Liam walked quietly behind her.

She was so focused on the screen that she did not hear the door close or his footsteps on the floor. The only sound in the room was the soft hum of the computer and the steady tapping of her fingers on the keyboard. Lines of code ran across the monitor in quick flashes of green and white, numbers updating, windows shifting as the system processed whatever she had built.

He stopped right behind her chair and looked over her shoulder for a moment. The glow from the screen reflected faintly on her skin, giving her face a sharp edge in the dim room. She leaned slightly forward, fully absorbed.

He reached out and touched her shoulder.

Everything happened in less than a second.

Her hand shot up instantly and grabbed his wrist with brutal precision. She twisted hard, fast, without hesitation.

Crack.

The sound was sharp and ugly.

Pain exploded through his fingers and up his arm. His veins rose along his neck as his body reacted to the sudden shock. His jaw tightened but he did not scream. His eyes widened as he stared at Lana’s turned head.

She had already half risen from her chair, ready to strike again.

Then she saw his face.

Her expression froze.

The aggression disappeared instantly and was replaced by something awkward and almost comical.

"Oh," she said, her lips twitching. "Sorry."

Liam stared at her for a second in silence, still processing the pain shooting through his hand.

He let out a slow breath.

"It’s fine," he muttered, though his voice was tight.

He gently pulled his hand back and looked at his fingers. Two of them bent slightly wrong. Without making a big deal out of it, he grabbed them and pulled.

Another small crack.

He reset them with a controlled motion. A little bit of pain flashed across his face but he swallowed it down. His system-enhanced body helped, the bones already adjusting.

Lana winced slightly.

"I didn’t know it was you," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. "You shouldn’t sneak up on people."

"I wasn’t sneaking," he replied with a faint smile. "You were just too deep in whatever this is."

He stepped closer and looked at the monitor.

All he saw were codes running endlessly. Strings of commands. Descriptions. Search parameters expanding across different networks. It looked complicated, messy, alive.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Lana turned back to the computer and sat down again, her fingers hovering over the keyboard.

"I’m running codes based on every description of Cain that I remember," she said. "Face structure, height range, movement patterns, online aliases that match his behavior. I fed it into multiple dark web crawlers. If there’s anything like him out there, any trace, any image, any mention, this will pick it up."

She clicked a few more commands and a progress bar appeared on one corner of the screen.

"It’s scanning forums, hidden marketplaces, encrypted chat leaks. If he’s connected to anything active, we’ll see it in a few minutes."

Liam nodded slowly.

"So you just have to wait for a few minutes."

"Yeah," she said. "All I have to do is wait."

He gave a short nod and then moved away from the screen. Instead of standing behind her again, he sat on the edge of the table where she was working. He leaned back slightly, his posture relaxed but his mind clearly somewhere else.

He looked toward the door.

Lana focused on the screen again, watching the progress percentage increase steadily.

For a while neither of them spoke.

The room felt quiet but heavy.

Liam’s thoughts drifted.

Leonid.

The name alone brought tension into his chest.

Maybe he was wrong.

Maybe he had been too harsh.

The memory replayed in his mind. The blood. The chaos. The way Leonid had looked at him. Confused. Lost. Not proud. Not satisfied. Just broken.

Irina’s voice echoed in his head.

He wasn’t in control.

At the time Liam did not want to hear it. Rage had clouded everything. He had seen bodies on the floor and that was enough for him. Action required reaction. That was how he operated.

But now, sitting in this dim room with code flickering in the background, the anger felt less sharp.

Maybe Leonid deserved a second chance.

Maybe he should not have been so quick to judge.

Yes, he killed those people.

That fact would never change.

But if he truly had no control, if something else had taken over him, if he genuinely did not understand what he was doing, then was it fair to treat him like a monster beyond saving?

Liam exhaled quietly.

It did not matter anymore.

The damage was already done.

Lines had been crossed.

Trust had been fractured.

Even if he wanted to go back and handle it differently, he could not.

Lana’s eyes shifted from the screen to him.

She noticed it almost immediately.

The way he was staring at nothing.

The way his jaw moved slightly as if he was grinding his teeth.

The way his shoulders seemed heavier than usual.

She stopped typing.

The progress bar kept moving on its own.

She stood up slowly and walked over to him.

Without saying anything at first, she stepped in between his legs where he sat on the table.

He looked up at her.

She placed one hand gently on his cheek.

Her touch was warm.

"What’s wrong?" she asked softly.

He lifted his hand and placed it over hers.

"Nothing much," he said, but his voice lacked its usual confidence.

She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Tell me."

He hesitated.

Then he sighed.

"Maybe I’ve been too quick to judge Leonid," he admitted.

Her expression shifted but she did not interrupt him.

"Yes, he killed those people," Liam continued quietly. "That part is real. But Irina was right. He wasn’t in control of himself. He had no idea what he was doing."

He looked down for a moment.

"And I didn’t think about that before I reacted the way I did."

Lana suddenly leaned forward and kissed him.

It wasn’t soft or shy. It was direct. Firm. Her lips pressed into his like she had made up her mind in that exact second.

For a moment Liam froze, surprised.

Then instinct took over.

His hand moved around her waist and pulled her closer until her body was flush against his. The kiss deepened naturally, not rushed but not gentle either. There was heat in it, tension that had been building for days without either of them admitting it.

He broke the kiss slightly, just enough to look at her.

"What is that for?" he asked, his voice lower than before.

Lana smiled, the kind of smile that pretended innocence but clearly wasn’t.

"Nothing," she said softly.

Her fingers brushed lightly along his jaw before she added, "About Leonid... maybe you should spend time with him alone. No pressure. Just the two of you. See who he really is without all the chaos around."

Liam tilted his head slightly, considering it.

Maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea.

Maybe distance from anger would help him see things clearly.

Before he could respond properly, he pulled her closer again and kissed her lips once more. This time slower. More deliberate.

She felt his hand sliding down her back, steady and warm, moving toward her waist and lower.

She caught his wrist gently.

"What are you doing?" she murmured, though there was amusement in her tone. "Liam... the door..."

He grinned without pulling away.

"The door is locked."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I’m working."

He glanced toward the screen where the progress bar continued to rise.

"Don’t worry," he said calmly. "We’ll know when the bar reaches one hundred."

She stared at him for half a second.

"You ass."

But this time she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.

The kiss shifted.

It became heavier. Slower. More consuming.

His hands settled firmly at her waist, thumbs pressing into her sides as he held her in place. Her body responded naturally, leaning into him, her fingers sliding into his hair and gripping lightly.

The room felt smaller.

Warmer.

The sound of the computer humming blended with their breathing.

He kissed down the corner of her mouth, brushing along her jaw, and she tilted her head slightly, allowing it. Her hands traced down from his neck to his shoulders, feeling the tension in him, the strength beneath his shirt.

He returned to her lips, this time deeper, more demanding.

She responded just as strongly.

Her chest rose and fell faster now, pressed against him as he tightened his hold. His hands moved again, firm and confident, exploring the curve of her waist and the line of her back without hesitation.

She let out a soft breath against his mouth.

He felt it.

He liked it.

Her fingers slid down to his chest, gripping lightly at his shirt as if steadying herself. The air between them felt charged, thick with restrained energy.

The progress bar on the screen quietly climbed.

Seventy percent.

Eighty.

Liam’s hand moved again, slower this time, deliberate, tracing the outline of her side. She shivered slightly at the contact but didn’t pull away. Instead she kissed him harder, deeper, like she was trying to drown out the world outside that room.

Ninety percent.

He shifted slightly, pulling her closer so there was no space left between them. She felt the warmth of his body through her clothes, the steady rhythm of his breathing matching hers.

Her hand pressed against his chest, then slid upward, fingers curling lightly into his collar.

The tension kept rising.

Ninety five percent.

He brushed his lips along her cheek and back to her mouth, slower now, savoring it. She responded with equal intensity, her grip tightening around his neck.

Then—

Ding.

The clear notification sound cut through the room.

They both paused instantly.

The screen behind her flashed as the progress bar hit one hundred percent.