The second Liam walked in through the door, he knew he was screwed.
Lilithâs eyes were the first thing he saw. That golden, dangerous stare of hers pierced straight through him like a blade. She didnât even sit upâjust lay there on the sleek black couch like a damn queen, head resting on a pillow, one leg crossed over the other.
But there was no seduction in her eyes this time.
Only heat.
And not the good kind.
"What the hell did you buy with $4.2 million?" she asked flatly, not moving an inch.
Liam blinked. "Uh..."
He coughed, slowly walking in and dropping his jacket over the arm of a chair. "Just... some necessities."
Lilith raised one perfect brow. "Necessities?" Her voice was low and deadly. "Four-point-two million dollarsâ worth of necessities?"
Liam didnât say a word. Just looked at her.
That made her sit up, a flash of irritation in her face as she slowly swung her legs down and sat upright, still radiating danger in nothing but that thin, silky nightgown.
"Liam."
Still no reply.
She narrowed her eyes. "So what, youâre not even going to pretend to explain?"
Her voice wasnât even loud. Just sharp. Icy.
Liam scratched the back of his neck and turned away for a secondâbecause truthfully, he wasnât listening anymore.
The system was saying something.
[SYSTEM UPDATE COMPLETE... SYNCHRONIZATION SUCCESSFUL.]
[Userâs financial assets detected. Synchronizing with trading platform...]
[Trading session active. Profit realized: +$5,000,000. Transferring to personal account.]
His eyes widened. He stood still as the notification hung in the corner of his vision like a glowing blue tag.
And then the hologram came alive.
It was floating right there in front of him. A transparent digital interfaceâcandlestick charts, trading pairs, green and red bars rising and falling in real time. Live trades were running. Executing. Winning. The system was flipping currencies and crypto, jumping into opportunities like a machine possessed.
Which, technically, it was.
He stared at it for a second, stunned.
Then asked silently in his mind: System... how?
The answer came instantly, in a clean, cold mechanical tone.
[SYSTEM ABILITY: Absolute Integration. I gain access to any system or platform the user has physically interacted with.]
That made his chest tighten.
Any system?
He did a quick rewind in his head.
He had touched his phone. Dozens of times.
His computer too. Logged in, made trades. Ran his terminal.
The system had taken that as permission.
It could now access every single thing in those devicesâand run them independently. Which meant...
It could trade even while he slept.
Even while he was away.
Even when he didnât know it was trading.
He looked at the account summary again.
$5,000,000 clean.
Already deposited.
Lilith was still glaring at him. Her arms crossed now, her face halfway between "Iâll stab you" and "Iâm too tired for this shit."
"You do realize Iâm asking how youâre paying me back," she said again.
Liam finally turned to her, expression unreadable.
"Youâre actually asking for it back?" he said, deadpan.
Lilith blinked, caught off guard by the tone.
Then she rolled her eyes, scoffing as she leaned back again.
"No. Not really."
She sighed.
Her fingers rubbed her temple lightly. "If it were any other day, Iâd let it go without a damn word. Hell, on a normal day Iâd probably tell you to take more. But todayâs been a mess, Liam. Iâve had to deal with two corrupt officials, a shipment problem, and that snake Elias trying to backstab us with that Crimson Hand bitch again."
Her voice lowered.
"I needed a win today. Not to open my account and see four point two million dollars vanish like smoke."
She wasnât mad about the money.
She was mad about the timing.
Liam got it now.
Sheâd just needed a break. And all heâd done was add weight to her already fucked-up day.
He still kept staring at the floating charts. The system kept running simulations, analyzing data at speeds no human could match. It was studying the market and reshaping strategies on the fly. Not even the best hedge fund firms on Earth had anything like this.
This wasnât just a tool.
This was a game-changer.
He smirked slightly.
The crazy part wasâthis wasnât even a skill he had activated. The system just decided it could do it. No permission. No warning. Just boom: five million in his account and a new power unlocked.
He looked at the graphs again.
Candles rising.
Sharp green bars hitting the target range.
It was trading smarter than he ever could. While he was out buying groceries and shoes and underwear and god-knows-what for Seo-yeon and her mom, this thing was printing money in the background like a silent monster.
Fuck, he thought.
This really changed everything.
Lilith finally stood up, she went to the bar and sit down pouring herself a drink.
Liam glanced at her.
She didnât even look at him anymore. She was tired. Worn out. Still stunning, but not in the mood for any games tonight.
And honestly, neither was he.
He opened his phone and pulled up the banking app.
Sure enough, five million.
Clean. Verified.
He laughed under his breath and shook his head.
Lilith noticed.
"Whatâs funny?" she asked.
Liam looked at her with a half-smile.
"Letâs just say... Iâm not in debt anymore."
The holographic trading screen flickered softly in his peripheral vision as he leaned against the counter.
Lilithâs phone vibrated on the bar.
She picked it up casually, not really expecting anythingâuntil she saw the alert.
+ $4,200,000
The exact amount.
Transferred back.
Her brows lifted, eyes narrowing for a brief second before her expression softened.
She stared at the screen, almost in disbelief.
"What the hell..." she muttered.
Her head slowly turned toward Liam, who was still standing a few feet away, eyes glued to something she couldnât seeâprobably his system interface again.
"You returned it?" she asked, her voice suddenly lacking all that edge from earlier. It was calmer. Even curious.
Liam turned his head slightly, face confused. "Didnât you just ask me how I was gonna return it?"
He looked at her like she was the crazy one.
"I did," she said slowly, "but... I didnât think youâd actually send it back."
"Now youâre mad I did?" Liam asked dryly.
Lilith blinked. She wasnât madâbut she did feel something tighten in her chest. She couldnât place it. Maybe guilt. Maybe something else.
Liam exhaled and leaned against the counter.
"I left my phone at your place. It was dead anyway," he said. "Didnât have time to mess with logins. I could only use your card."
That hit her like a slap.
She froze, staring at him, then glanced back at the alert on her phone.
So that was why.
He didnât just blow through her money like a reckless idiotâhe didnât have a choice.
He used it because it was the only thing he could access.
She scratched her head, the irritation draining from her slowly, replaced by something else. A sinking regret. Sheâd assumed the worst. Acted out. And now she realized sheâd been wrong.
But Liam wasnât even looking at her anymore.
His focus was locked onto that damn interface again, his pupils shifting slightly as he tracked data she couldnât even see.
It stung more than she expected.
She thought he was mad at her.
Thought he was giving her the silent treatment for snapping at him earlier.
She had no idea that wasnât the case at all.
Liam was staring at something more important than her ego.
The systemâs real-time trading interface was up again, and the numbers were climbing fast.
When he pulled out the money to return it, his trading account had dropped to $50k.
Now?
$86,200
Climbing steadily.
No big spikes. No sudden bursts. Just smooth, controlled gains.
But then Liam saw something that made his brows twitch.
The system was losing trades.
Not many, and not badly. But just enough to look realistic.
On purpose.
It was mimicking human error.
A few slips here, a missed stop there. Nothing majorâbut it was acting like him.
He did that all the time in the past. Purposely taking a few hits here and there to keep the algorithm from flagging his pattern as automated. Avoiding suspicion. Staying under the radar.
But now... the system was doing that on its own.
It was learning from him.
It had adapted his entire trading style down to the damn losses.
Holy shit.
He barely had time to process that thought when he suddenly felt a hand snake around his neck.
A warm, slender arm looped gently across his shoulder, fingers brushing against the skin of his chest.
Then came the scentâlight, intoxicating. A mix of fresh jasmine, musk, and something uniquely Lilith. Not perfume. Just her.
He closed the interface instantly.
It vanished from his vision in a blink.
He turned his head to see herâright there, pressing against him from behind, her body soft and warm against his back. Her chin rested near his shoulder, those golden eyes looking ahead but not really focused on anything.
"What are you doing?" he asked carefully.
Lilith didnât answer.
Instead, her fingers moved up and into his hair. Gentle. Slow. Stroking his head with a kind of tenderness he hadnât seen in her before.
"Iâm sorry," she said quietly.
Liam froze.
"I got mad at you," she continued, voice low and close to his ear. "I shouldnât have. I didnât know you used the card because you had to."
Liam didnât know what to say. For the first time in a while, he was completely thrown off.
He didnât expect this version of her.
Not the dangerous Lilith. Not the calculating queen of the Black Lotus.
But this.
Soft.
Regretful.
Touching him like she actually cared what he thought.
He suddenly remembered somethingâback when he was picking flowers for her. The system had said something strange. Something he hadnât fully paid attention to.
It said she possessed underlying emotional sensory.
He hadnât given it much thought at the time.
But now?
He was seeing it.
Feeling it.
She wasnât all steel and fire after all.
She had another side. A hidden part. The kind that came out only when no one else was watching.
And he was watching now.
He slowly turned his head toward her, trying to read her expression. Her eyes lowered as if she couldnât meet his.
She really felt bad.
That did something to him.
Because if Lilithâthe woman who didnât give a damn about anyoneâs opinionâwas apologizing to him, then that meant something.
It meant a lot.
But before he could say anything, the doorbell rang.
A sharp, clean chime that broke the quiet tension in the room.
Lilith pulled back slightly, eyes narrowing toward the sound. Her softness vanished just a little, replaced by curiosityâand caution.