Chapter 2

It wasn't long before an even louder wave of questioning broke out in the hall.

"What do you mean he operated for 72 hours straight? Who is he trying to fool here?"

"I know, right? It's ridiculous how a murderer is still trying to act like a saint at this point!"

Wanda looked grim, ordering the technicians to immediately check for any traces of tampering in the memory source.

Harvey walked to her side and subtly guided the situation. "Dr. Sullivan is very calculating. He probably expected the use of the 'Project Nightingale' system and had deliberately tampered with the memory source. It's a good thing we went straight for the judgment, Wanda."

Wanda let out a scornful laugh, her eyes brimming with contempt. "You're absolutely right. Matthew could collapse or even die on that operating table for all I care. He still wouldn't be able to wash the blood of those five people off his hands."

She turned toward Harvey, her voice instantly softening while saying, "Thank you for always being there for me, Harvey."

Harvey wrapped an arm around her, smiling smugly. "You don't have to thank me, Wanda."

I felt a wave of bitterness surging within me as I watched them interact so intimately. Wanda's eyes, which used to look at me with such gentleness, now held nothing but blatant loathing. I could still feel a slow, grinding pain in my chest, as if my heart were being slowly torn apart.

Harvey was the real villain behind the tragedy, but Wanda refused to listen to my explanation. She silenced me for good by surgically removing my vocal cords, and the day before the trial, she stared at me with bloodshot eyes and asked, "How could you kill my mother, Matthew?"

I kept shaking my head, trying to tell her that it wasn't me. She still refused to believe me, though. She drove ten sharp needles into my fingers, the pain so excruciating that it made me bite my lip until it bled. "It was these very hands that killed my mother."

She then looked down at my bloodied, mangled hands and cried.

In the meantime, my memories were still playing on the large screen, transitioning to a path lined with magnolia trees at my medical school. Wanda, who was much younger back then, was standing by a tree in her police uniform, waiting for me.

I hurried to her, gasping for air with a stack of medical books in my arms.

Wanda then pulled a lollipop from her pocket like a magician, unwrapped it, and held it to my lips, exclaiming, "Congratulations, Matthew! Your first time acting as the lead surgeon for an animal experiment today was a huge success!"

I bit into the lollipop and let the sweet flavor fill my mouth, though I still felt a bit shaken about the surgery. "I was trembling the whole time during sutures. I nearly nicked the aorta, Wanda."

"You have nothing to be afraid of. You'll definitely become the most renowned doctor in the country in the future, Matthew," Wanda said as she took my hand and laced her fingers with mine, looking at me earnestly. She looked at me with eyes sparkling so brightly that it seemed like stars were reflecting in them.

It was the kind of adoration any man would crave from the woman he loved. I felt a wave of warmth washing over me after hearing that. I remained silent, simply holding her hand a little tighter.

That memory came to a stop at that very moment.

Wanda's body momentarily froze, and for a split second, her expression betrayed a swirl of conflicting emotions.

Harvey instantly noticed Wanda's hesitation. He interjected somberly, saying, "Dr. Sullivan had such high aspirations back then. He unfortunately couldn't resist the allure of status and money, though. It just goes to show that everyone eventually changes."

Wanda suddenly snapped out of it, her expression turning cold again. "You're right. Matthew truly might have been a decent doctor in the past, Harvey."