Chapter 9 - THE LONGEST SIX HOURS OF MY LIFE
The surgery lasted nearly six hours.
I counted every minute.
Rachel sat beside me.
Mrs. Alvarez held Maisie in her lap.
My father arrived unexpectedly.
He stood near the doorway.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then he approached.
“How is she?”
I looked up.
“Still in surgery.”
He nodded.
“I'm sorry.”
I stared at him.
He looked older than I remembered.
His shoulders were bent.
His eyes tired.
“I should have listened to you fourteen years ago,” he said.
I swallowed.
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
He sat across from me.
For a long time, we remained silent.
Then he said:
“I've given investigators everything I have about Victor.”
I looked up.
“All of it?”
He nodded.
“Emails. Meeting notes. Financial approvals.”
I studied him.
“Even the documents that make you look bad?”
His eyes filled.
“Yes.”
I looked away.
It wasn't forgiveness.
Not yet.
But it was a beginning.
At 2:17 p.m., the surgeon entered.
I stood so quickly my chair scraped against the floor.
The surgeon looked tired.
But calm.
“The procedure is complete.”
My heart pounded.
“How is she?”
“She tolerated it. There were complications, but we addressed them. She's being transferred to intensive care for close monitoring.”
I closed my eyes.
Relief hit me so hard I nearly fell.
“Thank you.”
The surgeon nodded.
“She still has a difficult recovery ahead.”
“I understand.”
Maisie looked up.
“Is Mommy okay?”
I knelt.
“The doctors finished helping her. She's resting now.”
Maisie smiled.
“See?”
I laughed through tears.
“You were right to hope.”
She hugged me.
And I held her.
That evening, I saw Nora through the ICU window.
She was pale.
Surrounded by monitors.
But alive.
I pressed my hand against the glass.
Fourteen years earlier, I'd walked away from her because I believed success was waiting somewhere else.
Now I understood.
Success wasn't an eighty-one-million-dollar deal.
It wasn't a company.
Or a Bentley.
Or a mansion overlooking Lake Michigan.
It was the chance to stand outside a hospital room and know the woman you loved was still breathing.
Then Rachel's phone rang.
She stepped aside.
Listened.
And returned with a grim expression.
“Ethan.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“Victor Hale has been arrested.”
I exhaled.
Then she added:
“But investigators found something else.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
May you like
She swallowed.
“Andrew Bennett wasn't the first employee who tried to expose him.”
