Dad's Kidney Stolen: I'll Make Them Pay

On the other end of the line was my friend, Toby Randall, who worked as an investigative reporter for a local newspaper.

After I hung up, the entire office went dead silent. My grandparents' curses and Aunt Ellen's threats were all cut short.

Toby worked fast. In less than 30 minutes, he arrived at the hospital with his equipment.

The moment Aunt Ellen and her family saw the camera, they panicked. Grandma tried to grab the camera, but the assistant Toby brought along stopped her right away.

"Everyone, we're from a legitimate news outlet. Please cooperate with the investigation," Toby said.

Aunt Ellen still tried to hold her ground. She pointed at me and yelled, "Don't listen to his nonsense! He's out of his mind! He's the one trying to hurt my husband!"

Toby held the microphone out to me and asked, "Mr. Hammond, can you walk us through what happened?"

I presented all the evidence, including Dad's medical records, the waitlist history, and a recording I had secretly made in the office just moments ago.

The recording fully exposed Aunt Ellen and her family's true colors.

"Your dad's illness is just a money pit!"

"He doesn't have much time left anyway, so he might as well let us have the kidney!"

"Are you really going to destroy your aunt's family over a dead man?"

Every sentence they had spoken echoed clearly through the hallway.

More and more patients and their family members gathered around to watch. They began pointing at Aunt Ellen and her family and whispering among themselves.

"Oh my god, is she even human? How could she steal her own brother's life-saving kidney?"

"She's a total monster! She lost all sense of shame just to save her husband!"

"That old man and that old woman are no better. They're just disgusting pieces of trash who turned on their own family for money!"

My grandparents had always cared about their reputation more than anything, and they had never experienced such public humiliation. Their faces turned bright red, and they looked like they wanted to disappear. Aunt Ellen still tried to defend herself, but the crowd drowned her out.

Just then, the operating room light went out. The doctor walked out, weariness etched across his face.

Aunt Ellen ran straight to him as if he were her savior. "Doctor! How is my husband? Was the surgery successful?"

The doctor glanced at her, then at me, and shook his head, his expression conflicted. "The surgery itself went fairly smoothly, but—"

He paused briefly before continuing in a grave tone. "The patient had a severe stress reaction during the procedure because he couldn't tolerate the anesthesia. His blood pressure and heart rate were extremely unstable throughout.

"The transplant was completed, but the strain caused significant damage to his body. He could experience a very severe rejection response in the future."

Aunt Ellen's legs gave out the moment she heard his words, and she nearly collapsed, yet I felt nothing.

I walked up to the doctor and produced another document in front of everyone. "Doctor, this is the informed consent form I just signed, waiving post-operative immunosuppressive treatment.

"As my dad's primary decision-maker, and considering our family's financial difficulties, I voluntarily declined all costly anti-rejection medications and treatment plans, opting for only the most basic conservative care."

The moment I finished speaking, the entire crowd erupted into an uproar. Everyone stared at me as if I had gone insane.

The doctor's face turned pale with shock. "Stefan! Do you know what this means? Without anti-rejection medication, the transplanted kidney could fail very quickly! You're going to get your uncle killed!"

Aunt Ellen finally realized what I had done. Her eyes were bloodshot as she lunged straight at me. "Stefan Hammond, I'm going to kill you!"