The silence lasted another beat. Then two.

Then Sarah shattered it.

"Lilianna Gringer!" Sarah shouted, already on her feet.

Her floral pheromones spiked with relief, fury, and sisterly indignation. She crossed the living area quickly and grabbed Lilianna by the shoulders.

"You—do you have any idea—Mom and Dad have been—"

Lilianna blinked, her soft smile wavering. "Sarah, I—"

"Don’t you ’Sarah’ me!"

Sarah’s grip tightened. Her eyes were glistening.

"Dad was in complete silent mode. Mom refused to eat dinner. They’ve been fighting all day everyday because of you! And I! I, who just came back for the weekends, have been stuck in the middle pretending I didn’t want to tear my own hair out—"

"I’m sorry."

Lilianna’s voice dropped, with quiet guilt. She placed her hand over Sarah’s, and her expression changed into something gentle and apologetic.

"I really am, sister. I didn’t mean to worry everyone."

Sarah’s mouth opened and closed like she wanted to say something more. In the end, her grip loosened just slightly.

At the end of the day, she was incapable of staying angry at her little sister for a long time.

"You—" Sarah exhaled sharply through her nose. "You could have at least sent a message. One message, Lilianna. That’s all I needed."

Lilianna shook her head.

"We weren’t allowed to contact anyone outside the shoot. You know how those secretive crew were—once you’re inside, all external communications get cut."

She explained and gave a helpless little shrug.

"I didn’t even have access to my light brain until I was cleared to leave."

It was delivered perfectly with the right amount of regret and helplessness.

She said it with a gentle, almost self-deprecating tone of someone who truly wished she could have done more.

But Grayson, Pete, Chronos, Julius, Bryan, and Helena knew the truth.

What a lie.

A very good one at that, but still a lie nonetheless.

Lilianna hadn’t been to a closed shooting. She had been abducted from the Mecha Research Institute.

The fact that she was standing here now, with her makeup flawless and not a single hair out of place, nor any visible injuries in the visibly bare skin, raised questions that nobody in the room was willing to ask rashly out loud.

Not yet.

Not here.

Grayson’s expression remained unreadable. His eyes swept over Lilianna once—from the state of her clothing to her micro-expressions crossing her face.

No visible injuries caused that horrific sight and pool of blood.

No signs of distress that she showed when he detained her in that basement.

No signs of someone planning revenge for being held captive unjustly.

No signs of pleading with them to help her because she had just escaped from whoever kept her during this whole time.

Which meant either she hadn’t been held against her will at all.

Or she was more dangerous now than any of them, thinking, because she made a deal with those people who took her to get out.

Neither options were good for them.

Iris, who had been watching the reunion with wide, fascinated eyes, stepped forward the moment Sarah’s death grip loosened enough to allow other humans into Lilianna’s side.

"Lily—sorry, Miss Gringer, I just wanted to say—"

She paused, seemingly catching herself, and tucked a strand of her dark violet bob behind her ear. For once, other than with Bryan, she looked a little flustered.

"Welcome. It’s—it’s really good to see you. I’m Iris Ackley. I work with your sister."

Lilianna turned that soft, radiant smile toward Iris. Poor Iris looked like she would faint.

"Thank you so much," Lilianna said. "It’s wonderful to meet someone from sister Sarah’s workplace. She talks about you all the time."

"She does?" Iris said breathlessly in disbelief.

Sarah, who heard that, raised an eyebrow. She was smelling something about this scene that wasn’t right. She looked at Iris and then at Lilianna and then widened her eyes.

"Yah, Iris," Sarah said with a betrayed tone, "I didn’t know you were a fan of Lilianna’s."

A faint flush crept up Iris’s neck, "I—it’s not—I really like her works. The editorial she did for the Maxwell spring campaign was—"

"Goddamn it, don’t give me her whole work directory." Sarah stared at her. "Just admit that you’re a fan."

"If I had told you," Iris said, with dry defensiveness in her tone, "you would have spent the next three months telling me every embarrassing story from her childhood just to ruin it for me."

"I absolutely would have loved to tell you all that," Sarah confirmed proudly without hesitation. "That’s my right as the older sister."

Lilianna laughed sweetly, "Sister, don’t be mean. Let your colleague admire me in peace."

The exchange was a warm kind of banter that eased the tension in the room a little.

But just on the surface.

Even without context, Neville could feel it.

He stood just outside the billiards room, close to the bar, watching the scene unfold.

The firepit nearby crackled softly, casting warm, flickering shadows across the estate’s first-floor lounge.

The massive floor-to-ceiling windows displayed the deepening sunset over the sea—amber bleeding into violet.

The water was dark as ink beneath the fading light.

It was a beautiful view to watch, if not for his gaze lingering on Lilianna.

Something about Lilianna didn’t add up.

The first time Neville had met her had been when Grayson was unconscious.

She had been really annoying at that time; her voice was kind of serious and sharp. The kind of tone of someone accustomed to giving orders and having them followed without question.

A military woman through and through, with the bearing to match.

Unlike the person standing in the entryway now. Lilianna was just accepting Sarah’s scolding with a sweet, demure expression. She offered incredibly gentle apologies in a voice so soft he felt like sleeping on it.

It was like he was looking at a completely different creature.

Neville’s brow furrowed slightly.

Which version was real?

Just as he was contemplating it, Neville felt Grayson move. He peeled away from Neville’s side naturally and crossed the room toward Lilianna.

Neville saw Grayson reach Lilianna’s side. Without further ado, Grayson leaned in close.

He knew it wasn’t the same as when Grayson leaned on his ear. But from his view, his heart kept pounding hard against his ear.

When Grayson leaned away, Lilianna was already looking back at him.

With dreamy eyes, slightly blushing as she smiled.