My Dad Is An SSS Lycan!

Chapter 20

“Take another look,” Diana shrugged, her voice light, as if she were giving a lesson to a slow child. “This outcome was your own choice. Don’t look at us as if we were the ones who pushed you off the cliff.”

Elena didn’t answer. She didn’t have the strength to. Her heart had been broken so many times that now, it beat only as a mechanism for survival. Lifeless.

Reginald sat down in a chair, legs crossed, his hand slowly rubbing the top of his cane like a wartime gentleman: “A man like him — mute as stone, poor as garbage — can only swallow his pride and live off women. But women must also know how to choose. Sadly, you weren’t smart enough to choose the right one.”

“No, Father,” Diana corrected, “she is smart. But because she’s only halfway smart, she ended up pathetic. If she were completely stupid, maybe by now she’d be kept like a pampered lapdog in someone’s house.”

The words choked Elena.

Not because of what was said. But because at that moment, she realized: if she collapsed, no one would help her up. If she stopped breathing, no one would come rushing to save her.

They didn’t see her as a human being.

And Zeyan… the only one still standing beside her… did nothing but watch.

“I really want to know,” Diana leaned one elbow on the table, tilting her head at Zeyan like she was studying a strange organism, “what made you think you could walk into this place, open your mouth and say ‘three billion dollars’, then just stand there like a statue and expect people to believe you?”

Zeyan didn’t look at her.

“You thought she needed a hero?” She laughed, her eyes glinting with false pity. “She doesn’t need one. Because if she did, at the very least, you’d have to be capable of doing something in this room other than staying silent.”

Reginald added, in a tone as flat as if he were copying down a death sentence: “Her weakness is that she believed in someone who doesn’t exist in any system. Your foolishness is thinking a promise has the same value as a signature. And the end of both of you is that girl — bought, sold, and bargained like a piece of merchandise.”

Elena looked at her daughter. She couldn’t cry anymore. Every bit of resistance inside her had faded. Beneath the harsh white lights, Lyra’s small face looked blurred. As if the girl was no longer even here.

Marven had placed the pen back in his hand. “I’m starting to feel this is a waste of time. If no one else has anything to say, I’ll sign.”

Zeyan still didn’t react.

Elena closed her eyes.

In that moment, there were no voices in her head, no screams, no one calling out. Only a vast emptiness, so deep she felt as if she were standing in a space without gravity.

Then suddenly, the sound of a door opening rang out.

Not loud. Not rushed. Just a faint creak of the hinges, but it was enough to pull the whole room back down to earth.

A man walked in wearing a pale blue shirt, jacket draped over his arm, silver-rimmed glasses, a file folder tucked beneath one arm, his face composed and polite to a degree that made everyone’s gaze pause.

Marven was the first to speak: “Excuse me, who gave you permission to enter?”

The man flipped open his ID badge, his voice not loud, but clear to the last syllable: “Lucas Haynes. Independent Oversight Bureau, Division of Bioethics Evaluation.”

Marven frowned. “What bureau?”

Lucas took another step forward, his eyes never resting on anyone for more than a second: “Regional Coordination and Biosafety Office. I’ve been assigned to inspect the status of several studies listed as high-risk. This facility is one of the designated access points.”

Diana stood up, raising an eyebrow slightly, still unsure of the truth. “Who sent you?”

Lucas didn’t answer right away. He simply pulled a red-sealed envelope from his folder and placed it on the table in front of Marven: “Authorization documents. An inspection order. An injunction requesting the freeze of all transfers involving Alpha-grade gene specimens with unverified origin.”

Reginald’s expression shifted. “What is this supposed to be?”

Lucas maintained his emotionless expression. “It’s not ‘supposed’ to be anything, sir. It’s a preliminary investigation conducted in accordance with procedure. Based on reports from three bloodline data extraction centers. There are signs of uncontrolled mutation. The related specimen has been identified as Lyra Ashbourne.”

Diana narrowed her eyes. “You think you have the authority to walk into the middle of a hundred-million-dollar contract and freeze it?”

Lucas didn’t turn his head: “I’m not requesting anything. I’m simply informing. The order was effective before I set foot in here.”

Marven gently tightened his grip on the pen. “Your agency doesn’t have the jurisdiction to interfere with special clinical-grade research. My documentation was approved by the Alpha Technical Council six months ago.”

Lucas tapped a finger lightly on the envelope: “You should review Section 3.2. It states that any specimen with unclear bloodline factors, particularly if gene leakage or xenogenic mutations are found, must have its research privileges suspended immediately. Regardless of prior approvals.”

Diana folded her arms: “How fascinating. An inspector talking as if he were a judge.”

Lucas didn’t smile. He didn’t respond.

And throughout that entire time, he had not once glanced at Zeyan. Not even for a second. As if the man was just a blurred shadow behind Elena. Someone not worth the slightest attention.

Zeyan didn’t look back at Lucas either.

There was no complicit glance.

No nod.

No silent understanding.

…