Five years had passed since I was restored to my rightful place as the biological daughter of the Simmons family. Nora Qiao, the girl who had taken my place, was forced to revert to her original surname.

Yet my mother's affection for her didn't wane. If anything, guilt over Nora losing the family name only deepened their bond.

Nora grew more entitled, while I remained nothing more than a blood relative tethered to the house by obligation.

I clawed my way up, earning my nursing license and grinding through a three-year internship to become head nurse. Nora? She claimed she was bored, so Mom forced the hospital to take her on as a doctor to "gain life experience."

Even this surgery roster had been manipulated by my mother's demands.

The favoritism was so blatant they didn't bother to mask it. Whispers rippled through the operating theater.

"No wonder Dr. Qiao is always butting heads with the head nurse..."

"You'd think the biological daughter would get some respect, but look at this..."

I inhaled sharply, forcing the air deep into my lungs.

"The gossip is irrelevant," I said, my voice cutting through the murmurs. I locked eyes with Nora. "Find the missing gauze before your shift ends. Until you do, don't even think about leaving this room."

Nora's face flushed crimson.

"Who do you think you are?" she snapped. "I'm a doctor. You're just a nurse. You think you're worthy of speaking to me like that? I'm leaving."

She stepped forward, shoving past me.

Bang.

A heavy fist pounded against the operating room door.

"What is going on in here?"

The deep baritone made my shoulders sag with relief.

The Director.

Also my husband—Nathaniel Fleming.

I pulled the door open. Nathaniel strode in, his presence immediately dominating the sterile room. His gaze swept the area, pausing briefly on Nora's sulking face before settling on me.

"The surgery is over. Why are you all still here, Rachel?"

"We have a problem." I kept my tone strictly professional. "During the post-op count, we discovered a piece of hemostatic gauze is missing."

I didn't wait for a response.

"Director, we need to lock down the surgical suite immediately. The entire medical team must cooperate with the search, and we need to inform the patient's family. Transparency is critical."

His brow furrowed slightly, so I pressed on.

"I know this impacts the hospital's reputation, but a retained foreign object is a severe medical error. Furthermore, regarding Nora's negligence as the third assistant during the count—"

"Let me ask you," Nathaniel interrupted, his voice devoid of warmth. "Did the surgery go smoothly?"

I blinked.

"...Yes. The lead surgeon noted it went better than expected."

"And the patient's vitals? Stable?"

I understood the implication. But I refused to believe he would stoop so low.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm saying," Nathaniel frowned, looking at me as if I were a petulant child fussing over a broken toy, "the patient is fine. The surgery was a success. Isn't that enough? Why are you dwelling on this?"

He turned to the rest of the room. "That's it. Everyone is dismissed."

Nora let out a sharp, triumphant giggle.

"Exactly! Nathaniel is right. It's just a little piece of gauze." She latched onto his arm, swaying as she pouted. "I've been standing for hours. I'm exhausted, and I need my beauty sleep."

Nathaniel's expression softened into something dangerously close to doting. He reached out, smoothing a stray lock of hair from her forehead.

"Alright. I'll drive you home."

My heart hammered against my ribs.

Nathaniel Fleming never showed warmth to subordinates. He was ice and steel.

Even I, his wife, was bound by his strict rules of separating public and private life. At work, he was Director Fleming, and I was Nurse Simmons. We barely exchanged glances, let alone intimate touches.

But everything had shifted two weeks ago. During a family trip, Nora had nearly drowned, and Nathaniel had pulled her from the water. Since then, the dynamic had changed.

I dug my fingernails into my palms, the sharp sting grounding me.

"So, you intend to bury this?" I asked, my voice trembling with suppressed rage. "You aren't going to handle this properly, Nathaniel?"

He scoffed, his face hardening back into a mask of indifference.

"Watch your tone," Nathaniel snapped. "Who said I don't care? Keep looking. If you can't find it, that's your problem. Nora's exhausted—I'm taking her home."

His gaze turned cold. "She's an intern, Rachel. Expecting her to take full responsibility is ridiculous. If anything goes wrong, it's because you failed to manage your team."

I stared at him, nails digging into my palms. The anger I'd bottled up for months threatened to spill over.

This wasn't new. His blatant favoritism toward Nora had been chipping away at me for a long time.

Last week, on my birthday, I'd finally secured a night off. Nathaniel vanished. I found out later he'd gone to help Nora wash her dog—left me waiting in the dark without so much as a text.

Two days ago, she'd simply walked off with a limited-edition bag I'd commissioned a personal shopper to find. When I confronted him, he'd just shrugged. "Nora suits it better." As if that settled it.

"My management?" I choked out a laugh. "Nathaniel, think. If that gauze is inside the patient, it's not just my problem. You're the Director. If this blows up, it'll bury you too."

His eyes narrowed.

"Is that how you speak to your superior?"

Dead silence. The other nurses lowered their heads, afraid to breathe.

Nathaniel pushed through the operating room door without another glance. "You all stay. Search until you find it. Report to me in the morning."

Nora, teetering on stilettos that had no place in a surgical suite, shot me a triumphant smirk. "I'll be heading out then. Good luck."

The door slammed shut.

The youngest nurse dissolved into tears. "What do we do? If we don't find it, Mrs. Harrington will destroy us."

"The Director is so biased," another whispered furiously. "Dr. Qiao wears full makeup and heels in the OR, and he says nothing. We have a single loose hair, and he writes us up."

"Enough." I forced my voice steady despite the dread coiling in my stomach. "We have a job to do. Search the entire suite again. Every inch."

We scoured the room until dawn. Bins, floor, instrument trays—everything.

Nothing.

The silence screamed the only remaining possibility: the gauze was inside the patient.

Exhaustion and horror hit me at once. The room spun. I grabbed the counter to steady myself as a nurse pressed hot water into my trembling hands.

"Drink," she urged.

I took a sip, trying to clear the fog. I had to tell the family. I had to—

Sharp heels clicked down the corridor.

Nora breezed in, humming, a fresh coffee in hand. "Morning."

She scanned my haggard face and feigned shock, covering her mouth. "Oh my god, did you stay up all night? You look terrible."

She shoved the cup at me. "Here. On the house."

My gaze locked on her coat—a white mink I'd bought with my year-end bonus but never had the heart to wear. She was wearing my clothes. Again.

Red clouded my vision. I slammed the coffee onto the table. Brown liquid sloshed over the rim.

"The gauze is in the patient, Nora. How do you intend to fix this?"

Her smile faltered. "How... how can you be sure? Maybe you just missed it."

She recovered quickly, her expression hardening. "If you're incompetent, don't blame me." She rolled her eyes and flopped onto the sofa without even removing her shoes.

"What is all this noise?"

Nathaniel strode in, brow furrowed. "Is this a hospital or a market?"

Nora shot up, voice dripping syrup. "Nathaniel! You're here early."

I opened my mouth to report the crisis—the missing gauze, the patient in danger—but he cut me off with a sharp clap.

"Listen up." His gaze swept over the exhausted nurses. "Nora performed exceptionally during yesterday's surgery. She has officially passed her internship."

He paused, a faint smile touching his lips.

"As of today, she is a full-time attending physician."

"Head Nurse Simmons, have Logistics set up a private office for her. Right next to mine."

I stared at Nathaniel. "Excuse me?"

Nora squealed and threw her arms around his neck, planting a loud kiss on his cheek. "Really? You're the best!"

The bright red lipstick smear on his face hit me like a slap.

My nails dug into my palms. "She left a surgical sponge inside a patient, and you're giving her a promotion?"

Nathaniel's gaze turned cold. "Are you certain?"

A junior nurse stepped forward, voice trembling. "Yes, Director. Head Nurse Simmons led the search for hours yesterday. It has to be inside the patient. We need to order a CT scan immediately and inform the family—"

Her voice withered under his darkening expression.

Panic flickered in Nora's eyes, but she masked it with a pout, clinging to his arm. "If we tell him, he'll file a complaint. He seems fine. Rachel, just pretend you don't know." She looked up at Nathaniel with wide eyes. "Right?"

His jaw tightened. "Nora is right. This funding round is critical. We cannot volunteer that information. Rachel, keep your mouth shut."

A chill swept through me. They intended to bury this.

Emboldened, Nora smirked and slammed her shoulder into mine as she passed. "Get moving on my office."

Exhausted from the sleepless night, I lost my balance and hit the floor.

Nathaniel didn't glance back. He simply walked away.

My heart turned to ice.

Fine. If they wanted to play with fire, I wouldn't burn with them.

I drafted my resignation and changed out of my scrubs.

The emergency line shrieked through the nurses' station.

"What kind of butchers are you running?" Mrs. Harrington's voice was shrill enough to hear outside the receiver. "My son is in agony! The scan shows a foreign object! Director Fleming, is this your standard of care?"

"I want the name of whoever did this. I will sue you for everything you have!"

Through the glass partition, I watched Nathaniel hunch over his desk, unable to meet the speakerphone's fury.

Ten minutes later, the break room door slammed open.

Nora let the tears flow. "Nathaniel, what do we do? I didn't mean to! You have to fix this!"

"How the hell should I know?" he roared.

She wailed louder.

I approached and slapped my resignation onto the table. "Sign it."

He stared at the document. "You're quitting?"

Nora's screech cut the air. "You're running away? Coward! You're the Head Nurse—this is your responsibility too!"

I laughed, dry and humorless. "My job was to assist, not slap the phone out of your hand while you scrolled social media during surgery. If you want to drag someone down, try to be less obvious."

She choked on her words.

Nathaniel slammed his fist against the wall. "Enough. Both of you."

His gaze turned icy. "Head Nurse Simmons, Nora is a novice. You should have supervised her better. The hospital's reputation is at stake. We don't have the luxury of pointing fingers."