Maya's POV
The phone rang at 6:47 AM, dragging me from a nightmare where Richard's laughter echoed endlessly.
Except I wasn't dreaming anymore.
Dr. Reeves, this is Dr. Chen. My mentor's voice was cold, professional. The warmth I'd known for five years had vanished. I need you in my office by eight. Don't be late.
The line went dead before I could respond.
I stared at my phone, my heart pounding. Dr. Chen had been like a father to me after my parents died. He'd championed my residency, celebrated my successes, told me I had a gift for emergency medicine.
Now he wouldn't even let me explain.
I dragged myself to the hospital, my body moving on autopilot. The same route I'd driven for five years. Past the coffee shop where I grabbed morning lattes. Past the intersection where I'd once saved a man having a heart attack in his car.
Everything looked the same. But nothing would ever be the same again.
Dr. Chen's office felt like a courtroom.
He sat behind his massive desk, his expression carved from stone. The hospital's legal counsel, Ms. Pierce, stood beside him with a manila folder thick with documents.
Sit down, Maya. Not Dr. Reeves. Just Maya. Like I was a child being scolded.
Dr. Chen, please listen
I trusted you. His voice cracked with disappointment. I vouched for you when the board questioned hiring someone so young for the ER. I told them you were brilliant, careful, compassionate. How could you be so careless?
I wasn't careless! My hands clenched into fists. Richard is lying! I wasn't even on shift when Mrs. Patterson
The records say otherwise. Ms. Pierce slid papers across the desk. Your signature on the medication order. Your handwriting on the dosage chart. Your login credentials accessing her file at the exact time the error occurred.
I grabbed the papers, scanning frantically. There, my signature. My handwriting. My credentials.
All perfectly forged.
That's not possible, I whispered. I was at a conference that day. I have proof—plane tickets, hotel receipts
Dr. Castellan provided those too. Ms. Pierce's voice was clinical, detached. He altered the conference records to cover for you. He admitted everything last night—how he's been protecting you for months, falsifying schedules to hide your mistakes.
No. The word came out strangled. No, that's insane. Richard made the error. He's framing me because
Because what, Dr. Reeves? Dr. Chen's eyes flashed with anger. Because he ended your relationship? That sounds like revenge fantasy, not truth.
He's a Castellan, Ms. Pierce added quietly. His family donated twenty million dollars to build the cardiac wing. His reputation is impeccable. Yours... She paused delicately. You've had several complaints filed against you in the past three months.
My blood turned to ice. What complaints?
Unprofessional behavior. Emotional instability. Concerns about your judgment. Ms. Pierce flipped through the folder. All documented. All signed by colleagues who witnessed incidents.
All lies. All planted by Richard.
He'd been planning this for months. Building a case against me, piece by piece, while I loved him and trusted him and planned our wedding.
Effective immediately, you're suspended without pay, Dr. Chen said. The board hearing is scheduled for three weeks from today. Until then, you're forbidden from entering hospital premises.
I need to clear my name
You need a lawyer. Ms. Pierce handed me a business card. A good one. Because if the board finds you guilty, you'll lose your medical license. Possibly face criminal charges for negligence and fraud.
The room spun. Criminal charges. Prison.
I have dedicated five years to this hospital, I said, my voice shaking. I've saved lives. I've worked double shifts, holidays, weekends. I've done everything
And we appreciate that. Dr. Chen's expression softened slightly. Which is why we're giving you the hearing instead of immediate termination. But Maya... if you did this, if you endangered a patient, I can't protect you.
If? He actually believed I might be guilty.
You have until noon to clear out your locker and return your badge, Ms. Pierce said. Security will escort you.
The walk through the ER felt like a funeral procession.
Every colleague I'd worked with, laughed with, saved lives alongside, they all avoided my eyes. Whispered conversations stopped when I approached. People turned away.
Ivy, a nurse I'd considered a friend, caught my arm near the supply closet.
Maya, what the hell happened? Her dark eyes were filled with worry, not judgment. The rumors are insane.
Richard framed me. The words came out flat, dead. For everything.
That bastard. Ivy's grip tightened. What do you need? Money? A place to crash? Character witnesses?
For the first time since the nightmare began, tears burned my eyes. I need a miracle, Ivy. He's destroyed everything.
Then we'll build you a new everything. She pressed a paper into my hand. My number. Call me. Day or night. You're not alone in this.
But I was alone. Even Ivy's kindness couldn't change that.
I emptied my locker mechanically. Five years of memories stuffed into a cardboard box. Photos of patient families I'd saved. Thank-you cards. My favorite stethoscope—a gift from Dr. Chen when I completed my residency.
To Maya, who has the steadiest hands and biggest heart I've ever known.
I left the stethoscope on Dr. Chen's desk on my way out.
Let him remember what he chose to believe.
The apartment was suffocating. Boxes everywhere, Lauren's abandoned mess. Empty spaces where her furniture used to be. Everything screamed alone, abandoned, worthless.
My phone buzzed. A text from the lawyer Ivy had recommended.
Initial consultation: Free. Retainer to take your case: $15,000. Given the evidence against you, this will be difficult. Call me if you're serious about fighting.
Fifteen thousand dollars.
I opened my banking app with shaking hands.
Checking account: $1,847.32
Savings account: $1,400.00
Total: $3,247.32
Three thousand dollars. That's what five years of grueling work, sacrificed holidays, and missed sleep amounted to. I'd been saving for the wedding, for a house, for a future that no longer existed.
The lawyer wanted fifteen thousand.
The rent was due in ten days—$1,800.
I needed to eat.
The math was simple, brutal, impossible.
I couldn't afford to fight. Couldn't afford to live. Couldn't afford anything.
I put my head in my hands and finally let myself cry. Deep, wrenching sobs that tore through my chest. Everything I'd built since my parents died—the career that gave me purpose, the relationships I'd believed were real, the future I'd dreamed of—gone.
All of it, gone.
My phone buzzed again. Unknown number.
I almost didn't answer. But something made me swipe.
Dr. Maya Reeves? A man's voice, deep and controlled. Unfamiliar.
Who is this?
Someone who can help you. But first, I need to ask—do you remember the John Doe from three months ago? The mauling victim you saved in the ER?
My breath caught. I remembered. Late night, massive trauma, wounds like nothing I'd ever seen. The man had been dying, and I'd refused to give up.
He lived because of you, the voice continued. And now, he'd like to repay the favor. Are you willing to listen to an... unusual proposition?
Every instinct screamed this was wrong, dangerous.
But I had $3,247 and no future.
I'm listening, I whispered.
Good. I'll be at your door in thirty minutes. Don't tell anyone about this call, Dr. Reeves. Your life is about to change—if you're brave enough to accept it.
The line went dead.
I stared at my phone, my heart hammering.
Who was this man? How did he know about my situation? What kind of proposition?
And why did I feel like I'd just made a deal with something far more dangerous than Richard could ever be?