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!"