My Surgeon Husband Rebuilt My Face To Match His First Love’s Chapter 08
The Choice
When I wake up again, my hands are tied behind my back.
For a few seconds, I do not know where I am. My head throbs, and the air tastes like dust and rust.
When my vision clears, I see piles of abandoned metal around me and a cracked concrete floor under my feet.
A warehouse.
Beside me, Violet is tied to another chair.
Her face is pale with fear. That fragile, pitiful look she always wears is gone now. All that is left is panic.
A man I have never seen before stands in front of us.
He looks thin and gloomy, and there is a knife in his hand.
“Please,” Violet cries, shaking her head. “Please let me go. I have nothing to do with Graham. We broke up years ago.”
Then she suddenly turns toward me.
“She is his wife,” she screams. “Graham loves her. Take her instead.”
The man slaps her across the face.
“Shut up.”
Violet falls silent at once, trembling so hard her chair scrapes against the floor.
The man looks at both of us and laughs.
“When Dr. Pierce gets here, we will let him choose.”
My heart sinks.
I force myself to stay calm and look around. The rope around my wrists is tight, cutting into my skin. Near the back leg of my chair, my fingers brush against something thin and sharp on the floor.
A piece of broken metal.
I do not move too obviously. I only curl my fingers around it and hold on.
By the time Graham arrives, it is already late.
He rushes into the warehouse, breathless, his clothes wrinkled and his face full of panic.
“Graham!” Violet cries the moment she sees him.
His eyes go to her first.
Then, almost like he remembers he should, he looks at me.
The man lets out a mocking laugh.
“Dr. Pierce, you finally decided to show up.”
“Let them go,” Graham says. “Whatever you want, we can talk.”
“Talk?” The man’s face twists. “Because of you, my wife is dead.”
Graham freezes.
The man’s voice rises, shaking with hatred.
“You ruined her face during surgery. Then you paid people off and buried it. Do you know what that did to her? Do you know what it feels like to watch the woman you love fall apart because she cannot bear to look in the mirror?”
He points the knife at Graham.
“She killed herself because of you!”
From the pieces of his words, I understand what happened.
His wife was once Graham’s patient. Something went wrong during the procedure.
Graham covered it up with money, but the woman could not live with her ruined face and eventually took her own life.
Now her husband has poured all his hatred into Graham.
And tonight, Violet and I are his weapons.
The man smiles, but there is nothing warm in it.
“I heard both of these women are precious to you,” he says. “Two women with the same face. Can you even tell which one matters more?”
He walks behind us and lifts the knife.
The cold blade touches my chin first, then Violet’s. She lets out a broken sob.
“Let’s make it simple,” he says. “Only one of them gets to live.”
Graham’s face drains of color.
“Choose, Dr. Pierce.”
Violet cries harder, her eyes locked on him. “Graham, save me. Please. I don’t want to die.”
Graham looks at her, then at me.
For one brief second, our eyes meet.
There is pain in his face. Panic too. Maybe even guilt.
But not enough.
Never enough.
The man loses patience and presses the knife closer. A sharp sting cuts across the side of my neck. Warm blood slides down my skin.
Violet screams.
“Choose,” the man snaps.
Graham’s breathing turns ragged.
Then he closes his eyes, as if that can make him less cruel.
“I choose Violet.”
The words are quiet.
Still, they land hard in the empty warehouse.
I choose Violet.
Three simple words.
The answer I already knew.
I am not surprised. Not really. I only needed to hear him say it.
Violet breaks into tears of relief.
The man laughs and cuts her ropes. She stumbles free and throws herself into Graham’s arms.
He catches her.
Of course he does.
“It’s okay,” he murmurs, holding her tightly. “You’re safe now.”
The cut on my neck burns. Blood slips under my collar, warm and sticky.
The man turns back to me with a pitying smile.
“Poor thing,” he says. “Your husband didn’t choose you.”
I look at Graham.
Violet clings to his sleeve, hiding in his arms.
Graham stares back at me, his eyes full of fear and shame, but he does not let her go.
I smile.
“Goodbye, Graham.”
His expression changes.
Before anyone can react, I throw myself toward the blade pointing at me.
“Elena!” Graham screams.