Chapter 4

The operating room lights blazed bright as daylight. Beads of sweat formed at Vivian Laurent's temples as her scalpel moved with precision through the patient's chest cavity—a masterful dance of steel and flesh.

"Blood pressure stabilizing!" a nurse exclaimed.

Outside, the Jiang couple paced anxiously. Mrs. Jiang twisted the strap of her handbag. "Can someone so young really handle this?"

"That's Dr. Luna," Nathan Clementson said from his post against the wall, his tone firm. "Voted top surgeon of the year by International Medical Journal."

Mr. Jiang immediately pulled out his phone. His eyes widened at the search results. "Good lord... Over three hundred successful heart transplants..."

The surgery lasted seven grueling hours. As Vivian tied off the final suture, her gloved fingers trembled slightly.

"Need a break?" Nathan offered her a glass of water.

She shook her head, pulling down her mask to reveal a pallid face. "I'm going home."

Hospital staff watched in awe as the seemingly fragile woman strode down the corridor—fresh from performing a textbook-perfect operation.

Meanwhile, Ethan Roscente stood in Vivian's apartment. Three dishes and a soup sat cold on the dining table. His lips curled into a sneer as memories of that rainy night three years ago surfaced.

His phone rang. "We located Dr. Luna," Simon Eisner reported.

"Where?"

"Capital Hospital. Just finished a major surgery."

Ethan grabbed his suit jacket and bolted out the door. He'd pay any price to save Sophia Evans.

At the hospital entrance, Mr. Jiang was effusively shaking a doctor's hand. Ethan approached. "Where's Dr. Luna?"

"Left already," a nurse gestured toward a side exit. "Used the staff corridor."

Ethan barked into his phone: "Lock down all exits. Find a woman in a lab coat."

Vivian had already changed into casual wear and slid exhaustedly into a taxi. Rubbing her temples, she suddenly spotted a black Maybach closing in through the rearview mirror.

"Turn right ahead," she instructed the driver, eyes narrowing.

The cab veered into an alley—the Maybach sticking to them like a shadow. Vivian's lips curved. "Lose him."

A high-speed chase ensued through city streets. Ethan floored the accelerator, pulling alongside the taxi—only to see an unfamiliar man behind the wheel.

Then the cab braked hard. Before Ethan could react, a slender figure vaulted from the backseat into the driver's position.

The taxi's engine roared as it shot forward like an arrow. Ethan's pupils constricted—those were professional-grade driving skills.

Tires screeched as both vehicles raced across an overpass. Vivian steered with one hand while flipping off the pursuing car with the other.

"Later, Mr. Roscente," she murmured before executing a flawless drift into traffic—vanishing instantly.

Ethan slammed the steering wheel. Outmaneuvered by a woman—using his own specialty.

His phone pinged with Simon's message: "Confirmed. Dr. Luna's real name—Vivian Laurent."

Ethan's face darkened as he stared at the screen.