After I begged him again and again, Ethan reluctantly came.

When he arrived, Lily was with him.

By then, Mrs. Walker had already completed her CT scan.

Ethan didn’t even step into the room. He just glanced at the scan and snapped, “You called me for this? Such a small issue?”

He told me to leave everything to him and walked away with Lily.

I still trusted his medical skills.

After all, Mrs. Walker’s stroke was not severe, and we had brought her in quickly.

She should have been fine with proper thrombolysis.

But instead, I got the news that she had died from a sudden brain bleed.

And Ethan still thought the patient was my mother.

Clearly, he hadn’t been the one treating her—he hadn’t even looked at the chart.

Her chart clearly had Mrs. Walker’s name on it!

Her body had been at the hospital for a full day.

They should have notified her family by now.

So why did he still act like he didn’t know?

As I wrestled with these questions, I heard the sound of the door unlocking.

I looked up and saw Ethan walk in with Lily, who was dressed to the nines.

They didn’t even bother to close the door before they started kissing passionately.

“Ethan, you secretly handled her mother’s body. What if she finds out?” Lily asked with fake concern.

“So what if she does? That woman chased me like a dog for three years.

If it weren’t for her family’s money and what they could do for me, do you think I would’ve married her?”

Ethan smirked, holding Lily by the waist.

“Besides, I took a huge risk for you today. How do you plan to thank me?”

In that moment, everything became clear to me.

Ethan had been afraid that I would request an autopsy and sue his precious intern.

So he had used his influence at the hospital to cremate his own mother’s body without my consent.

As a doctor, did he not understand that this wasn’t just unethical—it was criminal?

Lily giggled, “How do you want me to thank you? I’m already all yours—whatever you want, you can have.”

Ethan grinned, scooped her up in a bridal carry, and started toward the bedroom—

Only to stop dead when he saw me standing in the doorway, phone in hand, staring at them with narrowed eyes.

“Sophia, what are you doing here?” Ethan blurted, his face draining of color.

“This is my house. Why wouldn’t I be here?”

I gave them a cold smile.

“Don’t mind me. Go on.”

“Sophia, your mother just passed away, and you’re not at the vigil? What kind of daughter are you?”

Ethan set Lily down, his face dark and accusing.

Seeing him try to play the victim made me so furious I could barely breathe.

I wanted to rip him apart and see what kind of heart he had left in his chest.

He had the audacity to bring his intern into our home and do this—and then to question me?

“Sophia, good, you’re here.”

Ethan suddenly said coldly.

“The hospital couldn’t reach your family, so your mother’s body couldn’t be processed.

I signed the death certificate on your behalf.”

As he spoke, Ethan Walker handed me a cardboard box wrapped in a plastic bag.

“This is your mother’s ashes. Saves me the trouble of bringing them to you.”

I had already expected he wouldn’t treat his own mother’s ashes with any dignity.

But when I saw the torn, flimsy packaging and the ashes spilling everywhere as he handed it over, my rage broke free.

“Ethan, have you lost every shred of human decency just to protect your little lover and destroy the evidence?” I demanded coldly.

“Bullshit! What evidence did I destroy?” Ethan’s expression turned dark and vicious.

He threw the box of ashes on the floor and roared,

“Sophia Reed, I’m a doctor, not a god! People die in our hospital every day. Your mother’s death has nothing to do with me!”

I took a deep breath, knelt down, and picked up the box.

Inside, barely half of the ashes were left.

“The dead deserve respect. You call yourself a doctor, but you can’t even give the deceased the basic dignity they deserve!”

Ethan’s face twisted with impatience.

“The crematorium burns so many bodies every day—those ashes all get mixed up anyway. What does it matter? As long as there’s enough to bury, that’s all you need.”

I let out a bitter laugh.

How could a human being say something so callous?

“Dr. Walker, Mrs. Walker, please don’t fight. This is all my fault.”

Lily suddenly burst into tears, interrupting us.

“I was the one who collected the ashes. If I had known, I would’ve scooped up more so even if some spilled, there’d still be plenty left.”

“How is any of this your fault?”

Ethan patted her head indulgently before turning to me with disdain.

“She didn’t even take care of her own mother’s body, and now she’s using her death to extort the hospital.

You went out of your way to bring her the ashes, and instead of being grateful, she blames you.

A daughter like that—no wonder her mother died early!”

My chest burned with fury.

This was beyond absurd.

This was clearly a medical malpractice case, caused entirely by Lily’s mistake.

But Ethan had abandoned all sense of right and wrong to protect his mistress.

“Don’t say that, Dr. Walker. Mrs. Reed is probably just emotional because her mom just died,”

Lily said softly, pouting and playfully covering Ethan’s mouth.

A tenderness flashed across Ethan’s eyes—one I had never seen before.

Seeing it felt like a knife to the heart.

“Mrs. Reed, life and death are fate. It’s better to let Mrs. Walker be laid to rest quickly.

Otherwise, her remains might end up scattered even more.”

Lily blinked innocently as she handed the ashes toward me again.

I gave a cold laugh and pushed them back toward her.

“Then let Ethan keep them himself.”

As I pushed the box back, a mischievous glint flashed in Lily’s eyes.

She suddenly stumbled backward, tearing the bag open.

Ashes spilled all over the floor, filling the air with a choking cloud.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Reed,” Lily said pitifully, plopping down on the ground.

“If hitting me will make you feel better, go ahead.

But your mom’s death really has nothing to do with me.”

“Sophia Reed, are you insane?”

Ethan’s eyes bulged in rage. He stepped forward and slapped me hard across the face.

“You crazy woman!” he snarled, pointing at me.

“Lily went out of her way to bring you the ashes, and you hit her? You’re completely unreasonable!”

Then he scooped Lily up and turned to leave.

“Ethan, we’re getting a divorce.”

I held my stinging cheek, my strength drained.

I no longer even had the energy to argue.

I pulled out the divorce papers I had prepared.

“You want to divorce me?”

Ethan froze, whipping his head around to glare at me.

His face twisted between shock and fury.

“Sophia, how long are you going to keep making trouble? If every family of a patient who dies at St. Mary’s Medical Center acted like you, how could we even keep the hospital running?

Put away the divorce papers. Out of respect for your mother’s passing, I’ll let this go.”

I stared at him coldly, expressionless.

“If you refuse to divorce me, I will press charges and take this to court.

Don’t think that just because you disposed of the body, I can’t file a lawsuit.”

Ethan’s face went pale.

Lily panicked too, clutching his sleeve.

“So that’s what this is about—you just want to force me to divorce you?”

Ethan gave a chilling laugh and signed his name with a flourish.

He slammed the papers onto the table.

“Tomorrow at nine a.m. See you at the County Courthouse.”

I gathered up the papers and said flatly,

“Fine.”

He took Lily’s hand, and as they left, he turned back with a sneer.

“Don’t come crawling back to me like a dog tomorrow.”

I went back to my parents’ house and told Mr. and Mrs. Reed about the divorce.

At first, they tried to talk me out of it.

But once I told them everything that had happened, they were furious.

Ethan had acted the way he did only because he thought it was my family member who was sick.

This proved that if something really did happen to my family, he would be just as heartless.

The next morning, I took the divorce papers and was about to head to the County Courthouse.

But then Chloe Walker appeared, wearing a bright red dress, reeking of alcohol, and carrying a funeral wreath.

When she saw me, she rolled her eyes dramatically.

“So, you’re divorcing my brother?

What, did your mom’s death scramble your brains?”

“My brother’s a board-certified physician. If you divorce him, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

A board-certified physician?

I laughed mockingly. That title wouldn’t last long.

“I spent all night talking him out of divorcing you.

Now pick up the phone and apologize to him.

Men having a little fling outside—that’s normal. Stop being so petty.”

I ignored her entirely.

Had she forgotten how her brother even got his position at the hospital?

It was me who pulled every string, paid every favor, and begged every connection to get him the job.

My parents had even swallowed their pride to call in favors and get him into a top hospital for advanced training.

That’s how Ethan gained his early fame as a star neurologist.