"Well, that was certainly an enlightening experience." I said as we through the front doors of the Knight mansion.

"Nice use of those codewords." Liam said, his eyebrow raising slightly and... a hint of a smile on his lips?

Liams entire demeanor changed after we left the Lavella's. The cold, icy man I've known the past few weeks melted slightly. The car ride was still silent, but it wasn't awkward as it has been before. If anything, I'd say Liam was feeling triumphant over what transpired between him and Amora.

"Bible juice. I would have never thought of such a ridiculous phrase on my own, good job." He said as he looked over at me with an eyebrow slightly raised.

"The fact that we have to use any codewords at all is ridiculous." I said as I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Liam said as he glared down at me.

"I suppose." I said with a blank expression on my face. I could tell that Liam reveled in being right, and he let out a very, very small yet victorious smirk.

"So, how'd it go?" A voice rang from down from the hallway. James was looking at us, well, Liam. His piercing blue eyes were narrowed, his deadly glare aimed directly for his son.

"Good." Liam simply said as we walked towards his father.

"Good?" James said as he tilted his head slightly. I could tell that he was not in the mood for games.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Liam said defiantly as he walked past him. My steps slowed, and I went from walking beside Liam to behind him. His father turned on his heel, quickly catching up to him as they walked side by side. I began walking a healthy distance behind them. Far enough to keep me out of trouble, but close enough to satisfy my curiosity and eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Well, care to elaborate?" James said as we walked towards a group of men loitering in the hallway. They quickly saw Liam before turning and walking the other direction.

"I don't need to be micromanaged, father." Liam said with annoyance.

"Maybe that day will come when you stop acting like a rebellious teenager." James said harshly.

Ooh, this is getting spicy.

My eyes drifted towards Liam's back as I increased my pace slightly, getting closer to hear their conversation more clearly.

"You want to know what happened?" Liam said, a scowl on his lips. "Amora signed the contract willingly with the same terms."

"Was that before or after you killed seven of her men?" James said as he stopped walking, Liam quickly following suit. He looked over his shoulder at me. I made the mistake of looking up, and caught his furious gaze as he glared at me.

"After." I said after a moment of silence, earning another pointed glare from Liam.

Like father like son.

I stood there, my eyes drifting between James and Liam as they both stared at me furiously. I coughed awkwardly before I chose my next words carefully. But as I opened my mouth and prepared to speak, Liams words cut me off.

"Amora was planning to kill me. Mila intercepted her plan, and acted accordingly. If it wasn't for her, I'd be dead." Liam explained. My mouth was open for a moment, and I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Liam Knight just... complimented me? Or more so, complimented my competence? Either way, it was shocking to hear.

I looked over at James, who was equally as surprised to hear praise for another to come out of his son's mouth.

"It's true." I said as I nodded.

"Well," James said after a moment. He ran his hands through his grey hair before looking back at Liam. "I'm glad you're alive. But I think you forgot the entire reason behind revisiting your old clients."

"What I did was for the good of our organization." Liam said defensively. "The profit we're making from the Lavella's is worth-" Liam began.

"No, son. You were meant to make amends, to stop fucking over our clients." James said before he sighed.

"Mila, have you eaten yet?" James asked.

"No." I said quickly.

"Our chefs serve three meals a day, so feel free to help yourself. Dinner just started." James said as he nodded towards the hallway to my right. I looked down the corridor to see at the end of it was a large arch leading into an extravagant dining area. Low chatter was heard from the dozens of men and women who were scattered amongst the room.

"We'll continue this talk in my office." James said as he gave Liam another pointed look. Liam scowled slightly before he followed his father down the hallway until they turned the corner and were out of sight.

I turned towards the dining area, debating if I should go or not. I knew that they served meals throughout the day, it was hard to ignore the savory and delicious smells that filled the mansion. But I've been preoccupied with my work, with my investigation into my sister's murder.

The investigation that has slowly been leading me nowhere.

My stomach growled loudly as a group of women walked past me, making one look over her shoulder with her eyebrow raised. I glared at her until she looked forward once more. The loud growling of my empty stomach rang out once more, sealing my fate as I began to walk towards the dining room.

As I entered the massive dining hall, hushed whispers filled the air. In the center of the room were two rectangular tables that sat at least twenty people each. The back of the room was lined with another table, adorned with a white tablecloth and housing dozens and dozens of serving trays and platters. Each one held different appetizers, main courses, drinks that varied from water to wine, and charcuterie boards that looked more like artwork than trays of cheese.

As I made my way towards the back of the room, I couldn't help but feel out of place. Glares and scowls surrounded me, and everywhere I looked I was met with men and women sizing me up. Hushed whispers filled the room, and I felt as if I was in a high school cafeteria surrounded by cliques. I quickly reached the buffet table and grabbed the first thing I saw. I helped myself to the chicken parmesan and grabbed a water before walking to the nearest seat. As I walked by, a group of two men and a woman grabbed their trays and stood up, leaving an empty corner of the table open.

I watched as they walked away, sitting more towards the center of the table before I took a seat. I began eating, looking down at my food and minding my own business. I hate to admit it, but the food that the chefs cooked beat the hell out of the takeout I've been ordering every night.

Slowly, my mind began to wander to my search. I opened my phone, checking the facial recognition software. It will be tedious to cross reference the list of people who were there around the time of Maria's murder, but once I get the list, I can start filtering it out until I weed out Diana Sabel.

"Don't mind them." A woman's voice said, pulling me from my thoughts. I looked to my left to see a woman pull out the chair next to me and take a seat as I slipped my phone back into my pocket.

She was a tall woman, well, at least taller than me. She was slender, yet toned. One look at her and I could tell she'd be able to handle herself in a fight. Her brown hair was long, falling to her waist in tight curls. She was a naturally beautiful woman, her eyes free from any makeup, and her complexion flawless and smooth, minus a bruise that was healing on her left cheek. Her heart shaped lips were full, and her brown skin was covered in aged scars. She was dressed casually, and wore a simple white oversized shirt and ripped boyfriend jeans with white sneakers.

"They're still bitter from the gauntlet." She said as she grabbed an apple from her tray and took a bite. Her voice was smooth yet has a hint of rasp to it. I could immediately tell she was from New Jersey from the strong accent.

"Hmph." I mused. I looked around the room once more, and I noticed that most of the glares and stares came from men and women who had healing injuries. Most of them were bruised up pretty bad, a few of them had casts on their arms and legs. Some of them had stitches on their faces, holding together their eyebrows, cheeks, and gashes. "I didn't even think about that." I said finally before taking another bite of my food. Usually when I attack someone they don't live to hate me for it. I looked at the woman next to me. Even she had a bruise that was in the process of healing.

"Is that..." I began to ask.

"From you?" She said. I simply nodded, making he let out a low chuckle. "Yeah, it is."

"But you don't see me upset about it!" She yelled down the table at the group of people who moved seats. They were already staring at us before she began shouting, and they quickly averted their gaze to anywhere that wasn't our end of the table.

"Fuckers, all of 'em." She said before she took another bite of her apple.

"I'm sorry." I said, the words feeling like venom in my throat. I wasn't used to apologizing, especially for anything regarding training. At Corporate, it was kill or be killed. Everyone understood this, and there was never any need for apologies. Afterall, most of my training partners died in the process.

"Don't worry about it. You did what you had to do." She said as she looked over at me. "We all did."

"You almost got me with that roundhouse kick, you know." I said, making her eyes light up.

"Aw. You remembered me. I'm honored." She said with a small smile. "Although the man that you did throw in front of my kick was Matt. And I fucking hate Matt, so, you know, thank you for the assist." She said with a wicked smile.

"Nova Whitlock." She said as she reached out her hand.

"Mila Cruz." I said, shaking her hand firmly, making her smirk.

The room grew silent as a pair of heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway. I could already tell who was walking in the room just based off of how many people turned on their heel and went in the other direction.

Men and women scurried out of Liams way, bowing their heads and avoiding eye contact as he stormed through the dining area. I watched from the other side of the room as he walked past everyone, a deep scowl on his face and his jaw clenched with his hands shoved in his pants pocket. He walked towards the middle of the room before he veered towards another archway leading towards the family's private wing of the house. Once he was gone and out of sight, it was as if a storm cloud has passed through, and everyone let out a small sigh of relief.

"Why is everyone always so tense around him?" I asked Nova as I tilted my head. I couldn't understand it. This code word using idiot struck fear in the hearts of everyone he came across, but I've yet to see him do anything that was even remotely intimidating.

"Well for starters," Nova said as she leaned in closer to me. I paused a moment before doing the same. "He's a loose cannon. There are rumors about him. That he just senselessly kills people for no reason. I once heard that he killed his chef because his toast wasn't crisp enough." She explained in a hush voice.

"I haven't seen this myself, but I also heard that he once killed a man during a meeting because he thought he wasn't paying attention." Nova continued.

"There was even a rumor that just last week, he killed a woman for not satisfying him in bed." She said with her eyebrow raised slightly.

"I've killed for less." I said with a bored expression on my face.

"Oh yeah? What happened?" Nova said with a curious smile.

"I once pushed a man off a building because his face annoyed me." I said simply.

"Okay, I see you." Nova said with a smile as she nodded her head. "I respect that." She laughed.

"So, I take it Liam never joins you guys in here?" I asked, taking another bite of my savory dish.

"Never. At least not in the eight years I've been here." Nova said as she tossed her apple core onto her plate. "But we will see James in here a few times a week. Cool dude." Nova said as she nodded slightly.

"Hm." I mused with a smirk before I finished my plate.

"But apparently, Liam wasn't always like this." Nova said after a moment.

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking over at her curiously.

"Well," she began, leaning in closely before looking around us. "There was a rumor, a long time ago, way before I started working here, that he actually loved a woman." Nova whispered, making me raise my eyebrow.

"And she loved him back?" I said in disbelief.

"Yeah. Crazy right." Nova said with a lopsided grin.

"What kind of delusional woman would ever fall for that prick?" I said.

"I don't know, but apparently he was actually really kind. Some of the maids even told me he was one of the sweetest kids they've ever met." Nova said, making me furrow my brows.

"So, what changed?" I asked curiously.

"Something really bad happened to the girl he loved. People who've been here long enough are banned from ever speaking about it, so that's all I've heard. But after that, he just... turned into a prick I guess." Nova said, choosing her words carefully.

"Interesting." I said before I continued eating.

I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket, and checked the status of the facial recognition scan. It was taking longer than expected, and the anticipated time of completion would be roughly sixteen hours.

"So, what're you doing tonight?" Nova asked as she crossed her arms on the table.

"Nothing." I said, hiding the impatience in my tone as I slid my phone back into my pocket.

"You?" I asked.

"Meh. Nothing much. Just working." She said as she ate a spoonful of soup. "Gotta go kill a few drug dealers, send a message, the usual."

"Hm. Sounds fun." I mused as I looked at my plate.

"It always warms my heart when they scream and curse at you before you pull the trigger." Nova said with a wicked smile.

"It really does, doesn't it." I said as I looked at her.

"Wanna come?" She said as she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at me.

"I thought you'd never ask." I said with a small smile before I stood up. Even though I just met this woman, something told me that this was the start of a delightfully dangerous friendship.