NOVPUB
Chapter 153: Chapter 153 Revenge 2/4 I
Liam was just about to leave his room and look for a spare room for Lana when he paused mid-step. He could feel it—her hesitation. She was standing near his bed, eyes downcast, fidgeting with her fingers like she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.
He turned to her slowly, his voice soft. "What is it?" he asked.
Lana’s lips parted, but no sound came out at first. She shifted awkwardly, clearly nervous. Finally, she took a breath and stammered, "C-Can I... sleep here? In your room...?"
Liam raised an eyebrow in surprise. His blue eyes studied her carefully. She couldn’t even look at him directly.
But then it clicked.
She didn’t want to be alone.
After everything that had just happened—being attacked in her own home, nearly disfigured by acid—Lana didn’t want to be away from him. She needed to feel safe.
He gave her a small nod and a gentle smile. "Of course," he said. "I don’t mind at all."
Don’t mind? That was an understatement.
If his dead father’s spirit was still hanging around somewhere, it was probably giving him a proud thumbs up right now. Sleeping in the same room with Lana? Yes, please. Not that he’d take advantage of it—but still. This was one hell of a twist in his night.
It was a little awkward at first—at least for Lana. This was the first time she’d ever slept in the same room as a man who wasn’t family. But for Liam, it felt oddly natural.
He climbed onto the bed and scooted to one side, leaving a clear space for her. "Make yourself comfortable," he said casually.
Lana walked slowly to the other side and slipped beneath the blanket. Her body was tense at first, stiff like she wasn’t sure how to lie beside him without making it weird. But then she caught the smell of him on the bed—his scent, musky and clean, comforting in a way she hadn’t expected.
It relaxed her.
She turned her back to him and let her shoulders ease down. She didn’t even realize when her mind began to fade. The tension in her body melted away, her worries slowly washed out by the warmth of his bed and the quiet strength of his presence beside her.
By the time her eyes finally closed, Liam was already sound asleep. His breathing was deep and even, his chest rising and falling slowly. After everything he’d done today his body was exhausted, and sleep took him without resistance.
For the first time in days, Lana slept peacefully.
---
Meanwhile, in a dark, concrete-walled room filled with flickering red lights, the base of the Crimson Hand was anything but peaceful.
Boss stood near the edge of a desk, holding a phone to his ear with trembling hands. Sweat ran down the side of his temple.
The voice on the other end was cold. Merciless.
"You had one job," Li said. His tone was eerily calm, but every word was sharp enough to cut skin. "Eradicate the Black Lotus."
Boss swallowed hard. "S-sir Li... things didn’t go according to how we planned..."
There was a beat of silence.
Then Li’s voice turned deadly. "What made you fail even after I gave you five machine guns and crates of ammunition? You still couldn’t bring down Lilith?"
Boss’s throat went dry. "S-sir... we didn’t account for him..."
"Him who?"
Boss closed his eyes. "...Liam."
There was another pause on the line. This one longer.
And then—CRASH!
Boss flinched as he heard something heavy shatter on the other side of the call. Li’s voice came back, seething with rage.
"I don’t give a fuck who Liam is. I don’t care if he’s a demon sent from hell. You get the job done before next week, or your head goes on a plate before theirs."
Boss nodded frantically even though no one could see him. "Y-Yes, sir... understood."
"I want Liam’s fucking head, side by side with Lilith’s," Li growled.
Then the line went dead with a harsh beep.
Boss stood in silence, phone still pressed to his ear long after the call had ended. His legs felt weak. His heart was pounding like a drum.
Liam...
That name was now etched into his fear.
He ran his hands through his hair, tugging at the strands in frustration. His breaths were shallow, uneven. A week—that’s all Li had given him.
One week to take Liam out.
"What the fuck is wrong with this guy...?" Boss muttered under his breath. "Why is Liam such a goddamn pain in my ass?!"
But before he could finish his spiral of panic, a BOOM! thundered through the base like a bomb going off. The entire room shook. The lights above flickered, one of them popping in a shower of sparks.
Boss stumbled, catching himself on the desk.
The ground beneath his boots still vibrated.
What the hell was that?
He yanked his phone from the table, his fingers frantically dialing the internal security line for the watch post. He pressed the phone to his ear.
"Are you under attack?" he barked. "Is it the Black Lotus? Hello!? Are you there?! REPLY, MOTHERFUCKER!!"
Silence.
And then—
BRATATATATATA!!!
Gunfire erupted outside. Loud. Chaotic. Too many bullets for a standard patrol. The sound of an M249 laying down suppressive fire. A second later came the deep, gut-shaking sound of another explosion—this one closer.
Boss’s face drained of color.
"Shit..."
He threw his phone to the side, grabbing his M4 rifle from the gun rack behind his desk. With one hand he loaded a mag, racking the bolt back as he pressed his walkie-talkie to his mouth.
"I NEED EVERY FUCKING BODY BACK AT THE BASE NOW!" he roared. "WE’RE UNDER HEAVY ATTACK!!"
He didn’t wait for a response.
He sprinted for the stairs, boots pounding hard against the concrete as he descended into the chaos. Smoke had already begun creeping up the stairwell, thick and pungent with the stench of burning fuel and blood.
When he reached the ground floor, the scene that met him turned his stomach.
Seven of his men lay dead—some of them torn apart, limbs twisted at unnatural angles, blood smeared across the walls. Fires raged around the room. An RPG had slammed into the side of the building, blowing apart the eastern corridor and leaving rubble everywhere.
Boss’s jaw clenched. His remaining men were firing blindly into the smoke and darkness, their eyes wide, panic gripping them by the throat. Muzzle flashes lit the area in staccato bursts, but there was no clear enemy. Just shadows... just fear.
"They’re ghosts!" one of his men shouted. "We can’t see shit!!"
"Hold your line!" Boss yelled. "Cover the damn—"
Suddenly, one of the gunmen jerked.
A hand had grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him into the smoke.
He didn’t even get to scream properly.
Just a yelp—and then silence.
The others spun around just in time to catch a glimpse.
Something—or someone—had pulled their comrade into the dark. And then... gone. Like a shadow vanishing into mist.
"What the hell—" one of the men began, his voice trembling.
Then the body dropped back into view.
Their teammate stood there for a second, swaying, his eyes wide in horror. His hands were clamped to his throat, but blood sprayed out from between his fingers. His neck had been slit clean. Bone-deep. Precise.
He dropped to his knees.
And then, finally, collapsed face-first into the blood-soaked floor.
One of the others stumbled backward, gasping. 𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝒎
Then they all saw her.
A figure stepped into the light, emerging from the smoke like death itself.
She wore a black robe that flowed behind her like a shadow. But underneath it, glimpses of high-tech, skin-tight black armor shimmered under the flames—reflective, sleek, and form-fitting. The way it hugged her curvaceous frame left no question—this was a woman. But everything else about her was a mystery.
They couldn’t see her hair.
Couldn’t see her full face.
Just her eyes—cold and merciless, like silver fire—and the lower half of her face, set in a stoic, unreadable line.
Not a word came from her lips.
Not a sound.
But every man in that room felt it—the presence of death.
