Chapter 3

Gavin continued whispering, "Oh, and Tracy has finalized her will, and I'm the sole beneficiary."

My pupils dilated as a wave of pure hatred crashed over me. He pulled out the spare battery that should have been mine and dangled it before my eyes.

"Want it? Too bad…"

I couldn't make a single sound. All I could do was wrench my dislocated wrist out from under Tracy's shoes, while Gavin smirked triumphantly.

He dropped the spare battery into a glass of water nearby. The current instantly shorted with a sharp, sizzling hiss.

"I'd rather destroy it than let you use it."

The moment the battery hit the water, a final burst of strength exploded in me out of nowhere. I lunged at Gavin, not for the ruined battery, but for the heated hand warmer that was still radiating warmth in his hands.

The last trace of my "life" was still in it.

"What are you doing?" Gavin cried out and tried to dodge, but the full impact of my body slam caught him off guard.

I snatched the hand warmer and clenched it tightly. The scalding heat burned into my palm and brought me a fleeting moment of clarity.

Tracy shrieked, grabbed the glass of water from the desk, and violently poured its contents over the controller.

"Will you only be satisfied after you've destroyed everything, Neal?"

The external interference triggered my heart's shrill warning alarm, and a sharp jolt of chest pain left me curling on the floor.

Gavin seized the chance to lunge forward and plunge a syringe deep into my arm.

"Neal is too agitated," he said. "He needs a sedative."

As the cold liquid flowed into my veins, my limbs went numb almost instantly. Fueled by rage, I struggled and rammed my head, the only part of me that could still move, straight into Gavin.

A metallic taste of blood welled up in my throat, and it cleared my mind for a few seconds.

"Gavin… You're a disgrace to the medical profession!"

My voice was hoarse and broken, but every word felt soaked in blood.

Tracy mercilessly pinned me against the bed, while Gavin, who was helped up to his feet, pointed at the fallen syringe on the floor in panic.

"I was just trying to give him an IV nutrient boost, but he snatched the needle and tried to stab me with it… He said he'd trigger an allergic reaction and put me into anaphylactic shock…"

It was such a complete twist of the truth that I wanted nothing more than to rip off his mouth.

Holding Gavin up, Tracy furiously spun around and delivered a hard slap across my face.

"What's wrong with you, Neal?" she shrieked. "Were you trying to kill Gavin, just because I took care of his emergency first? And to think he was trying to save his fever medicine and give you a sedative first so you'd feel more comfortable!"

I forced a few broken words out of my throat. "He's lying to you—"

Before I could finish, Tracy cut me off, looking utterly disgusted. "People like you are the ones who deserve to die!"

Her poisonous words cut deep.

Over on the camera setup, the livestream comments kept scrolling rapidly.

"Dr. Spade was kind enough to save him, only to get attacked in return."

"Call the police right now. This isn't a family dispute anymore. It's a straight-up intentional assault."

"Does anyone else think something feels a little odd here?"

"Seriously? Did you not see the doctor get physically attacked?"

"Tracy, get the doctor out of there right now! Protect yourselves!"

Looking at the comments backing her up, Tracy was confident with her decision.

"I used to think you were jealous because I spent more time taking care of Gavin, and I never thought you'd be cruel enough to kill the man who saved your life. I must've been blind to marry a monster like you!"

A muffled whimper escaped my lips as I lifted my stiffening arm with great difficulty to show the camera who had been injected with an unknown drug. But no one cared, or perhaps, they intentionally chose to ignore. All of them crowded around Gavin to comfort him.

"Don't be scared, Gavin. We're here."

"Once this livestream ends, we'll file a joint report with the medical board against him."