Chapter 206: A Strange Night! [FIXED!][27/10!]

The car’s taillights disappeared around the corner, and the street fell quiet again.

Liam lingered on the sidewalk for a moment, hands in his pockets, watching the blue dot on his phone crawl steadily toward the Reyes house.

He could have driven Mateo home himself. It would have taken twenty minutes, maybe less at this hour. But there was no need. That was exactly what Reggie was for, and Liam was paying him a very healthy amount to make sure Mateo got from one door to the other without a single thing going wrong.

Besides, if Liam had tried to work the pedals right now, his quads would probably have filed for divorce.

He turned and made his way back inside, one hand on the railing, taking the stairs slower than he’d ever admit to anyone.

The apartment felt strangely quiet without Mateo in it. Empty pizza boxes were stacked on the coffee table. One controller lay abandoned on the floor where Mateo had dropped it in celebration after his final victory. The TV still glowed on the Tekken menu screen, the music looping softly.

Liam smiled and quietly switched it off.

That session had hit the spot. He hadn’t laughed like that in weeks. No contracts, no strategy, no system notifications, no wondering what Mrs. Harriet was thinking or what Arthur might do next. Just pizza, trash talk, and a sixteen-year-old destroying him at a fighting game.

He thought about Darren for a second. Darren would be down to game in a heartbeat. He’d show up with snacks and a lot of confidence.

And he’d be terrible.

Liam chuckled at the image. Darren could knock a man out in a single punch, but put a controller in his hands and he’d mash every button at once and then blame the game. Maybe next time they could make it a three-way match. Mateo would have the time of his life.

He considered going for a walk to clear his head and stretch out before bed.

Then he took one step toward the door and his legs answered for him.

"Absolutely not."

He changed direction, shuffled into the bedroom, and fell back onto the mattress without even bothering to pull back the covers.

For a while he just lay there, staring at the ceiling in the dark, a broad smile spreading slowly across his face.

"This was a good day," he murmured.

-

Liam slept like a dog.

It was deep, heavy, motionless sleep, the kind his body had been begging for all week.

Then something pulled him out of it.

A sound. A dull thud, somewhere beyond the bedroom door.

Liam’s eyes snapped open.

He lay perfectly still, listening. The apartment was dark except for the faint glow of the clock on his nightstand.

2:14 AM.

"That’s strange."

Every nerve in his body was awake now.

He had made enemies lately. Powerful ones, with money and reasons to dislike him. For one ridiculous second, the word *assassination* floated through his head.

Liam snorted quietly into the dark.

"Relax. You’re a lawyer, not a mob boss."

He slowly swung his legs off the bed.

That was a mistake.

His thighs lit up instantly, a deep, burning ache that shot from his hips to his knees. Mike’s programme had finally arrived to collect. Liam bit back a groan and stood very slowly, one hand braced against the wall like an old man getting out of a bath.

He shuffled toward the living room, mostly for a glass of water.

He wasn’t worried about the front door. He’d changed the locks after Sara let herself in with that old spare key. Nobody was getting in that way again.

The living room was completely empty.

Except for the floor.

The tower of empty pizza boxes he’d stacked on the edge of the coffee table had finally given up and slid off, scattering crusts across the rug.

"Killed by pepperoni. Tragic."

He laughed, filled a glass of water, and lowered himself carefully onto the couch.

His phone lay on the cushion beside him. He scrolled until his thumb stopped on a contact he hadn’t touched yet.

[Hitomi ??]

It was two in the morning. Normal people were asleep.

But Hitomi didn’t strike him as normal people.

[Liam: It’s the guy who fell asleep in your chair. did you finish it?]

He’d barely set the phone down when it buzzed.

A photo. The Invincible Compendium lay open on a faded green couch, a half-finished bowl of ramen balanced beside it, the page lit by a string of fairy lights.

[Hitomi: Just finished ??]

Liam grinned. She’d been reading for nearly ten hours straight.

[Liam: It’s 2am]

[Hitomi: ur awake too]

[Liam: My pizza boxes attacked me]

[Hitomi: ???]

[Liam: Long story]

Three dots appeared. Then another photo arrived.

A sketch on a torn notebook page. A small paper lantern, its glow drawn in fine dotted strokes, with a thin thread trailing down from it like a kite string.

[Hitomi: For ur tattoo. if u ever stop being scared.]

[Hitomi: Free. bc of the book]

Liam stared at the drawing.

It was simple. And somehow, exactly what he would have picked.

[Liam: I wasn’t scared. I was tired]

[Hitomi: u fell asleep and ran away]

[Liam: ...fair]

She sent a single sleeping emoji.

Liam smiled and quietly sipped his water.

His legs still hurt. He didn’t mind nearly as much now.

-

Across the city, at the same ungodly hour, Priya was still awake.

Her kitchen table had disappeared under a mess of paperwork. Invoices. Shipping confirmations. Printed spreadsheets with half the rows highlighted in yellow and the other half crossed out in red. Her laptop sat in the middle of it all, screen glowing, three different tracking pages open in separate tabs.

Beside it stood the biggest mug of coffee she owned. It was her third refill. Maybe her fourth.

She looked terrible, and she knew it. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a bun that had given up hours ago. She was still wearing yesterday’s sweater. There were dark circles under her eyes deep enough to store things in.

But she was finally almost done.

Priya scrolled through the master list one more time, checking every line against the confirmations.

Everything Liam had asked for was there.

Every single last item.

Some of it had been easy, the kind of things any decent supplier in Seattle carried. Other pieces had taken real work. She’d tracked down vendors in Portland, in Chicago, in a small town in Vermont she’d had to look up twice on the map. One supplier didn’t even have a website, just a phone number on a forum post from three years ago. She’d called it anyway. An old man had answered and agreed to ship.

She’d placed every order days ago. According to the tracking, all of it would arrive within the next few hours.

Priya leaned back in her chair and let out a long breath.

*Almost there.*

Tomorrow was going to be brutal. Deliveries all morning, every box checked and signed for.

And all of it was on her.

She glanced at the total at the bottom of the spreadsheet and winced.

She’d paid for most of it herself. Out of her own pocket. Liam would reimburse her. She was completely sure of that.

But he hadn’t given her a down payment either.

She hadn’t even asked for one.

That had been her choice, and she knew exactly how risky it was. If something went wrong, the money was gone, and she’d be the one left holding the bill.

Priya picked up her mug, took a long sip of lukewarm coffee, and pulled the laptop closer.

It was a gamble.

But she had a feeling it was going to pay off.