The Patient Bride of St. Augustine
Aurora Bennett comes to in St. Augustine Psychiatric Hospital with needle scars and a name she barely remembers. Ethan Rhodes—cold, precise, inconveniently gorgeous—claims they’re married and that someone inside Kane Pharmaceuticals wants her erased. The deeper they dig, the more the files scream human trials, missing data, and a CEO with a saintly smile and blood on his hands. In a city where donations buy silence and pills buy power, Aurora has to decide if Ethan is her fake husband, her worst mistake…or the only man who believes she isn’t crazy.
Chapter 1My friend had a blind date.She dragged me along to keep her company.Then I saw who was sitting across from her. My ex.I reached for her hand to leave.She told me to go first.It wasn’t that I couldn’t let go of the past.It was because the man across from us was a monster in a good suit.The handsome face hid a mean, merciless heart.He had slipped into my room in the middle of the night and clamped an arm around me, whether I wanted it or not.I ran a high fever, he still took what he wanted.“You two broke up, so I can be with him.”“Adrian Kane, you think this is fun?” I kept my face cold and looked straight at him.He shrugged and didn’t blink. “What’s the problem? You dumped me, I found another girlfriend, sounds normal to me.”“You know exactly why I ended it.”“So what?” he said, still bored.“Then stop coming after the people around me.” My voice rose and a few heads turned.Murmurs bubbled up around us.“What’s going on?”“No idea, doesn’t look like a wife catching a mistress, keep watching.”I couldn’t take it anymore. “Adrian Kane, please leave.”He gave me a thin, contemptuous smile. The tenderness he used to wear was gone. He looked at me like I was something he couldn’t stand. “Aurora Bennett, don’t forget, I’m not here to eat with you. The one who should leave is you.”Heat spiked behind my eyes. I turned, grabbed my friend’s wrist, and headed for the door.“Hannah Lane, let’s go.”Something I never saw coming happened. Hannah shook free and, with an apologetic look, said, “Rory, Adrian’s right. This dinner is between him and me, nothing to do with you.”I stared at her like I was meeting a stranger.Hannah widened her eyes, looking all kinds of pitiful. “Rory, I get it. Back when you chased Adrian, you didn’t expect that one day you’d be into someone else. Since you don’t like him now, let him go, stop meddling in his choices.”“Sounds like the woman dumped him and is still clinging,” someone whispered.“Why bother, the two in white even look like a couple,” another voice said.I glanced at my all-black outfit, then at their matching white clothes, and my throat closed up.“I still don’t get you,” I said softly. “Didn’t you ask me to come and help you tank the date?”“Enough, Rory, go home first,” Hannah cut in.The noise in the restaurant swelled. I set my jaw, ignored the stares, and hauled her outside.“Stop it, let go.” Once we hit the street, Hannah’s tone snapped cold.I stared at her in disbelief. “Hannie, you said you didn’t want a blind date. Why say I like someone else?”“Aurora Bennett, that’s Adrian Kane.” Hannah looked at me with a sharp little smile, jealousy gleaming under it.“In college I never understood why he picked you instead of me. Just because you’re pretty? You’ve got nothing going for you, and he’s brilliant, started his own pharma company before thirty.”Pieces fell into place in my head. “So you…”“Yeah. Adrian fits me better than you.” She checked her phone and smiled wider. “See, he says he’ll wait for me. Relax, you two only dated, past tense. You really thought he loved you?”She hit the word like a pin.I had no words. I watched her turn around and walk back into the restaurant. Chapter 2Useless tears spilled over, and years after graduation I finally realized I was on my own.I thought of my parents. I hadn’t told Hannah that my dad was back in the hospital.A picture of my mother tending to him flashed through my mind, and my breath stalled for a few seconds.“Aurora, you’re here too?”The gentle voice made me look up. It was Ethan Rhodes, a new hire at our company.I swiped at my face and forced a smile. “Ethan, grabbing dinner here too?”He saw through me. “Did something happen? I can help.”I shook my head. “Nothing major.”My phone rang.I answered, and my mother’s urgent voice rushed out. “Rory, get back to the hospital, your father was just taken into the ER.”My stomach dropped.I spun to Ethan. “Do you have a car?”“Yeah, I’ll drive.”By the time we reached the hospital, my dad was out of danger.I held my mother and patted her back.Ethan said softly, “Mrs. Bennett, I’m Ethan, Aurora’s coworker. If it helps, I can come by when I’m free and look after him.”Her eyes were red. “You’re very kind. Rory, thank Ethan.”I nodded and pulled him into the hallway.“Ethan, thank you for today.”He touched my shoulder. “Aurora, let me help. If something’s hard, don’t keep it all inside.”The warmth in his voice turned the ice in my chest to water, and it spilled from my eyes.He drew me into a steady embrace. “Go on, let it out.”Maybe crying would help. Maybe.The moment I thought of my ex and of Hannah, the tears kept coming.A familiar voice cut in, and a shiver ran through me.“What are you doing?”I turned. Adrian Kane.“Why are you here?”Adrian smoothed a crease at his cuff. “This is my hospital. Can’t I be here?”I remembered how, back when we were still together, I had moved my father to Kane Medical Center, part of his family’s holdings.“As soon as he stabilizes, we’ll transfer him out.”His brows pressed hard, and he looked at Ethan and me with winter in his eyes.“You broke up with me and you’re already shopping for the next one?” He gave a thin laugh.I almost laughed back. “Who had lunch with Hannah today? Wasn’t that you?”All the bitter pieces of my day piled up. I stepped closer.“You know why I left you. Your need to control me made life unbearable. And if you like Hannah now, I wish you two the best. Don’t show up in my life again.”I was breathing hard by the time I finished. I met his gaze with pure loathing.His expression shifted from disdain to a flicker of panic. I felt a curl of satisfaction.It lasted three seconds. He lunged and crushed his mouth to mine, arms locking me in like vines.I couldn’t wrench free, only choked out a muffled sound.A sharp crack split the air.Ethan’s fist smashed into Adrian’s face, and the grip on me broke.Ethan pulled me behind him. “You’re her ex, right? Since it’s over, stop bothering her.”I gulped air and stared at Adrian in disbelief.He looked perversely pleased. He pulled an envelope from his pocket. “Our engagement party. Hannah and me. Don’t forget to come.”“You’re insane.”He didn’t care. He set the invitation on a side table and gave me a lazy smile. “I’ll be waiting.”He turned and walked away.I strode over, threw the invitation to the floor, and ground my heel into it.Only when the anger bled off did I glance at Ethan with an embarrassed smile. “Sorry you had to see that.”He shook his head, smiling. “Not at all. I like seeing the side of you that isn’t always composed.”Heat climbed my cheeks, and I couldn’t meet his eyes.“But,” he went on, “I think your ex isn’t well. It’s better if you cut him off.”“Why do you say that?”“Work keeps me busy, but I read about psychiatry in my spare time. His behavior matches a few classic cases I’ve seen in books. Tell me what he does that’s out of line.”
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