They took me off the plane to give my seat to a millionaire… without knowing I was the only person who could save his life.
Even if the surgery went well, Ethan could die during recovery.
“Oops,” she said with a smile. “Too bad.”
They threw me out of the terminal along with my broken luggage.
Just then, my phone rang.
It was Marcus Reed, the Walsh family’s personal administrator.
He didn’t even say hello.
“What the hell are you doing? The plane has already taken off, and you aren’t on the passenger list!”
I tried to explain.
He wouldn’t let me.
“The Walsh family has spent a fortune on you. If you aren’t in the operating room at Saint Catherine Hospital before tonight is over, we will destroy your career. Do you hear me?”
He hung up.
I stared at the phone for a few seconds.
Then I opened my banking app.
I found the three-million-dollar transfer.
I tapped:
RETURN.
In the reference field, I wrote four words:
“Find someone better.”
Then I blocked every number associated with the Walsh family.
I looked at the remains of the medication crushed beneath that woman’s heels.
And I smiled.
“Ethan Walsh…”
“…your life is no longer my concern.”
What I didn’t know was that, while the plane was crossing the country, Ethan was beginning to struggle for breath.
And when his father discovered why I had never boarded that flight…
the entire Walsh family panicked.
TWO HOURS LATER
At an altitude of over ten thousand meters, Ethan Walsh clutched his chest.
At first, he thought it was anxiety.
He had spent the last few days in and out of hospitals, undergoing tests and listening to doctors talk about things he preferred not to understand.
But this time was different.
His breathing grew increasingly shallow.
“Mr. Walsh, are you all right?” one of his assistants asked.
Ethan tried to answer.
He couldn’t.
He leaned forward.
“I… can’t… breathe…”
The assistant immediately pressed the emergency button.
A flight attendant came running. —What’s happening?
—It’s Mr. Walsh!
In a matter of seconds, the entire atmosphere in first class changed.
A doctor traveling as a passenger stood up and went to help.
He checked his pulse.
His expression changed.
—We need to land immediately.
“What’s wrong with him?” the flight attendant asked.
“I don’t know yet. But his condition is deteriorating rapidly.”
Ethan opened his eyes.
“The… surgeon…”
“What did he say?”
“Find her…”
But no one knew where she was.
Because the only person who could stabilize him had just been kicked off the plane.
AT SAINT CATHERINE HOSPITAL
Meanwhile, Ethan’s father, Richard Walsh, was waiting at the hospital.
He had personally prepared the operating room.
The country’s best surgeons were there.
But one person was missing.
The Ghost Surgeon.
Richard checked his watch.
“Where is she?”
Marcus Reed swallowed hard.
“We don’t know, sir.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“There was a problem with the flight.”
Richard slammed his hand on the table.
“I told you there couldn’t be any problems!”
Just then, a doctor came running in.
“Mr. Walsh…”
Richard stood up.
“What’s happening?”
“We just got a call from the plane.”
“Ethan?”
The doctor nodded.
“His condition has deteriorated. They’re attempting an emergency landing.”
Richard went pale.
“And the surgeon?”
Marcus looked down.
“She isn’t on the plane.”
Silence.
Richard stared at him.
“Why?”
Marcus hesitated.
“The airline forced her off the flight.”
“What?”
“The flight was overbooked.”
Richard felt the ground drop out from under him.
“Who authorized that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Find out!”
Marcus ran out.
But before he reached the door, his phone vibrated.
It was a message.
They had found the passenger’s number.
And a photograph, too.
The photo showed the woman being escorted out of the terminal.
Richard looked at it. Then he recognized the face.
“No…”
Marcus stood motionless.
“Do you know her?”
Richard closed his eyes.
“I don’t just know her.”
He took a breath.
“That woman is the doctor who saved my brother’s life seventeen years ago.”
Marcus went pale.
“The Ghost Surgeon?”
Richard nodded.
“And now we’ve just lost her.”
BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING ELSE
Richard thought the problem was getting me to come back.
Until Marcus showed him the airport security footage.
The open suitcase.
The vials on the floor.
The chief flight attendant crushing them.
Richard stared at the screen.
“What is that?”
“We don’t know.”
“Call all our specialists.”
Minutes later, one of them analyzed the footage.
His expression changed.
