The Doctor And The Don

The Man Behind The Desk

He texted the next morning. I never remembered giving him my number, which should have bothered me more than it did.

Ten o’clock. Same address.

I have a shift at the hospital, I typed back.

Already cleared with your supervisor.

I stared at my phone for a full minute, somewhere between fury and a very reluctant curiosity about exactly how much power it took to rearrange a hospital fellowship schedule with a single phone call.

When I arrived, Marco was up and dressed, sitting behind a desk covered in papers he closed the second I walked in, which told me everything about how much he trusted me and nothing about what those papers actually were.

“You look better,” I said, checking the wound.

“I feel fine.”

“You said that yesterday, right before I found a fragment your last doctor missed.”

“My last doctor is no longer employed here.”

I paused, gloves halfway on. “Because he missed a fragment, or because you fire everyone who ever disappoints you?”

His jaw tightened slightly. “Careful, Doctor.”

“You keep saying that like it is supposed to scare me. Mostly it is just annoying.”

He laughed, short and surprised, like he had not planned on it and was not entirely sure he approved of himself for doing it. “Nobody talks to me the way you do.”

“Somebody should. Your confidence looks exhausting to carry around.”

“You have no idea what I carry, Andrea.”

It was the first time he had used my first name, and it landed somewhere I had no business letting it land. I finished checking the wound in silence, mostly because I did not trust my own voice.

At the door, a man I had not met yet stopped me, glancing back toward the office before lowering his voice.

“Can I ask you something, Doctor?”

“Sure.”

“Do you know why he asked for you? Specifically? None of us do, and in my experience, when the boss does something nobody understands, it usually means something important.”

I felt the same unease I had been trying to ignore since I arrived in this city settle back into my chest. “No,” I admitted. “But I intend to find out.”

His expression turned almost sympathetic. “For your sake, Doctor, I hope you find out before it finds you.”