Some rules exist to protect people. Some rules exist to protect institutions. And some rules are made to be broken. Dr. Isla Bennett doesn't ask for permission. As Oakridge Hospital's most brilliant—and most controversial—trauma surgeon, she trusts her instincts over protocols, her hands over flowcharts, and her judgment over every committee that's ever tried to contain her. She saves lives that other surgeons write off. The paperwork can wait. Marianne Cole was hired to stop her. Cool, precise, and professionally unbreakable, Oakridge's new Director of Risk and Compliance has spent her career building walls—around failing systems, around institutional liability, and around herself. She's been burned before. She knows better than to get close. And she knows exactly what kind of surgeon Isla Bennett is: a lawsuit waiting to happen. What she doesn't expect is to be right about everything except the part that matters most. As Marianne's audit closes in and the pressure from above mounts, what begins as a clash of philosophies becomes something neither woman is equipped to handle: the terrifying, inconvenient, career-threatening possibility of love. Between the trauma bay and the boardroom, between risk reports and stolen nights, Isla and Marianne must each confront what they're truly willing to fight for—and what it costs to finally stop running from it.