Page 115 of Emperor of Lust

“Like hell it doesn’t!” he roars, fury twisting his features. He throws a phone down onto my chest, a video playing on the screen. “Watch that. I want you to see why I’m about to cut your fucking head off.”

I pick it up, dread settling in my stomach like lead. The video shows me with Hana outside our building, screaming at her, punching the wall next to her as she cries. It…looks bad.Realbad. Then the image jerks as I storm up to the guy filming us, my face twisted in a snarl, and slap the phone out of his hand.

Takeshi’s blade presses harder against my neck. “Any last words, motherfucker?”

He looks at me steadily. “Though, I’m not sure,” he growls. “Do I cut your head off right here, on the side of the road? Or should I drag you somewhere, tie you up, and slice you into little pieces?”

His words trigger something in my head. I frown, piecing things together in my mind.

“What did you just say?”

Takeshi narrows his eyes. “I said I’m going to cut off your fucking head, you piece of shit.”

“No, after that. You said… You’d tie me up.” It’s not the words themselves, but the familiarity they hold. An echo of something that doesn’t belong to this moment, but to something else…a memory.

Takeshi scowls. “Don’t make it weird.”

I push against the blade, ignoring the sting as it nicks my skin. “I need a ride home.”

He laughs coldly. “You think I’m here to give you alift?”

“Just a ride.” I nod, suddenly sure. “Thenyou can cut my head off.”

Back at the penthouse,it’s as I left it, jazz still purring through the speakers. The apartment feels like a mausoleum, cold and empty, echoes of Hana lingering in every corner.

“You left your stereo on, motherfucker,” Takeshi mutters as he steps inside, looking around.

My gaze locks on the two origami cranes sitting on the kitchen island.

The sight stirs a nagging thought in me, a question I can’t ignore.

I step closer, noticing that the cranes are intricately bound together with the same red yarn I used whenever I left them for her.

Except—

I gave them to her tied upseparately.

These are tiedtogether.

Bound to each other.

My jaw ticks.

And then, something else hits me. My ears tune to the music playing over the speakers as I turn the cranes in my hand. It’s not just any song. It’s thesamefucking song that was playing when I walked in before, on repeat.

I blink as recognition hits me as hard as Takeshi’s bat.

The song is “Blue in Green” by Miles Davis—the same song that was playing at the Golden Monkey the night I crashed into her world and turned it upside down.

This was deliberate. At least, I think it might be.

I turn to Takeshi who’s watching me with the anger from earlier simmering just beneath the surface.

“Ready to die?” he snarls.

I meet his gaze, heart racing as the pieces start clicking into place. “I don’t think Hana cheated on me.”

Takeshi’s still clinging to his fury. “I really don’t give a fuck at this point.” He pulls the blade out again.

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