My Dad Is An SSS Lycan!

Chapter 6: Three Billion Dollars.

Diana placed her bag on the steel table beside the hospital bed, the faint smile still lingering at the corner of her mouth as she turned to Marven: “You’ve seen the condition of both of them. Lyra still has research value, and if you truly want Elena as well, Ashbourne can include her in the agreement. We only need to know your final decision.”

Reginald, standing beside her, immediately continued in a calm tone, as though the woman lying on the bed were not his own biological daughter: “Elena has transferred all guardianship rights. Under the current contract, Lyra belongs to Mr. Marven for research purposes. She no longer has the right to interfere.”

Elena immediately clenched the bedsheet in her hand, her already pale face losing even more color: “I was forced to sign. You took Lyra to make me give my fingerprint. That contract can’t be considered valid.”

Marven pulled out a chair and sat beside the table holding the documents, his voice flat and even, as if he were reading an experimental report: “I don’t care how Ashbourne handled its internal affairs. The issue now is that specimen Number 17 was removed from the facility without authorization, suffered additional physical damage, and her bloodline data may have been compromised. I have to reassess her value.”

Diana immediately frowned: “What do you mean by reassess?”

Marven opened the file, skimmed through the latest readings transferred from the hospital, then said, “Lyra suffered severe blood loss, received an external blood source, and was transported once in violation of procedure. The initial data no longer remains in its original state. The transfer price of three hundred million dollars needs to be reduced to one hundred and sixty million.”

Diana’s expression changed at once. She had just opened her mouth when Reginald raised a hand to stop her, then looked at Marven with clear dissatisfaction: “One hundred and sixty million is too low. The girl’s dominant gene sequence remains intact, and her awakening potential has already been confirmed. Her current injuries are only temporary.”

Marven closed the file, resting his fingertips on the cover: “This is my final price. If Ashbourne accepts, the transaction continues. If not, I’ll return the research subject.”

The atmosphere in the hospital room immediately grew tense. Elena listened to them put a price on her daughter sentence by sentence, her chest tightening as one hand unconsciously moved to the edge of the bed closest to Lyra, as though she could shield the child from the people in front of her. She had heard them call her daughter a specimen too many times in the laboratory, and yet even here in the hospital, after Lyra had nearly died because of what they had done, the negotiation continued as though nothing had happened.

Diana stared at the figure on the contract for several seconds before forcing the corner of her mouth into a smile: “Elena has already been included in the same agreement. An Omega who was once on the family’s breeding selection list can’t be considered entirely without value. You take both of them, and we keep the original price of three hundred million.”

Elena whipped her head toward her: “What are you talking about?”

Reginald took out another file and placed it on the table in front of Marven: “Ashbourne is adding an auxiliary subject at no additional charge. Elena is Lyra’s biological mother. Studying them simultaneously may produce better data.”

Marven shifted his gaze toward the woman on the bed, looking her over from head to toe before asking, “Her reproductive capability is still normal?”

Diana answered immediately: “Completely normal. Before she was expelled from the family, she was among the Omegas rated very highly for bloodline continuation.”

Elena felt her hands gradually turn cold. Her father was standing right in front of her, adding her to the contract like some complimentary item, while Diana casually handed over her reproductive information to the man who had turned Lyra into an experimental subject. She braced a hand against the bed and tried to sit straighter, her voice hoarse with anger: “I don’t agree. And I don’t belong to Ashbourne for you to sell.”

Marven picked up his pen, his expression unchanged: “If the ownership and guardianship documents are legally valid, personal opinion is not a determining factor in a research agreement.”

Reginald opened his tablet, switched to the final page of the contract, and placed it beside Marven’s hand. Diana stepped closer as well, the tension that had appeared when the payment was reduced easing considerably now that she saw the new terms might be accepted.

Just as Marven was about to put pen to paper, Zeyan’s voice came from the chair beside the bed: “I’ll pay the full amount.”

Everyone around the table turned toward him at once.

Zeyan was still sitting in the same position, one hand resting on the arm of the chair, his gaze so calm that what he had just said sounded like a decision already calculated in advance: “Three hundred million dollars. I’ll pay ten times that.”

Silence stretched for several seconds before Diana laughed. She looked him up and down, then repeated the number as if making sure she had heard correctly: “Ten times? Three billion dollars?”

Reginald laughed as well, one hand resting on the head of his cane: “I’ve met plenty of Alphas with international-level assets, but I’ve never seen anyone casually throw out three billion dollars the way you just did.”

Diana tapped her fingernails against the tabletop, the mockery in her expression becoming even more obvious: “And where is the money? In your coat pocket, or hidden inside your shoes? Zeyan, disappearing for five years doesn’t mean you can come back wearing a slightly better suit and suddenly become a billionaire.”

Marven lowered his pen slightly, looked toward Zeyan, and said coldly, “An offer without financial verification has no value. If you want to take part in this transaction, provide proof of assets, an account, or an authorization seal.”

Elena turned to look at Zeyan. She had only recently regained consciousness, and everything that had happened since he appeared was still so chaotic that it was difficult to grasp. He had rescued both mother and daughter from the laboratory, brought them to this hospital, and even transfused his own blood into Lyra, but three billion dollars was still far too enormous a figure for her to believe immediately.

Their eyes met, and Zeyan only said, “I’ll handle it.”

Diana heard him and laughed aloud: “Handle it how? By selling your organs, or collecting donations from all those unemployed Rogues out there?”

Reginald shook his head, contempt plainly written across his face: “Five years ago, you had nothing. Now you’re still the same. A man whose name doesn’t even exist in any major asset system wants to pay three billion dollars.”

Marven closed the documents in front of him: “I need real money, not promises. No verified account, no financial standing, no collateral—your offer doesn’t count.”

Elena looked at Zeyan for another moment before lowering her eyes to Lyra. Her hand rested on her daughter’s forehead, feeling that her temperature was still lower than normal. Every argument around her only made the exhaustion grow heavier, because whether the people in front of her were saying three billion or three hundred million, the one trapped between those numbers was still the child lying motionless on the bed.

Diana stepped closer to Elena and lowered her voice just enough for everyone to hear: “Do you see now? The man you once abandoned the entire family for is exactly the same as he was five years ago. He stands there saying a few pretty things, and when the time comes to prove anything, he has nothing.”

Elena intertwined her fingers tightly, her gaze still fixed on Lyra.

Reginald pulled out a chair and sat down, his voice carrying the cold indifference of someone who believed the outcome was already obvious: “Love can’t buy medicine, and it can’t sign contracts either. You lost so much because of a man like him, and you still haven’t understood that?”

Diana looked at Zeyan, her smile deepening: “I used to wonder what could possibly be so special about the man who made you turn against all of Ashbourne. In the end, he disappeared for five years, left you to give birth alone and raise the child alone, and now that your daughter is about to be taken away again, all he can do is stand there and watch.”

Her words brought the memory of five years ago flashing through Elena’s mind. Zeyan’s final message had been so short that she had read it over and over countless times, desperately searching for some other reason hidden behind those cold lines, before eventually being forced to accept that he had truly left. Now the man who had once disappeared was sitting right beside her, and she had no idea how he had lived during those five years, nor did she know how he could possibly fulfill the promise he had just made.

Marven reopened the contract, impatience now visible on his face: “I don’t have time to listen to family matters. If no one can make a more valid offer, I’ll sign under the terms already agreed upon.”

Diana immediately turned back toward the table. Reginald moved the tablet closer as well, and once again the pen rested in Marven’s hand.

Elena stared at the open contract, her throat so dry that she no longer had the strength to keep arguing. After everything she had just endured, all she could do was hold Lyra’s small hand while the people surrounding the bed continued deciding ownership of both mother and daughter with a few lines of text.

Seeing Elena fall silent, Diana bent closer to her: “This is the result of the choice you made back then. You once thought love could stand against bloodline, status, and the entire family. Now the man you love is right here, so how exactly is he going to save you?”

Elena closed her eyes for several seconds. She was far too exhausted to respond, the injuries across her body still aching with every breath, while Lyra had only just escaped danger a short while ago. All she wanted was for the arguing in front of her to stop so her daughter could lie peacefully in the hospital bed.

Marven raised the pen one last time: “If there’s nothing else, I’m signing.”

Just as the tip of the pen was about to touch the paper, the hospital room door suddenly opened.

A man in a pale blue shirt stepped inside, his coat neatly draped over one arm and a thick sealed file tucked beneath the other. The silver rims of his glasses caught the overhead light as he stopped just inside the doorway, his composure so complete that his sudden appearance immediately drew every gaze in the room toward him.