Birth & Betrayal Chapter 2

But the voice on the other end of the line wasn't Robert's.

It was Anna's.

Her voice grated on my nerves, making the already ineffective anesthesia even more useless. I could feel my chest heaving, the pain unbearable.

“Robert, you should thank me. If I hadn’t made you keep your work phone on, you would have missed this call.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Robert’s voice was full of affection. “You’re the best, the smartest.”

When he took the phone, his tone became serious. “I saw the patient’s chart you sent over. With her rare blood type and gestational hypertension, it’s a very difficult case. You need to contact the family as soon as possible and get their consent.”

“Dr. Robert, we can’t reach her family. We’ve been trying, but his phone is off.”

Robert sounded angry. “His wife is giving birth, and he won’t even answer his phone? What kind of animal is he?”

“Dr. Robert, can you come over now?”

Anna’s complaining voice drifted through the phone. “Go on then… Just leave me here to celebrate my birthday all by myself.”

“No way, I’m not going.”

After comforting her, Robert spoke into the phone again. “I’m sorry, I can’t make it. We’re about to board a flight for a little getaway. I can connect you with someone else, though.”

Then he hung up, as if afraid they would try to persuade him further.

And that's when I realized he had a separate work phone, a phone I had never even seen.

A nurse standing beside me, monitoring my vitals, murmured, “For a second there, when Dr. Robert was talking, I thought it was this patient’s husband. Their voices are identical.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. His wife was right there with him, you heard her.”

At that moment, the blood from the other hospitals arrived.

Along with the plasma came another doctor. I heard a chorus of excited voices calling him “Professor.” He immediately had the anesthesiologist check my dosage and increase it.

I drifted into a deep sleep and endured a long, life-saving surgery.

When I woke up, a nursing intern was sitting by my bed, recording my vitals. When she saw my eyes open, she immediately called in a team of doctors and nurses.

“Are you feeling any discomfort?”

I shook my head.

The lead doctor examined my incision and my chart, then looked at me. “Chloe Shaw, how long has it been since you graduated? Have you forgotten everything you learned?”

I looked up at him closely. It was Aaron, the senior student who had supervised our lab work back in grad school. He seemed even more serious than I remembered.

He studied me for a moment. “Your husband just sent a message to your phone. Do you want me to open it for you?”

I managed a weak nod.

He unlocked my phone with my face ID, and a notification popped up instantly. It was a charge alert from my bank account. A nineteen-thousand-dollar expense at a seaside resort for a honeymoon package.

Then, a message from Robert. “On a business trip. Be back in a week. Sorry, babe, just been so busy.”

But right after he sent that, a message from Anna came through.

[Sis-in-law, this ocean-view room is gorgeous! I had to share it with you.]

The accompanying photo was of her and Robert in a bathtub, looking out at the sea. There were even hickeys on her neck.

[Don’t you think it’s beautiful, sis-in-law? Robert said he’ll bring you here for your anniversary. Same room, same bed.]