Just as I held the incubator in my arms, the laboratory door was violently kicked open.

Liam barged in with Vanessa, both of them wearing expressions of undisguised urgency.

“Leave the item behind!” Liam stepped forward and reached out to snatch the incubator. “All research outcomes in the lab belong to the hospital. You have no right to take anything with you now!”

I sidestepped him and shielded the incubator behind me. “This is three years of my work. The formula is handwritten by me, the coagulant was exclusively developed by me, and it has nothing to do with the hospital!”

“What yours and mine?” Vanessa squeezed to the front, her gaze glued tightly to the incubator, her tone sharp. “You’ve already been stripped of your medical license. What’s the point of keeping these? Why not give them to me? I can make them useful— better than letting you waste them!”

As she spoke, she suddenly reached out to grab it, her fingertips nearly touching the case.

I jerked back, watching her warily. “Vanessa, don’t push your luck!”

“I think you just don’t know what’s good for you!”

Enraged, Vanessa suddenly lunged forward, gripping the handle of the incubator with both hands. We began pulling against each other instantly. My strength was steady, and Vanessa failed to grab it for the moment. Pretending her foot slipped, she let her body fall backward while deliberately swinging her arm hard across the nearby lab table.

Crash—

The incubator slipped from our hands and crashed onto the floor. Glass vials shattered instantly, pale blue coagulant splashing out and spreading across the ground. Vanessa, still unsatisfied, deliberately crushed the scattered formula papers under her high heels as she fell, the liquid and shoe prints staining them into filthy fragments, the essential ratios completely blurred.

“Ah!”

Vanessa fell to the ground, her skirt soaked with the spilled reagent. She immediately clutched her knee and cried out, “Liam! Look! Clara pushed me! She destroyed the coagulant and the formula on purpose!”

Liam hadn’t seen anything clearly. He only saw Vanessa on the floor and me standing beside her. He burst with fury instantly.

“Clara! You’re vicious! Vanessa tried to reason with you kindly, and you resorted to violence and sabotaged critical research!”

“I didn’t push her! She fell on purpose!”

My voice was both anxious and furious as I bent down, trying to salvage any remaining legible fragments of the formula. “That was the newest coagulant we developed! Without it, an aortic dissection surgery can’t stop the bleeding at all! You’re going to kill a patient!”

“You still dare argue!”

Liam grabbed my wrist, squeezing so hard it felt like he might crush my bones. “You’re not welcome here. Get out!”

“Liam, wake up!” I struggled, my gaze sharp as a blade. “Can’t you see what Vanessa wants? She wants my formula! If you throw me out now, what you’re destroying is the only chance for countless future patients!”

“Enough!”

Liam refused to listen, dragging me toward the door. “I don’t want to hear another word of your nonsense! You’re just unwilling to accept your transfer and came here to cause trouble!”

He shoved me out of the door.

My back slammed hard against the wall, pain shooting through me as I sucked in a breath. I looked at the disgust and finality in Liam’s eyes, and coldness spread through my chest.

“Liam, you will regret this! What you are destroying with your own hands is your bottom line as a doctor!”

“Regret? The only thing I regret is meeting you!”

Liam slammed the door shut, cutting me off completely. Then he immediately crouched beside Vanessa, lifting her anxiously.

“Vanessa, are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?”

Leaning in his arms, Vanessa secretly lifted her eyes, looking toward me through the crack in the door, a flash of triumphant cruelty flickering in them.

Just then, the hospital broadcast suddenly sounded, a hurried female voice breaking the silence of the corridor:

“Emergency notice! The ER has received a patient with a ruptured aortic dissection. Massive blood loss, condition critical. A top-tier surgeon is urgently needed for immediate consultation! Repeating, a top-tier surgeon is urgently needed!”

The lab door was instantly pulled open.

Liam supported Vanessa as they rushed out, neither of them sparing me even a glance before sprinting toward the emergency department.

I watched their hurried silhouettes, then lowered my head to look at my fingertips, still stained with the spilled reagent.

The corner of my mouth curled into a cold smile.

They didn’t know that what they had just destroyed was the patient’s only hope for survival.

And the opportunity I had been waiting for— the catalyst for my revenge— had quietly arrived at this very moment.

I held onto the sink, my fingertips pinching the pregnancy test showing two red lines, my knuckles turning white. The churning in my stomach had not yet settled, but a cold, firm resolve was already rising in my chest—this was Liam’s child, the result of our last loss of control before the divorce. I looked at my pale face in the mirror, a flash of determination passing through my eyes: I would keep the baby, keep the child but cut off the father. For the rest of my life, the child would be my weakness—yet also the armor I would use to take revenge on Liam and Vanessa.

A news alert on my phone suddenly interrupted my thoughts, the headline glaring:

“Top Surgical Team at City Hospital Fails Operation, Patient Critical! Dr. Vanessa Tearfully Accuses: Key Medication Sabotaged by Former Colleague!”

I opened it.

In the video, Vanessa wore a white coat, her eyes red, speaking to the camera through tears:

“Liam and I tried our best, but the most crucial custom-made coagulant was maliciously shattered by Ms. Clara, and the formula was destroyed as well. Because she was unhappy about being reassigned, she took her anger out on the patient’s life… I really blame myself for not protecting the patient.”

Below the video, the comments were already exploding.

“Clara? The doctor whose license was revoked? How vicious can she be!”

“Playing with a patient’s life—someone like her should be permanently banned!”

“Poor Dr. Vanessa, clearly the victim yet bearing all this pressure!”

Rumors spread like weeds.

My personal information was leaked maliciously, and my phone and messaging apps were bombarded—insults pouring in endlessly. I knew this was Vanessa’s doing, and Liam must have approved it—maybe even pushed it forward. After all, making me take the fall was the easiest way to protect their reputations.

I tried sending Liam a message:

“The coagulant was broken by Vanessa herself, and you know it. Stop spreading lies, or I won’t hesitate to expose everything.”

The message disappeared into the void.

More distorted accusations came instead.

Liam’s indulgence became yet another weight pressing onto me.

Meanwhile, inside the operating room of City Hospital, alarms blared sharply.

The patient from the failed surgery had sudden massive bleeding, blood streaming down the edge of the table onto the floor, staining it red. Liam’s hand holding the hemostat trembled uncontrollably, sweat dripping from his forehead into the open incision as nurses hurried to wipe it away.

“Blood pressure still dropping! 80/50!”

“Standard hemostatic drugs aren’t working! The bleeding is too severe!”

Vanessa’s face was pale, her hands shaking so badly she could barely hold a suture needle, tears welling in her eyes.

“What do we do? Liam! We can’t stop the bleeding at all! If only we still had the coagulant…”

“Shut up!” Liam barked, though his mind was in chaos.

He knew better than anyone that Vanessa accused me only to escape responsibility. But now, he had no choice but to follow the lie to the end. Yet watching the patient’s vital signs fade, a sentence from the lab suddenly flashed in his mind:

“That was the only coagulant! Without it, an aortic dissection surgery can’t stop the bleeding! You’ll kill the patient!”

Panic surged through him like a tidal wave.

He suddenly remembered that I might still have a backup of the formula—someone who valued her research as much as I did would never keep only a single handwritten copy.

At that moment, my phone vibrated.

It was a message from my former colleague, Sharon:

“Clara, the patient is in critical condition. The bleeding won’t stop. Liam and Vanessa are reaching their limit…”

My fingers paused slightly.

In the end, I could not bear to let a living person die.

I replied quickly:

“Tell the patient’s family to contact me immediately if the situation worsens. Also, keep a secret for me—I’m pregnant.”

After sending it, I placed a hand on my abdomen and whispered:

“Baby, I’m going to save this person, and I’m also going to make those who hurt us pay the price.”

Inside the operating room, the patient’s heart rate had dropped to the warning line.

“Heart rate 40! Prepare the defibrillator!”

Watching the flickering monitor, Liam suddenly saw my calm face appear in his mind.

Desperation pushed him into a reckless decision.

He fumbled out his phone, hands shaking, and dialed the number he had long blocked—yet always remembered by heart.

The moment the call connected, he practically roared:

“Clara! Please! Tell me the coagulant formula! The patient is dying!”

There was a moment of silence on my end.

Then my voice came, icy and emotionless:

“Dr. Liam, didn’t you believe Vanessa when she said I destroyed the coagulant? Isn’t it ridiculous that you now come begging me?”

“I was wrong! I was blind!”

Liam’s voice cracked, filled with tears, his dignity shattered.

“I shouldn’t have believed Vanessa’s lies, shouldn’t have allowed her rumors! Please— for the patient’s sake, for… for what we once had—tell me the formula! If you save him, I’ll agree to any condition you name!”

Vanessa stared at him in shock, then screamed:

“Liam! How can you beg her?! She’s a vicious woman! We can think of another way!”

“There is no other way!”

Liam turned and glared at her, bloodshot eyes blazing.

“You think I don’t know? You broke the coagulant yourself! A life is at stake— and you’re still making a scene!”

Vanessa froze, her face turning green and white.

On the phone, I listened to their argument, the corner of my mouth curling into a cold smile.

“Liam, what you owe me—what you owe this patient—cannot be repaid with a single ‘I was wrong.’”

I paused, then my voice cut sharp as a blade:

“Give the phone to Vanessa. I want to hear her say it herself—that she broke the coagulant,that she spread the rumors.”

I had just hung up on yet another frantic, life-or-death call from Liam, and before my fingertip even lifted from the screen, I heard a harsh commotion rise from downstairs. I walked to the window and lifted a corner of the curtain—my heart dropped instantly.

Liam and Vanessa had actually brought a group of reporters, along with several familiar neighbors, blocking the entrance of the apartment building.

“Clara! Come out!”

Liam tilted his head back and roared upward, his voice drowned beneath the rapid clicking of reporters’ cameras.

“The patient is still in critical condition! You have the coagulant formula—either hand it over, or come with us to the hospital to operate!”

Vanessa stood beside him in a white coat, eyes rimmed red, wiping tears for the camera.

“Sister Clara, I know you’re still angry at me, but a human life is at stake. You can’t gamble with a patient’s life because of resentment! Everyone’s watching—you can at least pity that poor patient and help save him!”

Reporters surged forward, microphones practically pressed against Liam’s face.

“Dr. Liam, is it true Clara intentionally hid the life-saving formula?!”

“Dr. Vanessa, are the previous accusations true?”

“What is the patient’s current condition?”

The neighbors began whispering among themselves too. Some recorded videos on their phones, some pointed and muttered:

“Never thought she was that kind of person—letting someone die is too cruel.”

“I used to think she was a good doctor—didn’t expect her to hold grudges like this.”

I took a deep breath and tightened my grip on the phone in my pocket—Sharon had just messaged saying the patient’s blood pressure had dropped again. I originally planned to wait for the right moment, but now I had been forced into a corner.

I grabbed my coat and headed downstairs.

The moment I stepped out the unit door, Liam seized my wrist.

“You finally came out!”

Liam’s eyes were bloodshot, his tone carrying an unquestionable force.

“Come with me! It’s not too late to rush to the operating room now!”

“Let me go!”

I struggled hard.

“It was Vanessa who shattered the coagulant. It was the two of you who spread rumors to ruin my name. What gives you the right to order me?”

“Sister Clara, how can you say that?”

Vanessa immediately squeezed forward, pretending to mediate.

“I know you’re upset, but this isn’t the time to talk about that! I’m begging you, please come with us!”

Her hand appeared to rest gently on my arm, yet her fingertips were secretly gripping a fruit knife hidden in her sleeve.

The blade pressed coldly against my wrist.

I reacted instantly and tried to pull away, but Vanessa suddenly tightened her hold and lunged forward. At the same time, her wrist twisted—

Sound of tearing—

A sharp sting exploded across the back of my right hand as the blade sliced through my skin.

Blood sprayed instantly, dripping down my fingertips onto the cement ground, staining it dark red.

“Ah!”

My entire body trembled in pain. My right hand curled up reflexively—

It was the hand I used to hold a scalpel.

The hand that defined my life as a surgeon.

The searing pain shot through my nerves like a thousand needles.

I stared at the blood pouring out, my heart filling with disbelief and utter despair.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Vanessa immediately released me.

The fruit knife clattered to the ground.

Her eyes filled with tears as she cried to the reporters:

“I didn’t mean it! I was just trying to pull Sister Clara along, and the fruit knife in my pocket must’ve slipped out! It’s all my fault!”

Liam stared at the blood streaming from my right hand, his pupils contracting sharply.

A moment of shock flashed across his face—

He knew exactly what this hand meant to me.

But Vanessa quickly threw herself into his arms, trembling as she sobbed:

“Liam, I really didn’t mean it. I was just too worried about getting Sister Clara to save the patient…”

“You—!”

My voice trembled from pain as I clamped my left hand over the wound, but blood still seeped through my fingers relentlessly.

“Vanessa, you did that on purpose!”

“Sister Clara, how can you slander me like this?”

Vanessa’s tears flowed harder.

“Why would I intentionally injure your hand? We’re both doctors—I know how important that hand is to you…”

The reporters, sensing blood like sharks, began firing their cameras wildly.

Flashes blinded my eyes.

“Dr. Clara, is what Dr. Vanessa said true?”

“Are you accusing her because you refused to perform the surgery?”

“The wound looks deep—will it affect your future as a doctor?”

The neighbors’ whispering grew sharper.

“Maybe Clara didn’t want to save the patient and decided to blame someone else?”

“Dr. Vanessa seems kind—she doesn’t look like someone who’d hurt anyone on purpose.”

Liam’s momentary shock was quickly drowned out by Vanessa’s tears.

He held her and spoke to me in a cold voice:

“Enough! Vanessa already apologized. She didn’t do it intentionally! The priority now is saving the patient. Get your hand treated first—we’ll talk about the formula later!”

“Liam!”

My whole body shook with fury, pain and chilling disappointment twisting together.

“My hand has been ruined by her! And you still defend her? Have you forgotten that this hand is not only my life— it's also your brother’s only hope of survival!”

Just then, a sharp screech of brakes cut through the chaos.

More than ten black sedans stopped in a perfect line.

The doors opened simultaneously, and a group of men in black suits, radiating an oppressive aura, surrounded a middle-aged man as he stepped out.

He was tall and straight-backed, his suit immaculate, his expression completely devoid of emotion.

His eyes were cold as frost—

This was Shawn, chairman of the Shen Group…

And the critically ill patient’s elder brother.

His gaze swept across the crowd, pausing on the reporters’ cameras, then landing on the blood pouring from my right hand, before finally settling on Liam and Vanessa.

The look in his eyes was so sharp, so heavy with authority that the noisy scene fell silent instantly.

Even the reporters stopped clicking their shutters instinctively.

Vanessa hid behind Liam, trembling, all her earlier arrogance and pitiful act collapsing.

Even Liam clenched his fists, unable to speak under Shawn’s icy pressure.

Shawn walked closer with steady steps, his gaze never leaving my bleeding hand.

Then his voice rolled out, low and thunderous:

“Who did this?”