"Listen to me!" Lily said, noticing Olivia's distress. "I know you're worried about him. We all are! But no one knows what's happening or why he's acting this way. Don't do anything rash until we understand. We have to trust the Edward we know, right?"

Lily sounded calm, though her heart pounded. Olivia was silent a moment before nodding. "Okay, I understand."

"Good. The most important thing now is for you to take care of yourself and the baby. Don't get too upset. Understand?" After a few more words of advice, Lily started to hang up. Olivia spoke again. "Wait! Since you've been busy, I've helped with some of your emails. I replied to the simpler ones, but a few are encrypted. You can look at them later."

"Okay," Lily replied. "Thank you for helping me."

She hung up, realizing she hadn't had time to check her emails. Turning toward the study, she saw Alexander still engrossed in work, intently focused on his computer. She sighed, about to check her inbox when her phone rang.

"Did I disturb your rest?" The teasing voice was Benedict's; she knew this call must be important.

"Did you get the results?" Lily asked directly, not in the mood for games.

"Tsk, I thought I'd get a scolding before we got down to business. I didn't expect this softer side. Did motherhood change you?" Benedict chuckled. Lily rolled her eyes. "Enough nonsense!"

"Still the same," he said, then got to the point. "Remember when you asked me to hack into that database?"

"You couldn't do it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. She recalled the request, but her trip to Department X had left her no time to follow up. The old research institute's staff had vanished after its abandonment; she had no idea where the data had gone.

"Are you kidding? I'm a god! How could I not? It's just… the database's contents are a bit scary." Benedict lowered his voice conspiratorially. "What the hell is it for?"

"You shouldn't ask. Did you understand what you saw?" Lily was curious. She hadn't seen the classified information, but assumed it resembled her data—mostly experimental data, with professional terminology, changes, results, and so on. Logically, Benedict shouldn't understand it.

Benedict chuckled. "I don't understand the numbers, but don't forget my old profession. I recognized some plant names, but…"