The security guards did not hesitate. They stepped forward and reached out to throw me out.

I shook them off and said coldly, “Don’t touch me. I’m the hospital’s specially appointed chief neurosurgeon, Brandon Messner.”

I had changed my name while studying abroad. Brandon Messner was my current name.

Karl cackled and said, “Dr. Messner is one of the top neurosurgeons in the world. His surgeries have never failed. People would pay a fortune just to get on his schedule. The only thing you have in common with him is your last name. You’re just a janitor pretending to be him. That’s honestly pathetic. But since we went to the same school, maybe one day, Elaine and I can hire you as a nanny for our kid.”

I shot back. “That depends on whether you can even have children. And what exactly do you do for a living other than living off a rich woman?”

That hit its mark. Karl’s expression twisted.

He had tried more than once to get Elaine pregnant, but every time, it had failed.

The truth was, Elaine had no intention of having a child at the moment, no matter how he tried to persuade her.

Karl spat on the floor. He continued to insult me. “Get on your knees and lick it clean.”

Elaine frowned slightly and cut in, “Karl, forget it. We have things to do. Don’t waste time on him.”

A dark look passed through Karl’s eyes. He was deeply displeased with Elaine for defending me.

I gave him a look of disdain. I could not be bothered to keep arguing with them. I stood up and started walking toward the door.

However, Karl lunged from behind and slammed me to the ground. He hissed, “Michael, you’re just a janitor. Don’t act like you’re above me. Why are you even hanging around here? Were you hoping to win Elaine back? Let me make this clear, that’s never going to happen. She already knows exactly what kind of person you are. If I see you anywhere near her again, I’ll slash that pretty boy face of yours open.”

I shoved him off me with all my strength and snapped, “Get off me. What’s wrong with you? I’ve been married for years. I love my wife. I have zero interest in anyone else.”

Elaine’s expression turned dark. She stared at me in disbelief and asked, “Michael, what did you just say? You’re married?”

I replied flatly, “Yes. So relax. Stay together, grow old together, do whatever you want.”

Elaine shook her head and repeated, “You married another woman? No, that’s impossible. I can’t believe you’d ever get over me.”

I was baffled by her reaction. “Why would that be so hard to believe? We broke up years ago.”

Elaine did not believe me. Her gaze suddenly stopped on my chest.

I followed her line of sight. In the scuffle just now, the chain around my neck had slipped into view.

Elaine wore a knowing expression. She smiled and said, “Michael, you’re still keeping up the act. I knew you couldn’t forget me. Why else would you still be wearing the matching couple’s necklace I gave you? If you apologize to me right now and beg for my forgiveness, I might just give you another chance.”

Her necklace?

Back then, she had pretended to be poor and sick. The necklace she gave me had been some cheap two-for-nine-ninety-nine shipping-included piece from an online store. It had rusted and fallen apart and disappeared years ago.

This necklace was a gift from my wife on our wedding day. It was a token of our love. A master craftsman had custom-made it by private order. I wore it every day without ever taking it off.

I stared at her, completely exasperated. “Take a good look at the diamond. Does that look like something you could’ve afforded? My wife gave this to me. It has nothing to do with you.”

The diamonds set into the pendant were exquisite and luxurious. Anyone could see they were worth a fortune.

Karl, however, reached out and ripped the necklace right off my neck. His eyes were malicious as he said, “Michael, how could someone like you ever afford such expensive jewelry? The people who come to this hospital are wealthy. You must’ve stolen this from one of them. If you’re so broke that you can’t even afford a meal, you could’ve just told me. I’d be happy to pack up the leftovers from my house every day.”

I snorted. “Keep your leftovers for yourself. As I recall, you’re not a picky eater. You’d eat anything.”

Karl knew that I was implying the way he had once clung to rich older women for money. His face flushed with rage and humiliation.

He turned and barked at the security guards who had hurried over. “Are you deaf? Why have you not thrown him out yet? Do I need to file a complaint against all of you?”

The guards did not give me a chance to explain myself. They grabbed my arms and began dragging me out by force.

Their grip hurt my arms. Worrying it might affect my ability to perform surgery tomorrow, I wrenched myself free.

“I’ll walk out on my own. Don’t touch me!”

Karl opened his mouth to hurl more insults at me.

Then, a nurse suddenly rushed over and handed them the results of their head scans.

Elaine and Karl stared at the diagnosis printed on the papers. It was malignant gliomas in both of their brains. They cried out in disbelief, “How could it be this serious? And malignant?”

The nurse offered them a kind reminder before hurrying off without stopping. She did not notice me standing behind them.

“Only our nation’s top neurosurgeon, Dr. Brandon Messner, has a perfect success rate with glioma operations. You’re in luck. He’s currently working at this hospital. Your conditions are very serious. If you want to live, you need to contact Dr. Messner as soon as possible and schedule your surgeries.”

Elaine knew exactly how much weight Brandon Messner’s name carried. A few years ago, an elder in her family had suffered from the same disease.

However, they had not been able to get on Brandon’s surgical schedule at all. They had been forced to find another surgeon. The operation had failed, and the elder had died.

It was a hereditary condition in her family. There was a thirty percent chance of developing it. She had never imagined being part of that thirty percent.

On the other hand, Karl could not understand why he had fallen ill with the same disease at such a young age.

Panic gripped them. Their minds raced, desperately trying to think of any way to convince Brandon to operate on them.

They did not know that the man who could save their lives was standing right in front of them.

I was a doctor, but I was not the kind who would help anyone without reason. I turned and walked away.

Seeing that I was about to leave, a cunning gleam flashed in Karl’s eyes. He quickly stepped forward and blocked my path.

“Michael, you’re not getting away that easily. Your little act of pretending to be Dr. Brandon Messner is not over yet. If Dr. Messner ever finds out about this, he won’t let you off lightly.”

Elaine exchanged a glance with him. She understood what he was trying to do instantly.

They had a golden opportunity.

Brandon Messner was in this hospital. If they caught the fraud who was impersonating him, they would have a legitimate reason to meet the real doctor. They could use that meeting to ingratiate themselves with him.

With their lives hanging in the balance, they turned toward me with looks that were far from friendly.

Karl shouted for security to pin me down as I tried to leave. Then, he stepped hard on my fingers.

Pain shot through my hand as he ground his foot down on purpose.

I had several critical surgeries scheduled for the next day. I could not afford any injury to my hands.

I snapped. “Get your foot off my hand! I really am Brandon Messner! If you ruin my hands, you can kiss your own lives goodbye!”

He was already in a foul mood because of the diagnosis. Hearing that only made him press down harder.

He smirked viciously.

“Michael, you really don’t know when to stop. Look at yourself. You used to pretend to be devoted and had Elaine completely fooled, but the moment you were tested, your true colors showed. Right now, you dare to impersonate Dr. Messner? We’re just doing him a favor by teaching you a lesson. When we meet him, he will thank us. As for you, you can look forward to prison.”

Karl would not listen to a single word I said. His fists and kicks came down on me without restraint.

I was being beaten for no reason. Rage flooded through me, but I could not break free from the guards holding me down.

Still not satisfied, he grabbed a chair from the side and raised it, about to bring it crashing down on me.

Just then, Elaine frowned and stopped him.

“Karl, that’s enough. There’s no need to go this far. If you injure him, he won’t even be able to afford treatment. Let’s just take Michael to Dr. Messner’s office. The point is to get Dr. Messner to appreciate what we have done and move us up for surgery.”

Karl noticed Elaine defending me. Jealousy flared in his eyes. He deliberately adopted a sarcastic tone.

“Right. Or maybe you should give him some money for medical bills, Elaine. Back then, he left because he couldn’t handle the hardship of your illness, right? He ended up running off with some rich woman overseas. Now that he has been dumped, he came crawling back to work as a janitor. If you want to be generous and help him for the sake of your shared history, that would be very generous of you.”

Elaine’s expression darkened. She clearly caught the sarcasm in his words.

Even I did not expect such a ridiculous story to have been made up about me after I left school.

I had reached my limit. Right there in front of everyone, I decided to expose Karl.

“Karl, do you think nobody knows how you strung Elaine along all those years while living off other women’s money? I have to hand it to you, though. You certainly have a way with women. You’ve had her completely fooled all these years.”

A flicker of guilt crossed Karl’s face, but he quickly denied it.

“Shut your mouth! I’ve only ever liked Elaine. She’s always known of my feelings. Don’t try to drive a wedge between us. Your fake, lying nature was exposed to everyone back in school.”

Elaine immediately defended him.

“Michael, I won’t let you talk about Karl like that. He’s not like you. He really loves me. When I pretended to be seriously ill, he was willing to donate a kidney for me. I trust him.”

I snorted. “Ha. Elaine, I honestly don’t know whether to call you naive or just a fool. Karl knew exactly who you were and what family you came from long before he ever set his sights on you. That’s the only reason he seduced you in the first place. Why don’t you take a look at every other woman he has ever dated? Not one of them is anything less than beautiful, young, and dripping with old money. Do you really believe there’s something so special about you that made him break his usual pattern? You are beyond hope.”

As my words sank in, the pain in Elaine’s head flared up again.

She closed her eyes and endured the pain for a moment. When she opened them again, suspicion had already taken root. She looked at Karl with an unreadable expression.

“Is what Michael said true? Did you already know who I was from the very beginning?”

Karl’s expression shifted rapidly, and in an instant, he looked deeply hurt.

“Elaine, Michael is lying. After all these years, do you still not trust my character? The moment I saw you, it was love at first sight. I love you more than my own life. I would give everything for you.”

Elaine wavered, but the suspicion did not disappear. She looked down on her phone and sent a message to her assistant to ask them to look into Karl’s past in college.

Seeing what she was doing, rage overtook him. He charged forward and brought the chair down with brutal force onto my head and my hands.

Splinters of wood drove deep into my palms.

Karl gazed at my suffering with satisfaction.

“You like pretending to be a doctor, don’t you? Let’s see how you keep up that act without hands. Trash belongs in the trash bin. I’m going to teach you a lesson you’ll never forget!”

My fingers were twisted and deformed from the impact. The bones were completely shattered. It would be a very long time before I could ever perform surgery again.

I stared at my hands in desperation. My voice came out as a raw, frantic shout to everyone passing by.

“Someone please go get a doctor to treat my hands before it’s too late! Mr. Black’s surgery is tomorrow, and it’s extremely dangerous. I’m the only one who can do it! Someone, anyone, please get an emergency doctor for me!”

My face was drenched in blood. My features were no longer recognizable. Everyone who walked past me flinched back in fear. Not a person went to get help.

Elaine looked at my battered, pitiful state and sighed.

“Michael, why are you still lying? What is real will remain real, and what is fake will always be fake. Whether you admit it or not, we are taking you to Dr. Messner. Let him expose you himself.”

Karl grabbed me and dragged me toward the offices. He was clearly enjoying my misery as he said, “Michael, when we see Dr. Messner, you can start preparing for prison. I will even hire you the best lawyer, make sure you stay there for a long time.”

My office door was locked. There was no one inside.

Elaine and Karl waited outside, a mixture of excitement and anxiety on their faces.

Karl tried to reassure her. “Elaine, don’t worry. Dr. Messner is a brilliant surgeon. He has successfully performed more than a dozen glioma removal surgeries in the past. A man of his reputation will surely despise anyone who dares to impersonate him. We helped him catch a fraud. He will be grateful to us.”

Though still uneasy, Elaine nodded.

“Thank you, Karl. We’ll go through the surgeries together. We’ll both be fine.”

Suddenly, a shocked voice came from the hallway. “Brandon!”

They both assumed Dr. Messner had arrived and looked over eagerly.

Instead, they saw Charlie Cooper, the hospital director, rushing over in panic and stopping at my side. When he saw the extent of my injuries, he drew in a sharp, horrified breath.

His voice trembled as he asked, “Brandon, who did this to you?”