Chapter 172For a brief second, no one moved.The air in the room had changed so suddenly it almost felt unreal, like something invisible had snapped into place.Johnny stood at the doorway, one hand still slightly lowered from pushing it open. His chest rose once, slowly, as his eyes took everything in.Margaret.She was half out of the chair, blouse pulled open at the collar, one sleeve hanging off her shoulder.Her hair was a mess, tears cutting clean lines through her makeup, and her eyes — God, her eyes — were wide open and locked onto him with the kind of desperate relief that a drowning person shows when they finally see the surface.Johnny's jaw tightened.He had seen a lot of horrible things in his life. Before the system and during it. But something about this — her specifically, like this — hit differently.I left her side.The thought came in slow and heavy, settling into his chest like a stone.I walked away, and this is what happened the moment I did.The thought hit har

The man on the floor lifted his head slightly, his brows pulling together despite the pain on his face. “Who…?” he asked, his voice hoarse. “What are you talking about…?”"Valentine Orlov," Johnny repeated, enunciating each syllable slowly. "I want to know his connection to this competition. Is this some kind of farm for him to pick up people?”The confusion deepened. The man in the middle pushed himself up onto one elbow with visible effort, blinking through his swollen eye."We have no idea what you're talking about," he said. His voice was thick, congested with blood at the back of his throat. "We don't know that name."Johnny watched him for a second. He had expected hesitation. Deflection. Lies. What he got instead was something else entirely. Genuine lack of understanding.He stepped closer, his gaze narrowing slightly. “Don’t waste my time,” he said. “You know exactly who I’m talking about.”“I swear…” the man coughed, wincing as he tried to sit up. “We don’t… we don’t know a

Margaret didn’t move immediately after the applause started.The sound came in waves, loud and full, but it felt distant to her, like it was happening behind glass. Her eyes were still fixed on the upper level, on that same spot where she had seen him.Johnny.He hadn’t moved.Even from that distance, she could tell he was watching her. Not the stage, not the crowd. Just her. There was something steady about the way he stood there, arms crossed, expression unreadable from where she was.Her fingers tightened slightly around the microphone.For a second, she almost forgot where she was.Then the noise rushed back in.The judges were speaking, people were clapping, someone called her name again, louder this time, trying to pull her attention back to the present.Margaret blinked and looked forward.She forced herself to breathe properly, to nod, to acknowledge the moment. Her body moved the way it was supposed to, but her mind stayed somewhere else entirely.On him.—By the time the r

Chapter 178Margaret held onto him like she was afraid he might disappear if she let go.Johnny didn’t move at firstHer arms were tight around him, her face pressed against his chest, and he could feel the uneven rhythm of her breathing through his shirt. His hands rested at her back, not quite holding, not quite pulling away, and he stared at a fixed point on the wall above her shoulder and tried to keep his mind organized.His hands hovered for a second before settling gently on her back.It was not easy.The timer in the corner of his vision kept ticking. He wasn't looking at it. He was making a deliberate effort not to look at it. But it was there regardless, patient and indifferent.…[HOT ASSINGMENT ALERT]Task: Have a threesomePenalty: Lose of the system.Time Left: 4:30:00…Of all the nights," he thought. Of all the possible nights for this.Margaret's hug lingered, her cheek against his chest, and he could feel her heartbeat racing through the thin fabric of dress. Par

A while ago, The applause was still going when Margaret walked off that stage. She didn't stop for the production crew. Didn't stop for the congratulations that came from every direction. Because in the middle of all that noise, all that attention, her eyes had gone somewhere else. She had seen him. Up in that back corner, arms crossed, half-swallowed by shadow — and then she had blinked and the lights had shifted and by the time her eyes adjusted, he was gone. Just the wall where he had been standing, empty, like she had imagined the whole thing. She hadn't imagined it. She knew she hadn't. By the time the host tried to guide her toward the stage exit for interviews, Margaret had already taken two steps back. “Miss Grace, just a quick word—” “I’ll be back,” she said quickly, though she didn’t slow down. She didn’t go back. Margaret pushed through the backstage exit, walked straight down the corridor, past people who tried to stop her, past staff who called h