Chapter 3

When Anna was carried in, her entire body was soaked in blood.

Staring at the blood covering his hands, there was a trace of panic in John’s eyes he did not even realize was there.

“Why are you just standing there? Save her!”

However, the moment Anna saw me, she suddenly screamed in terror.

“Dr. Summer, I’m sorry! I’ll stay away from Mr. Shaw from now on. Please just spare my life!”

Right then, Danny and his men dragged in the driver who had hit her.

The man dropped to his knees the moment he entered. He grabbed the hem of my coat as he begged. “Dr. Summer, I did everything you asked! I might not have killed the woman, but I still did it for you! I don’t want to go to jail. Please, you’ve got to help me!”

His desperate pleading quickly drew a crowd from around the hospital.

I stood there frozen. The whole situation felt absurd. Just as I tried to shake him off, John suddenly roared in fury.

“Have you lost your mind, Summer?! Do you know she has a clotting disorder?”

His shout made me flinch. I looked up at him in disbelief.

“You don’t believe me? You actually think I’d do something like that?”

“Mr. Shaw, Ms. Brandt has a rare blood type. Our blood bank doesn’t have enough. If we don’t transfuse her immediately, she won’t survive!”

Someone in the crowd shouted, “Hey, Dr. Summer has the same rare blood type! A life for a life, just take hers!”

Voices quickly rose in agreement.

“Get her inside!” John’s expression darkened as he ordered the staff to drag me into the transfusion room.

I suffered from severe hereditary anemia. Every month, I had to receive transfusions just to stay healthy. With the amount of blood Anna had lost, they might just drain me dry. The moment the needle pierced my vein, panic surged through me and I began to struggle.

“John, have you lost your mind? Did you forget that I…”

“A life’s at stake, Summer. Don’t be so selfish.”

John turned and walked away without any hesitation.

By the time the blood draw was finished, I couldn’t even stand.

“Mrs. Shaw, Mr. Shaw says that as long as you continue behaving and stop mentioning divorce, he’ll arrange a transfusion for you.”

Only then did I realize that John had not forgotten about my condition.

A weak scoff escaped my lips. “I’m divorcing him, even if it kills me.”

As soon as I said that, my strength gave out completely and I collapsed to the floor. When I opened my eyes again, John stepped closer and grabbed my wrist in anger.

“Summer, are you still not getting it? Without my family’s backing, even staying alive will be a problem for you.”

My gaze fell on the needle marks along his arm.

My smile was resolute. “Let me die then.”

John’s breathing hitched. His eyes reddened as he shoved my hand away.

“Fine! I’d like to see how long you can keep that attitude.”

That very night, news spread across the internet that Summer Shaw, the medical prodigy, had allegedly hired someone to commit murder. The backlash swelled. The hospital director held a press conference in person, but even that could not contain the growing storm.

My phone rang nonstop all night.

Only one person could have pulled all the strings to make this happen so fast. It was John. When my desperate apology never came, he pushed even further. Just as the public outrage started to simmer down, another headline dropped.

Someone had leaked my medical records from years ago.

PTSD. Severe depression. Emotional disorder.

That was it. The powder keg exploded again. I had been a rising star in the medical field. Overnight, my name was ruined.

I went to the hospital the day that followed and found the director bowing and scraping in front of John. When John saw me, his face filled with a smug, mocking look, like he had been expecting this all along.

“Summer, I told you before. Without my family, you’re nothing. What’s this? Couldn’t take the pressure and came to beg already?”

I calmly pulled my resignation letter out. Looking at my credentials on the resume, despite everything, a pang of sorrow cut through me. No one but John understood how difficult the road to becoming a doctor had been for me. He had always known that my greatest dream was to save lives.

Alas, at that moment, he had proven to me with brutal clarity that my years of dedication meant less than an order from him. Staring at the resignation letter, he looked thrown for a moment. Then, his fury curdled into a laugh.

He got up and dragged me to Anna’s hospital room.

“Resigning isn’t enough. Since you had the nerve to do something this evil, then you should pay for it.”

The moment Anna saw me, she lost control again.

“You murderer! What are you doing here? John, I don’t want to see her! Make her leave!”

Her hand had been crushed under the wheel of the car. The injury had left her permanently disabled. John wrapped her arms around shoulders and tried to soothe her before signaling the bodyguards to pin my right hand down on the table.

The moment I realized what he was about to do, a wave of terror surged through me.

“John, you can’t… Arghh!”

The guard’s knife drove straight through my palm. The searing pain nearly made me pass out on the spot. Looking at my mangled, blood-soaked hand, I let out a desperate scream while John merely looked away, unmoved.

“The ward happens to be short of a caregiver. Since you’re the reason Anna ended up like this, you’ll be the one taking care of her while she’s hospitalized.”

I collapsed onto the floor. The pain was so overwhelming that I could not speak.

Anna nestled against John’s chest and shot me a triumphant smile.