He Gave Her Strawberries, Gave Me Hives (Ford and Sylvia) novel Chapter 60

Chapter 2

She hadn’t planned on telling Cormac about the tumor growing inside her skull.

The day before their anniversary, she found out she was pregnant and wanted to surprise him.

But the doctor rained on her parade immediately: that malignant tumor in her brain was a ticking time bomb.

And she was three months along.

If she didn’t get the tumor cut out soon, she’d likely die on the operating table during childbirth. The advice? Abort.

But the OB–GYN gave her another blow: her uterus was malformed. This might be the only child she’d ever have.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, she chose the baby.

It was the symbol of her love with Cormac, a miracle pregnancy. She couldn’t let it go.

Until she walked in on that scene tonight.

What a joke. While she was protecting their future child, he was busy rolling in the sheets with another woman.

And not just any woman–the clumsy maid they’d fired.

Fresh from the shower, Cormac walked over, trying to talk to Scarlett like everything was normal.

“Why Ruby?”

The question caught Cormac off guard.

Scarlett’s voice was raspy. “You despised her from the start, didn’t you?”

Cormac furrowed his brow and let out a light sigh.

Scarlett looked at the awards hanging in his study, a lump forming in her throat.

He really was a model doctor–he’d give CPR to a drowning senior, clean up a stressed–out student who wet themselves, even jump into a river to save a patient despite not knowing how to swim.

Once, a patient with severe split personality disorder nearly killed him, yet he went right back to treating the guy without hesitation.

That time, as Scarlett bandaged his slashed wrist, she cried and called him an idiot.

He just said calmly, “I’m a doctor. Saving lives is my calling. It’s instinct, Scarlett, you can’t stop me.”

That kindness and integrity hidden under his cold exterior was exactly why she fell for him.

But he was a top–tier psychologist. He had a hundred ways to help Ruby.

And he chose the dirtiest, most intimate way possible–the one way that disgusted her to the core.

She remembered when Ruby was their maid–always looking down, clumsy as hell.

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He Gave Her Strawberries, Gave Me Hives. I Gave Them Both A One–Way Ticket To BANKRUPTCY

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Chapter 2

Cormac used to frown just looking at her, telling Scarlett to fire her multiple times..

Later, when Ruby showed bruises from domestic abuse, he coldly told her, “Leave your drama at home,” but his eyes hid a trace of pity.

That was an emotion he rarely wasted on anyone.

When Ruby quit, Scarlett offered to get her a lawyer, but Ruby refused.

“Ms. Flynn, you can’t fix my life,” Ruby had said, eyes full of despair. “I’m destined to rot in the mud.”

Scarlett, being soft–hearted, secretly gave her money a few times and urged her to divorce Mick.

But Ruby just hemmed and hawed, never doing anything about it.

Who knew? The mess Scarlett couldn’t fix, Cormac decided to “fix“-right in his bed.

The irony was suffocating.

His phone rang. Cormac saw “Ruby” on the screen, and his expression shifted.

He answered, his voice turning buttery soft.

“You home? How are you feeling? Still in pain?”

Watching his back, Scarlett felt a pain in her chest so sharp she could barely breathe.

Cormac was lying.

After ten years, she’d studied him like a science project, she knew what every twitch of his face meant.

Sex between them was like filing taxes–routine, necessary, and Cormac’s face was always blank.

Whenever she tried to spice things up, he’d coolly push her away.

“I’m exhausted. Just hold off, or handle it yourself.”

He’d even quote medical texts, telling her a high sex drive was a pathology, threatening to give her a “psychological intervention” if she kept pestering him.

Scarlett would feel humiliated and just suffer in silence.

Brainwashing herself that Cormac was one in a million, and she just had to be patient.

But that passion, that intoxication he had with Ruby? He’d never shown that with her. Not once.

He was addicted to Ruby’s body, plain and simple. But he was too cowardly to admit it, hiding behind this “medical treatment” bullshit.

Scarlett whispered in her heart.

“Cormac, you’re tainted. I don’t want you anymore.”

By the time she emailed the divorce request to her lawyer, it was deep into the night.

Happy Anniversary. Instead of celebrating, she was drafting a divorce settlement. Hilarious.

Cormac came out of the bathroom, the scent of the other woman scrubbed away.

Chapter 2

But he couldn’t scrub off the hickey on his neck.

He realized it, covered it up, stared at Scarlett for a few seconds, and spoke in a soothing tone.

“I won’t use that extreme method to treat her again.”

“Don’t go to bed angry. Close your eyes. Count sheep.”

Scarlett didn’t answer, the blinding image of them together still burning in her brain.

Cormac’s patience seemed to run out, his voice dropping a degree colder.

“If you’re going to be moody, let’s sleep in separate rooms. I need to write a paper anyway.”

He gently closed the door, leaving the bedroom so quiet she couldn’t even hear breathing.

Until 2:00 AM, when Cormac’s phone in the next room started ringing off the hook.

He barked something into the phone, grabbed his coat, and bolted out of the house without a single word of explanation.

Scarlett’s heart tightened. She threw on some clothes and chased after him.

She followed his car all the way to Ruby’s apartment building.

She watched Cormac sprint upstairs and come back down carrying Ruby in his arms, totally oblivious to Scarlett’s car.

His pristine white coat was soaked in Ruby’s blood, but the germaphobe didn’t seem to care. He rushed her straight into the hospital.

The crowd parted like the Red Sea for them.

Ruby had slashed her wrists. She needed emergency surgery, but they needed a family member to sign.

“We need a signature for the surgery!”

Cormac snatched the clipboard, his voice rock solid. “I’m her husband!”