Suspicion (1)
"Dr. Williams, are you alright?"
Kara looked up at the source of the voice. She barely registered the face of a nurse and nodded.
Wilson walked up to her and offered her a glass of water. "If you feel uneasy, you can stay out of the surgery."
She shook her head. "I'll do it."
The nurse chewed her lip to stop herself from saying something that might land her in trouble.
Kara stood from the bench where she had slumped after taking a single look at Carlos. The man was in a worse condition than she expected and it was not an exaggeration to say she was partially responsible for what had happened to him. He was shot while waiting for her. The bullet was probably intended for her. She had more enemies than she could count while he had none. It was not difficult to join the dots.
She grabbed the jacket she had taken off and disappeared into her changing room, coming out ten minutes later.
"Are you ready?" Asked Wilson.
"I was born ready." She took a deep breath and pushed the door open.
___
It was evening by the time the surgery ended and it had taken a toll on her. Her stomach churned and her eyes stung when she finally left the OR.
Carlos was wheeled to the intensive care unit and for a while, she didn't want to glance at him. However, that was not how Leo interpreted her expression when they bumped into each other in the hallway.
"Kara, are you alright?" He asked worriedly, gripping her shoulders. She knew what he really wanted to ask. Did something happen to Carlos?
"The surgery was a success." She answered the question she knew he badly needed the answer to. He was visibly relieved. He relaxed his hold on her shoulders.
"Sorry." He cleared his throat. "What about you? How are you doing?"
"Where is Shera?" She wanted to leave as soon as she could. She was not close enough to him for small talk.
He blocked her path before she could leave. "You know who did this to Carlos, don't you?"
If this was another man before her, she would have slapped the heck out of him. He was lucky to be her god children's father.
She crossed her arms. "I'll talk about this matter with Shera and no one else."
"I need to know." He insisted, to which she rolled her eyes.
"If you cannot persuade your wife to open her mouth, don't blame me for your incompetence." She walked out on him, knowing clearly what was going through his mind. He suspected that she had something to do with the attack.
He was insane. If she wanted Carlos dead, he would be six feet underground instead of in the ICU battling for his life. Besides, she didn't get off on shooting people and then saving their lives.
Shera was waiting for her in her office along with her kids.
"Kara, will Carlos be alright?" Laia ran to her and asked with tears in her eyes.
She hesitated. The surgery was a success but that didn't guarantee that he would make it out of intensive care alive. She couldn't make such a serious promise to a child.
Luckily, Ashton always knew how to distract his sister.
"Laia, do you want cookies? I heard grandma say she will bake some tonight."
"I want strawberry cookies!" The girl ambled over to her brother, her worry for her godfather and best friend temporarily forgotten.
Alas, it wasn't long before she remembered why they were in the hospital.
She ran her small fingers along Kara's stethoscope with a sad face. "Kara, can I be a doctor too?"
"Of course, sweetie." Kara opened her drawer and took out the hospital toy set she had bought days ago and was intending to give to Laia on her birthday in a few days. Deciding to buy another present later, she opened the set for Laia to see.
"See? You can be a doctor too. Do you want to check up on me?"
Laia was excited to receive her gift. "I want to treat Carlos."
Shera couldn't watch anymore. "Ashton, can you take your sister for a walk? Buy her some snacks but don't go too far." She instructed.
Ashton nodded and took her small hand. "Come on. Let's go buy some candy."
Laia protested before finally agreeing to leave when she was promised to be able to see Carlos later.
When it was just the two of them left, Shera locked the door and shot an inquisitive look at her.
"Lana Aubert." Kara threw a name over without thinking through it.
Shera thought about it and frowned. "Are you sure? They hate each other more than enemies do but they are still siblings. Would she go to that extent?"
Kara wasn't certain either, but some things weren't making sense.
"Mark works for the Aubert family. He got close to my mother with the aim of harming the people I care about. Since the devil had someone watch over my mother, he switched targets."
"Wait. Santino?" Shera was shocked.
"Yes." She didn't explain how it happened. "I'm sure Mark works for Lana. She was the only Aubert who didn't attend the banquet and who, consequently, needed someone to fill her in on what went down."
"Your theory is distorted." Shera's hands trembled in her attempt to remain calm.
"You went to Santino for help?! That man tried to kill us!" She finally couldn't stop herself anymore.
"I know. I know." Kara was helpless. "But he also promised that his syndicate would never attack us."
"Does it change a thing? I lost my baby because of him! And now you want to fraternize with him?"
"Shera," Kara bit her lip. "All I wanted was his protection. I will never want to make peace with him after what he did either."
"You know what? I don't want to talk about him anymore. I'm going to investigate this." Shera grabbed her bag and stood up.
"Shera, wait! I'll help."
"No need. It will be enough if you don't get the devil involved in this."