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"Resolution variance in the subcutaneous mapping." Code returned to his chair but didn't sit. "The deep learning algorithm they used is good. Really good. But there's flutter in the micro-expressions. Watch her left eyebrow at the twelve-second mark."

Everyone leaned forward. The video played again. I saw nothing different.

"There." Code pointed. "The muscle tension doesn't match the emotional context. When someone's genuinely angry enough to use those slurs, specific facial muscles engage. Corrugator supercilii contracts differently. This is mimicking surface movement without understanding the underlying anatomy."

"English please." Roan looked lost. God knew I was. Lost and frustrated.

"It's fake." Code finally sat down again, his attention shifting to me for the first time since he'd entered. "Exceptionally well-made, but fake."

"I know it's fake." My voice cracked. "I never made that phone call. I never said any of those things."

"I know."

The certainty in his voice made me look up. Our eyes met and held.

"How can you know?" I whispered.

"Beyond the technical tells?" He leaned back slightly, coffee mug cradled in both hands. "My cousin wouldn't have brought you here if you were the kind of person who'd say those things. Angelica's an excellent judge of character. Always has been."

Something in my chest loosened. This stranger, this intimidating man who looked like he could kill someone by sheer willpower, believed me. Not because of evidence or alibis, but because his cousin vouched for me.

"Plus," he continued, "whoever made this has been planning for months. The model training alone would take eight to twelve weeks minimum. This isn't civilian. It's professional."

"Professional?" Simon leaned forward.

Code nodded. "Military or intelligence-grade deep fake technology. Not something you can download off the internet. Jase, you mentioned that the extortion side is that Ms. Lord needs to drop out of the film, or this will be released to the public, right?"

His question might have been for Jase, but he was looking straight at me. He’d called me Ms. Lord. Not Kit, not Katherine. The formality felt like distance, like protection. His or mine, I wasn't sure.

“Yep, that’s what this asshole wants,” Jase answered. “Can you trace it?" Jase asked. "Find who made it?"

"Maybe." Code's attention stayed on me. "I'll need access to your devices. Phone, laptop, anything with a camera. They had to get source material somehow."

The thought of him going through my digital life, seeing my texts, my emails, my desperate three AM Google searches to figure out just how bad the fallout would be if the video got out. It wouldn’t be just catastrophic for my career, it would end me. I’d have to disappear.

"Whatever you need."

He nodded once, then turned back to the screen. The discussion shifted to technical details I barely followed. Encryption protocols, metadata analysis, digital fingerprinting. Code spoke in short, precise sentences, answering questions without elaborating. The SEALs kept trying to draw him out, get more information, but he deflected every attempt with practiced ease.

I found myself studying him while he worked. The way his hands moved when his fingers flew over his tablet’s keyboard, quick and certain. The slight furrow between his brows when he concentrated. How he absently rubbed his thumb along the edge of his coffee mug while thinking. He looked tired, bone-deep exhausted in a way makeup couldn't hide. I recognized it. I'd seen it in my mirror after my divorce, after Dad died, after every loss that carved pieces of me away.

Whatever he'd done for twenty years in the Army had left marks. Not visible ones, but the kind that showed in how he held himself apart, always watching, always ready. Jase had said cyber operations, but there were layers underneath that classification he clearly didn't want to discuss.

"I need to set up a secured workspace." Code stood abruptly.

"We have another conference room. Smaller. It's yours." Simon gestured down the hall. "Whatever you need."

Code looked at me again. "I'll need those devices within the hour."

Then he was gone, taking his things and that unsettling intensity with him.

"Well boys, that was fun." Angelica stood, pulling me up with her. "We need to go."

“Dinner at our house tonight?” Jase asked.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Angelica grinned.

“Where are we going?” I asked as she hustled me out of the door.