Chapter 2

Noah, Max's seven-year-old son, had been brutally mauled by a stray dog for nearly fifteen minutes.

Since he was rescued, he had suffered from severe PTSD.

He needed someone watching him 24/7 to prevent self-harm or suicide attempts.

With my strong credentials and expertise, I had become a well-known child psychologist in the city.

The moment Max heard about me, he came running for help.

I stayed up for nights analyzing hundreds of similar cases and spent a lot of time building trust with Noah.

Finally, after nearly three weeks, I developed a customized treatment plan for him.

But just as I was about to start his first session, Julian left me a sticky note with a new address.

Wealthy people have multiple properties, so I didn't think twice about it.

I took an Uber immediately. But when I arrived, there was no sign of anyone from the Sterling family.

I quickly called Max, but he immediately lost his temper and screamed at me through the phone:

"What kind of professional therapist are you? You almost killed Noah!"

"You've been in contact with him for a month, and you did absolutely nothing! He got even worse today!"

"If Julian hadn't brought another therapist in time, I can't even imagine what would have happened!"

Only then did I learn that Noah had another severe self-harm episode this morning.

He hallucinated that he was surrounded by wild dogs and almost jumped from the balcony.

Fortunately, Julian and Grace arrived just in time to stop him.

Because of my "mistake," Grace was now the one treating Noah!

But Grace was just an intern with zero clinical experience.

How could she handle such a high-risk patient?!

If she made even one mistake, it could cause irreversible damage to Noah!

My professional ethics wouldn't let me walk away from a child in danger.

I rushed back immediately, but I got stuck in heavy traffic. By the time I arrived, the session was already over.

Max was personally escorting them out the door:

"Thank you both so much. If it weren't for you, I might have lost Noah forever."

His eyes were bloodshot. There was no denying he was a loving father who cherished his son more than life itself.

Grace squeezed out a few fake tears. "I'm just glad we could help, Mr. Sterling."

Max nodded:

"Don't worry. I keep my promises. Once Noah's condition stabilizes a bit more, I will call my father."

A promise?

Julian and Grace had cut a deal behind my back?

This was a blatant violation of professional ethics.

I marched over, burning with anger, wanting to get to the bottom of this. "Why did you give me the wrong address today?!"

Julian looked just as furious, putting on a show:

"I think you just realized you're incompetent! You worked with Noah for so long without any progress, so you got scared and chickened out!"

His raging face looked completely foreign to me.

I froze for a long time before asking, "What are you even talking about?"

Julian sneered, "Do you have any idea? Grace only took thirty minutes to stabilize Noah's condition today!"

"He's even willing to go outside now!"