Chapter 1

My right hand was deliberately smashed by a rival. My father — one of the country's top hand surgeons — falsified the injury assessment.

At the police station, he spoke with complete conviction, dismissing the deliberate attack that destroyed my career as "soft tissue contusion from an accidental fall."

All because that girl's mother was the woman he'd been in love with for half his life.

When I confronted him, my father looked me dead in the eye, righteous as ever.

"As a physician, I deal in objective facts. I can't exaggerate an injury just because you're my daughter — that would be framing an innocent person."

"Anya is about to compete in an international piano competition. A criminal record would ruin her life. Can't you show a little compassion?"

I watched Anya and her mother walk out of the police station, smug and untouched.

And I smiled.

I reached into my bag and pulled out the document I'd prepared — a formal declaration severing our relationship as father and daughter — and threw it in his face.

"Since you're so committed to your medical ethics. Since you love being the good guy so much."

"Then I hope when you're old, your precious first love is there to see you through the rest of your days."