Chapter 3

To my surprise, Victoria had prepared for this as well. She pulled a divorce agreement from her bag and held it up in front of me.

"You said exactly what I was thinking, Albert! I've been hoping for this!" she shot back. "I used to think I could spend my life with just anyone, but Hugo showed me how wrong I was. He taught me that everything changes when you meet your real soulmate."

What was she talking about? We had been together since medical school. Seven years of steady, ordinary happiness, and now she was telling me she had found her "real soulmate"?

The agreement would leave me effectively bankrupt. Most of my assets would go to her, and yet I signed it on the spot.

Adam couldn't stand by and watch. "Did you even read what you signed? The terms are a trap. You're walking away with nothing!"

I smirked faintly. I would not be so sure I was the one coming out on the losing end.

…

Victoria used my entire year-end bonus to repay Adam.

At the same time, the atmosphere at work shifted. Everyone began avoiding Hugo as if he were contagious.

I thought that chronically incompetent fool might finally stop causing trouble, but when the head of radiology stormed into my office the next day, I realized I had been too optimistic.

"You and your unit have a lot to explain, Dr. Benfort! Who approved this application? It's a joke. A farcical, insulting joke!" Cynthia Valdez snapped. "The patient already filed a complaint. Someone uploaded it online, and now our entire institution has turned into a meme!"

I reviewed the application. Someone had ordered CT scans for more than 24 body regions for a single patient, and my electronic signature was somehow attached to it.

It did not take long to find the fallout online. Derisive posts and tweets flooded every platform. The hashtag "HospitalGrift" was trending.

[I've been saying this for a long time, and I just want to say, "I told you so!" This is what big hospitals do now. They order a pile of scans and tests, then stop there. They don't know how to treat you. They outsource that to AI!]

[This is insane. Do you know how much all those tests would cost? It would bankrupt an average person.]

[I found the doctor responsible: Albert Benfort. Graduated from Columbia State Medical University. For more information, including his ID number, see here.]

I did not need to be a detective to know who was behind it.

I went straight to Victoria's office and demanded, "You helped him authorize this with my digital signature, didn't you? This is serious misconduct, and you know it. It's caused significant reputational damage to me and to this institution."

Hugo stood beside her, eyes red and watery. He tugged at her sleeve. "I… I just wanted to help lighten your workload, Dr. Benfort. The patient seemed to be in real distress, so I thought a thorough examination would help. I didn't think this would happen…"

Victoria pressed her fingers to her temple.

"Albert, he used your account because he wanted to learn from you," she said, clearly taking his side. A faint note of fatigue edged her voice. "Yes, he made a mistake, but his intentions were good. And it didn't cause any real harm, did it? This hardly qualifies as malpractice."

I took out my phone. "If the administration doesn't issue an official statement and apology online, I will report this to the police and request an investigation."

She stiffened.

"There's no need to escalate this. I can post a statement from our official account right now without your threats," she replied with a sneer. "Honestly, I've noticed more and more issues with you lately. You're a poor team player, Albert, and that's a serious problem for someone who's supposed to lead a department."

That made things simpler. I placed my resignation letter on her desk and waited.

Victoria glanced at it without reaching for a pen. "You think you can threaten me with your resignation? Please. From where I stand, you're just clearing the path for Hugo to reach his full potential."

I laughed. "His full potential? This should be interesting."

…

Victoria eventually released an official statement that cleared my name online, but that was the only fair action she took. She began stripping away my authority and responsibilities, assigning me the most tedious and physically exhausting tasks while her precious soulmate was free to "reach his full potential."

It was a disaster. He administered eight separate injections to a patient and still failed to draw a simple tube of blood.

He mixed up diagnoses between patients, producing absurd results such as an 80-year-old woman diagnosed with meniscus damage from an intense basketball game, or a 70-year-old man labeled with irregular vaginal discharge and menstrual cycles.