Chapter 6
1326 Words
Diana gave a soft smile, placing her bag on the stainless steel table and flicking her hand dismissively: “Mr. Marven, what’s your decision? Whether she agrees or not, we have ways to bring her to you.”
“Elena has no right to decide.” Reginald interjected, his voice as dry as ash: “She’s already signed away her guardianship. Lyra is now legally classified as research property under Marven’s ownership.”
Elena clenched her fists, shaking her head over and over: “No. I only signed because they forced me. I never—
“No one cares about personal feelings.” Marven cut her off, his tone as flat as if he were reading a stock inventory: “The issue is: after the unauthorized attempt to retrieve the specimen, I must reassess its value.”
Diana spun around, face tightening: “What do you mean?”
“Lyra has suffered exposure, her body damaged, and the genetic data is no longer intact. I propose reducing the transfer price from 300 million USD to 160 million.”
The statement hit the room like a hammer on steel.
Diana moved to protest, but Reginald grabbed her arm. He took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice steady: “160 million? The girl still has the complete superior genome chain. Her neural reactions were minor. We can—
Marven looked up: “This is not a negotiation. This is my final offer. Refuse, and I return the merchandise.”
The air grew heavy. Elena stood frozen at the center of it all: her daughter gasping for breath behind her, her relatives preparing to sell her before her very eyes, and Marven, cold, calculating, a scalpel to her throat.
“…Fine.” Diana forced a thin smile, but her voice had lost all calm: “Isn’t Elena being thrown in for free already? Consider that compensation for your ‘damaged goods’, don’t lower the girl’s price any further.”
Marven said nothing. He simply tilted his head.
Diana walked toward Elena, leaned down, and whispered: “Thank you, cousin. Thanks to you, we didn’t have to bargain much.”
“…What?” Elena took a step back.
Reginald stepped forward, tossing a folder onto the table: “We propose the transfer of an auxiliary specimen. No additional cost.”
Elena froze.
“Her.” Diana said: “Elena. Lyra’s mother. A defective Omega, but still has biological value.”
“Free of charge, as we mentioned earlier.” Reginald added, his face devoid of emotion: “A complimentary bonus.”
Elena trembled. Her throat tightened: “You can’t…”
Marven folded his arms, eyeing her like a slab of meat on a surgical table: “Reproductive function still active?”
Diana nodded instantly: “Yes. One hundred percent. She was part of the Omega breeding council’s selection pool before her dismissal.”
Elena felt herself disintegrating. The words “Elena included” pounded her temples like iron mallets.
Marven twirled the pen in his hand, ready to sign. Reginald had already powered on the tablet. Diana turned to the final page of the contract, extending her hand to the doctor as if offering a toast.
It was then that Zeyan finally straightened, without a sound.
His voice rang out, not loud, not sharp, but it snapped the room back to reality like a pulled wire.
“I’ll pay the full amount. Ten times over.”
A silence followed, suffocating and unreal.
Then Diana burst into laughter, shaking her head in disbelief: “Ten times? Three billion dollars? Did I hear that right… three billion?”
Reginald chuckled too, openly derisive: “I’ve met international-level Alphas who’ve never uttered something so delusional.”
“Three billion?” Diana drummed her nails on the stainless table: “You got that in your shirt pocket? Or is it stashed in your boot?”
Marven didn’t laugh. But the slight curl of his lips was enough to show his disdain: “Words without financial backing are garbage.”
Zeyan didn’t flinch.
Elena turned to him, her gaze caught between fear and the faintest flicker of hope. She whispered, voice cracking: “You… is it true? Can you really…?”
Zeyan looked at her. He didn’t nod. He didn’t deny it. He said only one thing:
“I’ll handle it.”
Elena swallowed hard, staring at him like a drowning person glimpsing the sun through ice. A fragile light, yet with no proof it was real.
Diana sneered: “Handle it? You planning to sell a lung? Or start a fundraiser among unemployed Rogues?”
Reginald shook his head as if pitying him: “I’ve seen starving dogs howl. But this is the first time I’ve seen one howl thinking it was a roar.”
Marven folded the documents, coldly: “No account. No confirmation. No identity. No background. No Seal of Authority. Offer denied.”
Diana glanced at Elena, voice like honey poured over a blade: “Cousin, what do you think? Still believe this man can save you?”
Elena didn’t respond. Her hand rested on Lyra’s forehead, trembling slightly.
She tried to keep her face composed, but her lips had begun to pale. Zeyan didn’t turn to look at her, but he knew.
Elena looked at Zeyan like someone clinging to the last door in a freezing room. But the hand he had placed on the edge of the bed hadn’t moved. His eyes remained fixed on Lyra. No action. No argument. No signal that he would do anything to stop this.
A moment ago, she’d reassured herself, he was waiting for the right time. He had a plan. He wouldn’t let their daughter be sold like clearance stock.
But now, with pen and paper on the table, and Marven one breath away from signing, she saw nothing.
She turned away.
Slowly. Quietly. And this time, there were no tears.
Diana looked up at her, lips curling, eyes glinting like she’d just severed a prey’s final nerve.
“So. You finally understand, don’t you?”
Elena didn’t answer.
Diana stepped closer. Her voice dropped, soft as poisoned silk: “The man you gave up everything to chase after… just stands there. Handsome. Silent. And utterly useless.”
Reginald joined in from behind: “Your generation’s amusing. Thinking love alone could defy bloodlines. And now what? His promises, what did they buy you? Not even a single signature on a contract.”
Elena met his gaze. But her eyes were hollow.
Diana glanced over at Zeyan and scoffed: “The useless stay useless.”
Reginald laughed: “As if anyone ever wanted him to begin with.”
“Cousin.” Diana tilted her head toward Elena, her smile gentle as claws: “You always said you loved him because he was quiet, didn’t fight like the others. And what now? He left you for years, let you give birth alone, and now… he can’t even save his own daughter.”
Elena clenched her fists. Her nails dug deep into her palms, but she felt nothing.
Diana wasn’t finished: “I used to envy you, you know? When you defied the entire Pack to marry him, I thought, ‘That man must be extraordinary.’ But turns out…”
She looked at Zeyan, exhaled in a short laugh, as if ending a comedy show: “You gave up your bloodline, your status, your future… for a ghost.”
No one objected. No one intervened.
Marven had returned to the table, hand poised over the pen. No one paid attention to Zeyan anymore. He was like a statue, placed there for appearances. A faded shadow, forgotten amidst decisions that had nothing to do with him.
And Elena, her head now bowed, had stopped resisting. No reaction. No further plea.
Only Lyra remained, her tiny chest rising and falling ever so faintly. Each breath a countdown to the death of something inside her mother.
- Writer
