Chapter 218

Dr. Wood came from an ordinary family, and his apartment complex was just an ordinary one. It was not close to the hospital.

Hector and Ashley weren’t very familiar—they usually only nodded when passing each other. Naturally, he didn’t recognize Ashley’s car.

Ashley had followed Hector all the way as he ran frantically, and even when he reached his building entrance, Hector still didn’t know someone had tailed him.

Chris received a call from Ashley, saying that Hector seemed to be in trouble.

“You’re already at his house?” Chris stepped out of the room, a bit worried. “Are you sure you can handle it? Should we call Captain Felton instead?”

“Are you questioning my abilities, my friend?”

That wasn’t even what Chris meant. Chris froze for a few seconds before realizing Ashley was joking.

He asked, “Where’s Hector?”

“He went upstairs. He was in a rush. I’m parked downstairs in front of his apartment building. I can’t just follow him inside, so I’ll wait in the car for news. Tell me, what could be happening in Hector’s house?”

Hector’s last surgery had already ended quite late. Just as he finished signing the paperwork and was about to go home, his phone rang.

At that moment, he saw the phone ringing in the locker; he jumped in shock. Because that wasn’t his phone—it was one that had mysteriously appeared in his locker long ago. Just like Megan’s situation, the phone contained photos of his parents and also pictures of his own back while going to work, looking as though they had been taken secretly by someone nearby.

But Hector hadn’t answered that call right away. For several days in a row, he had been on edge. Even when he threw the phone away, the next morning it would reappear in his locker. He had no choice but to start carrying it with him. Then, every three hours, he would receive new photos of himself.

The nonstop intimidation had lasted for over 10 days—Hector was about to have a mental breakdown. He finally started replying to the messages, demanding to know why they were doing this.

Were they the family members of a patient? Unlike Ben’s case, Hector was a very competent doctor. His surgery success rate was relatively high, and there were basically no doctor-patient disputes. Even if there were, he didn’t believe patient families would do something like this. Medical disputes were usually impulsive. Hatred would make them explode with anger almost immediately—people would storm into a consultation room with knives and stab doctors. He had seen that plenty of times. But he had never seen anyone use a phone for long-term threats.

Two days after Hector lost control and raged at the caller, the first task that person wanted him to do appeared.

Hector returned home in terror. His parents were lying on the bed, and his heart skipped a beat. He rushed forward.

“Dad! Mom!”

The two elders looked as if they were sleeping, their hands neatly placed on top of the blanket, lying perfectly straight. But in reality, his father had always liked to sleep on his side. For decades, he basically never slept on his back like this.

Hector ran over, threw himself onto them, and with trembling hands, he checked their breathing. Luckily, they were both still breathing. They weren’t dead.

Hector collapsed onto the floor. He knew this was the other party’s retaliation—because this time he had failed the assigned task. The dosage for that particular drug wasn’t something he was familiar with; it wasn’t even his department. The patient had walked out of the hospital perfectly fine.

This was retaliation, a threat, a punishment for his incompetence. But what could he do? Megan had already resigned—it seemed she had escaped. But what about him? He still had his parents to take care of. Was he supposed to take them with him and flee the city? He hadn’t told his parents anything about this yet—Hector was bearing the pressure alone. What exactly should he do?

Ashley waited in the car downstairs for a long time. He didn’t see any ambulance arrive, nor did he see Hector come back out. He finally started the car and drove out of the complex, deliberately circling around—afraid that someone might be following him.

Chapter 219