Page 44 of Emperor of Wrath

“Whoa. That what that was, bro?” Tak smirks, glancing sidelong at me.

“Hardly,” I mutter. “Just selling it.”

“Well, you’re a hell of a salesman, then,” Hana mutters dryly, grinning as I flip her off.

“Let’s not forget Mal over here, mooning over that goth chick with the fucking collar,” Takeshi snickers.

“Who, Freya?” Hana asks.

“Wait, is there more than one goth chick with a spiked collar at this party?” Tak laughs. “Because now I’m interested.”

Hana ignores him as she turns to Mal. “Got a thing for Freya?”

“Not at all,” he growls. “Tak just likes making shit up and stirring the pot.”

The usual sibling bickering that I secretly love fades into the background and a dark scowl crosses my face as I spot something across the room.

Not something. Someone.

“Anyone know who the fuck that is?” I grunt, nodding my chin at the same motherfucker Annika was talking closely with before. The fucker who seems to have not made the enlightened decision to leave yet.

“Guy in the charcoal gray suit?” Hana asks. I nod. “Valon Leka.” Her brow creases. “Head of The Brotherhood, an Armenian crime syndicate. They do a lot of intermediary work on the smuggling pipeline between Italy and Turkey. Meth…coke…heroin too, I think.” She shakes her head. “By all accounts, not a nice guy.”

My eyes narrow.

What the actual fuck is Annika doing talking to an Armenian drug smuggler?

“How the fuck did he even get in?” I mutter.

Takeshi snorts. “Wait, are you serious?”

I eye him. “Yes?”

My brother grins. “Fucking hell, I love it when I know shit you don’t.”

“Stop being an asshole and just tell me.”

He scoffs. “Sota is in talks with him about contracting out some work to his organization.”

I stare at him. “Christ, that’s the smuggler he’s been speaking to?”

“Yup,” Mal grunts. “Do us all a favor and see if you can get Sota to back off there. Leka has a seriously bad rep. I mean, he’s offering a sweet deal, but that’s because Sota would be his first business with the Yakuza, and he wants that in.” Mal shakes his head. “Dude is a fucking psychopath, though, at least so I’ve heard.”

“Noted,” I growl. “Why the fuck is he even entertaining the idea of working with someone like that?”

Hana rolls her eyes. “Take a guess.”

Shit.

“Tengan.”

“Bingo,” my sister mutters.

Tengan is Sota’s business manager. He’s also a thorn in my side, and to say we don’t see eye to eye on most things is like calling World War Two a “disagreement”. Mercifully, I have almost no interaction with him. Hana, unfortunately, doesn’t have that same luxury.

“Seriously,” Hana says quietly. She turns to me. “Sota really should stay away from this guy.”

And so the fuck should my fiancée…

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