“Jarvis, help me contact the legal department and have them send a lawyer’s letter to San Fernando Valley Entertainment News and this woman named Rosalie Payne. If they keep talking nonsense, they can wait to see me in court!”
Tony Stark glanced at the photo in the newspaper and commanded Jarvis.
If it were those famous actresses, Tony Stark might still have some impression.
But as for Rosalie, he had long completely forgotten her.
Thinking it was just another woman who had gone crazy wanting money, or wanting to use this news to grab eyeballs and get famous.
Tony Stark had seen too many things like this, and after giving Jarvis an instruction, he stopped paying attention.
Thomas Clinic.
The next day, Rosalie had Daphne buy a copy of San Fernando Valley Entertainment News.
She found that the report about her was no longer there, and it had been replaced by an apology statement.
[“This newspaper published an unverified news report yesterday, which caused some impact on the reputation of Mr. Tony Stark. We hereby publish this sincere apology in the paper and hope to gain Mr. Stark’s understanding.”]
Obviously, after receiving the lawyer’s letter from Stark Industries, this small tabloid immediately and decisively caved in.
“How could this be!”
Rosalie wore a look of disappointment.
The only publication willing to report on this matter had backed down, and now there was even less hope of getting the news about her and Mark to reach Tony Stark.
“Thump, thump!”
Right at this moment, a knock came from outside the hospital room.
Then, without waiting for Rosalie to reply, a young man in a suit and leather shoes carrying a briefcase walked into the ward.
“Hello, are you Ms. Rosalie Payne?”
After walking in, he looked at Rosalie on the hospital bed.
“I-I am.”
Rosalie dizzily raised her head to look at the other person and nodded.
“I am Grayson Taylor, a lawyer from the legal department of Stark Industries.”
He pulled out a piece of letterhead, handed it to Rosalie with a serious expression: “Now, on behalf of Mr. Tony Stark, I solemnly issue a lawyer’s letter of warning to you! If you slander Mr. Stark’s reputation again in any news media or other public occasions in the future, our legal department will immediately sue you in court and pursue it to the end!”
“No, you can’t do this! Mark is truly Mr. Tony Stark’s biological son. If you don’t believe it, you can have him come to the hospital for a paternity test…”
Rosalie shouted excitedly.
“Ms. Payne, Mr. Stark has no obligation whatsoever to cooperate with you on a paternity test! We at Stark Industries have the top legal team in the U.S. Please believe us, we can easily send you to prison!”
Grayson glanced at Mark, who was gazing brightly back at him in the crib, and his tone softened a bit: “Look at this little fellow, how cute! You wouldn’t want him to lose his mother right after he was born and be forced to be sent to an orphanage, would you?”
Hearing Grayson’s threat, Rosalie, whose expression had previously been excited, instantly turned dejected.
“O-Okay, I promise, I won’t say anything slandering Tony Stark in the media and public occasions in the future!”
She herself wasn’t afraid of the other party’s threat, but she couldn’t let Mark lose his mother right after birth and be sent to a place like an orphanage.
“I hope Ms. Payne can remember what you said today.”
Grayson nodded with satisfaction, then swaggered and turned to leave the ward.
After Grayson left, Rosalie couldn’t help but pick up Mark, and tears streamed down.
“Baby, I’m sorry, it’s Mommy’s fault! Mommy couldn’t give you a better life…”
Held in Rosalie’s arms, Mark’s heart was complex and hard to fathom for a moment.
Although this mother in this life was brainless and vain, and besides her beautiful appearance, she was practically worthless.
Yet her love for him, her son, was sincere.
This made Mark, who had lived another life, inevitably feel moved.
“Rosalie…”
Right at this moment, Daphne walked into the ward and handed the bill she was holding to Rosalie: “Your hospital stay, delivery, and nursing fees for these three days add up to a total of 8,650 U.S. dollars. Mr. Thomas wants you to settle these fees, otherwise he will have to ask you to leave here.”
“This…”
Looking at the fees on the bill, Rosalie wore a troubled expression.
The money she usually earned in the crew was barely enough for her rent and daily expenses, and it was impossible for her to pull out so much money all at once.
“Daphne, take me to go through the discharge procedures! Also, please tell Mr. Thomas that I will repay the bill owed to the clinic this time as soon as possible.”
After hesitating for a moment, Rosalie made a decision.
“This… alright, come with me.”
Daphne originally wanted to persuade Rosalie to stay in the clinic for a few more days and observe the condition of the mother and son.
But seeing Rosalie’s predicament, she could only nod and agree.
Fortunately, Rosalie was still very young, and having practiced dancing frequently, her body was also very healthy; she could already walk freely now.
Daphne immediately took her out of the ward to go through the discharge procedures.
“Phew… I can finally leave this place!”
After the two left, Mark, lying in the crib, couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
The sunlight in this ward was already inadequate, with only an hour or two in the afternoon shining in.
And Rosalie kept staring at him; every time Mark basked in the Sun for less than ten minutes, she would pick him up and carry him to a shady place.
This made Mark, over these past few days, only collect ten points of sunlight value, with extremely low efficiency.
Once they left here, Mark felt he should have more opportunities to bask in the Sun.
Then Mark unconsciously fell fast asleep again.
When he woke up from his sleep, Rosalie and Daphne returned to the ward carrying big and small bags of things.
The two not only completed the discharge procedures but also bought a stroller from outside, along with some baby supplies like milk powder, baby bottles, and disposable diapers.
Daphne placed Mark in the stroller, Rosalie packed up her personal belongings, and the two pushed the stroller out of the hospital.
Rosalie’s body was still somewhat weak right now, so Daphne deliberately asked for leave from the clinic’s boss, Thomas, specifically to send her home after discharge.
“Daphne, thank you! Without you, I really wouldn’t know what to do by myself.”
Rosalie expressed her gratitude to Daphne, who was pushing the stroller beside her.
Back then, ignoring her family’s objections, Rosalie ran away from home to make her way in Hollywood alone, which had already caused a conflict with her parents.
Rosalie dared even less to tell her parents, who were conservative Catholic believers, about her premarital pregnancy this time.
These days at the Thomas Clinic, it had all been Daphne running around bustling to take care of her alone.
“You’re welcome, we are good sisters after all, this is all what I should do.”
Daphne replied with a smile.