70 • Can't Lose You

◇ MYKAELA ◇

Eight more hours. Just eight more to go. Then I'd be back in my room, enjoying the peace and quiet and the comfort of my bed.

I'd been racing through my morning ER rotations, the hospital bustling with activity as always. The beeping of machines, the distant chatter of nurses, the constant influx of patients in the emergency room—I was already getting used to it. All part of our daily routine this week.

But this morning felt different. I couldn't shake the unease keeping me up at night. Today, my anxiety bothered me more than usual, my heart pounding harder than it should.

I wanted to blame the lack of proper sleep and our demanding workload. But my thoughts kept circling back to those cryptic messages Dr. Chen sent the other night, and the texts Lorenzio sent yesterday.

"Miss Nielsen."

I whirled at the familiar voice that came from behind me. "Yes?"

Dr. Casey Ashford, one of the attending physicians on duty, stood beside a hospital bed with his stethoscope dangling