Chapter 3

"Ethan, Chloe is right. You're young. Give the spot to Julian."

Just then, Natalie walked back in, with Julian following right behind her.

I looked up and caught Julian's smirk.

His eyes were filled with mockery, silently laughing at my supposed weakness.

I shook my head firmly. "Neither of you has the right to decide my life."

Without another word, I grabbed my coat and walked out the door.

To my surprise, over the next two days of the competition, neither of them bothered me.

Checking Instagram during a break, I saw an announcement: Julian had taken on the surgery entirely by himself.

I thought that would be the end of it.

But as soon as I returned from the competition, Natalie and Chloe ambushed me in the hallway.

Their faces were pale with panic.

"Ethan, you have to save Julian! If you don't help him, his life is over!"

I instantly knew what happened: the surgery went wrong again.

I crossed my arms and looked at them coldly. "How am I supposed to save him from a botched surgery?"

This time, I wasn't even in the building. There was no way they could pin it on me.

Or so I thought, until Natalie dropped her bombshell.

"I've already arranged everything. You just need to say you were the lead surgeon and take the fall for him."

"You're relatively new here. Even if an error occurred, the disciplinary board will go easy on you."

Her words hit me like a bucket of ice water.

I was her biological brother. Yet she was casually asking me to ruin my life for Julian.

If I took the blame, my medical license would be revoked, and I could end up in prison.

The trauma of my past life flashed before my eyes.

I refused on the spot.

"He's a licensed surgeon. He messed up, so he needs to face the consequences. Why the hell should I take the fall?"

Chloe grew frantic.

"Aren't colleagues supposed to support each other?"

"If you help Julian through this, we'll all be grateful to you forever!"

Her shameless manipulation snapped the last thread of my patience.

"You care so much about Julian, but did either of you give a damn about me?"

"Don't forget—you're my sister, and you're my girlfriend!"

My voice cracked with suppressed rage.

In my past life, their obsession with Julian drove me to jump off a roof. Did they really think they could push me to my death all over again?

Natalie's face hardened, her tone cold and commanding.

"Ethan, this isn't up for debate. I've already falsified the records to cover Julian. You have to take this hit."

With that, she slammed a thick stack of papers onto my desk.

They had actually fabricated evidence placing me in the operating room.

The paperwork was so flawless that anyone looking at it would believe I performed the surgery.

The lengths they went to for Julian was terrifying. I had truly underestimated how depraved they could be.

Yet, instead of panicking, I looked at them with a calm smile.

"Aren't you worried I'll send all of you to prison for this?"