My sister was in a serious car accident, so I called my husband, Julian, a top cardiac surgeon.

He promised to perform the surgery himself.

Instead, he tasked a medical intern, Ava, with a high-risk, experimental procedure.

Meanwhile, he was off editing a research paper she was about to publish.

"Julian… The valve repair… I messed up. The patient's aorta ruptured."

"Her heart… it stopped," Ava sobbed, collapsing into Julian's arms.

Julian glanced at the flatline on the monitor.

He simply embraced her, his voice a low, steady murmur.

"Don't be afraid. I'll handle it."

Then, Julian strode out of the operating room and informed me, his voice devoid of emotion.

"The surgery failed. Go make the arrangements."

"How could it have failed? She was conscious when she came in!"

A tidal wave of grief and rage crashed over me, and I lunged for the operating room doors.

But Julian shoved me back.

"I said it failed. It's over. Her injuries were too severe."

He impatiently straightened his white coat.

"She was so badly hurt, there was never much hope. Chloe, stop making a scene."

With that, he walked away, his arm wrapped around Ava.

I stared as they walked away, clinging to each other.

Ava glanced back, giving me a triumphant, taunting smirk.

I couldn't help but smile.

Did he really think that was my sister on the operating table?

————————

1

"Chloe, I know this is hard to accept, but… my condolences."

My assistant, Maya, sighed softly, her eyes full of sympathy.

But I met her gaze calmly. "Why should I be grieving?"

Maya froze, clearly thinking I was delirious with grief. The pity in her eyes deepened.

"Chloe, if you think there's something suspicious about the surgery," Maya said hesitantly, "should I have the family's legal team file a suit against the hospital?"

"A lawsuit against the hospital can wait," I said. "But I do need the legal team. To draft a divorce agreement."

I lifted my head, my gaze settling on Julian and Ava in the hospital café.

For someone who had just taken a life, Ava showed not a single trace of guilt.

She was resting her head affectionately on my husband's shoulder.

Julian playfully pinched her nose.

They were parading their affection, clearly in high spirits.

I had to wonder: if Julian knew the person in the morgue wasn't my sister, but his own cherished little sister, could he still be smiling like that?

Just then, a hospital administrator hurried over with a document.

"Since the patient died during surgery, Mrs. Vance needs to sign the death certificate."

I refused, my voice like ice.

What did his sister have to do with me? I was about to be his ex-wife.

"Mrs. Vance, I understand how you feel, but you need to think this through. Dr. Vance is your husband!" the administrator reminded me with a frown. "Making a scene will be catastrophic for Dr. Vance's career."

I let out a cold laugh, noted the name on his chest tag, and gestured for my lawyer to handle all communication.

Seeing this, the administrator's face soured. "Fine," he snapped. "If you won't cooperate, I'll have to get Dr. Vance to come talk to you himself!"

When Julian first joined Westwood Medical Center, I'd used my family's foundation to donate millions in equipment to his department to help him get established. Everyone from the board down to the janitors knew how deeply I loved him.

That must be why this man felt so bold threatening me.

But any love I'd had for Julian was dead now.

Threatening me with *him*? The thought was laughable.

That evening, I was holding the divorce agreement my lawyer had drafted, about to send it to Julian, when I saw a new post on his intern Ava's private social media.

The photos showed a restaurant on Malibu beach, red wine, steak, flickering candles, and their two hands overlapping to make a heart.

One photo showed Julian from behind, hunched over a monitor in his office, falsifying an electronic medical record.

"Messed up big time in surgery today. If my mentor hadn't covered for me, I'd have lost my license for sure."

"I owe him big time. I guess the only way to repay him is to give him... me."

A string of kissing emojis followed.

I chuckled softly and hit 'like'.

Screenshot. Save.

Another piece of evidence in hand.

I casually emailed the divorce agreement to Julian.

"Take a look. If you have no objections, come home and sign it."

Less than a minute later, my phone rang. It was Julian.

"Chloe, what the hell is this?"

I took a breath, steeling myself to discuss the divorce.

"Don't you dare start anything! Whatever Ava posted has nothing to do with your sister's death!"

"Chloe, if you file a complaint with the medical board out of jealousy and ruin Ava's future and my reputation, we are done! We're getting a divorce!"

After his threat, he hung up.

I stood there, phone in hand, momentarily stunned.

Even though I was completely finished with him, a sharp pain still lanced through my chest.

I’d assumed he was calling about the divorce agreement.

I never dreamed he was just calling to defend his mistress—that he hadn't even opened the email.

"Julian, I suggest you figure out whose family was actually on that operating table before you start yelling at me."

I suppressed my fury and sent him a text.

A red exclamation mark appeared next to the message.

He blocked me?

An exasperated laugh escaped me. Fine. If he didn't care about his own sister, why should I?

I'd been at my studio with an important client when I got the news: his sister, Lily, had been in a car accident.

I dropped everything and rushed to the hospital.

But when I arrived, I found that not a single member of the Vance family was with Lily.

I called Julian immediately.

He impatiently brushed me off, saying he was in a "meeting" and telling me to find another doctor.

He only came over after I practically begged him.

When he finally arrived, his intern Ava was trailing behind him.

Lily had a cardiac injury and her condition was critical, requiring emergency surgery. Julian assured me he would operate personally.

I thought with his skills, she would be fine.

I never expected to hear the surgery had failed.

And even now, Julian still hadn't realized the person in that operating room was his own sister.

It was clear he hadn't performed the surgery at all.

What I couldn't figure out, however, was why the Vance family still seemed completely unaware. Lily's body had been at the hospital for a full day. Surely they would have been notified by now.

As I was mulling this over, the lock on the front door clicked.

Julian pushed the door open and strode in.

At his side was a stylishly dressed Ava.

"Julian," Ava giggled, "you disposed of your wife's sister's body without her permission. What if she finds out? Will she be mad?"

"So what if she is?" Julian said contemptuously, wrapping his arm around Ava's slender waist. "That woman was obsessed with me for three years. If it weren't for her family's connections helping me get ahead, do you think I would have married her?"

"But I took a huge risk for you today. How are you going to thank me?"

It suddenly dawned on me. No wonder the Vance family hadn't heard anything.

Julian was worried I would request an autopsy and sue, so he'd used his authority to have his own sister's body disposed of without permission!

As a doctor, didn't he know this was more than a violation? It was a crime.

"Tonight, I'm all yours. Do whatever you want with me," Ava cooed, pressing her blushing face against his chest.

The corners of Julian's mouth quirked up. He bent down, swept her into his arms, and started toward the bedroom.

But he only took one step before he saw me, leaning against the bedroom doorway, phone in hand, watching them with a half-smile.

"Chloe, what are you doing here?"

Julian was flabbergasted.

"This is my house. Where else would I be?"

I looked at them calmly.

"Don't mind me. Please, continue."

"Chloe, your sister is dead. Instead of grieving, you're just sitting at home? What kind of sister are you?"

Julian set Ava down, a shadow crossing his face.

I rolled my eyes at his shameless, hypocritical act. The nerve of him—bringing his intern to *my* home to fool around, then turning around and questioning *me*.

"Chloe, it's a good thing you're home," Julian said, his expression blank. "You wouldn't sign the document, and the hospital couldn't reach your family, so I signed the death certificate for you."

With that, Julian handed me a flimsy cardboard box.

"Here are your sister's ashes. Saves me a trip."

I had expected him to be careless with his own sister's remains.

But seeing the shoddy box, and the way some of the ashes spilled as he passed it to me, the anger in my heart finally erupted. I asked coldly:

"Julian, you're really devoted to your lover, aren't you? So eager to destroy the evidence?"

"Don't you dare slander me! What evidence did I destroy?" Julian's expression turned ugly. Humiliated and enraged, he slammed the box of ashes onto the coffee table. "It was your sister's bad luck to get in a car wreck. I'm a doctor, not God!"

I took a deep breath and bent down to pick up the box.

I saw the scant ashes inside.

"Have you no respect for the dead?" I demanded, my face pale with fury, my fists clenched at my sides.

Julian scoffed at my accusation. "The crematorium's a factory. You think they carefully sift through every body? Just take what you got as a memento."

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. How could a supposedly educated man say something so vile?

"Julian, Chloe, please stop fighting. This is all my fault."

Seeing us at an impasse, Ava suddenly started sobbing.

"I was the one who collected the ashes. If I'd known, I would have collected more, so even if some spilled, there would be more left."

"How could this be your fault?" Julian patted her head tenderly, then glanced at me with disdain. "As a sister, she abandons the body at the hospital, hoping to use it for blackmail. You were kind enough to bring the ashes to her, and not only is she ungrateful, she's trying to blame you. She's completely unreasonable."