The Day Our Promise Breaks

"Eve, please, just listen to me and don't make me angry."

"Is it Charles?"

Evelyn's eyes were blazing with anger.

Andrew didn't say a word, but his silence was enough of an admission.

"Dr. Nelson, just because Charles said something, you're refusing to operate on my mom? That's a human life at stake! Doesn't your conscience bother you at all?"

Andrew's lips were pressed into a tight line, offering no response.

Evelyn stared at the unmoving Andrew, realizing that no amount of pleading would change his mind. Without Charles's say-so, Andrew wouldn't budge.

With a heavy heart, Evelyn left Andrew's office.

Outside the hospital, she dialed Brooks.

"Evelyn."

Brooks picked up right away.

Hearing his voice, Evelyn felt her eyes prick with tears. "Brooks, Charles interfered, and now Andrew won't do the surgery on my mom."

"Don't worry, I'm on my way to the hospital."

Brooks tried to calm Evelyn down.

He knew Andrew was Rory's brother, and Rory was tight with Charles. There shouldn't have been any conflict, but he had overestimated Charles's decency.

Who would have thought Charles would use Evelyn's mom to force her back to him?

Brooks dashed to the hospital, only to find Andrew had already left and was unreachable.

Holding Josephine's medical file,noveldrama

Brooks continued to search for another doctor willing to take on the case. He'd tried before going to

Andrew, but no one dared to neat

to touch

it. The success rates were too low.

Andrew was the only one who'd confidently taken it on. Brooks understood how much Josephine meant to Evelyn. He couldn't risk her life on a gamble with someone less capable.

The only hope was that Charles wouldn't actually let anything terrible happen to Josephine by keeping Andrew from doing the surgery. But Evelyn couldn't take that gamble.

How could she trust a man who had been indifferent to his own daughter for five years and even protected the person responsible for her death? Could she really bet on his O conscience?

The next evening, Evelyn called Charles. "Where are you?"

Charles sent her a location. He hadn't reached out in the past two days, banking

on her eventual surrender. He knew he had her cornered.

Evelyn drove over. Charles had clearly given the green light, as her car was let through without any hassle.

After parking, Evelyn walked towards the house. Charles opened the door just as she arrived.

He stepped aside, letting Evelyn enter.

As she walked in, Charles bent down

to hand her a pair of slippers. Instead, Evelyn suddenly slapped him across the face. "Charles, isn't causing Charlie's death enough? Now you want to harm my mom too? Did I do something to your family in a past life?"

Charles froze for a moment, a flicker of pain crossing his eyes. He lowered his gaze, his expression unchanged, as if her words hadn't touched him at all.

"Change your shoes."

There they were—a matching pair of couple's slippers, just like the ones he was wearing. Evelyn looked at them and found it all so bitterly ironic. She kicked them aside.

Without changing her shoes, she walked straight in. She had hoped her words might stir some conscience in him, but clearly, he had none.

"Come have dinner."

The untouched meal from two days ago was spread out on the table again. Charles walked to the dining table and noticed the silence behind him.

He turned around, and his eyes widened in disbelief.

Evelyn stood in the living room, removing her clothes with a blank expression.