First, do not harm

First, do not harm.

---

The attack on Dr. Ira Rai should have killed her.

It didn't. Instead, it left her with an extremely unpleasant recovery and a mind she's not sure she can trust anymore.

Stabbed repeatedly inside the very hospital she worked for- one of the most reputable in the entire north of India- and left with partial retrograde amnesia, Ira wakes in halls she once knew like the back of her hand. This time, though, she's on the other side of the white apron.

Twenty-three times. The blade entered her body twenty-three times, yet almost every vital spot was missed. No one knows whether the assailant was careless... or deliberately theatrical. Every explanation just raises more questions.

Was it an angry ex? A colleague? A student? Someone from her past?

As investigators dig, Ira learns just how many people were watching her more closely than she ever realized- including a junior resident from Neurology, a man she shares a history with she'd rather not recall. His intense, silent attention predates the stabbing by years.

He watches her. He notices her.

And as days pass, his devotion feels less like concern, less like romantic attraction, and more like a fixation- like a quiet, certain promise of we'll be together in the afterlife.

As fear mounts, trust erodes, and every personal relationship is put to the test, Ira begins to wonder if the real danger isn't the person who attacked her- but the ones still standing at her bedside.