2026-01-22 07:35:26The supervisor’s bow had not even fully ended when the hallway changed.
People who had been whispering stopped. People who had been smirking turned their faces away. Even the nurse holding a clipboard tightened her grip like she was afraid the paper could betray her.
The doctor stood there, frozen, lips parted, eyes wide, and for the first time he looked like a man who understood consequences.
The supervisor did not waste time.
“Clear the way,” she said.
A man in a dark suit walked in behind her, followed by two assistants carrying cases. The moment his face came into view, the air in the hallway shifted again.
Someone gasped.
“No way,” a woman whispered. “That’s him.”
A man near the vending machine leaned forward. “That’s Doctor Nolan.”
Another voice, shaking, said, “The one on TV.”
The private doctor did not look around. He didn’t need to. He walked like he belonged to a higher floor of the world, one most people never reached.
The supervisor turned to him at once.
“Doctor Nolan,” she said, voice respectful. “Thank you for coming.”
Doctor Nolan’s eyes moved to the bed.
“How long,” he asked.
The paramedic answered fast. “He was brought in earlier. They refused treatment.”
Doctor Nolan’s face didn’t change. “Vitals.”
A nurse spoke quickly, voice tight. “He can hear, but he couldn’t move. His breathing is shallow.”
Doctor Nolan nodded once, then looked at the supervisor.
“VIP ward,” the supervisor said immediately. “Now.”
The words hit the hallway like a stamp.
A man sitting on the bench muttered, “VIP ward?”
A woman beside him whispered, “You need a lifetime of money to even smell that floor.”
Another person said, “That doctor is the kind you sell a kidney for, and he’s here for him.”
The doctor who had called Dante a peasant swallowed hard, but still said nothing. His throat bobbed like he was trying to swallow his own pride.
Two nurses moved forward to take the bed.
The supervisor snapped so sharply they stopped mid step.
“No,” she said.
The nurses froze.
The supervisor pointed without looking away from the bed.
“For this one,” she said, “the doctors will serve as the nurses.”
The hallway went silent.
One of the junior doctors blinked like he hadn’t heard right.
“Ma’am,” he started.
The supervisor turned her head slightly. Her eyes were cold.
“Did you not hear me,” she asked.
The junior doctor’s mouth closed.
The supervisor looked at the hospital doctor, the one who had been so loud a minute ago.
“You,” she said.
He flinched.
“Yes,” he managed.
“Remove the IV,” she ordered. “Prepare transport. Assist Doctor Nolan.”
The doctor’s eyes widened. “Me?”
Doctor Nolan spoke, calm and hard. “Now.”
The doctor moved, hands shaking. He tried to hide the tremble, but everyone saw it.
The supervisor turned back to Miss Hale.
“Miss Hale,” she said, voice softer now, “I assure you he will be treated with care.”
Miss Hale did not nod. She did not smile. Her face stayed calm, but the calm felt heavy, like the room had to carry it.
“I hope so,” she said.
The supervisor swallowed. “Yes, Miss Hale.”
The people in the hallway did not know where to look.
A few seconds ago, they had been laughing.
Now they were watching doctors push a bed like servants.
Doctor Nolan gave quick instructions.
“Move him carefully,” he said. “No sudden shifts.”
The paramedic stepped in. “Should we call the police about the refusal order?”
Doctor Nolan did not answer that. He looked at the supervisor.
“You’ll handle the rest,” he said.
The supervisor nodded fast. “Yes.”
The nurses reached again for the bed.
The supervisor’s voice snapped through the hallway.
“I said doctors,” she repeated.
Two doctors moved forward at once, faces stiff, and took the handles the nurses had reached for.
One nurse stared, eyes wide. Another looked down and pretended she was busy.
The doctor who had insulted Dante could not take it anymore.
He stepped forward, voice tight, trying to force sound back into his world.
“Supervisor,” he said, “there has to be a mistake.”
No one answered him.
He spoke louder.
“I said there has to be a mistake,” he repeated. “This man is not, he can’t be, you’re doing too much over a stranger.”
The supervisor did not look at him. She watched the bed move.
He took another step.
“Supervisor,” he said, “listen to me. He’s poor. He came in with nothing. We had higher orders. We were told not to treat him.”
Doctor Nolan’s assistants didn’t react. They kept walking. They moved like the doctor wasn’t there.
The hospital doctor’s face twisted, frustration leaking out.
“And now you bring a private doctor,” he said, voice rising, “and you’re embarrassing our hospital in front of everyone, just because of a name that doesn’t even make sense.”
The supervisor stopped.
The bed stopped.
The hallway stopped breathing.
The supervisor’s face was drenched in sweat, but her eyes were dry.
“What did you say,” she asked.
The doctor swallowed, then forced himself to speak again.
“I said there has to be a mistake,” he insisted. “This is not right.”
The supervisor walked up to him fast.
He tried to hold her gaze, but his eyes flickered.
“You refused emergency care,” she said. “You insulted a patient. You called him a peasant. You spoke to Miss Hale like she was nothing.”
The doctor opened his mouth. “I didn’t, I was only, I was warning her.”
The supervisor’s hand moved.
The slap landed clean and loud.
The sound snapped through the hallway, and the doctor’s head turned with it. He stumbled, one hand flying to his cheek, eyes wide.
A woman in the crowd covered her mouth.
The supervisor spoke with a voice that didn’t shake at all.
“You don’t get to speak,” she said. “Not now.”
The doctor’s lip trembled.
“I’m a doctor,” he said, half whisper, half plea. “You can’t hit me.”
The supervisor’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re a disgrace,” she replied.
The doctor’s pride surged, and he did the worst thing he could do.
He tried to speak again.
“Supervisor, you’re overreacting,” he said. “I was following orders. If anyone is to blame, it’s whoever gave the order.”
The supervisor slapped him again.
This time he fell against the wall.
His eyes watered, not from pain alone, but from the humiliation of being struck like a child in front of strangers.
The supervisor faced the hallway.
“Everyone here heard him refuse treatment,” she said. “Everyone here heard him insult a patient.”
She turned back to him.
“Effective immediately,” she said, “you are suspended. Your license will be reviewed. You will be investigated for refusing emergency care. You will not touch another patient until we are done.”
The doctor tried to speak, but his voice wouldn’t come out right.
The supervisor pointed at security.
“Escort him out,” she ordered.
Two guards stepped forward.
The doctor looked around wildly, searching for support in the crowd that had laughed with him earlier. No one met his eyes. People suddenly found their shoes interesting.
As the guards took him, the supervisor leaned closer and spoke low, the words meant for him alone.
“You should pray,” she said, “that Miss Hale decides to forget your name.”
____________________________________
Almost a month later, Dante opened his eyes and stared at a ceiling that didn’t match any room he remembered.
He turned his head and saw soft curtains, clean sheets, and a screen showing his heartbeat like it was a polite reminder that he was still alive.
Miss Hale sat in the chair by the window, looking at her phone.
“You’re awake,” she said.
Dante swallowed. His throat felt dry.
“How long,” he asked.
“Twenty six days,” she replied. “Almost a month.”
Dante blinked, then asked the one question that had been waiting behind his lips.
“Did Jasmine come,” he said.
Miss Hale’s gaze lifted slowly.
“No,” she answered.
Dante stared at her for a moment, as if waiting for the word to change.
It didn’t.
He pushed himself up, slow, feeling weakness pull at his limbs.
“I’m leaving,” he said.
Miss Hale stood at once. “Now?”
“Yes.”
She stepped closer. “Why.”
Dante’s eyes were steady. “There are people who were there when even my own family abandoned me.”
Miss Hale’s jaw tightened.
“You keep saying that,” she said. “As if it makes this worth it.”
“It does,” Dante replied.
Miss Hale shook her head. “They are below your league.”
Dante swung his legs off the bed. “That doesn’t erase what they did.”
Miss Hale reached out to stop him.
“Dante,” she said, voice tight, “why do you keep putting up with them.”
Dante looked at her hand, then at her face.
“Because I don’t forget,” he said.
He stood up, unsteady but determined.
The TV in the corner was on low volume. A morning show was playing, soft voices, bright smiles, the kind of noise that pretended life was simple.
Dante took a step.
The screen flashed.
A red banner appeared at the bottom.
The anchor’s voice sharpened.
“Breaking news,” the anchor said. “Jasmine Hartwell is getting married to Damien Blackwood.” Dante's blood froze from the inside.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 7
The grand hall of Sky Garden went silent the moment Dante Hale stepped through the doors.Three hundred guests stood frozen in place with champagne glasses halfway to their lips and phones hanging in mid-air as they tried to process what they were seeing. The officiant clutched his leather-bound book against his chest while Damien Blackwood stood at the altar with his face drained of every trace of color. Jasmine Hartwell stood beside him in a white gown that cost more than most people earned in a year, and her eyes were locked on the man who was supposed to be dead.Dante stood ten feet from the altar with his hands loose at his sides and his expression calm and unreadable.Jasmine's lips parted but no sound came out, and her bouquet of white roses trembled in her hands.Dorothy Hartwell sat in the front row with her mouth open in a perfect circle of shock while Nadia beside her had gone pale with her smug smile wiped clean. The silence stretched across the hall like a held breath
Chapter 6
Dante stood in the VIP ward and stared at the television screen mounted on the wall, where an anchor spoke with the kind of excitement reserved for events that mattered to people who believed money made meaning."Breaking news," the anchor said, her smile wide and practiced. "The biggest celebrity wedding in town is happening right now at Sky Garden. Jasmine Hartwell, the beauty of Southlake, is marrying Damien Blackwood, heir to the Blackwood empire, in what is being called the wedding of the year."The camera cut to the venue, showing guests in expensive clothes walking through grand doors, champagne glasses already in their hands. Then it shifted to Jasmine, standing in a white wedding dress that caught the light like water, her face beautiful and empty in a way that made Dante's chest tighten.The camera found Dorothy Hartwell next, seated in the front row, her smile so wide it looked like it might crack her face in half. She looked proud, victorious, like she had finally won a wa
Chapter 5
The supervisor’s bow had not even fully ended when the hallway changed.People who had been whispering stopped. People who had been smirking turned their faces away. Even the nurse holding a clipboard tightened her grip like she was afraid the paper could betray her.The doctor stood there, frozen, lips parted, eyes wide, and for the first time he looked like a man who understood consequences.The supervisor did not waste time.“Clear the way,” she said.A man in a dark suit walked in behind her, followed by two assistants carrying cases. The moment his face came into view, the air in the hallway shifted again.Someone gasped.“No way,” a woman whispered. “That’s him.”A man near the vending machine leaned forward. “That’s Doctor Nolan.”Another voice, shaking, said, “The one on TV.”The private doctor did not look around. He didn’t need to. He walked like he belonged to a higher floor of the world, one most people never reached.The supervisor turned to him at once.“Doctor Nolan,” s
Chapter 4
The hospital corridor stayed loud for a few seconds after the last laugh, but the noise did not feel real anymore, not with her standing there and not with Dante lying still on the bed like he belonged to nobody.“That’s a joke, right?” a man said, smiling too wide. “An Hale in this kind of hospital?”Another voice joined in, sharper. “If she’s an Hale, then I’m the president.”The chuckles came back, eager and messy, and the people who had no part in it still watched like they were scared to leave and miss the punchline.Miss Hale did not move. She did not argue. She did not even look at the ones laughing.The silence from her side made the laughter stumble, because people could handle anger, but they hated calm.The doctor stepped forward, a slight frown on his face, like he was tired of childish games.“Miss,” he said, “you’re only still here because of your fine face.”A few people laughed again, and a woman near the wall whispered, “He’s right, she’s too pretty to be wasting time
Chapter 3
The emergency room had seen every kind of drama, but when she walked in, it still went quiet.People stopped talking, nurses slowed down, even the security guard near the entrance straightened like he had been trained for this kind of presence. She was young, tall, and calm in a way that did not come from confidence, but from certainty. Her face was beautiful in the cleanest way, like the world had never dared to treat her badly, and her eyes were sharp enough to make grown men forget what they were about to say.A few heads turned, then more, and the whispers started.“Who is she?”“Is she a model?”“No, look at how they’re reacting.”The doctor stepped forward quickly, as if he had been waiting for someone important to arrive, and he put on the gentlest face he could manage.“Miss, you should not be here,” he said with a soft tone, the kind people used when they wanted to sound humane. “This area is for emergencies, and what we have here is, well, a complicated case.”She did not an
Chapter 2
Laughter followed Dante out of the dining room.It wasn’t the polite kind either, the kind people used to save face. This was loud, careless, and proud, the kind that said the room had decided who mattered and who didn’t.Damien Blackwood didn’t even hide his smile.“You hear yourself, right?” someone said, and another voice jumped in quickly, “He’s still acting like he can book Sky Garden.”Jasmine’s cousin, Nadia, tapped her glass with a spoon, like she was calling everyone to enjoy the show.“Let him talk,” she said. “Talking is all he can afford.”Jasmine’s jaw tightened. She looked at Dante, then at the faces around her, and she spoke like she was trying to stop a fire before it got out of control.Then she said, softly, not daring to stare into anyone's eyes.“There’s no need for big words, or making claims at the table. I’m satisfied with a simple wedding.”Damien turned to her, soft and patient, like he was doing her a favor.“Jasmine, a simple wedding is fine, but you don’t m
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