Page 100 of Dangerous Deceit

Ronin adjusts against the wall, a new cigarette smoldering between his lips, a few butts at his feet. He glances at me, but henever lets his eyes stray to her body. He’s respectful; I’ll give him that.I’dbe looking if I were in his position.

So much for having Ronin keep me in line.

Now that sex is out of our systems, we can focus on the real problems between us. I snap around to Vi.

“Who is paying you?” I ask Vi.

“Just kill me,” she whimpers in defeat.

Is she serious, or is she mocking me?

I howl up at the ceiling. I can’t kill her. I won’t. I refuse.

There’s only one thing Icando.

I scrub through the audio file on the phone until I find what I want. Jay’s voice fills the room. I turn up the volume until the tinny recording of his words echoes between the concrete walls.

You find some rich couple or a rich loner,Jay’s voice says.I don’t know, but someone who’s got it all, right? But they’re lonely. Childless. Something like that. You become their long-lost relative and get them to take out a life insurance policy and put everything in your name. Those fuckers die, and you move on with cash in hand. Let their ashes rot in the funeral parlor. No one gives a damn. Easy as apple pie.

Panic fills Vi’s eyes again as she tries to find a way out. She even stares at Ronin, but he doesn’t move. He won’t save her. It’s not his place to.

And I can’t keep saving her anymore.

The recording gets to the part I want her to hear, and I crouch down between her bare legs, holding up the phone so she can see the details of the file: John’s Town Resort & Casino, the recording date last night.

Vivian,my voice chimes in.

Jay continues:I thought I had it in the bag since her parents were so fucking loaded, but maybe it’s better this way. I don’t think I could have lived with a kid’s death hanging in myconscience. Plus, she was listed before me, which means if she was living, then I had to take care of her.

Tears rush down Vi’s cheeks, and my skin itches. I’m a fucking prick. None of the shit I’ve done to her—the plastic bag, the zapper in darkness, finger-fucking her in public—none of that compares to this. This recording is going to break her, and for a split second, I wish I could take it back. To let her believe in her family. In her lies.

My body fills with weight, my throat sore. This is the right thing to do. She needs to hear it.

But she doesn’t deserve the pain.

She’s a good girl, you know?Jay says in the recording.Always does what I say.

Her head hangs low as I click off the recording. The tears keep coming, but she stays silent, and that disturbs me even more. I lift her chin until she’s looking at me. I expect her to bite or thrash her head out of my grip, to fight with that spark I love so much, but she does nothing. Like she’s slowly giving up.

Broken.

I set out for this, but my stomach is in knots. I’ve done worse to CEOs and company owners, but this? This is tearing me apart.

Still, I force myself to say these next words. I have to put the yakuza first. “Who are you and Jay working for?”

She blinks, but her lips don’t move. I run my hands over my face. I need this to be over with. I can stand her tears when we’re fucking, when it’s fear or overwhelming bliss, but when it’s puresorrow?It’s like each tear has the superpower to drain me of my strength. I’m weak, and all I want is to rip her from those ropes and hold her. To tell her Jay may have lied and used her, but I’m here, and I will never do that to her.

But I’ve already done worse. She doesn’t even have her lies anymore. And I know she and Niko are right. Iamlying tomyself. I’m lying to my family. Vi is supposed to be dead, but she’s not, and I can’t keep lying anymore. Ineeda name.

I pick up my phone, clicking through until I find Dice’s number. I use my last resort, hoping it gets something—anything—out of Vi.

“If you don’t tell me a name, Jay dies,” I say.

Her posture sags lower, her eyes down at her feet.

“It’s a foreign client,” she whispers, and her voice is so quiet, I almost don’t hear her. “I think they’re from Japan too. But I don’t know. Jay’s the only one who has direct contact with them.”

My stomach drops. Ronin sneers, and my thoughts jump to the Ito-gumi.Shit.Maybe Ronin’s in on it too.

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