“During the fire alarm, Jin Corp’s main security system will give access to the backup—in case of emergency. This means I’ll have full control of the system.” Lingyi projected images and video of Jin Corp’s interior and floor plans as we continued to talk through possibilities. After two hours, Lingyi called for a break. But as I rose from the sofa, she said to me, “You should cool things off with Daiyu. You got what you needed from her.”

I blanched, and Victor raised one dark eyebrow. It sounded so cruel when spoken aloud, even though that had been my same exact thought after Daiyu had given me a tour of Jin Corp.

“I haven’t talked to her in a while,” I lied. In truth, guilt had gotten the best of me, and I had messaged her to ask if she had news about Joseph. Daiyu responded that he was still quarantined in the facility outside of Taipei and recuperating.

Iris grabbed an apple from the bowl on the kitchen counter, every movement spare and smooth. “You’re losing interest, that’s all. You can play that, right?”

I could feel Lingyi scrutinizing me over her MacFold.

“I don’t think it hurts to have Zhou continue to woo her,” Victor said. “It’s always good to keep the enemy close.”

“There’s sense in that,” I replied before I could control my traitorous mouth. “It could be to our advantage if we remained friends.”

I’d made the mistake of agreeing with Vic, something I rarely did.

“Wait,” Lingyi said, tapping her hot pink fingernails against the glass table. “You don’t actually like her, do you?”

I felt all eyes turn to me. Arun folded his arms across his chest. He had tipped his orange spiked hair with indigo dye and looked like an aggressive rooster.

“And so what if he does?” Victor leaned back in the armchair. “As long as it doesn’t interfere with him gathering intel. Not everyone can turn their feelings off so easily, Lingyi,” he drawled.

The chamber went silent, like we had all sucked in a breath and held it. Lingyi colored, and Iris gave half an eye roll, then continued her push-up sets in the corner. Arun stared at his boots, seemingly fascinated by the laces. Lingyi, Iris, and Vic worked together well enough, but he had never hinted at his feelings for Lingyi so pointedly before. He had always acted like he didn’t care, pretended to be unaffected. But we all knew the truth.

They had only dated a few months before Lingyi ended things, soon after Iris joined our group. Neither discussed the breakup with me, but it was clear enough that Lingyi thought it was more casual than Victor had. He tried to appear blasé, but he had fallen hard for her. Although he’d had plenty of hookups, Vic hadn’t seen anyone seriously since.