Page 4 of Dangerous Deceit

I stop at the first unmarked door without a window. I tap the surface, and the door cracks open.

An enforcer lets me in, and the prisoner sits handcuffed to an o-ring on top of the metal table. Red marks circle his wrists, like he struggled against the handcuffs at first. Streaks of brown hair mix through his ruffled gray strands. His face is puffy from a beating, his lips cracked. He’s got a black eye too. That’s good. It’s always sad when they don’t fight. Boring too.

“I-I-I thought I was—” he stammers, but I shush him like a baby as I slide into the seat across from him.

“What are you in here for?” I ask.

“I—” He looks down at his lap. “I put my arm around the yakuza member’s wife.”

I gasp with drama in my veins, playing it up. Normally, thekanbu—one of our senior members—doesn’t have a lead role in our organization, but that doesn’t matter in a situation like this.We protect our own. The disrespect, no matter who you are in the yakuza, is the same.

And you don’t mess with a yakuza member’s wife.

“I’m surprised you’re still alive.” I chuckle. The prisoner’s chapped lips tremble, and I whistle. “And how exactly are you going to pay your dues for that infraction?”

“M-my niece, sir,” he says.

“A niece, hmm?” I ask. “You’d give up your niece to clear your name?”

“If it will h-help her, then I have to do what’s right.”

My nostrils flare. “And how do you have that much authority over your niece?”

“I-I-I’ve raised her since she was a kid.”

“You’re like a father to her then.” I run a hand over the stubble on my chin. I nod deeply, pretending to be amused. “But giving your niece to the yakuza isn’t being a good uncle now, is it?”

“But you could protect her, couldn’t you?” he asks, his voice suddenly full of adrenaline. “Your boss mentioned an arranged marriage. I could rest easy as long as I knew she was safe and comfortable.” He scans me with tears in his eyes. “You’ll take good care of her, won’t you?”

Tension swims in his expression like a cat circling a koi fish pond, and I know there’s something else there, another angle he’s working at. Tomo didn’t mention an arranged marriage to me, but if his niece passes my test, then why not marry her? I can use a reliable date to those charity functions.

Butprotecther? That’s a different story. We protect everyone in the yakuza’s ranks, but if she becomes my wife, she’ll still be in the mafia. Organized crime is always dangerous.

I grip the prisoner’s shoulder. He’s one optimistic idiot.

“Only if I decide to take her,” I say.

“Where is she?” he says, his tone full of panic. As if all I need is toseehis niece to agree to the legal union. “Wait—my phone!” He swings his head around to the enforcer. “Show him! Show him her picture! She’s beautiful! I’ll prove it!”

The enforcer hands the prisoner’s phone to me. I’ve already seen his niece—in a blindfold, anyway. Still, I hold up the device while the prisoner types in the password from his handcuffs, then I flick to the gallery. There’s only one picture available, almost like the prisoner prepared his phone for this exact situation. Something is off.

But I lose my train of thought when my eyes land on her picture.

The same reddish-orange hair I saw in the other cell. Pink lips. And big blue eyes. She’s hypnotizing, like a love song, like a set of lyrics meant to comfort you while you look into her eyes and see your future.

I stare at her photo for a second too long, and though there’s something about her that calls to me, beauty alone isn’t enough. There’s something else there. A sadness, dull and pale across her gaze. There’s a hunger in her expression too, like a flame on the verge of igniting, and it goes deeper than her sweet exterior.

That spark, that hunger in her eyes—that’swhat I want.

I pull myself out of the daze. The fear from the prisoner’s eyes is gone now, replaced with greed, like he knows I won’t be able to refuse. Almost like hewantsto give away his niece.

“She’s a virgin, you know,” he says. “Completely untouched. Like forbidden fruit.”

My lips curl at those words. A sour taste coats my mouth. He’s trying to entice me, but I almost want toprotecther from her uncle now. If her own father figure is willing to offer his niece to the Japanese mafia, what else is he willing to do to her?

This is still business though, and our negotiations must be completed.

“How old is she?” I ask.

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