The Cold Surgeon's Contract Bride novel Chapter 158

Ferris absentmindedly tapped his fingers against the rim of the bathtub. "How is it? Do you like it?"

Zoey's breathless gasps of admiration echoed through the speaker. Finally, she added, "But is this really okay, Ferris? I feel terrible making you spend so much money on me."

"Put it in the guest bedroom," he replied, ignoring her faux-guilt, his tone rich with indulgent interest. "Have it tuned. Next time, you can play it for me."

His voice was incredibly gentle, completely unrecognizable from the man who had been violently mocking me just moments prior.

A Steinberg Grand Piano was exorbitant on a good day. The fact that Ferris had tracked down a collector's edition meant the price tag was genuinely astronomical.

So this was what Ferris Sterling looked like when he was truly in love.

"What photo?" he asked lazily into the receiver.

"Just a picture Zelda took of us at the retreat!" the young woman bragged, her voice bubbling with pride. "She just sent it to me privately. I'll forward it to you later, okay?"

She sounded like a perfectly obedient pet.

I looked at Ferris. He looked like a man hopelessly hooked by her sweet, innocent charm.

My gaze drifted down to his shoulder. The thick bandages I had carefully applied were now completely soaked through with bathwater, a faint tinge of pink seeping through the white gauze.

Unbidden, the memory of that wine bottle plummeting from the shelf flashed through my mind. In that split second, before my brain even registered the danger, Ferris had already yanked me into his chest.

He had held me so tightly. Even through his clothes, I had felt the hard flex of his muscles.

We had been pressed so close together that I could hear his sharp, ragged gasp of pain.

My blood ran ice cold.

Beatrice Thorne? That graceful, elegant woman was dead?

My mind flashed back to Terrence, a man who worshipped the ground his wife walked on. There was no way he could accept her sudden death. Was he the one tearing the hospital apart?

"Exactly, he's totally lost his mind," Amber nodded furiously, her voice trembling. "They say he brought gasoline into the ward! Dr. York went down there to talk him off the ledge, but it's useless. This Terrence guy is screaming that he'll only talk to Director Sterling. It's a complete standoff."

He wanted to see Ferris? Now?

Ferris was Beatrice's primary physician. He had performed all of her previous surgeries. With her sudden, devastating passing, Terrence was unequivocally turning his murderous rage onto him.