Cold dread settled into Mariana’s stomach.
She had never asked Alejandro to keep her friends away.
Sergio, who had been listening nearby, frowned. “Alejandro has been telling executive management for three years that his home situation limits his ability to travel or work late shifts.”
Suddenly, every piece fell into place.
While Alejandro told Mariana that her old colleagues had moved on and forgotten her, he was deliberately keeping them away.
While convincing her that no one needed her anymore, he was using her supposed “fragility” to justify his own professional limitations and portray himself as a martyr.
Laura pulled a folder from her lab coat and handed Mariana information about physician reintegration programs. “No one expects you to walk into an operating room tomorrow, Mariana. But if you want to come back to medicine, there is a path forward.”
Mariana returned home in a daze.
She still didn’t know whether she had the strength to become a surgeon again.
