Chapter 22 Twenty Two

Chapter 22 Twenty Two
THANE

But I stayed in the car. I remembered what had happened at the the coffee shop this morning.

My mind instantly went back to the way she looked at me when the hot coffee spilled between us. She did not look at me with love. She did not look at me with fear. She looked at me with pure, unadulterated ice. She was "Lia Solene."

She played the role of a woman who did not know me. I’d give it to her. She played it flawlessly.

I watched her front door for another twenty minutes as the cold wind continued to howl outside the thick glass of the SUV.

I did not care about the lack of paper records anymore. I did not care about Jaxson’s dead ends.

Paper can be burned. Files can be deleted. But skin does not lie. I knew exactly what I felt when my large hands gripped her elbows this morning. I felt the violent static, the heavy, undeniable pull of a bond that survived death.

I turned the key in the ignition, clenching my jaw as the the engine roared to life in the quiet street.

She'd built a massive wall of ice to keep me out. But she severely underestimated my patience. I was going to push her. I was going to corner her. I was going to break through her ice, even if I had to burn my entire world down to ashes to do it.

IDALIA SOLENE

The morning sun hit the floor-to-ceiling glass of my high-rise apartment, throwing bright, sharp squares of light across the expensive hardwood floor. The air smelled like rich, soapy lather from my shower and the sharp, slightly burnt scent of toast.

I stood in front of the hallway mirror, adjusting the cuffs of my crisp, white Dior suit. I checked the digital surgical schedule on my tablet, swiping through the heavy patient files with my thumb. Today was the day. I had a lunch meeting scheduled with Thane Devereux.

A heavy, thick knot formed low in my stomach. The thought of sitting across a small table from him made the blood rush in my ears.

"Mommy!"

Two small weights hit the back of my legs. I looked down. Leo and Mia had their arms wrapped tightly around my knees.

I looked at their bright faces. I saw the sharp line of Leo’s jaw and the piercing, icy blue of his eyes. Every single time I looked at him, I saw Thane’s face staring back at me. It made my chest ache with a violent, chaotic mixture of fierce, protective love and dark, suffocating hate.

"Mommy, can we go to the big hospital too?" Mia asked, looking up at me with wide eyes. "We want to see the people."

I smiled softly. I reached down and ran my hand over her dark hair. "Not today, baby. Mommy has very boring meetings with very boring people."

Leo crossed his small arms over his chest. He frowned. "You said that yesterday. You’re always with the boring people."

I chuckled. The sound was genuine. I put my tablet on the hall table and knelt down on the floor until I was perfectly eye level with them. I kissed Mia’s forehead, and then I kissed Leo’s.

"I know," I whispered. "But if you stay here with Zara and finish your lessons, I will stop at the bakery on the way home. I’ll get the big chocolate chip cookies. The ones with the sea salt on top. Deal?"

Their eyes lit up instantly. "Deal!" they chorused together.

I stood back up. I grabbed my leather handbag and my keys. "Be good. Listen to Zara. I love you."

I opened the heavy front door and stepped out into the hall. The second the heavy metal doors of the elevator clicked shut, the warm, smiling Mama Bear vanished completely. The muscles in my face tightened.

My jaw locked into a hard, rigid line. The cold, unyielding mean face slammed firmly into place.

My executive office at the hospital smelled heavily of sterile cleaning supplies and fresh paper. It was a massive room, but the two people currently occupying it made it feel incredibly small.

Kimberly Devereux and her ex-husband, Julian, were already waiting for me.

Kimberly was pacing back and forth across the thick rug like a caged, angry tiger. Julian was sitting deeply in one of the leather guest chairs. He wore a sharp grey suit. He looked completely bored, but his dark eyes were sharp and calculating.

I walked around my large mahogany desk. I sat down in my heavy leather chair. I did not offer Kimberly a seat. I folded my hands together on the smooth wood and stared at them. The tension in the air was thick and heavy.

"We’ve been waiting for twenty minutes, Doctor," Kimberly snapped. She stopped pacing and glared at me. "My time is not cheap."

"Neither is mine, Mrs. Devereux," I replied. My voice was smooth, flat, and completely devoid of warmth. "And I am the one holding the scalpel. Please, sit down."

Julian shifted in his chair. He leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees.

"You have a lot of nerve, Dr. Solene," Julian said. His deep voice carried a hint of amusement, but his eyes were serious. "My son says you’re difficult. My wife says you’re an arrogant brat."

I looked directly at Julian. I did not flinch.

"I am a surgeon," I stated firmly. "If you want someone to be nice to you and hold your hand, hire a clown. If you want Kimberly to live, you listen to exactly what I tell you."

"You are delaying the surgery on purpose!" Kimberly yelled. Her face flushed a dark, angry red. Her hands shook at her sides. "You are playing sick games with my life!"

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the desk then I dropped my voice to a terrifying, deadly whisper.

"Your blood pressure is dangerously high. Your stress is through the roof," I said. I kept my eyes locked onto hers, forcing her to see the absolute truth. "If I put you under anesthesia right now, you will not wake up. Is that what you want? Or do you want to keep yelling at me until your heart completely stops right here on my rug?"

The room went dead cold. The air vanished. Kimberly opened her mouth to argue, but the sheer, brutal honesty of my words hit her hard. She swallowed thickly. She looked away, staring down at the floor in defeat. I had completely broken her momentum.

Thirty minutes later, I walked into the hospital’s grand conference room.

It was an emergency meeting. Twelve board members sat around the massive oval table. They all wore dark, expensive suits. The air felt heavy with corporate greed.

"Doctor," the Chairman began, clearing his throat loudly. "The Devereux family donors are growing restless. They are offering to fund an entire new wing for the hospital. We need a win. Move the surgery to tomorrow morning."

I stood at the head of the table. I did not sit down. I stared down the entire line of powerful men. This was a brutal battle of wills, and I refused to lose.

"Medicine is not a democracy," I said. My voice echoed loudly in the large room. "I am the lead surgeon on this case. The patient is physically not ready."

"You are being completely unreasonable, Dr. Solene," another board member argued, pointing his pen at me.

"I am being a professional," I shot back immediately. I placed my hands flat on the table, leaning forward over the polished wood. "If you try to force my hand, I will resign. Effective immediately. And then you can explain to the New York press why the world’s best cardiothoracic surgeon walked out of your building because you cared more about a fat check than a human life."

The room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence. They stared at me. They knew I held all the cards. They knew I was the only person who could save the billionaire's mother, and they knew the public backlash of my resignation would completely destroy the hospital's reputation.

"The date stays," I declared, my voice ringing with absolute, final authority. "Next week. Not a single day sooner."

I turned around and walked out of the heavy double doors. My high heels clicked sharply on the hard floor. My heart was hammering wildly against my ribs, but my face showed absolutely nothing but cold, victorious ice.

Then I made my way out of the hospital lobby and stepped into the bright, sunny New York afternoon. A strong wind whipped down the long avenue, catching the hem of my white Dior suit.

Thane Devereux was already waiting for me.
He leaned casually against the side of his massive, black SUV.

He was wearing a perfectly tailored dark navy suit and dark sunglasses. He looked devastating. I noticed the heavy breadth of his broad shoulders and the sharp, hard line of his jaw.

A sudden, unwanted surge of deep heat exploded low in my stomach. I hated it. I pushed the reaction down into a dark box and locked it tight.

"You’re late for lunch," Thane said. His deep voice carried easily over the noise of the traffic. "I was starting to think you were hiding from me."

I walked toward him. I stopped three feet away.

"I do not hide, Mr. Devereux," I said smoothly. "I was busy saving your mother from her own terrible temper."

Thane pushed off the car. He took a slow step closer to me. "Are you doing this to punish us? The long delays? The coldness?"

"I do not know what you are talking about," I lied perfectly. "I am a doctor. I follow the medical data."

Suddenly, a loud click sounded to my left.
A man in a dirty gray jacket jumped out from behind a concrete pillar. He held a massive camera with a long lens pointed directly at my face. The flash went off, blinding me for a split second.

Thane moved instantly. He moved like a massive, violent predator.

He lunged forward before I could even blink. His large hand shot out and grabbed the man roughly by the collar of his jacket. He slammed the man hard against the concrete pillar. The loud thud echoed loudly on the street. Thane ripped the expensive camera out of the man’s hands with brutal, crushing force.

"You think it’s okay to stalk a woman at her workplace?" Thane growled. His voice was a deep, terrifying rumble. "You think you’re a man?"

"Hey!" the paparazzo yelled, struggling against Thane’s heavy grip. "That’s incredibly expensive equipment! I’m just doing my job!"

Thane threw the camera onto the concrete pavement. He raised his heavy leather boot and brought it down hard, crushing the lens and the SD card into tiny pieces of broken plastic and glass.

Thane leaned in close to the man’s face. "Your job is being a creep. Now, look at the lady and say it. Say: 'I am a pathetic creep who stalks women for a living.'"

The man looked at Thane’s cold, flat blue eyes. He saw the promise of extreme physical violence. The man swallowed hard. He looked over at me.

"I... I am a pathetic creep who stalks women for a living," the man stuttered, his voice shaking badly.

Thane released his grip on the jacket. "Good. Now get out of my sight before I decide to be less nice."

The man turned and sprinted down the busy avenue, disappearing into the crowded sidewalk.

Thane turned around to face me. He adjusted the cuffs of his navy suit jacket.

A small, genuine smile touched the corners of my mouth. I could not help it.

The ice cracked.

For one split, agonizing second, I saw the old Thane. I saw the man I loved. I saw the man who would have literally burned the entire world to ashes to keep me safe. A massive, heavy ache bloomed deep in my chest.

I quickly forced the smile away. I pulled my Boss Lady mask back into place.

"I am hard to impress, Thane," I said softly, keeping my voice completely steady.

"Breaking a cheap camera does not buy you any points."

"I am not looking for points," he said, holding my gaze. "Get in the car."

We sat at a quiet, secluded corner table inside a high-end, 5-star restaurant. The lighting was low and intimate. The heavy, suffocating tension between us made the air feel incredibly thick.

Thane did not eat. He just watched me. He kept his eyes locked onto my face while I cut into my steak. He kept trying to pivot the conversation. He asked probing questions about my surgical training in Europe. He asked vague questions about the father of my children.

I finally hit my absolute breaking point. I dropped my heavy silver fork onto the porcelain plate. The sharp clatter broke the quiet atmosphere.

"Leo and Mia," Thane said slowly, leaning his broad chest forward over the small table. "Those are incredibly strong names. Their father must be a very proud man."

"My children are absolutely none of your business," I snapped. I glared directly into his icy blue eyes. "Eat your steak, Thane."

"I looked into your records, Solene," Thane said. His voice dropped to a low, dangerous whisper. "Or should I call you Idalia? Because 'Dr. Lia Solene' did not exist anywhere on paper before five years ago. It is like you were born completely out of thin air."

My eyes blazed with hot, violent anger. I gripped the edge of the table tightly.

"You had the absolute nerve to dig into my private life?" I demanded, keeping my voice low but lethal. "You are a complete creep, exactly like that man with the camera. You will stay out of my past, or I will walk right out of that hospital today and let your mother find a brand new surgeon. Is that entirely clear?"

Thane opened his mouth to argue, but a loud, cheerful voice suddenly called out from across the quiet dining room.

"Solene? Is that you?"

The voice hit me like a physical shock. My blood ran completely cold.

I turned my head quickly.

Cassian Vale was walking toward our table. He looked handsome and incredibly elegant, wearing a perfectly tailored, sharp British-cut suit. He had a wide, warm smile on his face.
My mind started racing at a terrifying speed.

Cassian? I asked myself frantically. He is supposed to be in London right now. Why is he here in New York? Why is he looking directly at Thane?

Thane stood up from his chair. He did not look angry. He looked incredibly happy. He reached out, grabbed Cassian’s shoulder, and pulled him into a quick, rough, manly hug.

"Cassian!" Thane said loudly, clapping him hard on the back. "You are back early. I did not expect you to fly in until the weekend."

"I could not miss the massive surgery of the century, could I?" Cassian laughed, pulling back and smoothing his suit jacket.

Thane turned his head. He looked down at me. I was sitting perfectly frozen in my chair.

"Doctor," Thane said, gesturing toward Cassian with a warm smile. "I do not believe you have been formally introduced. This is Cassian Vale. He is my cousin."

My jaw physically dropped open.

The entire world tilted violently on its axis. The heavy air rushed completely out of my lungs.

The man standing in front of me was Cassian. He was the brilliant doctor who trained me. He was the man who protected me. He was the man who helped me build my fake identity and hide my children for five long years.

He was a Devereux.

I stared up at Cassian’s face. For the very first time in five years, I looked past the warm smile and saw the truth. I saw the sharp, arrogant angle of his jaw. I saw the deep, familiar shape of his eyes. I saw the heavy, undeniable family resemblance.

Cassian looked down at me. His smile did not falter, but his dark eyes carried a silent, terrifying warning.

I sat there in stunned, heavy silence. The man who held all of my secrets, the man I trusted with my children's lives, shared the exact same blood as the billionaire who destroyed me.