Grayson’s eyes locked onto Lilianna, disappointed, pheromones doing their pressure work.

"How dare you scream at my boyfriend like that when you’re the one who did something wrong?" His voice was deep and threatening.

Neville turned to Grayson and thought, Is that the point? My ears are fine, by the way.

Grayson continued, "You think I didn’t see it? I saw it too. I’m not blind. I just stayed silent because I’m tired of going through the motions of your deceit."

Neville almost sneered, tired of her motions of deceit? More like, tired of trying to figure out Lilianna’s hidden motives, sending caution tape left and right.

"It’s disgusting." Grayson spat, looking directly at Lilianna’s eyes.

Neville thought, Whoa, I thought he was just going to let me do the verbal work. Did he have a change of heart?

Lilianna stumbled half a step backward. Her hip bumped into the card shoe, sending a spray of undealt cards scattering across the green felt. Her expression became more desperate and uglier than crying.

"Grayson, please, I can explain—"

"No."

Grayson took a step forward, restraining the next words from leaving his mouth.

Before he could say them, Neville hurriedly grabbed him by the arm. He pulled Grayson back in a hurry.

All because he felt something was wrong, but Neville couldn’t explain it himself.

But based on the red eyes he saw, the pointy bone on Lilianna’s neck that appeared and disappeared, Grayson was right to let Lilianna roam around freely until the gathering was gone.

However, they couldn’t let it abruptly end the gathering, or single out Lilianna either.

Not even now.

He was fine because he could buy something in the system to help him.

But no one knew that, not even Grayson.

They considered him one of the people at risk because he was sharp enough to know something and even discovered something.

Obviously, he was mainly targeted, too.

They didn’t know if it was really their goal or just Lilianna’s. That was why Grayson was being like this, mummed and tamed.

They also didn’t know if there were others who could potentially grab the ignorant Sarah and Iris out of nowhere as hostages.

They could only do this step by step.

One win over another.

Neville looked at Grayson and shook his head, without letting anyone else notice.

But Grayson read it.

Grayson didn’t like this at all. He felt that it was enough. That rather than threading a tightrope, he could use force since there were a lot of them.

But he also knew that he was being unreasonable, irrational even.

So, he sighed and closed his eyes.

Lilianna didn’t see any of it.

What Lilianna saw was Neville turning back to face her with that pitying gaze. She saw him, looking down on her.

’How dare he mock you?’ her inner voice hissed. ’He knows he’s won and he’s rubbing your face in it.’ 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Stop looking at me like that!"

Lilianna snapped and roared, wiping everything on the table away, hysterically.

Ciel flinched, and Sarah pressed a hand to her mouth.

"You think you’re better than me?!" Lilianna said, pointing her fingers at Neville, "You think because you caught me, you have the right to stand there and judge me?!"

She slammed both palms on the blackjack table, sending the remaining chip towers toppling down.

"This whole thing was unfair from the start! You wormed your way into his life, you inserted yourself in—"

Neville was bewildered but thought, insert what?

"You forced him into a relationship. Now, you stand there playing innocent while everyone treats you like some kind of—"

Neville almost showed his annoyance in his face at her incomplete sentences. Surely, you could make a better argument than that.

"You stooped this low just to make your point, and now you’re going to look at me like I’m the one who should be ashamed?!"

Neville almost dropped his jaw, but Ciel beat him to it and even uttered quietly, "Aren’t you?"

Tears were forming at the corners of Lilianna’s eyes—furious tears, the kind that burned more than they soothed.

Julius began to prepare, anticipating violence. His hand didn’t move to his waist, where he hid his portable weapon, but didn’t make it obvious.

Neville looked at Lilianna.

Then he looked past her.

The mecha simulation room was visible through the arched doorway behind the dealer’s station.

The sleek, recessed alcove contained two virtual pods. Their curved surfaces gleamed like the shells of mechanical beetles.

The pods looked like they were the top-of-the-line models.

Neville had seen this model in the StarNet.

If he could recall correctly, it was the kind used in military academies for combat readiness assessments.

It was capable of full neural synchronization and real-time battle streaming.

If it could really stream it in real time, they could broadcast live to the holographic displays in the living area.

The idea formed in Neville’s mind, and he said, "Fine."

Lilianna’s tirade stopped mid-breath, her chest heaving, mascara threatening the corners of her eyes.

"You want fairness?"

Neville asked.

"You want a result you can’t argue with?"

He nodded toward the simulation room.

"How about a mecha competition? Best of three."

Dead silence.

Then Ciel’s voice, barely above a whisper, trembled in horror and disbelief.

"A mecha competition?"

He unfolded from his chair, his boyish face drained of color.

"Neville, man, look... I know you’re angry, annoyed, and want to get this whole shit done."

Ciel looked at Lilianna and then turned back to Neville.

"But that’s literally courting death." He seriously said, "You are asking for a duel against a military veteran. Lilianna has at least four thousand hours in a cockpit with front-line war experience."

Ciel looked around the room for backup, finding none, and his voice cracked.

"This isn’t cards. You can’t bluff your way out of a cockpit."

"Exactly what I wanted." Neville nodded in all seriousness.

Thiago’s brow furrowed, and his gaze darted to Grayson, searching for a reaction.

Iris clenched her hand until it turned white in worry.

Helena uncrossed her legs and sat forward, her eyes narrowing with sudden, sharp hidden interest in a prey.

Lilianna froze and said, "Are you serious?"