Page 90 of Emperor of Lust

I feel my face heat, and I grin.

“I’m going to find a working bathroom,” I say, heading back to the same wrought iron stairs we used to get down here. Just as I reach the bottom of them, the door at the top kicks open.

My heart stops, a gasp dying in my throat and cold fear shooting up my spine as a man in black looms over me in the doorway.

“This is Ishida-kai territory,” he says, his voice sharp. “Consider this your eviction notice.”

He lifts his foot and kicks a canister strapped with wires down the stairs.

Oh God…

Instinct takes over.

“BOMB!!!” I scream, turning and sprinting across the floor. Kai and Miyamoto whirl toward me in surprise. When Kai looks past me, he springs into action.

“MOVE!” he roars, turning and shoving Miyamoto behind a concrete wall. He whirls and bolts toward me, catching me hard around the waist and yanking me behind a pillar just as the world turns to liquid fire.

The sound is deafening—pure thunder inside my head. The explosion slams through the basement, sending a wall of heat out ahead of it that singes my hair as Kai covers me behind the pillar.

The air becomes thick with smoke, the blast wave rattling my bones. My ears ring, my vision blurs. But when Kai yanks me to my feet, my limbs start to work again.

“Let’sgo!” Kai roars, dragging me after him as he hurtles across the room. I follow, forcing my legs to pump as fast as his as I look around in horror.

There’s fireeverywhere: orange liquid dripping off the walls and ceiling beams, consuming everything. My heart pounds, and my throat is dry as the inferno closes in on us.

I follow Kai to where he shoved Miyamoto. The olderOyabun’s eyes are wide, wild, his face pale.

“It’s Kolya!” he screams.

Kai’s face is grim as he scans the room before he sees something through the smoke.

“This way!” he roars, pulling Miyamoto to his feet and grabbing my wrist. “Let’s go, now!”

The three of us stumble across the basement, dodging fire and debris as it falls from the ceiling. I have no idea where we’re going until the smoke suddenly clears a little, giving me a glimpse of a beaten-up van parked in the corner.

There’s shouting behind us, shadows following through the smoke.

We’re being hunted.

Kai’s already in the driver’s seat, ripping into the dashboard. I tear open the back door, bundling Miyamoto inside before scrambling in after him. Kai is focused, tension in his jaw as heyanks wires out of the dashboard and touches them together, making them spark.

The van roars to life, headlights cutting through the thick smoke.

“Fuck yes,” Kai hisses. He glances back at us. “Hold on.”

I scream as the side of the van is suddenly peppered with thuds, the back window shattering. Gunfire erupts over the sounds of the roaring flames as Kai whirls back around, shifts into drive, and guns the engine.

Bullets ping off the van’s sides as Kai floors it, tires squealing against concrete as he jerks the wheel around, slams the gas pedal, and tears through the warehouse toward the only exit.

The flames are everywhere, the building nothing but a thick blanket of smoke and red-orange heat. Another shot shatters the passenger window, spraying glass everywhere. Miyamoto lets out a yell, clutching his arm, blood seeping through his fingers.

“Hold on!” Kai roars, heading straight for the garage door, teeth bared, focus unbreakable.

I brace for impact, clutching the seat as the van slams through the door. My teeth rattle, the metal crunches and groans, and then—we’re through.

We burst onto the street, tires smoking as Kai speeds away, leaving the inferno behind us.

The hotel suite feels heavy,as if the walls themselves are absorbing the weight of what just happened. Damian’s arms arearound me, grounding me after the chaos we just fled. His grip is strong, unyielding, and for a moment, I let myself sink into his solid warmth, reminding myself that I’m alive, unharmed.

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