Page 106 of Doctored Vows

“Still waiting on Yulia’s latest blood workup?”

I jerk up my chin, aware Alla is under the same NDA as the rest of the hospital staff. “It is so weird because she was well enough to be discharged before I went away, and now she is back to square one.”

“You’ll work it out.” She rubs my arms supportively. “We don’t call you Dr. Genius for no reason.”

I sigh like I hate the nickname, but I much prefer it over the one that was graffitied on my locker weeks ago.

“If I don’t see you before, I’ll see you next week.”

“You will.”

After helping Alla return the chairs we borrowed from the nurses’ station, I hug her goodbye before heading back to the pediatric ward.

“Are you okay?” Dr. Lipovsky asks when she spots my entrance to the nurses’ station to gather a patient’s file. “Too much sugar?” We crossed paths in the underground parking garage. I was exiting to collect supplies for Donut Hole Thursday from Ano, and she was arriving for her shift. “They smelled delicious. Though I’m sure my thighs would have despised every burpee required to work them off.”

A laugh rumbles in my chest, but it is the fight of my life to let it escape my mouth when I notice a name missing from the patient board behind her svelte frame.

“Why has Yulia’s name been removed from the in-patient list?”

Dr. Lipovsky mumbles something, but I miss what she says from my heels pounding the tile floor as I race into the room across from the nurses’ station.

Yulia’s room is empty, and her bed has been stripped.

Dr. Lipovsky rubs my shoulder when I fail to bite back a sob. “Why are you upset? You wouldn’t have discharged her if she still needed monitoring.”

“I didn’t discharge her.” Yulia’s recovery after her medical episode was as fast-moving as Maksim’s mother’s, but she still had a little to go before she was well enough to return home. “I suggested to Lev that we could discuss the possibility of her being discharged for the weekend so she could meet her baby sister, but I hadn’t commenced the paperwork yet.”

“Oh.” After checking Yulia’s file, which has been placed onto the records officer cart to be collected instead of in the slot outside her room, Dr. Lipovsky says, “The paperwork states that you discharged her.” She twists the discharge paperwork around to face me. “Is this your signature?”

I almost nod until I remember that I’ve been using my married name for the past week. I had nothing but words to thank Maksim for funding Yulia’s medical expenses, organizing a one-on-one meeting with my father so I wouldn’t be required to go to a maximum-security prison, and for every other wonderful thing he has done, so I’ve worn my rings every day since we reunited, and used the last name he chose to reinvent himself on every document I’ve signed.

Dr. Lipovsky appears worried when I say, “That is not my signature, but I have the means to find out who wants us to believe it is.”

She watches me with wide eyes when I skirt by her, pick up the nurses’ desk phone, and dial a frequently called number.

For the first time, Ano doesn’t answer my call.

Upon spotting the concern on my face, Dr. Lipovsky stops a nurse whizzing past us so fast she is almost a blur by grabbing her elbow. “Who authorized Yulia Petrovitch’s discharge?”

“Um.” She looks worried, but since her concern is more based on Dr. Lipovsky’s anger than the repercussions for snitching, she says, “Dr. Sidorov.”

“Dr. Sidorov?” Dr. Lipovsky sounds as uneasy as her gaunt expression makes her look. “He hasn’t worked in a ward in years.”

“So why would he discharge Yulia?” I jump in, confused.

As quickly as my confusion rose, panic sets in.

What if Dr. Abdulov wasn’t working alone?

What if he had a co-conspirator?

Anger envelops me when theory after theory smashes into me. Is this why he offered me a promotion that far exceeded my qualifications? Was he seeking a scapegoat—a fool he could puppeteer?

My brain is screaming yes, but my heart doesn’t agree.

If Dr. Sidorov was a part of the criminal entity that stole my mother’s organs and attempted to steal Maksim’s mother’s organs, why didn’t Maksim take him down with the others?

I need answers, and since I trust my husband far more than I trust anyone else, I snatch my winter coat off the coat rack and then tell Dr. Lipovsky I’m going home because I am not feeling well.

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