The world outside the bus windows was a blur of red brake lights, smeared rain, and the deafening screech of tires.

Ethan’s corporate attorney, Richard Hayes, stepped into the private hospital suite holding a leather briefcase. He looked immaculate, arrogant, and entirely prepared to bully an exhausted, broke woman into submission.

Until he saw the man standing beside my bed.

Hayes stopped dead in his tracks. The color drained from his face so fast it was almost comical.

"M-Mr. Vance?" Hayes stammered, clutching his briefcase against his chest like a shield. "What... what are you doing here?"

"I own the hospital, Hayes," Alexander said smoothly, taking a slow step toward the lawyer. "More importantly, I am managing Mrs. Mercer’s legal and personal affairs while she recovers from giving birth to her three children."

Hayes swallowed hard, his eyes darting frantically between Alexander and me. "Birth? She... she delivered?"

"Three babies. Twenty-eight weeks," I said, my voice steady, strengthened by Alexander’s presence beside me. "No thanks to Ethan."

Hayes cleared his throat nervously, pulling a folder from his briefcase. "Well... Mrs. Mercer, as per the agreement you signed yesterday in Mr. Mercer’s office, you were granted twenty-four hours to vacate the Park Avenue penthouse. That deadline expires at 5:00 PM today. Mr. Mercer’s representatives are currently at the residence changing the locks."

I felt a cold sting in my chest. Twenty-four hours. He didn't even care if I was alive.

Alexander let out a soft, dark laugh that chilled the room.

"Hayes," Alexander said softly, stepping directly into the lawyer's personal space. "Did Ethan Mercer tell you that he froze his pregnant wife's personal bank accounts twenty-four hours before serving her with divorce papers?"

"That... that was a corporate treasury decision—"

"That was financial abuse," Alexander interrupted, his voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper. "Did he also tell you that he cut off her health insurance at midnight?"

Hayes went silent, sweat glistening on his forehead.

"Here is what is going to happen," Alexander continued, pulling a thick gold pen from his coat pocket. "You are going to take those eviction papers, walk back down to your car, and call Ethan Mercer. You are going to tell him that as of 9:00 AM this morning, Vance Global Enterprises has acquired sixty percent of the commercial debt held by Mercer Holdings."

Hayes gasped. "You... you bought his debt?"

"I did," Alexander smirked coldly. "Which means if Ethan Mercer so much as breathes in Claire’s direction, if he touches one thread of her personal belongings in that penthouse, or if he attempts to deny his paternal financial obligations to his three children in the NICU... I will call in his short-term credit lines and liquidate his company before his plane lands back in New York."

Hayes was shaking. "Mr. Vance, please... this is a private matrimonial matter—"

"It stopped being private when he threw my... when he threw Claire out into a storm," Alexander corrected, his eyes flashing like molten steel. "Get out of my hospital room."

Hayes didn't wait for a second warning. He turned on his heel and almost sprinted out the door, slamming it behind him.

I sat on the hospital bed, staring at Alexander in utter shock.

"You bought his company's debt?" I whispered. "Just... like that?"

Alexander turned back to me, his expression instantly softening from lethal predator to warm guardian. He walked over and sat on the edge of my bed.

"Ethan Mercer built his entire life on the illusion of power, Claire," Alexander said gently. "It's time someone showed him what real power looks like."