From Humiliated Son-In-Law to The World’s Greatest Doctor

2 - They Think I'm a Complete Loser

Derek remained dazed for quite a while, trying to process everything he had just heard.

He even managed to come to his senses for a moment and pull the car over to the side of the road after getting cursed at by several other drivers, only to drift back into a daze again like a lost man.

His wife, Margo, was having an affair with her own childhood friend, the man she claimed she had always considered almost like her own brother.

He loved Margo too much to get angry and confront her, so all he could do was sit there in complete silence.

But he was also too broken to accept this bitter reality all by himself.

Not long afterward, his phone rang again. His father-in-law’s name appeared on the screen.

Derek tried very hard to compose himself so he wouldn’t sound suspicious.

“Yeah, Dad?”

“Where did you go this time?! You really don’t intend to help us, do you?!”

“I went to look for Fred’s contact information and his address, Dad.”

“Ah… so that’s it? Fine. Do it properly! Make sure you catch that damn scammer!”

“Yes.”

He might actually have to be grateful for his father-in-law’s call, because it gave him a reason to pull himself out of the whirlpool of his own thoughts.

Derek tried to calm himself down and set aside, at least for a moment, the bitter reality that had just fallen upon him.

Whether he liked it or not, he had to deal with this fraud case first.

As for his problem with Margo, he would think about it carefully later. He still loved his wife very much. The thought of losing her felt unbearably painful.

Derek began contacting some of his old high school acquaintances who might know Fred.

One of them, Ben, said that he knew Fred’s phone number and his last known address.

As soon as Derek received the text message from Ben, he tried calling Fred’s number, but his phone was turned off. So he headed straight to Fred’s apartment, while desperately holding back the tightness and pain in his chest.

When he got there, he pounded on the door while shouting loudly, over and over.

Derek even tried turning the doorknob and pushing it. But the door remained firmly shut, and there was no sound at all from inside.

“You damn people! Shut up and stop making a racket!”

He immediately turned around. An elderly, heavyset woman came out of the apartment across from him.

“Ma’am, do you know where Fred is?” His voice sedikit trembled slightly with frustration.

“That con man isn’t here! He’s already fled!”

“When was the last time you saw him? Do you have his contact information?”

“How would I remember?! He never even greeted me whenever we passed each other! Young people these days really have so many problems!”

“Do you have his contact information?” I asked again, pressing her. “Please, I need to contact him.”

“I don’t have it! Just ask the police! They searched that place yesterday.”

Right. He had to ask the police.

So he drove his car again to the nearest police station in the area.

When he arrived, there was a large crowd of people shouting and filling the front of the building.

Derek tried to push his way through them so he could get inside.

But someone blocked and shouted at him.

“Hey! Who do you think you are, barging in like that?! We have important business here too!”

“Get in line, you brat!”

“Move!”

“Damn police! Open the door! Tell us where the hell Fred is!”

“Find O’Neill immediately!”

“Give us our money back!”

Their shouts thundered and blended together.

Derek was forced to step back from the crowd and stared at those people in a daze.

If there were this many other victims who had been scammed by Fred, was there still any chance he could get his in-laws’ money back?

÷÷÷

“Can you do it, Martin?”

Derek got back into his car and was calling a private detective he knew, someone who would clearly be able to help him a great deal in finding Fred O’Neill.

“I’ll do my best, Mr. Maynard. Finding him might not be impossible, but getting back all the money he embezzled… that will be quite difficult.”

Martin let out a deep sigh.

“Even so, the possibility isn’t zero. I’ll work as hard as I can to gather information and get whatever help we can until we manage to recover all your money.”

“Thank you, Martin. If you need additional funds, just let me know. I’ll provide them.”

This problem certainly didn’t seem like it would be easy to solve. Derek thought that perhaps he shouldn’t get his hopes up too much, judging from what Martin had just said.

As Derek became lost in the thoughts mixing together in his mind until he could no longer make sense of any of them, the sound of his phone helped bring him back to reality.

His brows furrowed as he glanced at the blinking screen. The name of the director of the hospital where he worked was displayed on it.

It was unusual for the man to call him, especially since it was no longer his practice hours and he had already finished an operation that morning.

"Yes, Mr. Reynolds?"

“Dr. Maynard, you’re not busy right now, are you? Can you come to the hospital? There’s someone who really wants to meet you.”

“I’m actually taking care of something right now. If this isn’t about a patient—”

Derek hesitated, intending to refuse if the person who wanted to meet him wasn’t a patient and there was nothing urgent about it.

But Reynolds quickly cut him off.

“It is about a patient. A very important patient, Doctor. Please stop by for a moment. I’ll be waiting for you in my office.”

Reynolds didn’t give him any chance to speak. The man even ended the call immediately without waiting for Derek’s answer.

At this point, Derek had no choice but to comply and return to the hospital.

Since it wasn’t too late in the afternoon yet, he might still be able to get home before dark and prepare dinner.

When he arrived at Reynolds’s office, there was already a man he recognized as Fletcher Richmond, the chairman and owner of the Kings Hospital chain.

Before moving to this town, Derek had worked at one of his hospitals in Riverbrook, his former hometown. That was why he recognized the man, even though they had never met before.

Before Derek could ask why he wanted to see him, Reynolds spoke first.

“This is Mr. Fletcher Richmond. He wants to offer you a great opportunity, Dr. Maynard.”

“You did your residency and worked for several years at Kings Hospital in Riverbrook, didn’t you, Dr. Maynard? I need you to go back and work there again.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you suddenly offering me this?” Derek frowned and shook his head. “I don’t think I can accept it. My wife and in-laws work and live here. I can’t just move away.”

“I need your help to operate on my daughter.”

Derek looked at him uneasily.

“Your hospitals have many excellent doctors, Mr. Richmond. Surely there’s another surgeon who can handle this.”

Fletcher Richmond shook his head. His features were stern, but the desperation in his eyes could not be completely hidden.

“You’re the only one who has performed this operation before, Dr. Maynard. None of the other surgeons are willing to do it. I also can’t entrust my daughter to a surgeons who hesitates because they doesn’t believe they're capable of doing it.”

He handed Derek a folder containing his daughter’s medical records.

“My daughter underwent two sternotomies when she was a child because of critical pulmonary stenosis and an ASD. Now they’ve found that she has a pulmonary artery aneurysm that’s getting larger.”

Derek read through the documents seriously.

“So her PAA is growing rapidly and has already begun pressing against the sternum. She'll needs a third redo sternotomy. The risk is extremely high, Mr. Richmond. The adhesions will be a very serious complication.”

Derek let out a long sigh after finishing the documents. He closed the folder and placed it on the desk.

“That’s why I’m asking you to perform the surgery, Dr. Maynard.”

Derek had indeed performed pulmonary artery aneurysm surgeries twice before as an assistant during his residency. Later, after becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon, he had successfully performed a redo sternotomy once as the primary surgeon for a case similar to Fletcher Richmond’s daughter’s.

“The problem is, I performed that procedure years ago…” A sudden inner conflict arose within him. “What about Professor Parker? He was the primary surgeon when I was still a resident. If he could do it with a good team, maybe—”

“Looks like you haven’t heard the news.” Derek’s words were cut off. “He passed away about two years ago.”

Derek felt even more troubled. He rubbed his eyes, which felt extremely tired and throbbing.

He had been so busy with his own life in this town that he hadn’t even known anything about his former senior and mentor.

“Please, Dr. Maynard. I need you to save my daughter. I’ll pay you three, no, four or five times more if you’re willing to join my hospital. I’ll also provide you with whatever facilities and medical equipment you need.”

“I can’t give you an answer right now, Mr. Richmond.”

Despite the tempting amount of money being offered, he was honestly very confused. His sense of duty as a doctor was in turmoil.

“Just accept it, Dr. Maynard.” Reynolds actually looked enthusiastic. “You can’t keep putting your wife before your career. I’m perfectly happy to have you working at my small hospital, but you’re wasting your medical skills by staying here!”

“Exactly. Why did you leave everything you had achieved behind, Doctor? There are so many patients who truly need you, yet you’re hiding here. Mr. Reynolds told me that you’ve been severely limiting your practice hours and the number of surgeries you perform. Why?"

Fletcher Richmond let out a frustrated sigh.

"Don’t you feel sorry for your patients? You should help them if you can.”

Their sharp words made him waver even more. His conscience was deeply troubled.

“Can I… think about it first?”

“Well, yes. Of course.” Fletcher Richmond then handed Derek his business card. “This is my personal number. Call me as soon as you’ve made your decision.”

÷÷÷