The Coldest Man in the Room Melted Only for Me novel Chapter 81

Riley shook her head innocently. "No."

Pierce studied her for a few seconds before saying, "Riley, we are husband and wife. Whether it's about our personal lives or your career, I hope you never keep anything from me."

He placed extra emphasis on the word 'career', and Riley immediately understood what he was getting at.

He had obviously found out from Seraphina about her residency in Statenbury, but since he couldn't admit he'd spoken to her, he was trying to corner Riley into confessing.

Riley played dumb. "I know. I'd never hide anything important from you."

Watch me.

You hide your affair from me, so I'll hide my career move from you. What are you going to do about it?

You can choke on it for all I care!

Pierce looked at her for a few more seconds, then finally nodded. "Think about where you want to go. You can look up some spots over the next couple of days, and we'll head out this weekend."

"Okay."

On Friday, Riley went to the hospital to fill out her application with the director. When she walked into his office, she was shocked to see Pierce sitting there.

"Riley, come in," Dr. Jenson greeted her with a beaming smile. "Mr. Landon just donated another batch of state-of-the-art medical equipment to our hospital."

Riley walked over and sat on the sofa, looking right at Pierce. "Why didn't you tell me you were donating equipment?"

Pierce shot back, "You didn't tell me you were taking a residency at Statenbury First Medical Center, did you?"

Riley was speechless.

So that was his game.

Unable to reveal that Seraphina was his source, he had literally bought his way into the director's office just to force the issue.

Must be nice to throw money at your problems.

Dr. Jenson looked at Riley in surprise. "You didn't discuss this with Mr. Landon? I assumed you two had already talked it over."

Riley forced a tight smile. "I haven't had the chance to bring it up yet."

Who was scared of him?

She just figured that since they were getting a divorce anyway, she didn't owe him an explanation.

But since he had handed her the perfect excuse, she wouldn't waste time coming up with a new one.

Riley lowered her gaze and stayed silent, letting him think she was admitting fault.

Pierce stared at her for a few seconds. He realized there was no point in harping on her secrecy anymore.

He swallowed his temper and forced his voice to soften. "Riley, we're married. You should have consulted me. Dr. Jenson said this program lasts two years. Do you really want to live apart from me and Alora for two entire years?"

She wasn't going to leave Alora; she was only leaving him.

"I'm still young. I want to push my career as far as I can. I don't want to look back and regret not trying."

"I've told you before, if you want, I can make you the director of the Landon family's private hospital. You'd be running your own hospital. What better career move is there?"

She had refused his offer back then for two reasons: she didn't want his family looking down on her, and she wanted to focus purely on medicine. Running a hospital meant dealing with corporate politics, which completely defeated her purpose.