His Sacrificial Lamb

While performing surgery on a patient, my best friend was video-flirting with my fianc.

Distracted, she slipped with the scalpel, leaving the patient paralyzed for life.

Afterwards, she threw me to the wolvesthe patient's furious familyand lied, claiming I was the surgeon who messed up.

I begged my fianc to testify for me.

But he just said hed already married her secretly, and he didnt want his wife getting jealous.

Then he turned and shielded Amber as they walked away.

Then came the attack. I was stabbed over a dozen times.

The tendons in my hands were completely severed.

Even my ring fingers and pinkies on both hands crushed to pulp.

In that moment of utter despair, my childhood friend, Gabriel Finch, showed up with his security team.

Tears streaming, he cradled my ruined hands. He dispatched his private jet, summoned dozens of top specialists from around the globe, and begged them to save me.

Two years later, I overheard him talking to his assistant:

"Mr. Finch, because of Amber's mistake, the patient died right on the operating table. The family is flying back from overseas. They wont let this slide."

"Should we pin it on Mrs. Finch again, like last time? This is already the second time shes taken the fall for Amber. What if it costs her her life this time?"

Gabriel laughed dismissively.

"Last time she got stabbed like a pincushion, her hands destroyed, and she pulled through, didnt she? If she could take the hit once, she can take it again.

" Anyway, I'm the one supporting her. As long as she doesn't die, it's fine."

"Ambers prepping for the 'Golden Scalpel Awards.' Becoming the Medical Sages disciple is her dream. I wont allow any danger or obstacle to get near her!"

...

His assistant looked uneasy.

"But sir that competition slot it was originally Mrs. Finchs. She was the top surgeon in the country."

" Becoming the Sages disciple was her dream too. And you you deliberately had her hands ruined to disqualify her."

"She worked for ten years for that spot. Is this really fair to her?"

"Fair?" Gabriel scoffed. "Whats unfair? Her hands were already useless. A cripple couldnt compete anyway."

The assistant still hesitated.

"But sir you spent thirty million just to get Miss Healey into the competition as a substitute and another two hundred million bribing the organizers for the competition questions."

"If word gets out about you helping her cheat your reputation, the company stock the fallout would be catastrophic."

Gabriel looked annoyed.

"Enough! From the moment I met Amber, I knew Id give her everything."

"Since I couldnt make her choose me, Ill do everything to lift her up to her dreams. If Amber is happy, what do I care about reputation or stock?"

"Amber must win the championship. Only then can she become the Sages disciple. As for Sandra well, shes ruined anyway. Ill spend the rest of my life making it up to her."

Outside the door, I trembled, recording every word on my phone, then stumbled downstairs.

That family member who stabbed me, who sliced my tendons, who crushed my fingers wasnt just acting out of grief.

He was acting on Gabriels orders!

He saved me, married me, not out of love but to keep his beloveds scapegoat handya sacrificial lamb on standby.

I survived, but my hands were destroyed and four fingers amputated.

Even holding chopsticks is a struggle now, let alone wielding a scalpel again.

But I never imagined the mastermind behind it all was my own husband.

The thought that while I lay bleeding, drowning in despair over my shattered dream, he might have been watching from the shadows with satisfaction sent a chill deep into my bones.

The scars on my wrists throb painfully. My hands shake violently.

A glass slipped from my grasp, shattering on the floor.

The noise brought Gabriel running.

He pulled me into his embrace, away from the broken glass. "Sandra, darling," he murmured, voice full of concern,

"How many times have I told you? In this house, I am your hands. Just tell me what you need."

"Or ask the housekeeper! Your hands havent fully healed. What if you make it worse? Do you want to break my heart?"

I instinctively reached for my gloves on the bar counter.

Gabriel stopped me. He gently lifted my, ruined hands and pressed a kiss to the scarred stump where my fingers used to be.

"Sandra, with me, you never need to feel insecure or hide behind gloves. Because I love you. All of you."

"I only hate that I got there too late that day. If Id been sooner your hands your dream of being a surgeon" His voice cracked. "I promise, Ill take care of you. "

His tone was tender, his gaze soft, yet his words filled me with sorrow.

The devotion I thought was my salvation? Just another layer of his disguise.

I forced a smile.

"Don't say that. You did everything you could."

"You've worked hard. Go rest upstairs. I'll ask the housekeeper to warm some milk for you."

I slipped two sleeping pills into the milk.

Once Gabriel was deeply asleep, I crept down to the garage.

I meant to check the car's dashcam footage.

Instead, my clumsy hand brushed a hidden button in the corner.

The floor tiles slid apart, revealing a staircase descending into darkness. It was a secret room.

The room had an electronic lock.

On the small screen was a heart-shaped sticker featuring Amber and Gabriels grinning faces.

As expected, the code was Ambers birthday.

Stepping inside, the scene that greeted me pierced my heart like a blade.

Gabriel had turned the room into a private theater.

On the highest-end screen money could buy, a video played: Amber in med school, practicing vascular sutures on a lab rat.

Her pores were visible, as if you could reach out and touch her.

Her hand trembled.

The suture needle plunged straight through the rats tiny heart.

It died instantly.

Despite the clumsy technique, Gabriel had adorned the video with heart stickers. His note read:

"October 3rd, 2018. Sunny. My dearest Amber, future star of medicine. You look so beautiful when you focus."

Id once wanted to record snippets of our married life to keep as memories for our old age.

Gabriel had said true memories lived in the heart, and that such things were a pointless waste of time.

Yet he had recorded so many videos of Ambers daily life and work.

Over a thousand entries in the playlistmore than the days wed been married. Each one tagged with his heartfelt declarations.

Dozens of small wooden shelves lined the walls, displaying hundreds of bottles of luxury womens hand serum.

Id seen the same brand in Ambers purse back when I was still a doctor.

Curious, Id asked her where she got it.

Amber had laughed dismissively.

"Sandra, dont even think about it. You can't buy these, and you couldn't afford them. Someone who loves me had it specially formulated by an international master perfumer."

"The ingredients are rare and expensive. The absolute best for skin nourishment. A single bottle costs tens of thousands."

That "someone" was Gabriel.

Three years of marriage, and Id never received a fraction of that devotion.

But the most gut-wrenching sight was a cartoon poster titled Ambers Dream.

A cartoon Amber battled her way to victory, winning the Golden Scalpel championship, becoming the Medical Sages disciple.

Beside it, Gabriels handwriting:

"Amber, I will lift you to the top."

And on that path to the summit, I saw myself.covered in blood, fingers crushed, lying in a pool of crimson.

My face was crossed out with a bright red X. The note beneath it, "Amber's Obstacle. Resolved."

Tears fell uncontrollably. I booked a flight leaving in three days.

Gabriel, since Im such an eyesore to you, Ill vanish completely.

As for your precious Amber shes basked in my pain and blood long enough. It's time for that to end.

Back in the main house, I found a template on my phone, and drafted divorce papers. Id leave with nothing.

I sat on the sofa, staring at my maimed hands, awake all night.

The next morning, Gabriel, assuming I'd just woken early, suspected nothing.

He took out a thumb-sized tube of hand cream, meticulously massaging it into my skin.

"Sandra, this is a new formula developed by some international master. It nourishes the skin, promotes regeneration. It's incredibly hard to get. I managed to snag just this one tube. Its perfect for you."

Looking at the cheap tube, I laughed bitterly inside.

It was the free sample that came with the crates of Ambers luxury serum, piled dusty in the corner of his shrine.

Before I could mention divorce, Gabriel rushed to get dressed.

"Sandra, things are a bit chaotic out there lately. Stay home, sweetheart. Dont wander off."

The moment he left, I opened my phone.

The recording device Id planted in his car transmitted his assistants voice.

"Mr. Finch, the deceaseds family seems to have contacted the media. They want justice."

"Ive told the hospital staff to keep quiet, but the storys blowing up. It could easily lead back to Miss Healey."

"What are you waiting for?" Gabriels voice was cold. "Leak Sandras photo and our home address to the media. Pin it on her."

"But Mrs. Finch, she"

"Enough! Shes safely tucked away at home. Ill post two guards outside. What could possibly happen? Just make sure nothing touches Amber."

For Ambers sake, he shoved me into the storm without a second thought. Such profound "love."

Sure enough, moments after Gabriel left, reporters and online trolls swarmed the gate.

The promised guards were nowhere in sight.

They pounded on the door, screaming.

"Sandra Nash! You murdering bitch! Quack doctor! Hiding in your mansion after killing someone? Were here for justice! Come out!"

Stones shattered the windows. Rotten eggs splattered against my head, reeking.

The door groaned under their assault.

The housekeeper, unable to bear it, helped me into her clothes and hat so I could slip out the back.

I hadnt run far when a few online streamers spotted me.

"Theres the bitch! She dares to run? Grab her! Our livestream will blow up!"

The terror of being caught and tortured by that patients family years ago flooded back. I sprinted in panic.

Desperate, I called Gabriel for help. He answered, sounding distracted.

"Sandra, honey, Im in a meeting. Can this wait?"

Before I could speak, he must have accidentally hit the camera button.

The screen showed Amber clinging to his arm. They were strolling leisurely through a luxury mall.

Amber pointed at a top-tier jewelry boutique, pouting.

"Gabriel, I love all their diamond rings. But theyre so expensive. What to do?"

Gabriel gazed at her adoringly, voice dripping with indulgence.

"Then Ill buy them all for you, Amber. Consider it a boost for your competition tomorrow."

"Oh, stop! Youll spoil me rotten! Well let me try that solitaire first~"

"Anything for your happiness, Amber."

A saleswoman nearby gushed, "Sir, you dote on your wife so much! They say love is like tending a flower, no wonder your wife blooms so beautifully. You two are picture-perfect. Its enviable."

"If my husband were half as devoted, Id die happy."

Gabriel just smiled without correcting her.

He seemed pleased to be mistaken for Ambers husband, even tipping the saleswoman ten thousand dollars on the spot.

Amber playfully elbowed him.

"Such a spendthrift."

My feet froze. The words died in my throat, leaving only suffocating pain.