Too Late. I'm Married to the Godfather novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Suspended

The chief of emergency medicine didn't wait for me to reach his office.

He met me at the nurses' station, in front of two residents, a tech and a man in a neck brace on a gurney.

He was holding a tablet with the video paused on my face.

"Dr. Ames. Is this you?"

"It's me. It's also edited."

"Is it true you're married to Vincenzo Marchese?"

The residents stopped pretending to chart.

"Yes."

"You didn't think to mention that on your hiring forms?"

"The form asks for an emergency contact. He's my emergency contact."

The tech laughed and turned it into a cough.

The chief didn't laugh.

"The hospital has had sixty calls since this morning. Two donors. A city councilman. A reporter from the Post is in the lobby right now asking if our ER is run by the mob."

"It's run by me. On Sundays."

"Not this Sunday." He tucked the tablet under his arm. "You're suspended pending review. Effective now. Hand your badge to security on your way out."

The whole station went silent.

I had worked there five years. I had held that man's hand when his father coded in bay four.

"Okay," I said.

I unclipped my badge and set it on the counter in front of him.

"When the review clears me," I said, "I'd like you to say this to my face too. In front of the same people."

He didn't answer.

Giancarlo was waiting in the ambulance bay with Rocco on his shoulders and the deli bag still in his hand.

He took one look at me.

"Who?"

"The chief. I'm suspended."

His eyes went flat and quiet.

"I can make one phone call," he said. "The board chair owes me his house."

"No."

"Doc."

"No. This is my name. My job. The one thing I built that didn't come from anybody." I took the deli bag out of his hand. "If you fix it, it's yours. I want it to stay mine."

He was silent for a moment.

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