Page 35 of Emperor of Wrath

“Says who?”

“Me.”

Hana barks a laugh. “Well, in that case, your highness,” she snickers. “Have you considered that she has about as much interest in marrying you as you do her? Possibly less?”

“Considered. Filed away. No shits given. She’s a peace treaty, Hana. A necessary evil.”

Before I can say another word, I see one of the older Yakuza guys I was hoping to avoid talking to heading my way. Even worse, it’s Matsui Aki.

Matsui and the Aki-kai are a smaller Yakuza family that long ago swore allegiance to my father’s Mori-kai. In the absence of the Mori-kai being a thing for the past few decades, Matsui has pledged allegiance to Sota. But since I’ve begun rebuilding my empire, Sota has insisted that families like Matsui’s honor their original vows to the Mori-kai. Ergo, Matsui now reports directly to me as his oyabun.

Which would be great, except for the fact that Matsui is a sneaky, selfish little shit whose only real allegiance is to himself and his bank account. Worse, he has lately taken to all but hurling his daughter, Nishi, at me.

“Oh, shit, I almost forgot…gotta run.”

Hana starts to walk away, but I grab her arm.

“For?” I growl.

“A…a thing…” She gives me a stricken look before glancing at Matsui as he moves toward us. “Fine. He gives me the creeps. Please can I go?”

I sigh. “Sure. See if you can help Mal make sure Takeshi isn’t up to his usual bullshit.”

“Good luck,” she mutters as she drifts away, just as Matsui sidles up to me.

“Ahh!” He beams broadly. “Congratulations to the prince!”

The lack of any sort of smile in his eyes lets me know he’s probably one of the least pleased people in the room about my engagement, third only behind Annika and I. After all, this means I won’t be entertaining his less-than-subtle attempts to get me to marry his daughter.

Nishi, who’s standing right next to him dressed in—I have to say—a stunning red gown that leaves little to the imagination, smiles at me as she moves closer.

“Congratulations, Kenzo,” she purrs. Her tongue slips out to wet her lips with just a hint of provocativeness, her eyes locking with mine. “She’s a very lucky girl.”

“Arigato, Matsui-san,” I say, bowing formally to him before turning and giving a briefer nod to Nishi. “And thank you.” I turn back to her father. “And, Matsui, I need to talk to you to iron out the…delays in the new guidelines I’ve laid out for our organization.”

As I’ve slowly been rebuilding the Mori-kai and establishing more of a presence in Kyoto, I’ve recently issued a decree to all the family heads who report to me. I’m making a few changes, and one of the bigger ones is that our organization will not be dealing in prostitution going forward.

Sota has no patience or stomach for the trade either, and has similarly banned it from his organization top to bottom for decades. But there are a few families who have snuck through the cracks. The Aki-kai is one.

Matsui’s organization was one of the ones who went out on their own as mini empires when my father left and the Mori-Kai empire folded. For a while, he set his own rules, did whatever business he wanted, and answered to no one. When other, larger families started encroaching on his small empire, Matsui was forced to join up with Sota, and to pledge him his allegiance. In a case like that, it was harder to get him to get on board with how Sota does business. Which is why Matsui has continued to run girls and brothels.

That’s ending, now. I won’t have it. The problem is, Matsui makes a lot of money from his girls, so he’s been purposefully stalling in giving me his response to the decree.

“Ahh, yes! Of course, of course.” Matsui smiles at me like we’re old pals.

“Now, Matsui.”

“Soon, yes.”

My jaw tightens. “I don’t think you heard me. I need you to give me your pledge now that you will stop?—”

“You know, my poor Nishi was so sad when she heard you were engaged.”

God fucking dammit. It’s the same damn script every time with this fucker.

“Matsui—”

“I must go congratulate Sota,” he smiles at me, pulling away. “Why don’t you and Nishi talk?”

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