Page 84 of Emperor of Lust

Takeshi swears under his breath, his eyes narrowing in thought. “You know,” he begins slowly, “I heard a rumor that Prescott Harding got the shit beaten out of him the other night. Right here in Tokyo, if you can believe it.”

My stomach lurches, but I keep my face neutral. “Crazy,” I murmur, taking another sip of my beer. “He does live here, though. Works here now.”

“How exactly would you know that?” he asks, an amused glint in his eye.

I give him a significant look. Takeshi chuckles. “I think I might end up liking your pretend fiancé more than I expected. You think Prescott sent the iPad?”

I shrug, my shoulders tensing. “Maybe. Could’ve been him, could’ve been someone else.”

“We could ask him,” Takeshi says, his tone darker. “Or it could be Edward.”

The name sends a shiver through me, memories I’ve tried to bury clawing to the surface. “Can we please talk about something else?”

Takeshi’s quiet for a second, his gaze flickering to the distance. “Or it could be…them.”

My spine snaps rigid. He doesn’t even have to say, I know who he’s talking about. But Tak’s the one this time who doesn’t know the full story.

Not when it comes to that. Tothem.

But that’s behind me now.

“Those aren’t people you fuck with…” he continues.

I grit my teeth, sudden anger rising in me. “We’re the Mori-kai, Tak.We’rethe ones people don’t fuck with.”

He nods, a glimmer of pride in his eyes. He reaches across, clinking his beer bottle against mine. “Fuck, yeah.Kanpai.”

Tak’s phone dings with a text as we both sip our beers and munch on ourtakoyaki.

“Fuck,” he grunts, reading it.

I frown as I turn to him. “What’s up?”

My twin’s face is lined and grim as he glances up at me. “Speaking of Prescott…”

My brow furrows. “Yeah?”

“Guess we won’t be talking to him. He just coded out at the hospital.”

I go still.

“He’s dead, Hana.”

24

HANA

The blinkingneon lights of Tokyo filter through the tall windows of our hotel suite. It’s dark when I walk in, the only light except for the those outside coming from Damian’s laptop.

He looks up at me when I walk in. The grin on his face fades when he sees the dark look on mine.

“Fuck,” he growls, instantly closing the laptop and coming toward me. “What happened?”

Our faces are lit in dramatic pinks and blues from the neon outside as I stand in front of him, looking up into his face, my pulse racing.

“I…” My throat bobs. “I need to tell you something.”

He frowns but says nothing, just waits for me to continue.

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