[Phantom Headquarters]

"Kael was telling the truth. He really did plan an attack on Hardley Morris, but the entire thing backfired on him," Hunter reported, confirming the information they had gathered from Kael during their meeting a few days ago.

Xander remained silent as he listened.

Hunter knew very well that a man like Kael could deceive the entire world with his lies and wickedness. But Xander was the one person Kael would never dare to fool.

"But that’s not the end of it," Hunter continued. "Before his death, Hardley had already started dismantling his own operations behind the scenes. Maybe he sensed his end was near... or maybe he realized the people he partnered with were eventually going to betray him."

However, noticing that Xander barely seemed to be listening, Hunter slowly stopped speaking. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The room fell quiet.

Hunter had worked with Xander for years and had never once seen him distracted during a meeting.

But when he glanced toward Taylor, he immediately noticed the miserable expression on the man’s face.

Taylor internally prayed for divine intervention. He could handle bullets. He could handle assassins. But he absolutely could not handle one crazy woman relentlessly pursuing his boss.

’Is he still going to think about those hearts’

The others soon noticed Xander’s unusual silence as well and exchanged confused looks before Draven finally spoke.

"Taylor, did something happen while driving here?" he asked suspiciously. "The boss seems... distracted."

Taylor nearly jumped out of his seat.

Before he could desperately change the topic, a sweet voice suddenly echoed through the room.

"Distracted or not, the boss looks incredibly hot today," Veronica said shamelessly while resting her chin on her hand. "That frown on his face is absolutely deadly."

Both Hunter and Draven stared at her in shock.

Everyone knew Veronica had a massive crush on Xander, but no one expected her to openly flirt with death like this.

"Control your mouth, Veronica," Draven warned seriously. "Do you want the boss to hear your indecent comments?"

Veronica clicked her tongue dramatically.

"At this point, I’m dying for him to hear me," she sighed. "But unfortunately, he never even spares me a glance."

Taylor nearly slammed his head onto the table.

Please stop talking.

Meanwhile, Xander remained seated at the head of the table, completely expressionless.

Which somehow made the atmosphere even scarier.

But Veronica clearly had no fear.

"In fact," she continued boldly, "I think the boss looks even hotter when he’s emotionally unavailable."

Hunter slowly lowered the file in his hand.

Draven looked ready to resign from Phantom permanently.

Taylor, however, had already accepted defeat.

"Ahem... Boss, is something bothering you?" Veronica suddenly asked.

The moment those words left her mouth, everyone in the room felt their souls leave their bodies.

"Hey," Taylor immediately shot Veronica a warning glare, but she completely ignored him.

"Can a woman really be this shameless?" Taylor muttered under his breath.

Draven glanced at Veronica before replying calmly, "Not every woman. But this one definitely is."

Xander, who had been lost deep in thought, finally snapped out of it and looked toward Veronica, who greeted him with an unusually sweet smile.

But before she could continue with whatever dangerous nonsense she was planning to say, Hunter interrupted first.

"Is everything alright, boss?" he asked carefully.

Only then did Xander realize he had been spacing out the entire time.

Ever since he told Ivy that he would "consider" her feelings after receiving that message from her, he hadn’t been able to sleep at all. Throughout the entire night, his mind had kept replaying the conversation over and over again.

More specifically—

How exactly was he supposed to consider it?

Xander had been approached by countless women throughout his life, yet he had never spared any of them more than a glance.

But Ivy was different.

Was it because she was Leo’s mother?

Or because they had already crossed that line once before?

Or perhaps...

Xander’s frown deepened slightly.

The more he tried to understand it, the more his thoughts kept circling back to her.

"Boss," Hunter called again, this time sounding genuinely worried.

Xander finally lifted his eyes toward him.

"...Continue the report," he said calmly, though his expression remained colder than usual.

Hunter nodded immediately and resumed speaking, while the others secretly exchanged glances with one another.

The meeting continued for a while longer before it finally came to an end. Both Xander and Taylor stood up to leave.

However, just as Taylor was about to follow behind his boss, a hand suddenly grabbed the back of his collar and yanked him backward.

"Ack—!"

Taylor nearly choked before stumbling back.

The moment he turned around and saw Veronica glaring at him suspiciously, he frowned.

"I know you’re hiding something," Veronica said while tightening her grip on his collar. "Now spill it."

Veronica might openly crush on Xander without shame, but she was also sharp enough to notice the slightest change in his behavior.

Taylor immediately looked horrified.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," he denied instantly.

"Liar."

"I’m serious!"

Veronica narrowed her eyes and pulled Taylor even closer by his collar.

But before she could continue intimidating him, someone suddenly cleared their throat from behind.

"Everyone, back to work."

The calm yet authoritative voice instantly made the room fall silent.

Hunter had stepped forward with a tired expression while shooting Veronica a pointed look.

Veronica immediately released Taylor as if she had done absolutely nothing wrong.

The moment freedom returned to him, Taylor practically regained the will to live. Without wasting another second, he picked up his pace and bolted toward the exit.

"This sneaky little mouse..." Veronica gritted through her teeth while glaring at his retreating figure.

But before she could continue ranting, Taylor suddenly popped his head back through the doorway.

"Oh, by the way," he shouted loudly with a grin, "the boss definitely smiled after reading those heart emojis!"

Then he disappeared again.

The room went dead silent, and so did Veronica as her mind couldn’t pick up on his words.

Hunter slowly closed the file in his hand.

Draven quietly took one step away from Veronica for safety purposes.

A second later—

"TAYLOR!" Veronica screamed furiously.

Her voice echoed through the entire headquarters after Taylor left her hanging.

Unfortunately for her, Taylor’s distant laughter could already be heard somewhere down the hallway.

"That coward!" she snapped while stomping toward the door. "Wait till I catch him!"

"You won’t," Draven said calmly.

"I absolutely will!"

"He runs faster when threatened."

Hunter nodded in agreement.

"That’s true. Survival instincts."

Veronica looked ready to explode.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team casually returned to their work as if her emotional breakdown were simply part of the office’s daily background noise.

"Are you all ignoring me right now?!" Veronica shouted in disbelief.

"Yes," Hunter replied immediately while flipping through a file.

"Completely," Draven added.

Veronica gasped dramatically at the betrayal.

"I hate this team."

"No, you don’t," Hunter corrected calmly.

Veronica clicked her tongue before narrowing her eyes suspiciously again.

"Still," she wondered, "what did he mean by that?"" she inquired, but instead of responding, they slowly left.

"..."