"What?" he nearly choked. "How did you—"

"I couldn’t wait for you to finish your research," Ivy interrupted matter-of-factly. "So I asked him directly."

Sal stared at her in disbelief.

"You... asked him directly?" he repeated slowly, as if trying to confirm he heard correctly.

"Yes."

"And he admitted it?"

Ivy nodded immediately.

"Without hesitation," she replied. "That man is terrifying. I was literally testing the waters carefully, and he just looked at me and answered like it was the most normal thing in the world."

A small shiver ran through her shoulders at the memory.

Sal felt goosebumps rise on his own skin almost instantly. Honestly, just imagining that conversation was enough to make him nervous.

"Wait," he said cautiously, lowering his voice instinctively. "What exactly did he say?"

Ivy mimicked Xander’s calm tone almost perfectly.

"’I do have some connections. Is that a problem?’"

Sal froze for a full second.

Then he physically shuddered.

"See?!" Ivy pointed dramatically. "Even you got scared hearing that."

"Because normal people don’t say things like that so casually!" Sal whisper-yelled. "Do you even realize how dangerous that sounds?"

"I know!" Ivy exclaimed. "And the worst part is he wasn’t even threatening me. He sounded completely calm."

Sal rubbed his face tiredly.

At this point, he genuinely didn’t know whether Ivy was brave or simply reckless.

"You seriously need to stop casually questioning dangerous men," he muttered.

"But I was curious."

"That curiosity is going to send me to an early grave one day."

Ivy laughed softly at his dramatic reaction before leaning slightly against the garden railing.

For a moment, her expression turned thoughtful again.

"Still..." she murmured quietly. "It explains a lot."

Sal’s brows furrowed slightly.

"The way people react to him," Ivy continued. "The way he handles situations so easily... and honestly, even the way others seem scared of crossing him."

Sal nodded slowly.

"Yeah," he admitted. "Now that you mention it... a lot of things make more sense."

A brief silence settled between them.

Then Ivy suddenly sighed.

"But do you know what’s even scarier?"

Sal looked at her warily. "What now?"

"He looked more offended that I thought he’d lie to me."

Sal stared at her for two seconds before groaning loudly.

"That’s it. I’m done. Both of you are insane."

Ivy didn’t bother correcting Sal anymore and simply continued the conversation, explaining a few important things before finally heading back inside the mansion.

By the time she freshened up and stepped out of the bathroom, Leo had already gone to his room to study.

Lately, the little boy had been spending more time in his own room instead of clinging to hers like usual.

The change felt small, but noticeable enough for Ivy to catch it.

For a brief second, she wondered if he was growing up faster than she expected.

Still, she didn’t think too deeply about it.

Knowing Leo, he would eventually wander back into her room before bedtime anyway.

Tossing the towel aside carelessly, Ivy dropped onto the bed with a long sigh, stretching her arms wide across the mattress.

The room was quiet.

Too quiet.

And naturally—

Her thoughts drifted back to Xander again.

Honestly, she still hadn’t fully processed the fact that he had openly admitted having connections to the underworld.

Not only that—

He had spoken about it so calmly that it almost felt unreal.

Ivy stared blankly at the ceiling.

Then suddenly, another memory surfaced in her mind.

A powerful organization that had slowly been wiping out illegal groups operating in the underground world over the past few years.

An organization almost no one knew much about.

Phantom.

Even within elite circles, people rarely spoke about them openly.

They operated quietly.

Efficiently.

And somehow always stayed hidden behind the shadows.

Ivy had only heard about them a few times through Hardley Morris back when she was still involved with the clan.

At that time, she never cared enough to look deeper into it.

She had already been planning her departure from that life anyway.

The less she knew, the better.

But now—

After hearing Xander mention Phantom himself—

She suddenly realized just how little she actually knew about him.

To the outside world, Xander Emerson was simply the cold and untouchable heir of the Emerson Empire.

A powerful businessman.

Someone people admired and feared equally.

But beneath that polished surface...

There was clearly an entirely different side to him hidden in the dark.

And somehow, that realization unsettled her more than she expected.

"I should’ve known people with that much power would attract trouble," Ivy muttered quietly to herself.

Or perhaps they didn’t just attract trouble. Maybe they were the trouble.

The thought made her let out a dry laugh before covering her eyes with one arm.

Still... despite everything she had learned. Despite how dangerous he sounded—Ivy strangely didn’t feel afraid of Xander himself.

And that was probably the most dangerous part of all.

Ivy remained sprawled across the bed, one arm covering her eyes as silence filled the room once again.

For the first time that day, everything around her had finally become still.

But unfortunately her thoughts refused to do the same.

Xander.

Phantom.

The underworld.

The more she thought about it, the more complicated everything started to feel.

Just then, the sudden vibration of her phone against the nightstand broke the silence.

Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

Ivy frowned slightly before lazily reaching for her phone.

The moment she saw the caller ID, her expression subtly changed.

Unknown number.

She stared at the screen for a few seconds, debating whether to answer it or not.

Eventually, with a quiet sigh, she accepted the call and brought the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

A familiar chuckle immediately came from the other side.

"I honestly thought you’d reject the call after seeing the unknown number."

The moment Ivy recognized the voice, regret instantly washed over her.

Kevin.

For a second, she seriously considered hanging up immediately. Before she could react, he went on.

"Hello, Ivy are you there" and she realized she can’t hang up just yet.