I Stopped Loving Him When He Let Me Bleed Out novel Chapter 289

Silas stood quietly beside them, not saying a word.

But his eyes shifted, resting on Sienna's face for a long, heavy second.

It was a look of pure, unmistakable pride, silently validating how flawlessly she had handled herself.

And unfortunately, Clara caught that look perfectly.

It drove a spike of pure, unadulterated rage straight through her chest.

Her hands balled into tight fists, her perfectly manicured nails biting sharply into her palms.

She couldn't comprehend what was so incredibly special about Sienna.

Her academic pedigree was inferior. Her clinical experience was lacking. She couldn't even manage a charming conversation with the hospital director without tripping over her words.

Yet Silas Hayes's eyes were completely magnetized to her.

Clara was practically vibrating with jealousy.

"Professor Cross is absolutely right," Clara said, forcing a terrifyingly tight smile as she pivoted back to the older man. "Data integrity is paramount. However, the innovation behind Dr. Sterling's thesis is still fundamentally weak. I'd strongly advise her to scrap the premise and attempt a different angle entirely."

Professor Cross gave her a blank look and didn't bother responding.

Sienna remained perfectly still, refusing to get dragged into a dogfight.

She was here to learn, not to measure egos.

If Clara needed to crush her to feel superior, she could knock herself out. Sienna didn't care.

As long as she walked away with the knowledge, that was all that mattered.

"Dr. Rhodes," Silas's deep voice finally cut through the tension.

"Dr. Sterling's paper has already been greenlit for a multi-center trial launching next month. She is the Principal Investigator."

The entire circle went dead silent.

All the color violently drained from Clara's face, leaving her looking completely sickeningly pale.

A multi-center study. As the PI.

Clara had bled for this hospital for years and had never once been handed a project with that level of prestige or funding.

How long had Sienna even been on the payroll?

"She only has a Master's. On what grounds is she..." Clara's mouth moved before her brain could stop her.

"Dr. Rhodes." Silas's voice dropped an octave, and the air in the corridor instantly turned to ice.

He didn't raise his voice. He didn't snap. There was absolutely zero emotion in his delivery, but the sheer, crushing weight of his authority suffocated the space.

It was a devastating warning to back off.

Finn wasn't stupid. He recognized exactly what Silas was doing. Silas was formally announcing to the most powerful men in medicine that Sienna Sterling belonged to him.

Leaning back against the cold wall, Finn's mind drifted back to college.

He remembered Sienna looking up at him, her eyes practically burning with ambition as she told him, *'I want to be the kind of doctor who saves lives in the OR and changes the world in the lab.'*

He remembered pulling her close and telling her, *'You're going to do it. I know you will.'*

By the time he snapped out of the memory, the hallway was completely empty.

There was nothing left but sterile white walls and the blinding, clinical glare of the fluorescent lights.

Silas's driver dropped Sienna off right in front of her new apartment building.

The dynamic between them felt exactly the same, yet completely different. A subtle, unspoken boundary had been crossed, pulling them irrevocably closer.

"Goodnight, Silas," Sienna said, practically holding her breath to force his first name out.

She bolted out of the car before he could reply.

As the tinted window glided up, Sienna caught the unmistakable, devastating curve of Silas's smile.

She rode the elevator up to her floor. The moment the doors slid open, she was hit by the mouthwatering aroma of slow-roasted meat and heavy spices.

She had barely eaten anything all day, and her stomach immediately twisted in desperate hunger.