The whole evening was a planned performance. Liar stood by the panoramic window, sensing his men moving—flawless shadows. A minor smuggling issue was resolving itself.

Kenji approached with a look that said "awkward, but under control." "Boss, about the package from the port. A girl. For… clarification."

Liar nodded. Someone had overdone it, deciding to deliver "entertainment." Let her wait in a side room.

But later, his gaze caught on a figure by the bar. She screamed otherness with her entire being—her posture, her gaze darting toward the exits. There was only a wild, animal wariness in her. A mistake. A crude one. He gave a signal: "Observe. Don't let out."

She bolted into the service corridor. Her panic, primitive and clumsy, offended his order. He caught up with her in the narrow space that smelled of detergent and coffee. In her eyes, he saw not calculation, but pure, instinctive terror.

"Calm down," he uttered in an icy tone of command.

Reality glitched. She didn't freeze. Her leg shot upward.

He didn't have a second. His training hadn't covered a desperate kick to the groin. White, hot pain knocked the air from his lungs. He doubled over, gripping the wall. Humiliation, sharper than the pain itself, pierced him. Through the haze, he saw the flicker of her heels.

The rage buried beneath the ice surged out. He straightened up, ignoring the spasm, and pressed the button in his cuff. "EVERYONE. FIND HER. NOW," his hoarse whisper sounded in the guards' earpieces.

Twelve minutes in the office. He slowly regained his breath, burning out the rage, transforming it into cold intent. When the door opened, no trace of what had happened remained on his face.

Two subordinates brought her in, their faces etched with mortal terror. She looked at the floor, drained of strength.

Liar didn't stand. He leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers. The silence grew thick as tar. He let it last, let the fear envelop the room.

Then he slowly tilted his head to the side. His voice became quiet, almost intimate, and therefore infinitely dangerous.

"You know… hitting me in the balls really wasn't necessary."