Recently, Jason Hart had often been called in by Ferdinand Bolt to help out in the intensive care unit. The ICU had no shortage of patients, and most of the cases were both complicated and severe. Everyone there was constantly busy, but Jason still handled the heavy workload with ease, moving from bed to bed with quiet efficiency.After finishing a long, exhausting shift that day, he returned to the cheap motel room where he had been staying. As he pushed open the door, he stopped dead in his tracks.Lauren Chase was already waiting inside, sitting casually on the edge of his bed.Jason's expression immediately darkened."Lauren, why do you keep showing up here and waiting for me?" Jason asked, his voice laced with heavy irritation. "What exactly do you want?""You don't want me coming to see you because you're afraid I'll find out you've been hiding a woman here and doing something you shouldn't?" Lauren asked with a faint, sharp smile.She didn't bother restraining her usual command

That night, Jason tossed and turned on his squeaky motel mattress for hours, completely unable to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, the memory of that butterfly tattoo flashed behind his eyelids. He hated himself to death in that moment, cursing his own weakness and making a firm, silent vow to quit drinking altogether.I wonder if Lauren will expose these photos to the hospital, Jason thought, staring up at the cracked ceiling as cold sweat chilled his neck. Even though it was an unintentional affair while I was completely out of my mind, it’s still a massive scandal on my part. If this actually spreads around the hospital, nobody will care why it happened or how much pain I was in; they’ll only focus on the fact that it occurred.He swallowed hard, feeling a knot tighten in his throat.I’ll just be seen as a hypocrite with degenerate morals. In the worst-case scenario, the ethics board will fire me outright. Even if Director Ferdinand Bolt tries to back me up, any chance at prom

Jason tried calling Lauren multiple times, but her phone was completely switched off. He then dialed Mrs. Susan Chase, hoping her grandmother would answer, but that call went straight to voicemail as well. Left with no other choice, he grabbed his jacket and drove straight to the precinct.When he walked inside, the officer behind the desk looked up."Dr. Jason! It's you!" The attractive policewoman on duty recognized him instantly and greeted him warmly. "If I had known Nina was your daughter, I would have sent her straight to your house instead of keeping her here."Jason felt a sharp wave of embarrassment wash over him. He forced a polite smile, exchanged brief pleasantries, and quickly filled out the required paperwork.As he reviewed the intake sheet, his eyes caught the line where Nina had written down her personal details. Under her relationship to him, she had clearly written: Stepfather.Seeing those nine letters, Jason's heart couldn't help but sting once more.He quickly le

"When words fail, even half a sentence is too much."With that final thought echoing in his mind, Jason turned his back on Bolton Chase and walked straight out of the grand estate.Throughout the entire drive back to his motel, anger smoldered deep in his chest. Yet, strangely enough, Bolton’s venomous rant helped him see his current reality even more clearly than before."I’m just a tiny, insignificant nobody of a doctor!" Jason muttered aloud, offering a self-deprecating smile. Accepting his own mediocrity with a calm, stoic composure, he found that his mood had surprisingly improved quite a bit.Upon returning to his room, he scrambled to get some rest, desperate to catch a few hours of sleep. But before eight o’clock rolled around, his phone buzzed violently on the nightstand.He groggily picked it up. It was the ICU head nurse, her voice urgent over the line."Dr. Jason, you need to hurry to work right now!" she warned. "Deputy Director Marcus is already in the ward looking for f

The bright fluorescent lights of the Intensive Care Unit hallway buzzed softly, but the air between Jason Hart and Deputy Director Marcus was thick enough to choke on.Marcus held the thick brown envelope in his hand, tapping it lightly against his palm with a slow, venomous grin. He stepped closer to Jason, making sure no one else was close enough to overhear their private conversation."Well, well, Dr. Jason. Or should I call you 'Director' Jason?" Marcus sneered, his eyes gleaming with malice. "Looks like your little run of good luck has officially hit a brick wall."Jason stared at him, his face pale but his jaw clenched tight. "Marcus, open that envelope. Look at the timestamps on those photos. You're an intelligent doctor—don't tell me you can't see this is a cheap, manufactured setup.""Setup? Oh, spare me your pathetic excuses," Marcus scoffed, shaking his head. "The ethics committee doesn't care about your excuses, Jason. Pictures don't lie. A married doctor sneaking a heavy-