The doctor visibly flinched the moment Raven shot him a sharp glare.
"Ahem."
He quickly cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses, trying very hard to look professional—while also trying very hard not to look directly at the woman who looked ready to commit murder using hospital equipment.
"Miss Ivy seems to be fine," the doctor said nervously. "But she still needs rest."
As he spoke, his eyes shifted toward Xander, very deliberately avoiding Raven's murderous stare.
Internally, however, he was screaming.
But I already approved her discharge!
He had signed the papers. The woman had been stable—or rather, surprisingly strong—for someone who had been on the verge of death. And yet, she had apparently escaped, fought several grown men, terrified half the hospital staff, and was now staring at him like he was her next target.
The doctor valued his life very much.
"Doctor Uncle," Leo suddenly said politely.
The doctor instantly straightened.
"Yes, Young Master Leo?"
"Can you please treat Mommy's hand?" Leo asked innocently, lifting Raven's arm to show the bruise forming on it. "She got hurt while fighting those big bad uncles."
Raven blinked.
Mommy?
She slowly turned her head to look at the boy beside her. Had she heard that correctly?
Apparently, she had—because Leo was still holding her hand as if everything was perfectly normal.
Even more shocking was the fact that the man standing beside them showed absolutely no reaction.
Xander did not look surprised. He did not look confused. He did not even raise an eyebrow.
He simply stood there calmly, as if his son calling a random woman "Mommy" in the middle of a hospital was a perfectly reasonable event.
Raven stared at him. He stared back. Neither of them said anything.
Meanwhile, the doctor had entered full survival mode.
"Yes, Young Master Leo," he said obediently. "I will treat the bruise immediately."
He carefully approached Raven like someone approaching a dangerous wild animal and gently reached for her hand, examining the bruise while silently praying.
Please don't attack me.
Please don't grab anything sharp.
Please don't throw anything at my head.
His eyes nervously flickered toward the nearby tray of instruments—especially the scissors. But to his surprise, the woman seemed too occupied with her own thoughts to even move, and that alone gave him a strange sense of relief.
Once the doctor finished treating Ivy's hand, the trio left the hospital. However, instead of getting back into the car, Ivy suddenly stopped.
"Can we talk?" she asked.
Xander paused and looked at Leo.
"What happened, Mommy?"
Leo, who had been excited to finally go home, frowned when Raven didn't get into the car.
"Mommy, aren't you coming home?" he asked, looking up at her with big, hopeful eyes.
Raven looked at the boy, but before she could respond, Xander spoke.
"Leo, get in the car first. We'll join you soon."
The boy looked at his father, clearly ready to argue again. But then he remembered the mistake he had already made by sneaking out earlier.
Not wanting to make things worse, he reluctantly nodded and climbed into the car as it drove away.
Still, deep down, he knew something was wrong.
Once Leo was out of earshot, Xander turned toward Ivy.
"I know you saved me, but this is where it ends," Raven said, recalling the fragmented memories in Ivy's mind.
The image of her being shot—and Xander helping her—was blurry, but not false.
"Ends?" Xander repeated.
Raven assumed he had helped her because she had taken a bullet for him that night. That was the only memory she had of Ivy and him together.
So in her mind, ending things here sounded perfectly reasonable.
But the moment she saw how dark Xander's expression suddenly became, she swallowed.
Is this… not what I was supposed to say?
For a brief second, the air between them turned dangerously cold.
"Alright," Xander said calmly, leaving Ivy confused.
Did he agree?
But then he pulled out his phone and made a call.
"Yes, sir," a man's voice responded from the other end.
Xander's gaze remained fixed on Ivy, as if silently observing her.
"State the penalty for breaching the contract," he said coldly.
There was a brief pause before the assistant replied.
"According to the contract that Miss Florine signed, Miss Ivy would be required to pay ten million dollars if she chooses to withdraw from the agreement."
Raven felt her soul quietly leave her body as she tried to recall the name.
Then a memory flashed.
Ivy's mother—or rather, stepmother.
Her eyes snapped back to Xander, as if he had personally offended her. But what made her want to laugh like a maniac was his calm expression.
"You wanted to end it here," he said evenly. "So pay the penalty, and you are free to go."
"…"
Inside her mind, chaos had already begun. The memories flooding in from Ivy only made things more confusing.
Ten million?
She didn't even have ten thousand.
Raven hadn't even signed the contract, yet the amount she was being asked to pay was something she had never earned—even as a skilled assassin.
Xander, on the other hand, smirked as he watched Ivy stand there in utter shock. But this was the consequence of her own actions—of the claim she had made when she boldly declared herself to be the mother of his child.
You may claim to be Leo's mother… but I know the attack that day wasn't a coincidence.