My Secret Husband Is My Cold Boss novel Chapter 10

Riley was so sleep-deprived her brain was practically functioning on dial-up, and she totally bombed a few questions.

Unsurprisingly, she got chewed out yet again.

She was used to it by now.

Trudging back to her desk, she groaned to Wendy, “I must have been a mass murderer in my past life to deserve clinical rotations in this one.”

Wendy laughed, highly amused.

She handed over an iced coffee she had just picked up from the delivery rack.

“Iced Americano. Wake up, we've got nineteen electives to burn through today.”

Elective surgeries were non-emergency cases that had been scheduled well in advance.

But on top of those, there was always a relentless influx of unpredictable emergencies.

Exactly how many times they would scrub in before the day ended was anyone's guess.

The department head would take the lead, with Wendy and Riley acting as first and second assists.

The most grueling, complex cases were always scheduled first thing in the morning.

That coffee was absolutely vital to their survival.

Riley chugged half the cup in one go and wiped her mouth.

“Chief Gates, await my triumphant return at noon.”

Wendy nodded. “See you on the other side.”

Wendy had two operations scheduled for the morning.

The first was an ablation for a patient with premature ventricular contractions.

The second was an elderly patient who had been experiencing dizzy spells and chest tightness for years. The family had ignored the symptoms, ultimately leading to an episode of atrial fibrillation that triggered a stroke.

They needed to perform an afib ablation combined with a left atrial appendage closure.

The operation dragged on until 2:00 PM.

Wendy had barely stripped off her lead apron and hadn't even had time to grab lunch when she received an urgent request for a consult.

It was for one of Riley's patients.

A heart attack victim scheduled for the first slot this afternoon to receive a stent.

But the moment the angiogram was done, Dr. Franklin discovered that the patient had severe congenital vascular defects, and the blockage was positioned in an impossibly tricky spot.

A case like that required an immediate consult from Cardiac Surgery to determine if a full open-chest procedure would be a safer route.

Wendy massaged her aching shoulder as she walked back into the office.

But they usually only tore into their own direct students.

Some random external hire with a padded resume?

Trying to establish dominance on his first day?

Riley felt an instant surge of defiance on Leo's behalf. She asked Sophie, “Do you know what he got yelled at for?”

“I heard he was a few minutes late intubating a patient,” Sophie answered.

Being an old colleague of his, Sophie was naturally biased.

She couldn't help but defend him. “It really wasn't his fault. Cardiac Surgery admitted eight aortic dissections just this morning. Six of them were Type A. They literally ran out of ORs. Leo had no choice but to route the overflow to the ICU.”

“Right in the middle of all that chaos, an emergency transfer arrived from a local clinic. He was busy dealing with the intake, so he ended up intubating the patient five minutes late.”

But running a department was all about teamwork.

In a situation like that, Leo should have immediately delegated the task to another doctor on his team before rushing off.

Riley knew that perfectly well.

However, given her massive bias against the new boss, her judgment was completely clouded. She instinctively took Leo's side. “Being a few minutes late in a crisis is perfectly normal.”

“Wendy, let's go. We need to meet this new boss for ourselves.”