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!"