A Man with Nerves of Steel (Joseph Hart) novel Chapter 131

Joseph arrived at the inpatient building with Paige and a few other trusted staff members. While they kept Donna occupied, Joseph slipped into the special-care room and woke Yvonne.

Upon seeing that the room was different, Yvonne immediately realized she had been moved. "Where am I? What are you going to do to me?"

Joseph asked, "This is your last chance. Who was that woman that night?"

He didn't have much time. Through the relative of his former patient who worked in the police force, he had discovered that the woman from that night had no official records. He was sure that was Cora's handiwork.

Hearing this, Yvonne kept her mouth shut and closed her eyes to pretend to be unconscious.

Joseph said nothing else, simply performing another round of acupuncture before leaving.

Throughout the entire day, Joseph never saw the woman appear again. He suspected that Walt or Cora had already warned her not to come to the hospital to care for Yvonne.

Later, he had people prepare for the separation surgery and arranged for the patients to be brought in. They were placed in a dedicated private ward to minimize contact with the outside world.

The twins were joined at the trunk, fused back-to-back. Each twin had an independent spine as well as their own limbs. The difficulty lay in separating and reconstructing the nerves at the base of the spine.

They also shared a single anus, meaning a new one would need to be surgically created.

After reviewing the case, Walt admitted that he could not perform such an operation himself. Out of his passion for medicine and desire to advance medical knowledge, he gave Joseph his full support.

Joseph prepped for a few days. Once everything was ready, he began the operation.

The surgery began at 3:00 pm and continued until noon the following day. Post-op observation of the two separated patients showed stable vitals, indicating that the surgery had been successful.

Walt and the others congratulated Joseph, but Joseph didn't show much surprise or excitement. Every detail of the operation had been anticipated beforehand, and everything had proceeded according to plan.

"I'd say I have pretty good judgment when it comes to people."

Cora felt pretty proud as Joseph's accomplishments reflected well on her, too.

Bernard, however, fell into deep thought. Given Joseph's capabilities, was he deliberately refusing to save Ernest? If Joseph really was that ruthless, wouldn't they also be left to die if they ended up in his care?

"Cora, do you really think it's a good thing for you that Joseph is this capable?"

Helen's expression grew serious. Watching Joseph receive such praise on television did not make her happy. The more capable Joseph was, the harder it would be for them to control him.

Her words cast a shadow over Cora's mind, and doubts began to surface.

Helen was right. The more competent Joseph was professionally, the less likely he was to be wrong. If Natalie really was what he claimed, then things were looking very bad.