The night my sister died during a failed emergency procedure, a gang of thugs stopped the car that was taking me to the funeral home.

They desecrated her body right in front of me, then beat me until every bone in my body felt shattered and the tendons in my hands were severed.

The next day, the news that my hands were ruined and I would never be able to operate again made the headlines.

Because of that, my fiancée of eight years, Sandra Walker, broke off our engagement. The very next day, she left for an overseas medical conference with the man she had always loved.

When I was on the verge of collapse, Sandra's aunt, Magnolia Walker, set off fireworks for me and announced our wedding to the entire city. "Kayden Foster, I've loved you for so long. Now, I can finally stand by your side. In this life, you're the only man I want to marry!"

In that endless despair, I clung to her as my only lifeline.

On our wedding day, after I came back from paying my respects to my sister, I accidentally overheard Magnolia talking to her assistant, Robin Myers.

"Dr. Walker, for your niece Sandy to be able to marry Quinton Kerr, I arranged for an intern to operate on Kayden's sister, hired people to cripple him, and had his sister's body violated. The police are still investigating, and I'm starting to get a little nervous. Isn't this too cruel?"

After a brief silence, Magnolia spoke in a tired voice.

"What choice did I have? Kayden was too proud. If I hadn't removed the sister he depended on and ruined both his hands, how could I make him fall apart? How else could I have made him break things off with Sandy without anyone suspecting a thing?

"Quin and I were never meant to be in this life. As long as he's happy, that's enough..."

Robin hesitated, then said, "Then let Dr. Foster continue treating his hands, at least. Ever since he learned there is still hope that his hands might recover, he has seemed much better. It's hard seeing him so beaten down..."

"No." Magnolia hurled the file in her hand at him. Her voice was low, but the anger in it was unmistakable. "This is your fault. You were the one who gave him that ridiculous hope! I told you to keep the information about that rehab treatment sealed, so how did he find out anyway?!"

Robin stood there without moving. "You're tormenting your own husband for a man you'll never be with. Are you really sure you won't regret this? Besides, Dr. Foster is one of the hospital's best doctors! His reputation is one of the things keeping this hospital afloat.

"You killed his older sister and ruined him, and that still was not enough? Now, you're even willing to destroy the hospital's reputation for Quinton?"

A flash of pain crossed Magnolia's expression before she sank back into the leather chair. "I promised Quin I would make him the best doctor in the hospital. He'll never feel secure unless Kayden is completely destroyed."

Robin pressed his lips and simply put the file back onto the desk. Before he left, Magnolia stopped him. "What about the drug I told you to buy? The one that permanently damages the nerves? Give it to Kayden as soon as possible. That way, he won't have to live on false hope much longer…"

Robin's face flushed red in anger as he slammed a bottle of medicine onto the desk.

A second later, the door slammed shut hard enough to shake the room.

I hid in the corner with my face buried in my arms. I bit my lip until it split just to keep from making a sound. My face was already wet with tears.

With trembling fingers, I tapped on my phone and stared as the photo of my sister and I lit up on the screen. I couldn't believe the woman whom I thought was my only hope was actually the one who had murdered my sister and ruined my life.

And she had done it all for Quinton.

Now, she was about to destroy whatever future I had left for Quinton, too!

It was still October, and you could still feel the last bit of summer heat. However, I couldn't stop the chill from running down my spine.

So, this was the woman who was supposed to spend her life with me? A wolf in sheep's clothing?

My phone suddenly buzzed. Magnolia had sent me a voice message. "Kayden, why aren't you back yet? Did visiting your sister bring all those painful memories back again?"

Her voice was as gentle as ever. I wiped my face and swallowed the emotions surging inside me before I replied, "I stayed a little longer to talk to her. I'll be back soon."

Meanwhile, Magnolia was pacing inside the room restlessly.

Just as I raised my hand, the door opened.

Magnolia froze for a second, then threw herself into my arms. She wrapped both her arms tightly around me, buried her face against my shoulder, and spoke in a soft voice, "Don't be sad. You have me now. I'll never let you go through that kind of pain again."

Then, she handed me a bottle as she said, "Robin just bought this medicine for you that's meant to repair your nerves. Take it. Your hands will heal faster that way."

My eyes moved from the bottle to Magnolia's soft, worried eyes. "Maggy, will my hands really get better?"

She stroked my cheek and kissed my forehead. "Trust me. They will."

She hid it well. So well that there was not the slightest crack in her expression.

I felt sick to my stomach. Hatred and fear made my whole body tremble.

If I had not heard that conversation with my own ears, I might have stayed in the dark forever and let her fool me for the rest of my life. I closed my eyes in fatigue and tried to walk past her back to the bedroom.

Magnolia froze for a moment before catching my arm, and her tone left no room for refusal. "Behave now. Take the medicine first."

I looked at her, twisted open the bottle, and poured everything into my mouth. She quickly wiped away the medicine that I had coughed up and spilled all over myself.

"Easy. Let me help you change…"

"No!"

I cut her off and almost ran back into the room, locking the door behind me. Her worried voice came from outside, but it quickly faded. As soon as she left, I ran to the trash bin and made myself throw up by putting my fingers deep into my throat.

After throwing up all the medicine, I collapsed onto the floor.

Clutching my twitching left hand, I could not hold back the pain any longer as I let out a low growl.

After a while, I finally managed to grab my phone. I called a number I had not dialed in a very long time. "Professor, that new drug trial you mentioned... Can I still join if I say yes to it now?"

An excited voice came through the phone. "Of course! You're the student I've always been most proud of. Your hands could benefit a lot from this trial, too. The deadline is in three days, but it's a confidential project. Once you leave, you'll be gone for years. You should talk it over with Dr. Walker first..."

"It's fine. Come get me in three days," I said, cutting him off.

My professor fell silent for a while before letting out a quiet sigh. "Alright."

I hung up the call. All my strength left me, and the phone slipped from my hand and onto the floor.

Three days were enough.

I would make every person who ruined my life and my sister's life pay the price they deserved!

The drug still had some effect on me, and the pain was so severe that it knocked me out.

Half-conscious, I dreamed of my sister's horrible death again.

She was smiling as she told me I had gotten too thin from working too hard that morning. She said that once the operation was over, she would cook for me herself.

I had only gone away on a work trip, but by the time I had rushed back to the hospital, the intern was already operating on my sister. After removing her liver and lungs, she had mistaken a blood vessel for cancerous tissue and cut straight through it.

Blood had sprayed across the entire operating room, and my sister had died on the spot.

I had sprinted over like a madman, trying to stop the bleeding, only to watch in despair as the warmth left her body.

I finally jolted awake, drenched in sweat.

Magnolia's voice came from nearby. "No surgery."

"But if he doesn't have surgery, the effects will keep causing him pain. He won't just break down mentally. His hands might not even be able to hold anything after this..."

"That's exactly what I want. I want him to be unable to do anything!" The doctor had no choice but to fall silent and leave.

A little later, hushed voices came from outside again. "Dr. Walker, he's already in terrible shape. Are you still going to have the hackers spread the video of his sister online and have reporters accuse him of malpractice?"

Magnolia was quiet for a moment before answering in a calm voice. "Do it. This field values reputation more than anything. There's no place here for a doctor with no ethics."

Tears blurred my vision, and I could taste the bitterness in my mouth. It wasn't long before I rolled over and threw up all over the floor.

I reached for the cup beside me, but my hand would not obey. The cup slipped from my hand and shattered, and a deep cut split open across my palm.

Magnolia quickly rushed into the ward when she heard the noise.

The moment she saw the blood covering my hand, her face became pale as she ran over to stop the bleeding. She then hit the call button and shouted in anger, "Where is the doctor?! The patient is injured again! Is this how you take care of a patient?!"

After my hand was bandaged, I lowered my head and looked at my distorted hands. Tears rolled down my cheeks.

Magnolia carefully took my hand and said, "Does it hurt? This is all my fault. Your hands have gotten worse again... Guess we have no choice but to postpone the wedding…"

She truly was a good actress.

I almost believed that she couldn't be the same woman who had killed my sister and was trying to destroy me. For one brief moment, I almost asked her whether I had ever crossed her in some way. Why was she doing this to me?

But in the end, I only shook my head.

Magnolia quietly sighed in relief and then pulled me into her arms again. "I'll find a way to make you better."

A nurse came in to change my dressing, and only then did Magnolia let go of me.

I turned my head and caught the strange look on the nurse's face. She was so startled that she dropped her phone.

On the screen was a video of my sister's corpse being desecrated.

In the video, several men took turns assaulting her body. Their ragged breathing drowned out the sounds of me being beaten in the background. By the time the last man left, my sister's body was so badly ravaged that it barely looked human.

I finally broke as I clutched my head and screamed until my voice gave out.

A group of reporters suddenly rushed in. The moment they saw me, their eyes lit up with greedy excitement.

"Dr. Foster, we heard you covered up a surgical mistake, and it ended up causing your own sister's death! What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Dr. Foster, did you use your sister's body to buy the family's silence? Is that how you became famous, too? By forcing your sister to sleep with people for you?"

Each vicious question cut me up. My chest hurt so badly I could barely breathe.

Magnolia stepped in front of me and shouted at them as if she had finally just recovered from the shock as well. "How did you get in here?! And who said you could play that video in the hospital?!"

She screamed at them to get out, then turned and dropped to her knees in front of me, her eyes full of guilt. "It's my fault for not protecting you, Kayden. Don't be afraid. I won't let them say those things again. I swear I'll never let this happen again!"

How ridiculous.

She knew perfectly well those reporters had been livestreaming the whole time. Everything had already spread across the internet by now. My reputation would be completely ruined, and everyone would see me as a doctor with no ethics.

All so she could clear the way for her precious Quinton.

I closed my eyes numbly, feeling like nothing else mattered.

Three days later, Sandy and Quinton's wedding was held as scheduled.

Quinton was chatting with the guests in an expensive custom suit, making himself the center of attention.

Magnolia let go of my hand and stepped forward, saying, "Today, at Sandy’s request, I’ll stand in for her and complete the ceremony with the groom."

Countless eyes turned toward me either openly or otherwise. Not one person objected.

So, that was why she had postponed our wedding. She wanted to fulfill her dream with Quinton.

The whole thing was so absurd, I wanted to leave.

While Magnolia was preparing for the ceremony, Quinton walked over and stopped in front of me.

He looked me up and down, then gave me a smug smile. "Who would have thought the former golden boy of the medical world would end up like this? Crippled and disgraced."

I glanced at him coldly. "Still better than the loser who had to use a woman to get to where he is today."

His expression tightened as he grabbed my hand, smiling coldly. "Kayden, want to know something? Maggy was the one who paid those thugs a fortune to clear the way for me. While you were being tortured and your sister defiled for those ten hours, Maggy was right there with me, guiding my hands as I performed surgery. You're worth nothing in her eyes compared to me."

His eyes turned vicious. "A life like yours isn't worth living, you know? You should just resign from the hospital and make room for me..."

He tightened his grip, and pain shot through my hand. I knew he was trying to provoke me, trying to make me lose control.

But… I had stopped expecting anything from Magnolia a long time ago.

Instead, I forced myself to endure the pain and yanked my hand free. "If you want it, take it. I don't care."

Quinton suddenly threw himself backward and crashed into the dining table. His yell echoed through the banquet hall.

Magnolia ran over and knocked me into a ten-foot champagne tower before hurrying to help Quinton up. "What happened?!"

She immediately called the doctors over and had equipment brought in to examine Quinton, but she did not spare me a single glance as I sat in the broken glass, covered in blood.

Quinton pressed at the faint red mark on the back of his hand and spoke in a pitiful tone, "Dr. Foster, I know you're upset about your hands. I only wanted to share the good news that I’d just published three papers in top journals, but you tried to hurt my hands instead?!"

He had stolen my work in plain sight and won everyone's praise. As for me, I was already notorious. Voices of contempt and abuse rose all around me.

Before I could say a word, Magnolia slapped me across the face.

Then, she ground the heel of her shoe into the back of my hand. The pain nearly made me black out. "Quin never did anything to you! He's still thinking about you on his wedding day, and this is how you repay him? How can you be this ungrateful and try to ruin him?! This is exactly what you deserve for being so vicious! Quinton's hands are priceless! If anything happens to them, I won't show you any mercy!"

She wrapped an arm around Quinton and walked away without giving another glance at me.

Good.

There was no need for goodbyes.

I treated the wounds myself, then replied to my professor's message and told him he could come get me.

As I got into the van, Quinton sent me a photo of him and Magnolia kissing during their vows.

I glanced at it once and deleted it.

It was deep into the night before Magnolia remembered me, long after the wedding was over. The memory of my hand split open and covered in blood made her chest tighten. She pushed Quinton away as he held on to her, smelling of alcohol. "We have no more regrets now. Sandy is your wife. We should see each other less from now on."

After that, she was about to book a table at the usual restaurant I always went to and comfort me the way she always had. But just then, Robin called in a panic.

"Dr. Walker! We have a problem! Kayden's gone, and his room is covered in blood! And just now, our overseas licensors revoked the hospital's rights to use all of our core technologies!"