Page 54 of Emperor of Lust

So—business as usual, just the way I like it.

That’s not the reason for my smug expression, though. That’s all due to the memory of my escape last night.

It was a multi-step affair. First, I used the ropes Damian had just used on me to tiehimto the hotel bed—carefully and quietly, without waking him. Then I grabbed some clothes and toiletries and headed to Kai’s room.

It’s not that I necessarily couldn’t be around Damian. And the sex…I meanfuck.

That was good.Reallygood.

But it was the combination of his usual bossiness together with his demand that I climb into bed with him. My issues aboutbeing tied up go away with him, apparently. The sharing a bed ones don’t.

Fuck you, past trauma. Fuck you, complexities of the psyche. Fuck you both very much.

The elevator dings open, and I step in to go meet Kai downstairs. I groan, making a note to be extra nice to him today. Notjustbecause he gave me safe harbor from Hurricane Damian last night.

My mind flicks back to knocking on Kai’s door, and to the startled, maybe even horrified look on his face when he opened it, clearly having been pulled away from… well,something.

I mean the man was shirtless, flushed, and disheveled.

He clearly wasn’t exactlyalone.

After stammering an apology, mortified, I’d started to back away. But he stopped me, his evident concern overriding any embarrassment on either side.

“Did he hurt you?” he’d growled, a protective edge entering his tone when he saw my bedraggled state.

I’d promised him it was nothing, that I was just looking for a little space away from Damian.

“Wait in the lobby,” he’d said quietly. “Five minutes. I’ll come get you.”

Sure enough, he met me in the lobby mere minutes later and brought me back to his room, offering me the couch without another word. I spent the rest of the night curled up there, feeling guilty for cutting his evening with his lady friend short, but also smugly satisfied at having slipped away from Damian.

Two floors down, the elevator pauses as the doors open. I don’t look up from my phone as someone steps in beside me. I hear them ask “going up or down?” in Japanese.

“Down,” I murmur absently, focused on my calendar as the doors slide shut again.

Then a dangerous voice cuts through the silence. “How about we don’t goanywhere?”

I freeze, my eyes snapping up. Damian stands in front of me, far too close, his gaze dark and intense.

Oh shit.

His hand slams out, jamming the emergency stop button, and the elevator jerks to a halt, trapping us. His hand wraps around my throat, pinning me against the wall as my eyes go wide.

“Well, well,well.” His voice is a taunting drawl, his eyes predatory. “There’s my fiancée.”

I swallow, managing to force a sneering grin to my face. “Managed to wriggle free, I see.”

Damian’s eyes turn a violent shade of purple. My breath catches as I stare up at him, heart racing with both defiance and apprehension. The fire of my earlier triumph starts to fade, but I refuse to let him see it.

Instead, I force myself to smirk, throwing attitude back at him. “What’s the matter, Damian? You don’t like the taste of your own medicine?”

He leans in closer, his grip firm. “Youdon’t seem to like playing by the rules.” His voice is a dangerous whisper as his fingers trail along my jaw, forcing me to meet his gaze.

“Not at all,” I choke out. “I just don’t like playing byyourstupid rules.”

The space between us hums with tension, charged with an intensity as dangerous as a lit fuse. His hand tightens around my throat.

“You think this is a fucking game, Hana? Sneaking out right after we wereattacked?” When he speaks again, his tone is volatile and unhinged. “Spending the night in fuckingKai’sroom?” he hisses quietly with a throbbing intensity that sends fear rippling up my spine. “Itold youwhat would happen if you insisted on flirting with that motherfucker?—”

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