Page 64 of Doctor Bossy

“I’ll come back,” I said, marveling at the fact that there was no feeling of guilt and dread that usually accompanied all my visits to the cemetery. It was why I didn’t come here often. Because sometimes, that feeling could be so overwhelming that it rendered me useless for the rest of the day. But I didn’t feel like that today.

I felt free.

“I’ll be back, Heather,” I said. “Maybe with her, so you can meet her. I just wanted to say thank you for everything. And…I’m sorry.”

Don’t be.Once again, I could hear her in my mind, picture her smile.Don’t be sorry again, my dear prince.

I didn’t waste any more time after that, heading straight to the hospital. I wanted to get there by the time of discharge because I didn’t trust Becca not to attempt to go home by herself.

But when I got there, I ran into Dr. Lin on the way, and she told me Becca had been discharged for the day.

“How?” I frowned. “Didn’t you need more tests?”

She shrugged. “There were no more tests needed. We already located the source of the problem, and now she only has to decide what to do about it.”

“Anything,” I said. “Anything that needs to be done, just do it. I don’t mind paying for any treatment as long as she’s okay in the end.”

Dr. Lin gave me a funny look. “I appreciate your care, but that decision is really hers to make.”

“Just tell me one thing,” I practically pleaded. “How much time does she have left?”

“I can’t tell you that, Dr. McCormick,” Dr. Lin said. “You should ask her yourself, and if she wants to tell you, she will.”

And with that devastating confirmation, she walked away.

29

BECCA

Icould feel all eyes on me after my announcement. The entire room went hush, so quiet that you could hear a needle drop. Nerves and anxiety bounced around in my stomach, but I didn’t back down, didn’t falter. This was far too important to screw up.

“I did it,” I repeated.

“What do you mean?” one of the men in suits came forward, frowning at me. “Who are you?”

“Becca,” I answered, swallowing hard. The man was clearly very intimidating, but I still thought hard, coming up with the story as I went.“I sent the email through Dr. Griffin’s laptop.”

“What email?” the president asked. “And why on earth would you do that?”

“Because she’s an incompetent fool,” Dr. Robinson said, coming up behind the man. “I should have known she would be involved in this. Dr. McCormick has far too many morals to send emails to people like Vincent Malone, knowing fully well what a snake the man is.”

“They have a relationship,” the other man said. “And it certainly sounded like him.”

“It was me. And I know Vincent Malone because…well, you see, I used to date Dr. Griffin’s son, James, so I already kind of knew about him. Sometimes, he would complain about university politics and all that, so I had an idea what was going on.” That much was at least true, even if I knew nothing about whatever was going on here. “Plus, I felt really bad because I messed up the first sample that cost us our approval. I knew the medicine would work, and it got through the FDA anyway, but the university protocol was longer, and it needed to pass that first. So I sent him the email pretending to be Dr. Griffin, asking him for approval. It was my fault.”

The taller man, who I assumed was in charge, shook his head like he didn’t entirely believe what I was saying. I needed him to believe what I said, so I continued talking, “I knew it was wrong, and I apologize. It’s just that…Dr. McCormick’s research is so promising, and I knew it would save a lot of lives if it could just be approved in time. I…” I didn’t know what else to say. I hated this, hated the emotion that was running through me and the crack in my voice. I hated the way I could see Leila and Marco’s expressions and their varying levels of disbelief and disgust over Dr. Robinson’s shoulder. I especially hated that I knew I was most definitely going to be losing my dream job due to this and would be back to square one.

But what I would have hated more is if Griffin lost everything over a mistake.

So I simply kept swallowing and bowing my head in dutiful shame as the two men glanced at each other and sighed. The taller man crossed his hands over his chest and said, “You understand the gravity of your actions, young lady?”

I nodded. “I do, sir. I really do.”

“Well then, I think it goes without saying that you will be terminated from this lab effective immediately.”

I knew it was coming, but it still struck me like I had been hit. I choked back the emotion in my throat and nodded again.

“I’m not sure yet if we will be pursuing criminal charges yet, as this is impersonation at the very least and fraud at the most,” Dr. Robinson added. “You could also have destroyed the reputation of this organization and everything we’ve worked for.”

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