The sound of footsteps approaching the game area drew no one’s attention—except Helena’s. She closed her eyes for a second, preventing anyone from seeing her bloody red eyes, coming out because of excitement.

Chronos emerged from the corridor. One could tell from his complexion that he wasn’t feeling good, but he didn’t let it become too obvious.

He walked unhurriedly until he saw the new face amongst the crowd.

Helena finally turned, hearing his footsteps stop. There was no way she could have possibly seen how close he was to them. And yet she turned as if she had an eye stitched on the back of her head.

The sunset light hit her irises at the exact right angle, and her eyes glinted so quickly that no one caught it.

"Zero." Helena greeted softly, tilting her head, with a relaxed smile. "You look terrible. Are you eating properly, or do I need to call a doctor?"

The way she said that felt completely normal and natural, but Chronos felt something was different.

This wasn’t the first time he felt like this. This was the same feeling he felt when he dealt with Lilianna.

Still, he didn’t let any of these thoughts appear on his face.

"Helena," he said, matching her warm tone. "I’m fine. Just mixed my drinks badly. You know I can’t handle those pink ones Sarah keeps pushing."

Helena, who had no idea what of the drinks were drunk by Chronos, said, "That’s because you drink them like water."

Their exchange was pleasantly normal, except for Pete and Grayson, who heard it.

Chronos settled into a seat near the edge of the group, legs crossed, expression mild, and said nothing else.

By now, the initial flurry of greetings had settled.

Grayson unfolded his arms and walked over with Neville beside him.

"General," Helena said.

Neville glanced up at Grayson’s face. Grayson was completely unbothered by Helena’s choice of address.

"Helena," Grayson said, unhurried.

Then Grayson turned slightly, his hand finding the small of Neville’s back with a familiarity that bordered on possessive.

"This is Neville," he said. "My boyfriend."

Helena’s gaze dropped to Neville. For a moment, she studied him thoroughly, without missing anything.

Then her expression warmed.

"So you’re the one who did that amazing shot," she said. "That was beautifully executed. I haven’t seen a technique like that since the old academy billiards tournaments."

Neville felt his ears heat. He adjusted his glasses and offered a small, polite smile. "I just got lucky, honestly. The angle worked out."

"Luck doesn’t curve the cue ball around three rails," Helena said with a short laugh. "But I’ll let you have your modesty."

She extended her hand, and Neville reached out and took it.

The handshake was brief and normal, but—

Helena’s expression briefly changed. Her grip loosened, her hand pulled back a second too quickly, as though she had pressed her palm to a heated surface.

She tried not to let it show by tucking her hand into her pocket and angling her body back toward Grayson. But her movements were a tad bit too smooth, too deliberate in some people’s eyes.

One of them was Neville, who felt odd at the contact because he clearly felt her flinch for a second, and their hands made contact.

He blinked, puzzled, but his mind already came up with an explanation.

Since he had been with Grayson most of the time, for an alpha like Helena, getting a concentrated whiff of another dominant alpha’s territorial markers on someone could possibly trigger an instinctive flinch.

Especially given that Grayson’s pheromone territorial markers weren’t exactly subtle.

Sarah had mentioned once that some of the alphas in the secretarial department gave Neville a wide space whenever Grayson was present. They feared that they would smell their CEO’s nasty alpha pheromone on him again.

He thought it was just the same thing.

So Neville ignored the oddness and thought nothing more of it.

But someone else in the room was not so easily satisfied.

Chronos had watched the entire exchange from his seat, one arm draped over the back of the sofa with indifference.

His eyes, however, had tracked everything.

He had seen Helena’s micro movements.

He had seen the changes in her expression.

And he silently, carefully, remembered every single one of them.

Helena turned back to the wider group, and the conversation resumed its natural rhythm.

Pete went close to Chronos. Julius and Sarah debated the rules of the next pool game. Iris quietly compliments Neville’s cue technique.

But as the group drifted apart, Helena angled herself toward Bryan. Neville realized that Helena had been wanting to get closer to Bryan since earlier.

He thought it was just his imagination since a lot of people here wanted to chat with her. But now that she was purposely going to Bryan’s side, it seemed that it was quite important.

Helena leaned in to whisper something. But just as her lips barely moved, a noise erupted from the estate’s entrance.

There was a sharp click of heels on polished stone, followed by the swoosh of the door unsealing.

Every head turned.

Lilianna walked inside like she was walking a runway.

Her gold hair cascaded over one shoulder in a loose wave, catching the last of the sunset. She wore something cut close to the body—structured shoulders and a cinched waist.

Her makeup was flawless. One hand resting on the frame, chin lifted, eyes sweeping the room.

The room went silent, instantly.

Everyone stared at her, but for vastly different reasons.

Pete, who had been mid-pour, set the bottle down and stared.

Objectively speaking, Lilianna was one of the most beautiful alpha women in the Imperial Galaxy, so she certainly had some amount of visual impact.

However, that was not the reason why he stared at her. He quickly glanced at Chronos to see his reaction.

Meanwhile, Iris stared because her brain had short-circuited. The secret she had kept carefully from everyone. The one that she had desperately hidden because Sarah was Lilianna’s older sister.

That object of admiration was now standing in front of her, in the flesh.

But Bryan, Grayson, Chronos, and Helena stared for a completely different reason.

Because Lilianna was supposed to be missing, abducted even.