Page 101 of Dangerous Deceit

But why would they pay Vi to infiltrate our gang, when Ronin is clearly capable of that himself?

Right now, Ronin doesn’t matter to me. Vi does.

Vi looks down at her lap. My heart is so damn tight, I can feel every pulse. The plastic bag torture didn’t break her. Fucking didn’t hurt her at all. Not even hearing Jay’s confession about the truth behind her parents’ death broke her. The only reason she’s finally giving us information is because Jay’s life is on the line. Nothing can change her loyalty toward him. Not even hearing the truth.

I find her jeans and help her into them. She moves her hips just enough to get dressed. Her legs are free, but she’s still bound to the chair. My throat aches, and I angle toward the door.

“Don’t do anything you’ll regret,” I say. “You wouldn’t want your uncle to get hurt now.”

Her eyes flicker up, finally meeting mine. “You made a promise?—”

“I promisedIwouldn’t hurt him,” I say, pointing to my chest. “I never said anything about my family.”

It’s a loophole, but it still makes me a liar. And I hate it. Her lips curl, but I can see the hatred in her eyes.

I grab the camera, then turn off the lights. Ronin and I go through a side exit, leaving Vi alone in the darkness.

Ronin taps the exterior of the building. “You want me to stay here?”

I shake my head. We’ve got business with the rest of the Endo-kai now. Whatever this is with Vi, it may have something to do with the Ito-gumi. But recently, I’ve started to like Ronin, and I want proof from Jay it’s the Ito-gumi before we make any decisions. For that interrogation, Ronin needs to come with me, in case he’s involved. I can’t let him run.

But most of all, I want Vi to have a chance to live. And she can’t do that if Ronin is here.

She has to run away.

CHAPTER 44

KENZO

And we’re right backto where this started with Jay cuffed to a table in a holding cell. The back room of Samurai Castle is a concrete cage surrounding us, and it’s claustrophobic with all of us in there. Tomo and Cherry lean against the back wall, their lips curling in disgust. Ronin takes his place by their side, and Dice’s knuckles are blistered and red. If we were back in Dice’s dungeon, there’d be a lot more blood, but fists means he’s being hasty. Jay must be pissing him off.

Jay’s face is black and blue, with one eye swollen shut, and his kanji-marked hand twitching back and forth. “And here comes my favorite son-in-law,” he says, laughing and coughing with each word. “Come give me a hug.”

I ignore him.

“He’s a prick,” Cherry mutters.

Tomo grimaces. “He won’t say shit.”

“Where’s Niko?” I ask.

Tomo lifts his shoulders slightly. Niko’s never been one to follow orders, and though Tomo always claims it shows true leadership skills, I know it grates on Tomo. In Tokyo, Niko would have been beaten into submission until he followed theoyabunwithout any question, but Tomo refuses to follow in his old boss’s footsteps. Tomo may be selfish, but family means more to him than traditions. In that way, Tomo is making his own path too.

But that means Niko, even thoughhewas the one pressuring me into taking care of business, is absent, and that irritatesme.But not as much as seeing that smug, brown-and-gray-haired son of a bitch sitting in front of me.

“What?” Jay says in Dice’s direction. “You don’t like the way I stare, do you? Scared of what I might see? Fucking freak.”

Dice lunges across the table, choking Jay until he wheezes. I ignore them, flipping through the footage on the camera until I find what I’m searching for.

His niece’s red face. Tears running down her cheeks. Plastic shreds around her neck.

Dice lets go, and Jay focuses his good eye on the footage, blinking until he realizes who it is. Then he laughs.

I close my eyes as Jay’s laughter ricochets through the concrete room. Dice punches him in the eye again. Adrenaline buzzes through my body. If I truly kept to my word, I’d make sure my family didn’t touch him, but in this case, I relish in being a liar, a manipulativesokaiya,a backstabbing asshole who doesn’t deserve Vi, just as much as Jay doesn’t deserve her.

In fact, after what his niece went through, IwantJay to feel pain. If that makes me a liar, then so fucking be it.

“Who’s your client?” I ask.

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