Chapter 3 - The Surgery
Dr. Arjun Patel was waiting in the trauma bay.
“What took you so long to come in?” he demanded as the team transferred Jocelyn to the examination bed.
“My family needed a handbag.”
He stared at her, uncertain whether she was joking.
She was not.
The ultrasound confirmed free fluid in her abdomen.
A CT scan revealed the cause.
A ruptured splenic artery aneurysm.
Rare.
Often silent.
Frequently fatal if treatment came too late.
Arjun stood beside her bed, his voice controlled but urgent.
“You’re bleeding internally. Interventional radiology is preparing, but if embolization fails, we operate.”
Jocelyn nodded.
She understood every possibility.
Massive hemorrhage.
Organ damage.
Death.
“Call my husband,” she said.
“We tried. No answer.”
“Again.”
A nurse dialed Gordon’s number.
This time he answered.
“What?”
“This is St. Matthew’s Medical Center. Your wife has been admitted with a life-threatening emergency.”
Gordon’s voice changed only slightly.
“She said she had an appointment.”
“She is actively bleeding into her abdomen.”
There was a pause.
Then Gordon said, “We’re in the middle of something. Is she conscious?”
The nurse looked at Jocelyn.
“Yes.”
“Then tell her I’ll come when we’re finished.”
The nurse’s expression hardened.
“Sir, your wife may require emergency surgery.”
“She’s a surgeon. She knows how hospitals exaggerate things.”
The line went dead.
No one in the room spoke.
Jocelyn turned her face toward the ceiling.
She had spent twelve years opening chests and repairing hearts.
She had believed the most dangerous injuries were the ones that caused immediate bleeding.
Now she understood there were injuries that accumulated silently for years.
A thousand dismissals.
A thousand humiliations.
A thousand moments when someone showed you exactly how little you mattered to them, and you chose not to believe it.
Naomi called.
Jocelyn answered on speaker.
“I’ve frozen the household cards and notified the bank’s fraud department,” Naomi said. “I also discovered Gordon attempted to add Rita as an authorized user on your private reserve account last month.”
Jocelyn closed her eyes.
“Was he successful?”
“No. The signature failed verification.”
“Why wasn’t I notified?”
“The alert went to the household email.”
The email Gordon managed.
Naomi continued.
“There’s more. Hale Strategic Development received over three hundred thousand dollars from your joint accounts in the past fourteen months.”
Arjun glanced at Jocelyn but said nothing.
“Can you secure the house?” Jocelyn asked.
“Yes.”
“My office?”
“Yes.”
“My medical documents?”
“I’ll send someone.”
“And Naomi?”
“I’m here.”
“If I don’t survive, Gordon receives nothing beyond what the law requires.”
Naomi inhaled.
“You already signed a trust amendment last year.”
“I want it enforced.”
“It will be.”
A nurse approached with consent forms.
Jocelyn signed.
As she was wheeled toward the procedure room, her phone vibrated.
A message from Rita appeared.
We found the bag. Send the card PIN again.
May you like
Jocelyn stared at the message.
Then she switched off her phone.
