A Wedding Night Gone Terribly Wrong novel Chapter 22

Just as the words left his mouth, the phone sitting on his desk let out a sharp ping.

It vibrated and rang, the screen flashing brightly. Winifred glanced over just as Quentin snatched it up, concealing the screen against his palm.

Seeing his evasive gaze, Winifred lowered her eyes, staring at her shoes. She hesitated, but finally forced the words out. "Quentin, I really need you to be home before nine tonight."

Quentin pulled his eyes away from his phone and looked at her. Once she was sure he was actually listening, she continued.

"First of all, it's the kids' birthday. They're so young, and they need a real family atmosphere.

"Secondly, Annie was bullied by another kid at preschool today. She's heartbroken. I want you to make time for her, to let her see you before she goes to sleep. She told me last night that... that it's been seventeen days since she last saw her dad."

Thinking about her daughter crying at school, her soft curls being roughly yanked by a much bigger girl, made Winifred's chest ache. It felt as though Jordyn Morgan had yanked directly on her heart.

Tears welled in her eyes, and her voice broke into a soft sob.

"I... I was putting away her drawing book last night, and I saw that she... she had drawn fifteen pictures saying she missed her dad."

Having said what she needed to say, she didn't dare look at Quentin's reaction. She turned and headed for the stairs.

Halfway up to the second floor, she ran into Shelly Hale, the clinic’s holistic healer, who was hurrying down the steps with her phone in hand. Shelly stopped, hovering a few steps above her.

"Dr. Shultz, is it your birthday today?"

"Yes, it is," Winifred replied with a polite smile, offering nothing more.

Shelly had been hired by Quentin. Her knowledge of holistic medicine was shallow, her technique was terrible, and most patients actively avoided booking appointments with her. Worse, she refused to put in the effort to improve. She spent the majority of her shifts sitting in the breakroom, obsessing over her makeup and trying to look glamorous.

When Winifred reached the third floor, cake still in hand and still wearing her street clothes, a swarm of waiting patients instantly surrounded her.

She didn't know what to say to him. She decided to change her clothes first, using the few minutes to calm down.

A moment later, a knock came at her door. She opened it to find Quentin standing there, his expression grave.

"There's a famous actress downstairs. She specifically asked for you."

"An actress?" Winifred was genuinely surprised. In her three years of practicing medicine, she had never had a celebrity seek her out. She knew she was highly recommended by her regulars, but she had no idea her reputation had spread that far.

She followed Quentin cautiously downstairs. The patients waiting in the hallway swarmed them again, clamoring to know when treatments would start. Quentin placated them, saying, "We have a slight emergency. Just give us ten minutes."

They walked all the way to the end of the first floor, toward a small, secluded office in the corner. Winifred peered inside and saw a man and a woman sitting on the sofa.

When her eyes locked onto the man's face, her pupils dilated in shock.