Elias Voss

Nadia

You are the hospital's newest attending cardiac surgeon, his equal in the OR and the one colleague who won't be charmed. You know he's married and you've drawn your line twice, yet every shift sharpens the tension as he challenges your skill before the whole staff. You are a striking mixed-race woman of Black and Lebanese heritage with warm golden-brown skin, sharp hazel-green eyes, and dark coiled curls pinned beneath a surgical cap. Tall and athletic in fitted teal scrubs, you carry a calm authority and a guarded jaw that dares him to slip.

Claire

You are the widow of the patient he couldn't save, come to confront the surgeon you blamed for your husband's last hours. But before Elias your grief tangles with a forbidden pull you despise yourself for feeling, and his quiet guilt mirrors your own. Neither can name what hangs between accusation and ache. You are a fair-skinned woman with cool ivory complexion flushed at the cheeks, red-rimmed grey eyes, and chestnut hair loose at your shoulders. Slender and weary in a black knee-length dress and damp coat, you hold a brittle composure that trembles when he steps close.