Chapter 1
My husband had been inside me for less than a minute when he abruptly pulled out. Clutching his lower abdomen, he grimaced as if he were in agony. "Sorry, Tess. Mandy's appendicitis must be acting up. I need to go take care of her."
On our wedding day, Ryan Hale told me that he and my best friend, Amanda Brooks, had been linked by a neural pain-link system. Every bit of pain she felt would hit him at ten times the intensity.
For the next 3 years, Amanda repeatedly claimed to be ill. Each time, Ryan would turn pale and rush to her side, often staying out all night.
He threw on his shirt and left without looking back at me once.
A second later, the iPad beside me lit up. Ryan had forgotten to sign out of w******p.
A message from Amanda popped up on the screen.
Amanda: How much longer until you get here? I'm fresh out of the shower and waiting for you. Tessa hasn't noticed anything, has she?
Ryan replied immediately.
Ryan: Relax. We've been using the pain-link excuse for 3 years, and she hasn't suspected a thing. She even feels sorry for me.
Ryan: I've saved everything for you. Just wait until tonight. If you can still get out of bed afterward, I'll admit defeat.
My expression hardened as I scrolled through page after page of explicit messages.
I called Silvercrest Medical Center and booked Ryan for a same-day appendectomy evaluation.
Since they loved putting on an act, I decided to play along.
Amanda supposedly had appendicitis, and Ryan supposedly felt ten times her pain. By that logic, there was no reason for him to keep his appendix.
Having it removed was only fair, wasn't it?
******
Ryan didn't come home until 10 a.m. the next morning.
He stood in the foyer with dark circles beneath his eyes.
"Tessa Grant, do you have a heart? I spent the entire night taking care of Mandy while I was in agony, and you slept peacefully at home."
I set down my coffee cup and looked him over.
His shirt collar hung open, revealing a faint red mark near his collarbone.
I feigned concern and hurried over to him.
"Ryan, what happened to you? Is Mandy's appendicitis serious? How are you feeling now?"
Ryan gave a weak wave, his brow tightly furrowed.
"How do you think I feel? You know how the neural pain-link system works."
He sucked in a sharp breath, his voice trembling for effect.
"For every bit of pain Mandy feels, I feel ten times as much. She was writhing in bed all night. It felt like my insides were being torn apart."
His Oscar-worthy performance almost made me laugh.
He had clearly missed his calling.
He glared at me and said weakly, "I haven't eaten, and I've been in pain all night. Go make me some homemade pasta. Make enough for Mandy too. I'm taking some to her."
I didn't move. I simply watched him in silence.
"What, you don't want to?"
Anger flashed across Ryan's pale face.
"Tessa, Mandy is your best friend. She's sick, and I'm suffering ten times more than she is. Yet my own wife won't even cook for us? How can you be so cold and selfish?"
As his anger mounted, I kept my expression perfectly innocent.
"You've got me wrong, Ryan. Of course I'll make it. I'm only worried pasta might be hard to digest when your appendix hurts this badly."
Ryan froze.
"It's just the link making me feel her pain. I don't actually have appendicitis, so why can't I eat pasta? Stop arguing and get cooking. I'm too hungry to keep talking."
Just then, the phone on the coffee table began to vibrate.
The caller ID read Silvercrest Medical Center.
Ryan frowned and reached for it, but I picked it up first.
"Hello. Is this a family member of Ryan Hale?"
A stern male voice came through.
I put the call on speaker.
"Yes. What is this about?"
"This is the General Surgery Department at Silvercrest Medical Center. Mr. Hale is scheduled for a same-day appendectomy evaluation this morning. Please bring him in as soon as possible."
Ryan shot upright on the couch and stared at me in disbelief.
"You scheduled surgery for me?"
I turned to him, my face filled with concern.
"Mandy has appendicitis, and your pain is amplified tenfold. If that's true, your appendix must be in terrible shape too."
Ryan's face went from pale to livid. His jaw clenched as he glared at me.
I blinked at him and put on a wounded look.
"I'm doing this for your own good. Every time you run off to care for Mandy, you're in so much pain that I can barely stand to watch. Once your appendix is gone, you won't have to go through this again."
Ryan had trapped himself so thoroughly in his own lie that he couldn't say a word.
He drew a deep breath.
"Fine. I'll go."
