The Ex-Wife He Can’t Have novel Chapter 23

"Tell me what you see. Describe it to me," Gibson coaxed gently.

Through a haze, Jillian opened her eyes, finding herself floating above the room, watching the scene unfold from a third-person perspective.

She was the woman lying on the hospital bed.

She had just given birth. Her hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat, and a sterile blue drape covered her lower half.

Nurses and doctors hurried around the room.

"There are so many people in the hospital... I'm lying on the bed... I'm so cold..." Jillian murmured under hypnosis.

"What happens next?" Gibson asked.

"Then..."

She remembered being so cold she thought she was dying. The medical team was crowded around the newborn. No one was looking at her.

Her face grew paler by the second as a warm, terrifying dampness spread beneath her.

A midwife finally stepped over to check on her and suddenly screamed, "We have a problem! The mother is hemorrhaging!"

Simultaneously, a frantic voice called out from the bassinet, "The infant isn't breathing!"

Chaos erupted. People sprinted in every direction, medical trays crashing to the floor.

Next, she was wheeled into the operating room. The overhead lights blinded her.

Anesthesia flooded her veins. Through the drug-induced fog, she felt the horrifying bite of a cold scalpel tearing into her flesh...

On the therapy chair, a sheen of sweat broke out across Jillian's forehead.

"No... no..."

"Please don't die..."

Jillian's eyes snapped open. Her clothes were soaked through with a cold sweat.

Gibson sat up abruptly, putting the pendulum away.

A patient forcefully snapping themselves out of a deep hypnotic state—it was a first in his entire career.

It meant she was violently rejecting the memory, her subconscious fighting tooth and nail to escape that specific trauma.

Seeing the raw terror in Jillian's eyes, Gibson didn't push her.

They had to pause the session for today.

But now that she was working again, she couldn't afford to be a zombie.

She needed to at least look like she had some life in her.

"Thank you, Dr. Xavier."

Jillian stood up to leave.

A notification pinged on Gibson's phone.

Sylvia: [Gibson, drinks with friends tonight. Don't be late!]

Gibson never answered personal texts on the clock.

He placed the phone face down and waited until he had walked Jillian out before replying.

[Got it. Need me to pick you up?]

[Nope, I'm with Killian.]

Gibson set the phone down, a deep frown creasing his forehead at the mention of the two of them.

[Sylvia, I'm not opposed to you seeing Killian. But he needs to handle his ex-wife first.]