Page 19 of Emperor of Wrath

I gasp as he surges off the pylon and right into me, grabbing me by the throat and looking down into my stunned face. There’s a heat emanating from his huge body that tingles against my skin. The clean, woodsy, slightly spicy scent of him invades my senses, and I shiver.

“Believe me, princess?—”

“Do not call me that.”

His lips curl.

“But that’s what you are, isn’t it?” His eyes narrow. “A princess?”

I grit my teeth. I know why he’s chosen that obnoxious name for me. Because once upon a time, in a life that burned to the ground, that’s what I was: a prim and proper, pampered little mafia princess.

But I lost that version of myself years ago.

When I say nothing, Kenzo’s jaw clenches and his fingers tighten around my throat.

“I’ll call you whatever the fuck I choose,” he snarls. “And I didn’t want to trap you. I wanted to exact vengeance on you.”

I fight back a shudder. “Well, you’ve succeeded.”

Something sinister glints in his eyes.

“Not yet, I haven’t.”

The shudder breaks free, rippling down my spine.

“Not even close, Annika.”

I jut out my chin at him. “Amazing,” I spit back. “Mr. tough Yakuza bad-boy all upset about one stupid little necklace?—”

I gasp sharply, whimpering as Kenzo shoves me against the stone pylon behind me. It hits my ass and the small of my back, but he keeps pushing until I’m half bent backward over it, with him looming over me.

“That necklace,” he hisses viciously, “belonged to my mother.”

I wince, the color draining from my face.

Cocksucking sentimentality.

“So whatever you pawned it for, I can promise it was less than a hundredth of its value to me.”

I chew on my lip for a half second before speaking. “So, that’s why you set this all up?”

“I thought I was clear a few seconds ago when I emphatically said I did not want this,” he snarls. “I’d rather marry anyone else on Earth before you.”

I shoot him a dirty look.

“Uh, thanks. Same to you, shithead. Look, if you’re also against this, why don’t we work together to get ourselves out of?—”

“That’s not happening, and you know it,” he says coldly.

We glare at each other for another few seconds before I bring the vape to my lips and take another pull, blowing it right into his face again.

Kenzo doesn’t blink. He doesn’t even flinch.

“You never answered my question, jerkwad. If you didn’t come here to gloat?—”

“Aoki Jura was my friend,” he murmurs quietly. “As is the sole survivor from the group that walked into that nightclub earlier.” He jerks a thumb over his shoulder at the hospital behind him. “He’s in critical condition. That’s why I’m here.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

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