All Chapters of Girlfriend, Childhood Friend, and a Broken Hand: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

The surgery had been going on for nine hours.I gripped the needle holder, preparing for the most crucial part—the coronary artery anastomosis.The patient on the operating table was Devan Williams, chairman of Astra Group, who had been shot during a speech at the financial summit.His company had just broken through international tech barriers with its semiconductor industry, making him an important figure for the nation's pillar.The bullet had gone through his heart. The situation was as critical as it could get.In all of Eldermoor, I was the only one who could perform this surgery.Sweat trickled down my forehead and splattered onto my mask.Just as I was about to insert the needle, the heavy lead door of the operating room was violently pushed open.Blinding light and noise flooded in.My girlfriend, Katie Wilder, barged in with a man dressed in an expensive suit.I recognized him instantly. He was Luke Rivera, Katie's childhood friend, who had just returned from abroad

Chapter 2

Katie looked at me with an innocent yet greedy gaze. "Just listen to Luke. Give him a chance. It won't cost you anything!"It wouldn't cost me anything?I jerked my arm away from her. A surge of rage almost burst out of my chest.I looked at the cold life signs on the heart-lung machine and at Devan's deteriorating body under the sterile cloth. It all felt absurd.For Luke's investment and the villa she wanted, she was willing to gamble with the life of the nation's pillar and my future, built over years of hard work."Get out," I squeezed the word through my teeth and lowered my head again, preparing to continue the surgery.There could be no more delays.But then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something terrifying.Katie actually reached out and yanked the oxygen mask off Devan's face!With the breathing support cut off, Devan's already fragile body jolted, and the blood oxygen levels on the monitor plummeted.The alarm blared, piercing and shrill."Katie Wilder!" My

Chapter 3

The cold floor pressed painfully against my cheek."I think you're the one trying to kill Mr. Williams Senior!" Jason's voice echoed above me, full of smug satisfaction. "Spill it. Did you take money from the Williams family's rivals and infiltrate our hospital to sabotage the surgery?"Such absurd accusations.I, Ashton Howard, the youngest chief of cardiovascular surgery in the country at 33 years old, had saved countless lives.Today, in my own operating room, I was being framed as a murderer by a security captain, who had only gotten the job through connections."Let go of me! You're committing a crime!" I struggled, desperately trying to break free from their grip.But just then, a polished leather shoe came down hard on the back of my right hand.It was Luke.He looked down at me with a cruel smile. Then, he slowly put more pressure on my hand.I heard a sickening crunch.The force crushed my finger bones.The searing pain made my vision blur, and I knew that this hand

Chapter 4

Katie's and Luke's expressions darkened. They hadn't expected me to still be able to command the rescue in this state.A flicker of panic flashed in Luke's eyes, which was quickly replaced by cold determination.He crouched down in front of me and said in a voice low enough for only the two of us to hear, "Ashton, don't push it. Devan's already half-dead, so why not let him die with some value? Do Katie and I a favor.""Luke's right." Jason kicked me in the back. "Aren't you impressive? The youngest department head in the country? Now look at you, lying on the floor!"How shameless and despicable!As I stared at his twisted expression, I almost wanted to bite his throat out.Katie walked over as well. Her voice was tinged with a hint of patronizing pity as she said, "Ashton, stop being stubborn. Your hand is done for. How can you operate now? Let Luke do it. It'll be better for everyone."Don't worry. Once this is over, he'll give you a sum of money that's enough to set you up

Chapter 5

I twisted my body with all my might and slammed my head into the nearby cart filled with expensive medical equipment.The crashing sound was deafening.The cart tipped over, and millions of dollars' worth of monitors, anesthesia machines, and infusion pumps crashed to the ground.Wires snapped, throwing a shower of sparks.The backup power to the operating room short-circuited and went dark in an instant.With a click, the entire world was engulfed in pitch-black darkness. Only a few machines, powered by their internal batteries, flickered faintly.In the dark, Katie screamed, "Ah! What happened?""The power's out!" came the nurse's voice."Ashton! Are you crazy?" Jason's voice was filled with panic and anger.I lay on the ground, gasping for air. The tape over my mouth had loosened from my sweat. I tore it off.Feeling the warm liquid drip from my forehead, I smiled.In the dark, my smile must've looked savage.Crazy?Yes, I was crazy.They pushed me to the edge.Withou

Chapter 6

I continued, "Anesthesia! Manual ventilation now! 20 breaths a minute. Hurry!"My calm, commanding voice snapped the nurses back to their senses, and they immediately began fumbling their way through the dark.This was an extreme emergency protocol that was barely mentioned in textbooks. Only the top-tier teams could manage a situation like this in a power outage.I had bought myself precious time.I reached out and found the scalpel and needle holder I had slammed onto the instrument tray earlier.The cold touch of the tools instantly calmed me.With my still-functional left hand, I picked up the needle holder and secured the suturing needle.In the total darkness, my eyes were useless, but my sense of touch, my muscle memory honed over more than a decade, kicked in with full force.Using my fingers, I precisely found the rupture in the aorta.The thickness of the vessel, the toughness of the tissue, and the angle of the needle's entry all became a crystal-clear image in my m

Chapter 7

Jason continued, "He stopped Mr. Rivera from using the new device to save him, injured my sister, broke hospital equipment, and locked the door to threaten everyone! We have reason to believe he's a corporate spy, deliberately attempting to murder Mr. Williams Senior!"His accusations were delivered with passion, twisting the truth beyond recognition.The nurses around us, already terrified, kept their heads down. They were too afraid to speak.It seemed like all the evidence pointed to me.Caleb's face was as dark as a storm cloud. His gaze was sharp enough to cut through steel as he stepped toward me. "How's my father now?"I pushed myself up but was hit with unbearable pain in my right hand, forcing me back to the floor."The surgery... is done," I replied through gasps. "He's out of danger.""Done?"One of the department heads behind Caleb immediately moved forward and shone a flashlight toward the operating table.When he saw the heart, now beating strongly again, and the

Chapter 8

Katie's perfectly applied makeup melted under her sweat, making her look absurd.When the footage reached the moment she pulled the oxygen mask from Devan's face and arrogantly threatened me, she let out a high-pitched scream and shook her head frantically."That's not me! It wasn't me!" she cried.As for Luke, when he saw the slow-motion replay of his foot crushing my hand, he collapsed onto the defendant's bench.A strong, foul odor quickly filled the air. The reporters in the front row couldn't help but cover their noses, though the flashbulbs only intensified.He had pissed himself.The most ridiculous part was Jason. When the video showed him accusing me with righteous indignation and ordering the guards to restrain me on the ground, his face shifted between red and pale before he suddenly dropped to his knees."Your Honor! I was wrong! I wasn't in my right mind! My sister made me do it!"He started banging his head on the floor in frantic apologies.As the video ended, t

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