, and avoided his eyes.

“She’s gone,” she whispered. “We… we lost her.”

Jaxon straightened slowly, as if his entire skeleton had turned to lead. His throat dried up. “No… no, that’s not possible. Dr. Brighton was supposed to handle phase two. He promised to ….”

Then he remembered. He was Dr. Brighton, the surgery demi-god.

“Dr. Brighton never showed up,” another nurse said from behind. “We waited. But… the time ran out. The others tried, but it was too late. Too complicated.”

Jaxon could barely hear them now.

The prophecy…she was this close to telling him who his parents and sister were. Very close.

The sedative still dragged at his muscles.

And now Maziya is dead.

“Jaxon,” Dr. Shirley’s voice called out, almost stumbling into the corridor. Her face was pale, her eyes sunken. “Did you, did you hear?”

Jaxon nodded once. Slow. “Yes.”

Her eyes were wet with tears now.

“She was… she was stable. Her vitals were responding. We just needed Brighton to start phase two. The second incision… the cranial transition. But he didn’t come.”

“I know,” Jaxon said, guilt biting hard. “I heard.”

Shirley sighed deeply and leaned against the wall beside him. “I waited. I waited for him. I went to the 7th floor, where you said he was. But the nurse said no one had seen him.”

“I…” Jaxon looked at her. “I made a mistake.”

Shirley didn’t answer that. She looked forward, her expression unreadable.

“He could’ve saved her,” she whispered.

Jaxon nodded.

There was silence again; the type that hung like a dark blanket.

Down the hallway, murmurs were rising and the staff were gathering in the central conference room. Someone had called an emergency meeting.

Jaxon looked up to see Charles Harrow; his suit was razor and his smile too sweet for the weight of what had just happened.

“There you are, Jaxon,” he said loudly. “Come along. We’ve got a little… presentation for you.”

Jaxon blinked, head still fogged; the sedative hadn't cleared. Every step felt like moving through wet concrete.

Shirley gave Charles a look, clearly annoyed.

“Is now the time?” she asked.

Charles grinned. “Oh, it’s the perfect time.”

Jaxon moved without resistance. Maziya’s death had shaken him; and as he entered the conference room, the staff fell silent.

Charles placed his laptop on the table, cleared his throat, and clicked play.

And that was when the screen lit up and Jaxon saw the hotel hallway. The same hotel he had gone to deliver the cleaning set. The same hotel he had woken up next to a stranger.

The video showed his own image entering the suite. Then fading lights, then the naked woman, then the bed.

Jaxon stared at the screen and immediately he knew he had been set up.

And Charles? The baboon was smiling wildly.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Charles said, turning toward the room, “this is the face of betrayal, immorality… and perhaps even criminal intent.”

Dr. Shirley rolled her eyes.

The whispers returned but Jaxon stood still.

“You see,” Charles paused the video and faced the entire conference room, “this is the janitor you’ve all ignored or pitied. A man who conveniently disappears at will … only to show up in this condition.”

He sneered.

“While all the staff were on standby during the surgery, our janitor was tangled in bedsheets with a stranger.”

There were murmurs, sighs of disgust, pity and confusion.

Jaxon didn’t blink. His limbs still felt like stone as the haze of sedatives drooled through him.

“I was set up,” he said.

Charles chuckled. “Of course, you were. Poor janitor, just trying to make it in a world too cruel for his honest labor.” His voice dripped with mockery.

A resident surgeon glanced at Charles. “Isn’t this a bit excessive?”

Charles snapped, “He’s dangerous, Tom! A thief, a liar, and now, we have evidence he may be involved in immoral behaviors.”

“That’s a lie,” Shirley interrupted, stepping forward. “What if it was a setup?”

Charles laughed. “Oh, how touching. The noble doctor defends the janitor. How poetic.”

Jaxon’s eyes met Shirley’s, she was beautiful still.

“I only instructed your janitor to deliver a cleaning set to our Deluxe partner,” Charles added, “But he ended up on the laps of Delilah.”

“How pathetic!” Someone spat. Others agreed.

“I didn't do it.” Jaxon said firmly.

Charles looked at him. “Ugh? Do you have a twin we don't know of?”

“Charles, calm down, can we sort this out without screaming?” Shirley intervened.

“His days in Brattson Diagnostics are over.” Charles was having a filled day. “I can't wait to see his ass flung back into the street.”

Jaxon said nothing, he wasn't bothered. He was the CEO.

The door swung open and Rosey Harrow walked in like a queen returning to her throne.

Her silky dress swirled with elegance that could make even Zeus' wife jealous.

The room froze, eyes widened, even Charles flinched at the sight of his niece.

“Hi uncle Charles!” She winked. “Am I missing any medical lecture?”

She didn’t glance at anyone but Jaxon.

And when she reached him, without a word, she placed both hands on either side of his shoulder… and kissed him.

A Long, deep, possessive kiss.

Gasps erupted and Shirley blinked.

“Rosey, what is the meaning of this madness?” Charles stepped forward.

Jaxon, still stunned from the unfolding chaos, finally pulled back, breath shallow.

“What… are you doing?” he asked quietly.

Rosey smiled. “Finishing what we started.”

Charles was irritated, confused and visibly shaken. “What…what is this? Rosey, what are you…”

“Wait, didn’t you divorce him?” Gregg asked, confused.

Rosey’s laugh was musical and cruel. “A staged divorce. We needed you all to believe it. Especially Lewis.”

Whispers swelled into shouts.

“What?”

“No way!”

“She faked it?”

She turned to him, eyes softening. “Lewis always wanted me. We knew if I dangled myself just close enough, he’d come running. And when I caught him cheating with Lydia…” She shrugged. “He gave me all his assets. Everything. He begged for forgiveness, signed the papers, and is currently somewhere crying into his DSS medals.”

Charles stared at his niece. “You played him?”

“We played him,” she corrected.

Charles turned red. “This is ridiculous. What the hell is happening…”

“Everyone got played, Charles,” Rosey said, voice like a whip. “So did Lewis.”

Shirley looked from Jaxon to Rosey.

Gregg muttered under his breath, “My God…”

But before the room could fully absorb the shock, the entrance doors burst open and Rosey's parents were wheeled in. Governor Harrow and Clinton Harrow.

They were pale and barely breathing.

The atmosphere flipped in an instant. Rosey screamed, the staff scrambled, Nurses shouted instructions and Monitors beeped frantically.