Chapter 5 - Clara Keeps the Tube Steady
Clara’s hands would not stop trembling.
She hated that.
She hated it more than the pain in her scalp.
More than the tears still slipping down her face.
More than the fact that Hemlock had humiliated her in front of nurses who would later avoid saying her name because naming what happened would force them to choose a side.
She had spent years making herself useful enough to be tolerated.
The shy nurse.
The careful nurse.
The one who took extra shifts, stayed late, remembered allergies, comforted families, and never complained when senior doctors spoke through her instead of to her.
Her mother used to say, “Quiet girls survive cruel rooms by becoming necessary.”
Clara had believed that.
Until Hemlock’s fist closed around her hair.
Necessary had not protected her.
Competence had not protected her.
A patient almost dying had not protected her.
Only Roman’s voice had.
That thought unsettled her.
She could not need protection from a man whose chart was locked behind security layers and whose bodyguard looked like a door made of muscle and silence.
So Clara focused on the work.
Suction.
Monitor.
Breathing.
Pressure.
Line check.
Bandage integrity.
She forced her eyes back to the patient, not the humiliation.
Roman watched her as if he understood every battle happening behind her face.
That made her angry.
She did not want to be understood by him either.
Hemlock barked a technical order, but this time his voice cracked.
One of the frozen nurses moved, startled into action.
Another nurse passed Clara fresh supplies without looking at Hemlock.
A small rebellion.
Almost invisible.
Clara accepted the supplies.
Her breathing steadied.
The monitor began a slower, less frantic rhythm.
Roman’s eyes narrowed slightly, not in pain this time, but observation.
Hemlock noticed the room obeying treatment instead of terror.
His face twisted.
“You are all forgetting who is responsible here.”
No one answered.
The words hung, smaller than before.
Clara looked up.
For the first time since he grabbed her, she met Hemlock’s eyes.
Her tears had not stopped.
Her voice shook.
But she did not look away.
“He’ll die while you punish me,” she had said.
And he had heard it.
They all had.
Roman had heard it too.
That was why Hemlock’s watch hand still trembled.
Clara turned back to the patient.
“Pressure responding,” she said.
The relief in the room was immediate.
Hemlock tried to claim it by moving closer.
Roman’s eyes snapped to his hand.
May you like
Hemlock stopped mid-reach.
Read Chapter 6 👉 Because Roman was still wounded, but Hemlock had become afraid of where he placed his hands.
