Page 34 of The Surgeon's Secret

As the surgical team made their final preparations, Lexi took a deep breath, steadying herself as she studied the scans of Catherine’s brain. Her mind raced with all the things she needed to focus on—intracranial pressure, potential hemorrhage, her instruments, her team. She’d done this a thousand times before, but this time was different. This time it was Catherine on the table, the woman who’d unexpectedly become the center of her world. And Lexi had never felt more helpless.

“Scalpel, please,” Lexi said, her voice firm but laced with an edge of unease. She glanced at the monitors, noting the blood pressure and oxygen levels that hovered dangerously close to critical. She couldn’t afford to waste time. The clock was ticking.

Her hands moved with practiced precision as she made the first incision. She worked quickly but carefully, knowing every second counted. The head injury was severe, but not necessarily lethal. She would have to drain the excess fluid to relieve the pressure on Catherine’s brain, carefully assess and patch up any damage, and hope for the best. The reality of it all seemed distant, like a bad dream she couldn’t shake. She forced herself to focus on the procedure at hand, blocking out the chaos in her mind.

A soft beeping from the monitors caused Lexi to pause for a moment. Her hand froze over the surgical site, her fingers brushing the scalp. She glanced at the numbers and immediately saw the subtle change. Catherine’s heart rate was dropping dangerously low.

“Pressure’s rising,” the anesthesiologist called from behind her, her voice strained.

Lexi’s pulse quickened, but she didn’t let it show. She kept her eyes locked on Catherine’s brain, making the incision just below the dura mater, knowing that with each passing second, Catherine’s chances of survival were decreasing. Her head spun as the reality of the situation weighed on her, but she forced herself to move, to focus, to stay grounded in the task before her.

“C’mon, Catherine, fight,” Lexi whispered under her breath, her words barely audible over the steady sounds of the operating room. She didn’t know if it was a prayer, a plea, or just a reflex, but she couldn’t stop herself. She couldn’t lose her. Not like this.

The pressure in Catherine’s brain had increased significantly, and the fluids had begun to pool dangerously. The next few minutes were crucial. Lexi moved quickly, doing everything she could to alleviate the pressure without causing further damage. The clock ticked on, and with each minute, it became harder to push aside the fear gnawing at her chest. What if this was it? What if Catherine didn’t wake up? What if their last conversation had been Lexi rejecting her?

“Team, stay focused,” Lexi called, her voice steady despite the chaos inside her. “We’ve got this. We’re not letting her go.”

The sound of suction filled the room as the fluids drained away, but there was no immediate change in Catherine’s condition. The heart monitor still read alarmingly low, the rhythm almost sluggish. Lexi’s hands trembled as she adjusted the position of the drain, knowing that if this didn’t work, there was little else they could do. She’d reached the limits of her expertise. This was the point where Catherine would either change for the better, or she wouldn’t wake up again.

Minutes felt like hours as Lexi carefully navigated the delicate areas of Catherine’s brain. Her thoughts blurred, her vision narrowing as she concentrated on nothing but saving Catherine’s life. She could barely hear the voices of her team in the background, their words a haze. Her own pulse pounded inher ears. She could almost feel Catherine with her, urging her to push through, to make it work.

“Vitals are stabilizing!” the anesthesiologist called suddenly, breaking through Lexi’s fog of concentration. Her breath caught in her chest as the beeping from the heart monitor grew stronger and steadier. It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough. The pressure was slowly starting to drop, and the blood flow seemed to be normalizing.

“Good,” Lexi murmured, her hands never stopping their work. “Just a little more.”

The minutes ticked by, each one stretching out longer than the last. Lexi’s mind remained focused on Catherine, blocking out everything else. It was as though the rest of the world had ceased to exist—there was only Catherine, only the surgery, only the need to make sure she made it through this.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Lexi managed to close the wound, carefully stitching Catherine back together. The worst seemed to be over. She could hardly believe it. Catherine was going to make it.

But as the team cleaned up and began to move out of the operating room, Lexi stayed behind for a moment, her hands resting on the edge of the table. She couldn’t bring herself to leave, not yet. She needed a moment to catch her breath and process what had just happened. She’d just saved Catherine’s life, but it didn’t feel like a victory. Not yet.

It wasn’t until the sound of the door opening pulled her from her thoughts that Lexi turned around. Josephine stood in the doorway, her face pale but softening when she saw Lexi.

“How is she?” Josephine asked, her voice low.

“She’s stable,” Lexi replied hoarsely. She swallowed hard, still processing the events. “She’s going to make it.”

As Lexi washed her hands in the sterile sink, the sound of water rushing over her skin was a cold comfort. Her breathing was shallow, her heart racing as if it couldn’t quite catch up with the chaos she’d just experienced. The operating room had become a blur, the intensity of the surgery stretching into what felt like an eternity. But now, standing in the quiet aftermath, Lexi felt the weight of everything press down on her.

For a moment, she allowed herself to close her eyes and let the cool water slide over her hands, the rhythm of her breathing slow and steady. It was done. Catherine was alive. But the questions that had haunted Lexi for weeks were still there, pressing in the back of her mind, refusing to be ignored. She had just saved Catherine’s life, but what came next? Sending her back home so her husband could ignore her while she was healing? Or worse?

The door to the scrub room opened, and Lexi’s thoughts snapped back into focus as Josephine walked in. Her half-sister’s face was pale and her posture stiff, as though she was carrying the weight of the entire hospital on her shoulders. Lexi felt a pang of guilt for the tension she’d brought into Josephine’s life. She’d been so consumed by her own emotions and desires that she hadn’t even stopped to consider the impact all of this would have on Josephine. And now, after everything that had just transpired, Lexi couldn’t help but wonder if Josephine saw her as more of a liability than an ally.

“Is she really going to be okay?” Josephine’s voice broke through the silence, softer than Lexi expected, and for a brief moment, Lexi saw a flicker of concern in her eyes.

Lexi nodded, her throat tight. “She’s stable. I got the pressure down and the bleeding’s controlled. The recovery process might be slow, but…she’s fighting. She’s going to make it.”

Josephine exhaled sharply, her shoulders relaxing as if the tension in her body had loosened. But then she looked at Lexi again, her expression changing as a shadow crossed her face. “You did a good job. You saved her.”

The words were sincere, but Lexi couldn’t help but notice the underlying hesitation in Josephine’s voice. It was a look she’d seen before—the cautious optimism that always followed a crisis when everything had been too close to the edge. It wasn’t just gratitude; it was an acknowledgment of the danger Catherine had been in. And yet, Lexi could feel the undertones of a much more complicated emotion between them, one that neither of them had really confronted.

“I couldn’t just stand by,” Lexi said softly, her voice rough with emotion. “I couldn’t let her die.”

Josephine’s eyes softened for a moment as she crossed her arms over her chest. “I know. But what about everything else, Lexi? What about…everything that’s come before this?”

Lexi’s stomach dropped. She’d known the question was coming, but now that it was here, she didn’t know how to answer. She’d saved Catherine, yes. But the reality of what had been building between them—the affair, the lies—it was all a tangle of emotions that Lexi didn’t know how to unravel, especially now that it was over. In her heart, it didn’tfeelover, but she couldn’t go back to Catherine. She couldn’t be a married woman’s dirty little secret anymore.

“I don’t know,” Lexi replied, her voice quieter now, almost tentative. “I broke things off with her, so that shouldn’t be a problem anymore. She’s not going to leave her husband, so there won’t be some big drama in the hospital.” She took adeep breath. “There’s nothing left to do except pretend it never happened.”

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