Page 93 of Yours to Keep

“You look like hell,” she said, but not unkindly.

“Thanks.”

She guided me toward the couch with a hand on my shoulder, the same way she used to steer me away from fights when we’d been kids, firm and impossible to ignore. I dropped onto the cushions with my elbows braced on my knees, my hands dangling uselessly between them now that I wasn’t holding a glass anymore.

When I moved to go get it, she shook her head and sat down beside me, angled slightly so she could see my face. “I think you’ve probably had enough for now.”

“Funny. I distinctly remember handing you an entire bottle of champagne when it was you.”

“Fair enough.” She got up, poured herself a glass, and refilled mine, then came back and handed it over. “Alright. Tell me what happened.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “You already know.”

“I know there were layoffs being discussed. I don’t know why you look like someone kicked your dog, stole your car, and lit your house on fire, but I’m assuming Bree found out what you were planning?”

I hesitated, the instinct to deflect rising automatically after years of compartmentalizing, but tonight, those walls inside didn’t hold. “She found the list.”

Liana’s eyebrows lifted slightly, but she stayed quiet, letting me keep going.

“I left my notes open in the conference room. She saw one of the nurses being cut and it’s someone she knows. Someone who apparently helped save her dad’s life years ago.” I swallowed hard, my teeth grinding as I tried to bury the urge to hurl the glass across the room next. “She lost it completely. Told me we were done.”

Liana leaned back slowly, absorbing what I’d said before she finally cocked her head at me. “And you?”

“What about me?”

“Did you explain anything or did you go full corporate robot and start quoting cost-benefit analyses?” I shot her a look, but she didn’t flinch, just staring back at me expectantly. Patiently. “What did you do, Sullivan?”

“I tried to talk to her, but she wouldn’t listen,” I muttered. “She stormed out. Then she blocked me.”

Silence settled between us for a few seconds. Liana took a long sip of her drink and swallowed before she looked at me again. “I’m going to say something you’re not going to like.”

“Shocking.”

“You can’t have it both ways, Sullivan.”

I stared at the floor, my eyes narrowing to slits, but she wasn’t deterred.

“You’ve spent your entire adult life prioritizing efficiency, profit margins, and growth projections,” she said gently. “You’ve been very successful at it and I’m proud of you for that, but you don’t get to suddenly be surprised when those same instincts bulldoze your personal life.”

I bristled. “I’m not bulldozing anything. I’m running a hospital. People’s lives depend on⁠—”

“People’s lives depend on the staff who work there,” she cut in calmly. “Including the woman you’re apparently in love with.”

Hearing her say it out loud was like feeling a red-hot poker being shoved through my heart, but I didn’t correct her. Liana nodded once, like my silence confirmed what she’d already suspected.

“You care about her,” she said. “That’s obvious, but caring about someone means you don’t get to keep them in a box that’s separate from your decisions. That’s not how relationships work.”

I leaned back against the couch and scoffed. “So what, I’m supposed to stop making necessary changes because it might hurt her feelings?”

“No,” she said evenly. “You’re supposed to decide what kind of man you want to be.”

I groaned. “Not this again.”

“Exactly this, because it’s still true,” she said. “Either you care about making money or you care about the girl. I’m not saying you can’t do both. I’m saying you don’t get to pretend they won’t collide and that when they do, you have to choose how you handle it.”

I exhaled slowly, frustration and exhaustion tangling together. “You’re acting like there’s an easy answer.”

“There isn’t,” she agreed immediately. “But there are options you haven’t explored because you hate anything that slows your timeline.”