Katie looked at me with an innocent yet greedy gaze. "Just listen to Luke. Give him a chance. It won't cost you anything!"

It wouldn't cost me anything?

I jerked my arm away from her. A surge of rage almost burst out of my chest.

I looked at the cold life signs on the heart-lung machine and at Devan's deteriorating body under the sterile cloth. It all felt absurd.

For Luke's investment and the villa she wanted, she was willing to gamble with the life of the nation's pillar and my future, built over years of hard work.

"Get out," I squeezed the word through my teeth and lowered my head again, preparing to continue the surgery.

There could be no more delays.

But then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something terrifying.

Katie actually reached out and yanked the oxygen mask off Devan's face!

With the breathing support cut off, Devan's already fragile body jolted, and the blood oxygen levels on the monitor plummeted.

The alarm blared, piercing and shrill.

"Katie Wilder!" My vision went red.

She raised her chin proudly, holding the mask in her hand. "Ashton, I'll count to three. If you don't hand the scalpel to Luke, Devan will die right here. Let's see how you explain this to the Williams family and the entire country, then."

Her crisp voice rang through the deathly silent operating room, pronouncing my death sentence.

"Don't you love your profession and patients the most? Now, I'm giving you a choice."

I stared at her, my blood freezing in my veins.

I had never known that the girlfriend who cared for me so sweetly and cheered for my successful surgeries could hide such a vicious side.

"One. Two," she started counting with a cruel smile on her face.

The numbers on the monitor were flashing wildly. The red alarm light reflected off her twisted expression.

I slammed the scalpel down onto the instrument tray. The sharp metallic clang echoed in the room.

"Fine. I'll go."

Katie and Luke both flashed smug smiles.

The moment I turned around, I pressed the emergency button on the wall, connecting straight to the hospital security center.

"There are intruders in the operating room, threatening the patient's life. Send help immediately. Set security to the highest level." I calmly issued the order.

Katie's smile froze. "Ashton, how dare you?"

Ignoring her, I quickly put the oxygen mask back on Devan and adjusted the ventilator settings. Slowly, his oxygen levels began to rise again.

In less than 30 seconds, the door to the operating room was pushed open again.

A group of security guards in black uniforms rushed in, led by none other than Katie's younger brother, Jason Wilder.

He had just become the security captain, and he got the job entirely by using my name.

I pointed at Katie and Luke, ordering, "Drag these two out, and call the police!"

Jason glanced at Katie, then at me. Suddenly, a disdainful smile spread across his face. "Dr. Howard, how did my sister and future brother-in-law become intruders? You should have evidence before you make such accusations."

"Evidence?" I laughed in disbelief. "They illegally entered a sterile operating room and interrupted an emergency procedure. Isn't that enough?"

"Did they really interrupt the procedure?" Jason crossed his arms and adopted a strictly business-like air. "All I see is you shouting, losing control, and nearly damaging expensive equipment."

He twisted the facts with ease.

I wasn't going to waste more words on him. I tried to bypass him, intending to push Luke out myself.

But the moment I moved, Jason and two other guards lunged from behind, pinning my arms and forcing me to the ground.

The cold floor pressed painfully against my cheek.

"I think you're the one trying to kill Mr. Williams Senior!" Jason's voice echoed above me, full of smug satisfaction. "Spill it. Did you take money from the Williams family's rivals and infiltrate our hospital to sabotage the surgery?"

Such absurd accusations.

I, Ashton Howard, the youngest chief of cardiovascular surgery in the country at 33 years old, had saved countless lives.

Today, in my own operating room, I was being framed as a murderer by a security captain, who had only gotten the job through connections.

"Let go of me! You're committing a crime!" I struggled, desperately trying to break free from their grip.

But just then, a polished leather shoe came down hard on the back of my right hand.

It was Luke.

He looked down at me with a cruel smile. Then, he slowly put more pressure on my hand.

I heard a sickening crunch.

The force crushed my finger bones.

The searing pain made my vision blur, and I knew that this hand, which I'd held a scalpel with for over a decade, was ruined.

"Ah!" I let out a muffled scream.

Meanwhile, Katie just stood by with her arms crossed, coldly watching everything unfold.

Suddenly, the monitor blared with an urgent, piercing alarm. The heart rate line on the screen trembled wildly before turning into a flat line.

That was a ventricular fibrillation! Devan was having a cardiac arrest!

The anesthesiologist and nurses screamed in panic, "Dr. Howard! The patient's in V-fib! We need to defibrillate immediately!"

I lay there on the cold floor, agony shooting through my right hand.

Through the gap in the crowd, I caught sight of the monitor. The cold, flat line pierced my heart like a blade.

I raised my head, my bloodshot eyes locking onto the three faces before me—Katie's triumphant grin, Luke's cruel smirk, and Jason's arrogant sneer.

"You murderers." My voice was hoarse, yet dripping with an icy rage. "None of you are getting away!"

The pain and fury made my blood burn with heat.

"Defibrillator! 200 joules! Get it ready!" I shouted at the stunned nurses with every ounce of energy in my body.

My hand was ruined, but my mind was still sharp. I was still the lead surgeon in this operating room.

Jason's foot pressed harder into my hand as he warned, "Stay down!"

"Get off me!" I roared, my voice echoing in the room. "If the patient dies, you're all murderers!"

Perhaps the word "murderers" struck a chord. Jason's foot lightened for a moment.

The nurses snapped out of their shock and scrambled to push forward the defibrillator.

"Charging! Stand clear!"

Propping myself up with my left hand, I forced my upper body off the floor and watched as the nurse pressed two electrode pads onto Devan's bare chest.

With a dull thud, Devan's body jolted upward before slamming back down onto the table.

The heart monitor still showed that flat line.

"300 joules!" I barked.

Sweat and tears blurred my vision.

My hand and career could be ruined in this very room. But right now, I couldn't think about that.

All I cared about was keeping the patient alive.

"Boom!"

Another shock.

On the heart monitor, a faint wave-like line finally flickered to life.

Sinus rhythm restored!

A collective sigh of relief swept through the operating room.

But I didn't let myself relax for a second. I immediately issued a string of commands. "Push 1 mg of adrenaline. Start a Lidocaine drip. Get the rib spreader ready. I'm going back on bypass."

My voice trembled from pain, but my instructions were clear and decisive.

Katie's and Luke's expressions darkened. They hadn't expected me to still be able to command the rescue in this state.

A flicker of panic flashed in Luke's eyes, which was quickly replaced by cold determination.

He crouched down in front of me and said in a voice low enough for only the two of us to hear, "Ashton, don't push it. Devan's already half-dead, so why not let him die with some value? Do Katie and I a favor."

"Luke's right."

Jason kicked me in the back. "Aren't you impressive? The youngest department head in the country? Now look at you, lying on the floor!"

How shameless and despicable!

As I stared at his twisted expression, I almost wanted to bite his throat out.

Katie walked over as well. Her voice was tinged with a hint of patronizing pity as she said, "Ashton, stop being stubborn. Your hand is done for. How can you operate now? Let Luke do it. It'll be better for everyone.

"Don't worry. Once this is over, he'll give you a sum of money that's enough to set you up for life."

She was still dreaming of soaring to new heights. She had no idea they were digging a grave for themselves.

"Keep an eye on them!" I yelled at the two security guards who were still frozen in place.

They exchanged uncertain glances, clearly intimidated by the situation. They didn't know whose orders to follow.

Jason immediately stepped in front of Katie and Luke and addressed the guards arrogantly, "What are you trying to do? Didn't you hear my brother-in-law say he wants to save the patient? I think Ashton's just stalling to make sure Mr. Williams Senior dies! Tie him up!"

He actually tried to have me bound!

My body shook with rage. The pain from my shattered fingers crashed over me again, threatening to knock me out.

In the midst of the chaos, Luke walked right past me and approached the operating table.

He picked up a scalpel and began gesturing with it theatrically. A look of uncontainable excitement was plastered across his face.

"See that? This is what real expertise looks like."

He turned to the terrified nurse and said, "Bring over my new product. Sterilize it."

The nurse looked like she was about to cry. She cast a desperate glance at me.

"Don't give it to him!" I screamed. "That's an unapproved medical device. If you put it in the patient, he'll die!"

"Shut up!" Jason rushed over, produced a roll of tape from somewhere, and roughly taped my mouth shut.

"Mmm!" I struggled fiercely, but two guards held me down, pinning me to the ground.

An overwhelming sense of despair washed over me.

I watched helplessly as the nurse shakily opened the silver metal box under Luke's pressure.

I saw Luke take out the so-called fully bioengineered heart valve and prepare to insert it into Devan's chest cavity.

No!

It wasn't a valve at all. It was a rough, jagged piece of metal! Inserting it would instantly puncture the heart and aorta! Devan would die right there on the operating table!

Time seemed to slow to a crawl.

I saw the greedy smile on Luke's face, the shimmering hope for the future in Katie's eyes, and Jason's cocky grin.

And I saw my battered and mangled right hand, deformed into an unnatural shape.

A chilling thought blossomed in my mind.

If they were going to destroy me, then I'd drag them to hell together.

I stopped struggling, letting my body relax completely.

The guards holding me thought I'd given up, so their grip loosened just slightly.

That was the moment I was waiting for.