Chapter 42 CHAPTER 42
The secretary’s eyes widened slightly, but Dr. Kai was too consumed by his own fury to notice.
“They wanted this exact result,” he continued. “They wanted people to doubt me. They wanted this city whispering my name with suspicion. They wanted my competence questioned. My integrity questioned. Everything questioned.”
He stopped pacing and turned sharply.
“And what annoys me even more,” he said, his tone turning colder, “is that Oliver may be involved in this too.”
The secretary frowned.
“Mr. Oliver, sir?”
Dr. Kai’s nostrils flared.
“Yes. Oliver—the same man I called my friend.”
There was deep betrayal in the way he said the word friend, as though even using it now insulted him.
“But perhaps,” he added after a moment, narrowing his eyes, “perhaps he doesn’t even know the full truth. Perhaps he isn’t aware of the poison Megan has been planting behind the scenes.”
He spoke more slowly now, each word heavy with thought.
“Maybe he doesn’t know the kind of dangerous lies she has been spinning. Maybe he has no idea what she is capable of. If that is the case, then everything she has been doing—everything she has been saying has been carefully planted.”
He gave a humorless laugh, one filled with contempt.
“A planted life. A planted story. A planted scandal.”
His voice hardened again.
“And I am not going to stand here with folded hands and watch Megan disgrace me like this. Not me. Not my name. Not my reputation.”
The secretary instinctively took a small step back.
There was something different in Dr. Kai now not just anger, but wounded pride sharpened into vengeance. It was no longer about correcting a misunderstanding. It was no longer about controlling bad press.
This had become personal, Very personal.
Dr. Kai slowly set the iPad down on his desk, but his eyes remained fixed on it as though the screen itself carried an insult he could not forgive.
For years, he had built himself into a man no one dared mock openly. Years of discipline. Years of sacrifice. Years of earning his place among the most respected medical professionals in the city.
And now one viral video—one manipulated narrative had opened the door for the public to laugh.
To question, to doubt.
That, more than anything else, he could not bear.
He lifted his gaze, and when he spoke again, his voice was low, cold, and terrifyingly deliberate.
“So I’m going to strike back at her. And this time, it is going to be bloody.”
At that moment, Dr. Kai drew in a slow breath, trying to contain the rage that still coursed through him like fire beneath the skin. His secretary was still standing in front of the desk, waiting cautiously, unsure whether to say more or retreat before his employer’s temper flared again.
Finally, Dr. Kai spoke.
“You are free to leave now,” he said, his voice low and controlled. “I’ll handle the situation from here.”
The secretary immediately bowed his head, relieved that he had not been caught in the full force of Dr. Kai’s anger.
“No problem, sir,” he replied respectfully. “I understand. But you know I am always ready to render my assistance in any way possible. If there is anything at all you need, you can call me, and I will be here immediately.”
Dr. Kai did not answer.
He had already turned away in spirit, his mind moving several steps ahead, beyond the office, beyond the video, beyond the flood of public humiliation beginning to gather around his name. He did not have the patience for formalities now.
Without saying a single word, he lifted one hand and made a short, dismissive gesture toward the door.
The secretary got the message at once.
He bowed once more, then turned and left quickly, careful this time to close the door gently behind him.
The moment the door clicked shut, the office fell into a deep and uneasy silence.
No footsteps, no voices.
No movement except Dr. Kai himself.
He remained standing behind his desk for a long moment, staring at nothing in particular. The iPad still lay there, its screen dimming slowly, but he could still see the comments in his mind as clearly as if they were burning across the glass.
"Fraud," "Overrated," "Not as brilliant as people thought" "A doctor only made great by expensive machines."
His jaw clenched.
That was what infuriated him the most not merely that the video had gone viral, not merely that people were talking, but that the public had been given permission to doubt him. To reduce years of brilliance, discipline, and reputation into one humiliating clip.
And Megan.
Everything in him circled back to her.
Whether she had acted alone or with help, whether she had planned every detail or merely taken advantage of the situation, one thing was clear to him now: this scandal had not grown naturally. It had been shaped. Guided. Planted.
And he was not a man who allowed himself to be used as a stepping stone for someone else’s rise.
Slowly, he reached into the inner pocket of his coat and brought out another phone.