My dad has been waiting for a kidney for three years. Finally, we receive word that it's his turn to receive a kidney. But when I arrive at the hospital and am about to go through the procedures, I find out that someone else has snatched the slot away.

It turns out that my own uncle, Spencer Irwin, is the one who has replaced Dad in receiving the kidney.

With bloodshot eyes, I decide to confront Spencer, only to see him scroll through the reels on his phone leisurely while hanging out in his ward.

He tells me coolly, "Your dad is dying anyway, so having a kidney transplanted into him is basically a waste of said kidney. You might as well give it to me.

"Let's not ruin our relationship, eh? Take this 5,000 dollars and buy something nice for your dad."

I'm so furious that my body is practically shaking like a leaf. Then, I turn on my heel and storm away.

Spencer thinks that I've decided to reap my losses. Instead, I track down the doctor and sign some paperwork as the primary decision-maker. That's how I've changed the anesthesia plan from general anesthesia to local anesthesia.

This time, Spencer and his family are the ones going ballistic.

As for me, I just laugh heartily at them. "This is supposed to be my dad's surgery, to begin with. It's on you for replacing him in this surgery!"

The operating room doors had barely closed when my aunt, Ellen Hammond, rushed over with my cousin, Hazel Irwin.

Aunt Ellen grabbed my collar, spittle flying into my face. "Stefan Hammond, have you lost your mind? If anything happens to your uncle, I'll bring your whole family down!"

I pried her hand off and brushed the nonexistent dust from my collar. "Aunt Ellen, watch what you say. My dad is still lying in the room next door. He'd be heartbroken if he heard you cursing him like that."

Aunt Ellen's face flushed red instantly. "Cut the crap! Go tell the doctor to switch the anesthesia plan back right now!"

I held out my hands with an innocent look. "It's too late. The anesthesiologist is already in there. Besides, why should I change it? That kidney was supposed to be transplanted into my dad in the first place. How could you people steal what belongs to someone else and act like you're in the right?"

She got so furious that she raised her hand to hit me. "You!"

A nurse hurried over and stopped her. "This is a hospital. Please keep your voices down and don't make a scene!"

Aunt Ellen jabbed a finger at me and gritted her teeth. "Just you wait!"

She turned around and headed off to find hospital administrators, trying to pressure me. I ignored her completely and headed to the office of Dad's attending physician, Lachlan Harding.

Dr. Harding adjusted his glasses, looking uneasy. "Stefan, our hospital really did make a mistake here. When your uncle came in with your dad's identification documents, we ran our checks and everything seemed to clear, so we—"

I cut him off. "Dr. Harding, I'm not here to assign blame. I just wanted to confirm one thing. Legally speaking, does the final say over all of my dad's medical decisions rest with me?"

Dr. Harding paused for a moment, then nodded. "That's correct. You're listed as the primary responsible party. Any surgery or treatment plan requires your signed consent before it can take effect."

I felt reassured. "That's good."

When I walked out of the office, Aunt Ellen was heading toward me alongside someone who looked like a hospital administrator.

The administrator spoke to me in a stiff, scripted tone. "We understand how you feel, but the surgery has already started. For the safety of the patient—"

I scoffed. "Patient safety? You casually gave a critically ill patient's life-saving kidney to a complete stranger. Is that what you call caring about patient safety?"

The administrator's expression darkened.

Aunt Ellen jumped in to stir the pot. "Don't listen to his nonsense! We're the real family here! He's just jealous of us and trying to cause trouble!"

I didn't bother arguing with them and pulled out my phone to call the police. "Hello, is this the police? I'd like to report a crime. Someone at Central Hospital fraudulently used another person's identity to obtain a transplant organ. That would count as fraud, right?"

The moment the call connected, both Aunt Ellen and the administrator went pale.

The police arrived quickly. After asking a few brief questions about the situation, the officer brought all of us into an office.

Aunt Ellen insisted that Dad had willingly given the kidney to my uncle, Spencer Irwin. "My brother was so sick that he wasn't thinking clearly anymore. He told me himself that giving the kidney to him would've been a waste and that he'd rather it go to my husband."

I let out an exasperated laugh. "My dad has been in a coma for two days. How did he personally tell you anything? Did he come to you in a dream?"

The officer clearly didn't believe her nonsense either. He turned to me and asked, "Do you have any evidence proving that the kidney belongs to your dad?"

I immediately pulled up all the relevant documents on my phone, including the waiting list records, payment notices, and Dad's diagnosis reports.

I said, "Officer, this is three years' worth of waiting records. Every matching notification came with a text message. My dad suffered a lot while waiting for this kidney, so how can they just take it from him like this without any explanation?"

Once it was proven that the kidney had originally been allocated to Dad, Aunt Ellen started playing dirty. "My husband is already in the operating room anyway! What are you going to do about it? If you've got the guts, go in there and drag him out yourselves!"

The police officer was visibly irritated by her shameless attitude and sternly warned her to watch herself.

Just then, Hazel stormed into the room. She pointed straight at me and yelled. "Stefan, you ungrateful jerk! My dad has always treated you well! Are you going to let him die now for the sake of a dying old man?"

I stared at her and asked word by word, "My dad is dying. Are you really that happy about it?"

Hazel choked on her words for a moment, then lifted her chin stubbornly and shouted, "I'm only telling the truth! Your dad's illness has been a money pit, dragging you down for years. Now you finally get to be free. You should be thanking us!"

It was truly unbelievable that my own relatives could behave this way. Dad wasn't even dead yet, but they were already looking forward to my so-called freedom.

I stopped arguing with them and calmly said to the officer, "Officer, that's the whole story. This whole family worked together to steal my dad's life-saving kidney. I'm demanding this illegal surgery be stopped immediately."

Aunt Ellen jumped up. "Bullshit! On what grounds should the surgery be stopped?"

Even the officer looked troubled. "Well… The surgery has already begun. Stopping it halfway would be too risky."

That was exactly what I had been waiting to hear.

I looked at Aunt Ellen and broke into a wide smile. "That's right. The surgery can't be stopped. Not only shouldn't it stop, but it also needs to be carried out properly."

My response threw her off completely.

I slowly added, "After all, a kidney transplant under local anesthesia must be pretty painful. I hope Uncle Spencer can handle it."

Aunt Ellen's face turned deathly pale. It was only then that she understood what I had meant earlier. Her whole body started trembling. "You… You monster! What did you do to your uncle?"

She shrieked and tried to lunge at me, but two officers restrained her. The office erupted into chaos.

At that moment, my grandparents rushed in after hearing what had happened.

The moment Grandma walked through the door, she rushed to Aunt Ellen's side with loud cries. "My daughter! What on earth is going on here?"

Grandpa walked over to me and brought his cane down hard on my leg without a word. "You heartless brat! Are you really going to destroy your aunt's family over a dead man?"

I took the blow head-on. A sharp pain shot through my leg, but I stood perfectly straight without stepping back. "Grandpa, my dad isn't dead yet. He's your biological son."

Grandpa shook with anger. "What son of mine is he? He fell out with the whole family just for a wife. Look at him now. His wife passed away a long time ago, leaving him with nothing but a burden like you!

"Your uncle's family is rich and powerful, and our whole family benefited when your aunt married him! Now you want to take what's theirs? Not a chance!"

His words shattered the last bit of warmth I still had for them. It turned out that in their eyes, only those who benefited them were considered family. Dad and I had taken care of them for half our lives, yet none of that could match the prestige they gained through Uncle Spencer's family.

Grandma chimed in from the side, "Stefan, just listen to your grandpa. If anything happens to your uncle, what will your cousin do? Your dad already… doesn't have much time left anyway. Just think of it as doing a good deed and helping your uncle."

They went back and forth, every word cutting into me.

With my grandparents backing her up, Aunt Ellen grew bold again. "Did you hear that? Go and change the anesthesia plan back right now! Otherwise, I'll make sure you and your dad both die here today!"

I looked at this disgusting family and felt sick to my stomach.

I pulled out my phone and made a call right in front of them. "Hello, is this Mr. Randall? I've got a big story for you. It's about an organ transplant scandal at Central Hospital, involving a family who tried to sacrifice their critically ill relative to steal the kidney meant for him… Yes, I have all the evidence."

On the other end of the line was my friend, Toby Randall, who worked as an investigative reporter for a local newspaper.

After I hung up, the entire office went dead silent. My grandparents' curses and Aunt Ellen's threats were all cut short.

Toby worked fast. In less than 30 minutes, he arrived at the hospital with his equipment.

The moment Aunt Ellen and her family saw the camera, they panicked. Grandma tried to grab the camera, but the assistant Toby brought along stopped her right away.

"Everyone, we're from a legitimate news outlet. Please cooperate with the investigation," Toby said.

Aunt Ellen still tried to hold her ground. She pointed at me and yelled, "Don't listen to his nonsense! He's out of his mind! He's the one trying to hurt my husband!"

Toby held the microphone out to me and asked, "Mr. Hammond, can you walk us through what happened?"

I presented all the evidence, including Dad's medical records, the waitlist history, and a recording I had secretly made in the office just moments ago.

The recording fully exposed Aunt Ellen and her family's true colors.

"Your dad's illness is just a money pit!"

"He doesn't have much time left anyway, so he might as well let us have the kidney!"

"Are you really going to destroy your aunt's family over a dead man?"

Every sentence they had spoken echoed clearly through the hallway.

More and more patients and their family members gathered around to watch. They began pointing at Aunt Ellen and her family and whispering among themselves.

"Oh my god, is she even human? How could she steal her own brother's life-saving kidney?"

"She's a total monster! She lost all sense of shame just to save her husband!"

"That old man and that old woman are no better. They're just disgusting pieces of trash who turned on their own family for money!"

My grandparents had always cared about their reputation more than anything, and they had never experienced such public humiliation. Their faces turned bright red, and they looked like they wanted to disappear. Aunt Ellen still tried to defend herself, but the crowd drowned her out.

Just then, the operating room light went out. The doctor walked out, weariness etched across his face.

Aunt Ellen ran straight to him as if he were her savior. "Doctor! How is my husband? Was the surgery successful?"

The doctor glanced at her, then at me, and shook his head, his expression conflicted. "The surgery itself went fairly smoothly, but—"

He paused briefly before continuing in a grave tone. "The patient had a severe stress reaction during the procedure because he couldn't tolerate the anesthesia. His blood pressure and heart rate were extremely unstable throughout.

"The transplant was completed, but the strain caused significant damage to his body. He could experience a very severe rejection response in the future."

Aunt Ellen's legs gave out the moment she heard his words, and she nearly collapsed, yet I felt nothing.

I walked up to the doctor and produced another document in front of everyone. "Doctor, this is the informed consent form I just signed, waiving post-operative immunosuppressive treatment.

"As my dad's primary decision-maker, and considering our family's financial difficulties, I voluntarily declined all costly anti-rejection medications and treatment plans, opting for only the most basic conservative care."

The moment I finished speaking, the entire crowd erupted into an uproar. Everyone stared at me as if I had gone insane.

The doctor's face turned pale with shock. "Stefan! Do you know what this means? Without anti-rejection medication, the transplanted kidney could fail very quickly! You're going to get your uncle killed!"

Aunt Ellen finally realized what I had done. Her eyes were bloodshot as she lunged straight at me. "Stefan Hammond, I'm going to kill you!"