Chapter 3

3

I held my burning cheek and spoke calmly.

"Fine. I'll pay for Dr. Lewis's bonus deduction. But Marcus, I want a divorce."

To my surprise, Marcus pulled a set of divorce papers out of his pocket. He was already prepared.

"I was just about to suggest that. Before I met Gigi, I thought all marriages were just routine. But since she came into my life, I've realized what true love feels like."

Marcus and I had been together since med school. We had been married for seven years, and now he was talking about true love with a girl he barely knew?

I looked at the terms―I was essentially walking away with nothing―and I signed them without a word.

Dr. Lewis whispered to me afterward.

"Audrey, you're giving up way too much. Don't let him take everything."

I just smiled thinly.

"We'll see who really loses in the end."

Marcus used my year-end bonus to cover Dr. Lewis's costs, making himself look like the hero.

After that incident, everyone in the hospital treated Gigi like a walking plague.

I thought she would lay low, but the next day, the Head of Radiology came storming into my office.

"Dr. Miller! What is going on with your department? Who authorized this? A full-body CT scan for a patient with a sprained ankle? This is insane!"

"The patient is already complaining online. The hospital's reputation is being dragged through the mud!"

I looked at the order. Someone had ordered 24 different CT scans for one patient.

The digital signature at the bottom was mine.

I opened social media and saw the headline: #GreedyDoctorOrdersOverpricedTests. It was the top trending story.

The comments were brutal.

"Doctors these days don't know how to treat people, they just want to drain your bank account!"

"This doctor must be desperate for money. These tests cost thousands!"

"Her name is Audrey Miller. She graduated from Crestview Med. Here's her ID number..."

I didn't even have to guess who did it.

I went straight to Marcus's office.

"Marcus, you helped her steal my digital signature. That is a massive HIPAA violation and a crime. This is destroying my reputation and the hospital's."

Gigi was already there, her eyes red like a rabbit's, twisting the hem of her coat.

"I just wanted to help Dr. Miller with her workload. She seemed so busy. The patient said they felt pain everywhere, so I wanted to be thorough... I didn't know it would go viral..."

Marcus rubbed his temples. He looked tired, but he still chose to protect her.

"Audrey, Gigi just logged into your account to learn. She had good intentions. It's not like the patient actually got hurt."

I didn't argue. I just pulled out my phone.

"If I don't get a public apology and a full retraction, I'm calling the police and reporting a data breach."

Marcus jumped up to stop me.

"Enough with the threats! I'll use the hospital's official account to clear your name."

"But honestly, you have zero team spirit. I don't think you're fit to be a Department Head anymore."

I reached into my bag and placed my resignation letter on his desk.

"Trying to blackmail me with a resignation? I'm not finished. I'm just saying you need to give Gigi more opportunities to grow."

I smiled.

"Oh, I'll make sure she gets plenty of opportunities."

After Marcus "cleared" my name on the official page, he started freezing me out of important cases. He wouldn't sign my resignation, instead forcing me to do all the grunt work.

Gigi, empowered by her new "opportunities," became a disaster.

She failed to find a vein after eight attempts on a single patient.

She copy-pasted medical records, writing that an 80-year-old woman had a basketball injury and a 70-year-old man had menstrual cramps.