I threw my phone back down, the screen slightly scratched, like my shattered heart. My hands trembled as I opened my contacts, found my senior's number overseas, and pressed the dial button. The moment the call connected, I suppressed the trembling in my voice and said firmly, "Senior, please do me a favor. Help me contact a hospital with good confidentiality and top-notch rehabilitation treatment. I need to take my son with me."
The senior student on the other end of the phone paused for a moment, then replied in a deep voice, "Clara, is something wrong? Is there anything else I can do for you?"
I looked out at the blinding sunlight, a cold resolve creeping into my eyes. "No need, just contact a hospital for me first."
I will handle the rest myself.
Liam, Vanessa, what you owe me, what you owe Leo, I will collect it all back, bit by bit, with interest.
When Liam returned to the ward, I had just completely deleted the screenshot of the booked plane tickets, and the warmth of my fingertips still lingered on the phone screen. In three days, I would take Leo to escape this hell completely, far away from his and Vanessa's hypocrisy and cruelty. My swollen eyes still ached, traces left by the tears I couldn't hold back while looking at Leo's old photos, but he didn't even glance at my eyes out of the corner of his eye, only excitedly striding over and grabbing my wrist.
“Clara, I’ve made up my mind. We’ll throw Leo another birthday party tomorrow.” His eyes gleamed with calculation, but his tone was full of tenderness. “The last time things happened, it was too rushed, and I couldn’t let him have a proper birthday celebration. I’ve felt guilty ever since.” He paused, then added impatiently, “I’ll also announce our adoption at the party, so everyone can witness that we will live a good life together from now on.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I immediately remembered the eye-catching note I'd seen when I secretly checked his phone calendar—tomorrow is Zeke's third birthday. So the so-called "supplementary banquet" was never intended for my Leo, but rather a way to use Leo's name to throw a lavish birthday party for Vanessa's son, and incidentally, to legitimately bring Zeke into the Liam family.