Chapter 1

My father was the youngest private-hospital director in the country, and chief of cardiothoracic surgery besides.

The heart operations that passed through his hands had a success rate that came almost impossibly close to a hundred percent.

But he refused to operate on my mother.

He said he was tired.

Only later did I learn it wasn't fatigue at all. On the very same day, the woman he'd never gotten over had a sudden heart attack and was rushed to his hospital.

At that moment, he was busy saving her. He had no attention left to spare for my mother.

For the next eighteen years, I worked my way through Harvard and graduated.

After I came home, I passed the screening and the certification, and became the youngest chief physician-licensing examiner in the country.

That day, the certification secretary came to my office, bringing the deputy director with him.

He set a doctor's certification file down in front of me.

"Examiner Delgado, this girl's name is Cornelia Pruitt."

"All you have to do is sign, and she'll become the youngest cardiothoracic attending physician in the country."

I paged through the file on this Cornelia Pruitt.

Then I reached the line marked 'Father.'

I sat still for a few seconds.

Then I closed the file and said evenly, "She doesn't meet the certification standard."

...

The deputy director's brow knotted. "She scored full marks on both the practical and the written exams. Her supervising instructor gave her the highest evaluation."

"There's the co-signature of every department chief at the hospital as well."

"Where exactly does she fail to meet the standard?"

I pushed Cornelia Pruitt's file back across the desk toward him.

Then I answered, calm as before, "I'm the chief examiner. I have the authority to reject any certification I have doubts about."

The deputy director stared me down.

A long moment passed.

Only then did the words come out of him.

"Examiner Delgado, leave a little room for yourself."

"Do you have any idea who Cornelia Pruitt's father is?"

At that, I leaned back in my chair and looked at him, my expression untroubled.

"Who?"

"Cole Pruitt!"

I let out a flat little oh and raised an eyebrow. "The honorary chairman of the State Medical Association?"

"Director of Deren Hospital and chief of cardiothoracic surgery?"

The deputy director nodded hard. "Yes!"

"You refuse to sign."

"You're not afraid of making an enemy of Director Pruitt?"

Before I could say anything.

The deputy director's tone softened. "Examiner Delgado, I know you haven't been back from overseas very long."

"There are things about this city you don't quite understand yet."

"But let me warn you, there are some people you absolutely do not cross."

"Otherwise the consequences will be very serious!"

I heard the threat under his words.

But I only smiled, entirely unbothered.

"Listen to you."

"What, am I going to get hit by a car when I walk out the door?"

The deputy director gave a cold little laugh.

"These days a lot of young guys like to street-race."

"Some day... something like that really could happen."

At that.

I took out my phone and, right in front of him, dialed three digits.

Looking at the '911' showing on the screen.

His face changed in an instant.

"Examiner Delgado, what do you think you're doing?"

"Someone's threatening me."

"Of course I'm going to call the police for my own safety!"

Just as I was about to place the call.

He rushed to stop me.

"Examiner Delgado, I'm sorry, that's not what I meant..."