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All Chapters of My Father Chose the Killer: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

The corridor fell silent.Leonard Whitaker tossed the liability waiver onto my chest without sparing me another glance. He crossed the hall in long, purposeful strides and stopped at Damien Whitaker's side."Don't be scared, son. I'll operate on you myself. You're going to be fine."He took Damien's hand with care, his eyes brimming with tenderness.I lay in the middle of a busy corridor, drenched in my own blood. I was watching the emergency operating room that should have been mine get handed over to a convict with barely a scratch.That morning, before I left the house, Leonard looked me in the eye and told me to be careful out there. He said he would wait for me to come home so we could celebrate my birthday together.Yet on my 20th birthday, he signed away my life without a moment of hesitation. All because the convict on death row was his biological son.My consciousness started slipping. I watched Leonard walk past me without a trace of emotion, calling every last member

Chapter 2

The young nurse wiped the sweat from my forehead. Tension crept into her expression, but she steadied herself and told me not to worry.She said Leonard was the best cardiothoracic specialist in the country, that he had pulled patients back from the brink of death more times than anyone could count. She told me to hold on just a little longer.I thought about what had happened in the corridor. Nothing stirred inside me.The monitors beside me began to shriek."When's the deputy chief getting here? The patient's vitals are dropping!"Dr. Hendricks' voice was tight with urgency as he shone a penlight into my eyes with unsteady hands. My pupils were already starting to dilate.The operating room doors opened. The nurse who had gone to find Leonard came running back, drenched in sweat. "Dr. Hendricks, Dr. Whitaker left right after his surgery. Word is he went out to buy daily supplies for the convict."She caught her breath. "And his phone's been busy this whole time. We can't get t

Chapter 3

Leonard took the scalpel from Dr. Hendricks with a grave expression and got to work without a word. My eyelids grew heavy. The anesthesia was setting in, and I drifted under.I dreamed for what felt like a very long time.In the dream, Mom married Leonard when I was only ten years old. On the first day we stepped through his front door, I saw a young man smile down at me with warmth and gather me into his arms.He said, "This is your home now, son. And I'm your father."Then the scene shifted, and the man I had called my father for ten years was the same one dragging my bleeding body out of the operating room.I woke from the nightmare drenched in sweat. When I turned my head, Mom was sitting beside me. She had rushed here the moment she saw the news, traveling all the way from our hometown without stopping. Her eyes were red and swollen as she looked me over.I had no strength left. All I could manage was a weak shake of my head. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."The words had

Chapter 4

I ignored Leonard's polished excuses and watched in silence as he ladled out the chicken noodle soup. The rich smell of meat filled the room, but my stomach turned.In all my years of knowing him, Leonard had never once cooked. He was a doctor and the deputy chief of a military hospital. His days were consumed by work. We rarely even sat down for a meal together.Hence, when he brought the spoon to my lips, I turned my face away."I don't want it."Leonard paused. He set the bowl on the table and let out a long sigh.I thought he was going to leave. Instead, he placed a document in my lap."I promise I'll take care of you and your mother from now on. You're still young. Once you graduate from the academy, I'll use every connection I have to make sure you have a real future."He lowered himself until his eyes were level with mine. "Keith, Damien is the only child I'll ever have. I can't just watch him get sentenced to death. I know you have evidence against him. I'm not asking yo

Chapter 5

The room erupted.Everyone looked at each other in stunned silence before the questions came flooding in, one on top of another."What's going on? Wasn't Deputy Chief Whitaker supposed to have operated on Keith Holloway? Why would he sign a waiver abandoning the surgery? Is there some kind of misunderstanding here?""Mr. Holloway, can you tell us exactly what happened?"The situation was spiraling out of control. My expression never changed.Leonard, on the other hand, went pale with fury. He clenched his jaw and hissed my name under his breath, then started toward me in long, hard strides.He did not make it more than a few steps before a wall of reporters closed in and cut him off. Dozens of microphones were shoved in his face as they demanded answers.At the same moment, a squad of police officers appeared at the far end of the corridor, making the chaos even harder to contain. The officer at the front flashed his credentials and walked straight up to Leonard."Deputy Chief

Chapter 6

Until that moment, no one had known about the connection between Leonard and Damien. All they knew was that Keith Holloway was Leonard Whitaker's son.Now that Mom had said it out loud, the color drained from every face in the room."What? The killer is Dr. Whitaker's biological son? If that's true, then it all makes sense. No wonder he insisted on saving the convict first. Even so, you can't just throw someone else's life away like that!""Keith's lucky to be alive. If he'd actually died, they would've gotten away with the whole thing. Officers, arrest him! A man like that has no business working in a hospital!""Exactly! What kind of father does something like that? I've truly seen it all now."The crowd's outrage showed no sign of dying down. Leonard stood with his head bowed, his expression hidden from everyone in the room.It did not take long for the police to catch Damien trying to slip out through the hospital's back exit. He was convinced that Leonard and I had conspired

Chapter 7

Leonard's explanation sounded hollow and weak.I lifted my gaze to meet his. "So you're finally admitting it. You let your personal feelings dictate who you saved first."He was a nationally renowned surgeon. He knew better than anyone that patients were supposed to be treated based on the severity of their injuries. Yet he had abandoned me because he could not bear the guilt he felt toward Damien, and now he was hiding behind a wall of excuses to justify what he had done.The moment he let his personal feelings interfere, he stopped deserving to call himself a doctor.Leonard opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He lowered his head in silence.Mom walked out of the kitchen carrying plates of food. She stopped short when she saw Leonard, and her expression hardened. She marched over and shoved him hard by the shoulders."Get out. You're not welcome in this house anymore.""Paige, just listen to me. I never planned to let Keith die. I had my reasons!"She was not interested

Chapter 8

As he spoke, Damien pulled out a canister of gasoline he had prepared in advance and doused the doorway. The sharp, acrid smell seeped through the cracks.My jaw tightened. He was planning to burn us alive.I turned and untied Mom, then tried the window. It was no use. We were on the 23rd floor. Going out that way would kill us just as fast.I went back to the door and threw my full weight against it, trying to kick it open."Damien, are you really going to keep making things worse? Turn yourself in with me right now and there's still room to negotiate. I'll testify on your behalf and push for a lighter sentence."If you actually start this fire, it's over. There's no coming back from it. Your father was willing to throw away his entire career to save you. Doesn't your own life mean anything to you?"Nothing I said made a difference. He scoffed."Don't bring that man up around me. I never asked him to save me. Does he think I'm supposed to be grateful just because he covered up

Chapter 9

"Your father, he's...""We need to get out first. I'll find a way to come back for him."The fire was growing by the second. There was no telling where Damien was hiding, and I was not going to risk all of our lives for Leonard alone.The smoke alarms throughout the building had been triggered. The corridor was packed with residents rushing for the exits. I left Mom with a neighbor and turned back toward the apartment.The smoke was so thick I could barely see. I fought through it, ignoring the searing pain of my wound tearing open again, and made it back to the living room. Leonard was already awake. He was dragging himself across the floor, trying to crawl toward the door.I did not hesitate. I ran to him and pulled him up.He stared at me as if he could not believe I had come back. His eyes were wide with shock.I got his arm over my shoulder and started moving toward the exit. Leonard coughed twice, and when he spoke, there was something in his voice he was struggling to hol

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