Chapter 5

I pulled up my complete medical file from three years ago.

As I scrolled through the digital records on my phone, my heart hammered against my ribs.

I had fallen off the back of a high stage, fracturing my wrist. It should have been an easy fix.

But the record showed a four-hour and twenty-minute delay before the surgery began.

And the signature on the emergency authorization form wasn't Victoria's.

It was Adrien's.

My mind went completely blank.

Adrien... the boy I had raised and sponsored, was the only one with me that night.

Victoria had been out of the country. Adrien was supposed to be taking care of me.

I tracked down the caregiver who had worked on my hospital ward back then.

The moment she saw my face, she recognized me. She gave me a look of deep pity.

"Ah, the famous pianist. Yes, I remember you. And I remember that young man who always visited you."

She paused, looking around before whispering. "One night, while you were heavily sedated, he stayed in your room alone for a very long time. The next morning, your hand was swollen to twice its size... the doctor said the internal tissue was completely crushed. That's why it never recovered."

She sighed and walked away.

I sat on the plastic bench in the hospital corridor, the world spinning around me.

My implant picked up nothing but the sound of my own shallow, ragged breathing.

My hand wasn't ruined by the fall.

While I was unconscious, someone had deliberately destroyed it.

And that person was Adrien. The boy I had given everything to.

When I got home, the sound of cheerful piano music and laughter echoed from the living room.

Adrien was sitting at my Steinway. Victoria stood behind him, her hands resting gently on his shoulders. They looked like a picture-perfect couple.

I stood quietly in the shadow of the hallway.

Adrien hit a wrong note and looked up at her poutingly. "It's too hard..."

Victoria laughed, running her fingers through his hair. "Take your time, sweetie. Your hands are precious. They are worth a thousand of this stupid piano."

She paused, her voice turning contemptuous. "Not like Julian. His hands are useless now. Honestly, it's better this way. At least we don't have to listen to his annoying practicing anymore."

Every word was a knife in my chest.

I clenched my fists, forcing myself to remain silent.

I had to keep playing the deaf man.

I walked into the study, scanned the old medical logs, and saved the caregiver's recorded statement into the secure folder.

My mercy was officially gone.