The Cold Surgeon's Contract Bride novel Chapter 66

I was a complete wreck, my hair violently yanked out of place and my scrubs completely disheveled by the furious older woman in the cheap sweater.

And to make matters worse, Ferris and Zoey were standing right there, witnessing every humiliating second of it.

Humiliation burned in my chest, but the agonizing screams of the dying mother echoing from the OR drowned out my bruised ego. Seeing the family still arguing mindlessly with the Charge Nurse, a sudden, fierce burst of adrenaline flooded my veins. I violently shoved Ferris's arm away, stepped forward, and roared, "Shut up!"

The sheer force of my voice instantly silenced the chaotic hallway. The only sound left was the heartbreaking wailing from the operating room.

I took another step, towering over the terrified husband, and spoke with absolute authority. "Giving birth without anesthesia is a barbaric practice from twenty years ago! This is a life-or-death emergency. According to standard medical emergency protocols, we have the legal right to take immediate action to save a life! Think very carefully—if your wife and child die on that table because you hesitated for five minutes, you will live with that regret for the rest of your pathetic life!"

"Don't listen to her, son!" The old woman who had just assaulted me stepped up again, puffing her chest out with ridiculous confidence. "This is a lucky charm I got from the temple! My daughter-in-law and my big, strong grandson will be perfectly fi—"

"Dr. Hayes, it's crashing!" the young nurse shrieked from the door, cutting the old woman off. "Fetal heart rate is down to sixty!"

My heart leaped into my throat. I shoved the consent form into the Charge Nurse's hands, tied my hair up in a messy bun, and sprinted into the OR.

Staring at the jagged lines of the heart rate monitor, I could practically hear the sands of time running out. There was no time to think. I grabbed the syringe and pushed the first dose of the spinal block into the mother.

A second later, the nurse spoke through the intercom. "Dr. Hayes, the family signed the consent."

An hour later, the sharp, beautiful sound of a baby crying filled the operating room. I let out a massive, shaky exhale, only then realizing that my scrubs were completely drenched in sweat.

But thinking back to the chaos before the surgery, my heart still pounded with lingering dread.

If I hadn't made that split-second decision, if the family had hesitated even a moment longer, this room would have been a morgue tonight.

It was already agonizing enough for a woman to carry a child. The birthing process itself dragged you to the brink of death. But being stuck with a backward, superstitious mother-in-law and a spineless husband? It meant handing your very right to live over to people who didn't care.

Wasn't that the ultimate tragedy?

My mind unwillingly drifted to my own marriage with Ferris. Ever since we tied the knot, everyone had been breathing down my neck to get pregnant. But what if I actually did? I had a husband who despised me and a mother-in-law who lacked an ounce of empathy. Even if I survived the birth, my baby would be trapped in a loveless, suffocating house.

If—and it was a huge if—I was the one bleeding out on that operating table today, would Ferris have looked the surgeon in the eye and coldly ordered them to save the baby and let me die?

The thought made me clench my fists so hard I didn't even register the pain.

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