Chapter 4

The next second, she was helping Noah into the operating room and ordering Mom's lead surgeon to perform his heart transplant instead.

Dr. Hayes could only shoot me a guilty look before following them in.

I panicked. I struggled to get up and stop them, but the searing pain in my chest brought me down again.

Across the hall, the doors to Mom's operating room hung wide open. There was no one inside, only Mom, alone on the table.

Gritting my teeth, I crawled toward their operating room, knelt at the door, and begged.

"I'm a bastard! I'm the worst! I was wrong! If you want to punish someone, punish me! Please, just save my mom first!"

My anguished cries made Dr. Hayes let out a long sigh. She glanced tentatively at Vivian.

"Dr. Foster, forget Mrs. Carter for a second. I sent you Daniel's condition a week ago. Without this heart, he only has three..."

"Three years, right? That's enough time to find ten hearts. What's the rush? My mother-in-law only has to wait another half hour. I'll send someone else over to her. I'm already risking the appearance of favoritism by giving her operating room the best equipment ahead of time. What more could she want? Daniel needs to learn his lesson today, or he'll keep throwing his weight around on the strength of my position forever."

But three years was what I'd had left before I saw her in those steamy scenes with those men. Now, after that shock, I had less than three days!

Only then did Dr. Hayes realize Vivian hadn't looked at my report all week. She was about to explain when Vivian cut her off with a raised hand.

"If you don't want to be thrown out of this hospital, stop talking. Saving Noah comes first. Daniel and his mom are my family. Do you really think I'd hurt them?"

Dr. Hayes had no choice but to lower her head and focus on the surgery. Outside, getting no answer, I turned to the onlookers and pressed my forehead to the floor, begging.

"Please, get a doctor to save my mom! I... I..."

Seeing me clutching my chest, they just folded their arms and watched, their faces full of contempt.

"The director's own husband, stooping this low to pressure his wife into playing favorites. Doesn't he have any shame?"

"What a performance. Bet that's how he got into Dr. Foster's bed in the first place, playing the poor victim."

"Thank God Dr. Foster is so selfless and won't let him get to her. Otherwise, how could she be the living saint she is?"

I was so desperate my face turned ashen. All I could do was reach out helplessly, trying to grab the nearest shoe for help, when I heard it from Mom's operating room: the long, flat tone of the heart monitor.

My body went rigid. I couldn't believe my ears.

Amid the jeering crowd, I fought through the pain in my chest and crawled into Mom's operating room. Looking at her on the table, deathly pale and covered in blood, I shed my last tear.

Mom, I'm sorry. Your son still couldn't save you.

In my next life, I'll never again be the husband of a director who has to avoid favoritism!

Third-Person POV

An hour later, Noah's surgery was stable. Still uneasy, Vivian left the operating room early. Seeing no trace of Daniel in the hallway, she frowned.

"That damn man. I knew he was putting on an act the whole time. He had me on edge in there for so long. Unbelievable!"

The next second, the cold, single flat tone from the monitor in Daniel's mother, Amy Carter's operating room reached her, and she froze.

Only then did she remember. When she saw Noah in critical condition, she'd panicked and forgotten to send a doctor to finish Amy's surgery.

Several patients' family members nearby were still whispering among themselves.

"That guy didn't really have a heart condition, did he? Crawling around like that just for show. Talk about commitment."

"The second he heard that flatline from the operating room, he just barged in. He really thinks being the director's husband puts him above the rules!"

"And in the end, he staggered out carrying that bloody body from the table. It was so creepy. I'm going to have nightmares tonight!"

A sense of foreboding filled her eyes with dread. She took off running toward the other operating room.

"No, it can't be..."