Chapter 4

Yesterday, Greg wanted to check in with his son to see if they had finally gotten married. Yet every time he called Mark, the call went straight to voicemail, and Claire was not answering her phone either.

He worried about them all night. So early that morning, he rushed over to their place. Little did he expect that as soon as he arrived at the front door, he would hear Mark call the wedding off.

His eyes swept over the room to Mark, drenched to the skin, with cuts and bloodstains on his face, and then to another man, who wore the dress shirt he had made for his son. He also saw Claire shielding that man and his child while treating Mark coldly. It was painfully clear to him now why they had failed to get legally married time and time again.

The color instantly drained from Greg’s face. Clutching his chest, his body swayed, and he collapsed to the floor.

“Dad!”

Mark lunged forward to check on Greg, who was lying on the ground. Greg’s eyes were tightly shut, his face was deathly pale, his breathing was rapid, and his hand was tightly gripping the fabric over his chest.

Seeing that, Claire rushed over to examine him. “Call an ambulance, now!”

The ambulance arrived quickly, and Greg was wheeled into the emergency room. Before long, the attending doctor hurried out holding a medical chart.

“The patient underwent a coronary bypass surgery years ago. His relapse is critical, and we must perform a secondary open-heart surgery immediately.”

The attending doctor looked at Claire, who was standing beside Mark.

“However, the extensive chest adhesions make the surgical risk extremely high. No one at our hospital feels confident doing this surgery. Currently, Dr. Sloan is the only surgeon in the country qualified to perform this surgery. Unfortunately, Dr. Sloan has been booked out for at least the next three months. The patient simply cannot wait that long.”

Just as Mark was starting to lose hope, the doctor suddenly said to Claire, “Dr. Baker, if I remember correctly, you’re Dr. Sloan’s favorite student. All you have to do is ask, and Dr. Sloan will surely make time in his personal schedule to fly over and lead the surgery.”

Mark turned to look at Claire. “Claire, please contact Dr. Sloan to save my dad, okay? I’m begging you…”

Claire looked down as she said, “That goes against protocol.”

He looked at her in disbelief. “That’s my dad lying in there!”

Claire sighed. “Mark, the hospital has its rules, and Dr. Sloan has his schedule. If I make an exception for you today, what about the other patients waiting in line? It wouldn’t be fair.”

Mark’s voice turned raspy. “You want to talk to me about fairness? If it weren’t for you and Ryan, my dad wouldn’t have suffered a heart attack!”

She frowned, her tone turning stern. “What does this have to do with Ryan? You’re not making sense. Besides, one thing has nothing to do with the other. As the director of the hospital, I can’t break medical ethics. I’ve told you many times. Stop letting your emotions cloud your judgment.”

Mark’s eyes were bloodshot as he stared dead at the face before him. “So no matter what, you refuse to help, is that it?”

“Yes. That is a matter of principle for me.”

Exasperated, Mark chuckled bitterly. “Fine. I don’t need you. I’ll figure out a way myself.”

To his surprise, Claire nodded. “You can contact Dr. Sloan yourself, but don’t use my name. Also, since your dad is sick, he probably won’t be able to attend our wedding, but we can’t change the wedding date. After all, my schedule is set and cannot be disrupted.”

Mark shook with rage. Greg’s life was hanging by a thread because of her, yet not only did she refuse to save his life, but she was actually worrying about not delaying her schedule? What were he and Greg to her, really?

Seeing the situation, the attending doctor hurriedly interjected, “Well, the priority right now is to perform an IABP to keep him alive and buy more time. Dr. Baker, the patient’s blood pressure keeps dropping. No one is more qualified than you to complete the IABP insertion. What do you think…”

Mark hated how heartless Claire could be. However, for the sake of Greg’s life, he could only suppress his fury and plead, “Claire, save my dad.”

Claire nodded. “Understood. Get ready.”

…

Inside the ICU, Claire was taking a pair of sterile gloves from her assistant when suddenly, a phone rang. Claire had set an ironclad rule that during a procedure, all medical staff’s phones had to be switched off.

Her expression darkened as she turned to look at the surrounding staff. “Whose phone is that?”

The assistant felt around his pockets before pointing toward Claire’s waist with an awkward look on his face.

“Dr. Baker, it seems to be yours.”

Claire froze. Having to work unexpectedly and get changed in a rush, she had forgotten to put it on silent.

Frowning, she reached into her pocket, intending to decline the call. However, as her gaze swept over the screen, her finger paused.

Claire, who had never stopped a life-saving procedure even when top officials called in an emergency, turned around while holding the phone and walked right out of the operating theatre.