Page 103 of Yours to Keep

SULLIVAN

Bree’s gaze slid from me to Liana, her expression tightening with wounded suspicion. “You told him?”

My sister lifted both hands in surrender. “I promise, I was being a good friend. I was just trying to keep you from making a mistake.” She shot me a look that said she’d have my balls if I screwed this up before she turned back to Bree and smiled. “Talk to my idiot brother, and hopefully, you won’t hate me after.”

“Liana—” she started.

“I have budgets to pretend to care about.” She was already backing away, sending Bree a pleading look and pressing her palms together. “Just give him a chance. I know you said nothing could change your mind, but you might just kick yourself if you only find out about this after. At least have all the relevant information and then make the decision, right?”

She turned and disappeared down the corridor, leaving Bree and me standing in a silence so thick, I could practically feel it pressing against my skin. For a moment, neither of us spoke. I just drank her in, seeing her properly for the first time in almost two weeks.

There was a tightness in her shoulders that made her look somehow fragile, like she’d shatter if anyone touched her. She was also clutching a folder to her chest like it was Captain America’s prized shield and there were shadows under her eyes that hadn’t been there weeks ago

Shadows I’d put there. My heart cracked, tried to knit itself back together, then fractured all over again.

“You were really going to quit,” I said, my voice rougher and a lot more uncertain than usual.

She didn’t look away from me. “I still am.”

Her words felt like a full body blow. I stared back at her, noticing how pale she was and the watery redness of her eyes. “I hurt you that badly.”

“Yes,” she said, not cruel, just honest.

I nodded, swallowing past the sharp burn of regret and remorse climbing up the back of my throat. “You’re right to be angry, and you’re right to be hurt. I deserve both.”

Her eyebrows pulled together slightly, like she hadn’t expected me to feel that way. Or perhaps she didn’t believe it. “Why did you stop me, Sullivan? This is hard enough as it is, so just spit out whatever it was Liana wanted you to say so I can get this over with.”

“I can’t stand that I made you feel like leaving a place you love was the only way to protect yourself, but I’ve already fixed the mistake I was about to make. That’s why I came here. To stop you.”

Cautious disbelief flickered across her expression, her eyebrows rising slightly but her jaw hardening. “What does that even mean?”

“It means that you were right. There was a better way to handle the cuts. A way where nobody loses their job and patient care doesn’t take a hit.”

Her grip tightened on the folder. “That sounds convenient. You just suddenly found another way, huh?”

“No, not suddenly. I should’ve figured it out before you had to scream it at me,” I admitted. “I just didn’t see it even though it was there right there in front of me.”

She studied my face, searching for cracks in the story. “What did you do, Sullivan?”

“I scrapped the termination list,” I said simply. Her breath caught, the sound barely audible, but I wasn’t done yet. “Emily keeps her job and so does everyone else.”

Emotion broke through her carefully controlled expression. Bree’s eyes widened before they started glistening with tears, but it still didn’t look like she quite believed me. “That still doesn’t explain how the math works.”

“It works because I took a pay cut.”

The words hung between us for a long beat before her eyebrows swept up in genuine surprise. “You did what?”

“I cut my own salary. Significantly.” I held her gaze. “It turns out you and everyone else were right about that too. It’s the most efficient way to balance the budget without gutting the staff.”

She stared at me, stunned into silence for several seconds. When she finally managed to speak, her voice was soft but sincere. “That’s great, Sullivan. I mean that. I’m glad you did it. There aren’t many CEOs who would.”

Relief rushed through me. “Well, someone I care about knocked some sense into me. So thank you for that.”

She nodded and exhaled slowly. Some of the stress eased out of her expression, softening a few of the lines on her face, but then she tilted her head, studying me with that sharp, perceptive focus that always made me feel like she could see straight through every defense I’d ever had.

“I’m proud of you and I know that the staff will be more appreciative than you can even begin to imagine, but that doesn’t magically solve every other problem. For example, what happens the next time you get a bright idea like that? Or like the paper gowns?”

The question didn’t carry accusation, sounding more like fear and experience than a true belief that I would deliberately fuck up.