He waited for her to talk, but some time pa.s.sed and Sia was still staring blankly at his face. Only his light pinches succeeded in bringing her back to her senses.

She had indeed blacked out after he said 'the Herondales'.

'There can't be such a coincidence, can there?'

"Wait, wait, wait. Did you just say the family you met are The Herondales?"

Feeling her abnormal behavior, Cain tried to lighten the mood and said in a teasing tone,

"Why? Are you so surprised that the most powerful family is actually involved in the underworld? Or did you perhaps also want to meet the family you oh so look up to?"

However, Sia was truly not in the mood for jokes. Her brain was currently overworking itself: in her mind she had already gone over Jason's medical data several times. The thing that came to her mind made her shudder slightly in silence. Disregarding his questions, she said in a somber tone, catching him completely unprepared,

"Cain, this is no time for jokes."

Cain dropped all the teasing from before and looked deeply into her eyes. It felt like he was trying to find answers to his countless questions. Why did she suddenly turn so serious? What did the Herondales have to do with her? What was the problem?

He didn't need to speak up for Sia to guess all his questions. The only reason she remained mute was because of the confidentiality agreement she gave her patients, including Mr. Jason. By law, and by doctors' principles she wasn't allowed to tell about the surgery. However, Cain wasn't someone who would misuse the information. No, it was actually the opposite. The information in her hand might help him to help Mr. Jason and the Herondales. He was her patient and a friend she made, so she naturally wanted only the best for him. On the other hand was Cain, the man she trusted and loved unconditionally. It was no different from the past: she chose to trust him.

"The patient I operated on in the evening surgery was none other than Jason Herondale. His older son, Mark Herondale, was also there with him. And there is a problem I discovered by an accident."

It was now Cain's turn to s.p.a.ce out, however, unlike Sia, he came back to his senses in a matter of a second or two. He didn't even consider the option that Sia could be joking now, not only because he knew her and about her principles far too well, but also because he absolutely believed in her. However, he soon realised a huge problem other than that mentioned by Sia: Luke Vallauris. He had led the Lion to Jason's lair just to divert him from investigating his visits to Ribekia and avoiding any possibility of implicating Sia. But now Sia was suddenly entangled with the head of the Herondales.

"I know I can't make you give up your patient, but the Lion is currently looking into him and I can't let you get discovered. I am heightening the security around you. Also - "

"Cain," Sia interrupted him, by now her face had lost all colour. She truly wouldn't have thought that they would get mixed up in such a mess. Her sense of crisis was becoming larger by the minute.

"Queenie?"

"Mr. Jason is infertile and he has always been such."

Cain couldn't believe what he just heard. He would have never imagined that there was such a secret Jason was carrying with him. Was this the problem Sia was talking about? Was it possible that the Black Lily had information that the current heirs of the millennial family were not blood related at all? The next in line after the two brothers were their cousin, whose father had actually died by the hands of the Black lily. A far fetched idea suddenly came to his mind, but he quickly shook it off. He was becoming more and more paranoid because of his whole matter.

"Are you sure about that?"

"He had a grade two tumour in his pineal gland that was causing him periods of unconsciousness and also problems with his sleep cycle which was why I operated on him. However, I noticed in his MRI scans that he has primary empty sella syndrome with a regressed pituitary gland." Stopping for a breath she deepened her gaze at him, "Pituitary gland regulates the production of prolactin, a hormone that in turn negatively regulates the production of s.e.x hormones: testosterone in men. Basically the more prolactin you have the less s.e.x hormones are produced. And he has hyperpolactinemia or elevated levels of prolactin production. So now you tell me, what happens to a men with sublevels of testosterone?"

"Erectile dysfunction?"

"Exactly but erectile dysfunction does not always mean infertile. But in his case because of the hormonal imbalance it does."

Silence prevailed in the room. Two people cuddled in the bed were engaged in a conversation that could be life saving and death bringing to some people. If the 'Black Lily' truly had this information in their hands, then they could manipulate Jason and his sons as they liked. However, while Sia was simply concerned about the wellbeing of the nice people she had met the day before, Cain was more concerned about the possibilities that this group could represent. He tried to recall the past events, and, unknowingly, his back started to slowly get covered in cold sweat.

"The group, 'Black Lily', appeared three years ago and they disappeared right after the candidates and the judges for the selection of were finalised."

"Even if it is so, we don't really have any evidence to support the kind of argument you are trying to make. We need to dig further," after a pause an idea stuck her and she quickly went on, "Right, the photo! Though it seems like a reasonable start I would rather we first investigate all the people and places that were affected by 'Black Lily'. We might find something in common, something that could be of much more help than the photo."

Sia could guess what he was trying to get to, but she really didn't want to jump to conclusions. If she did, it would indirectly endanger Cain: she really wanted to avoid doing that.

"That's what I planned as well. But we also cannot disregard the photo. Most probably the two men had already changed their appearances permanently, as, if they didn't, my surveillance systems would have long picked up on them. We might also try to find plastic surgeons who met a tragic or a mysterious death in these years. Though it's a broad search, it might bring some results."

Startled by his words, she quickly asked,

"Your surveillance system?"

"En. Two and a half years ago the Herondales bought the program from me. There hasn't been any devices that caught their appearance."

"Oh, got it... Cain?"

"Hmm?"

"What will happen if the word gets out? What do we do then?"

Cain's face darkened even further than it already had. He really wished it wouldn't get to that point, but they still had to have a Plan B in case it happened.

"The next in line is Jason's nephew, whose father was murdered by the 'Black Lily'. However, he is your typical and even worse than the hedonistic son of a rich family. He has no sense of value and principles. The amount of times Mark had to clean up after his mess could probably not be counted. He is a psychopath who l.u.s.ts over women all the time and doesn't hesitate to have someone killed if the person goes against him. We can't have him as a leader. If worst come to worst, I will rather kill him than let him wreck havoc."