Page 68 of Dangerous Deceit

But none of those things have happened yet, and I have a duty to protect my family. Vi is my wife, but has she earned my trust?

I have no fucking idea if I can truly trust her, but I head back to the penthouse, eager to figure it out.

CHAPTER 30

KENZO

At the penthouse,Vi is mixing up a storm in the kitchen. It reeks of flowers and cinnamon, and though I’m positive the candles will be great, right now, a headache stirs between my temples.

She moves her reddish-orange hair off of her forehead, then resumes pouring the wax into a glass container. Amusement lingers on her face the whole time, and my heart stops.

“Hey,” Vi says. “Didn’t realize you were going to be home. I would’ve made you lunch.”

I want to believe her, so I wrap my arms around her waist and kiss her neck. Perhaps she’s playing me. Pretending like she’s the housewife of my dreams. Maybe candle-making is an alibi to get her out of snooping. The door was open to my office the day after our wedding. Even if I left it unlocked, I’dneverleave the door open. She was definitely in there.

“You okay?” she asks, reading my mood. I put on a fake smile. I’ve got no proof, so there’s no reason to be on her case yet.

“Areyouokay?” I ask. “I’m not the one who lost a cousin.”

“I told Uncle Jay,” she says. She sniffles. She fucking sniffles. My gut sinks. Even if it’s a fake performance, it breaks me. I don’t regret what I did, but I still wish I could take away that pain from her. To go back in time and kill Patrick long before we ever met.

“I told him Patrick got caught stealing Shabu-8. He’s convinced we’re next.”

It may be a lie to make me sympathize with her, but I can’t stop myself from shaking my head in disbelief. Why do I care so much about her? She’s just supposed to be my stand-in date for social events. An arranged marriage. Not my chosen wife.

I’m sorry he raped you,I want to say.That he pretended to protect you. That he manipulated you into thinking that raping you was okay. And I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you long before your uncle walked into our casino.

“You’re safe,” I whisper. “I’m sorry it hurt you.”

“Patrick was an idiot,” she says nervously, her eyes fixed on the candles in front of her. “But you don’t get to choose your family.”

Those words hang in the air. I understand where she’s coming from. Her parents were killed, and she’s lucky Jay took care of her. Hell,I’mlucky she wasn’t put into a better home, because then, we wouldn’t be here right now. She wouldn’t be my wife.

She’d probably be better off with some straight businessman, making babies and living in the dream home she’s always wanted.

But Jay brought me his niece. At the very least, I can thank him for that.

“I had a good home,” I say out of the blue.

She wipes out the double boiler with a paper towel, the partially cooled wax collecting on the quilted surface.

“Huh?” she asks.

“Back in Los Angeles. With my biological parents,” I say, scratching the back of my neck. “But I didn’t want to be a doctor. Or an engineer. Didn’t want to be a lawyer. I didn’t even want to go to school. But my parents put everything into my academic future. Private tutors. Violin lessons. Extracurriculars I didn’t care about. I started sneaking out as soon as I could. Stole shit. Got into fights.”

I settle into a seat at the dining table and put my head in my hands. Looking back, I know I was an ungrateful idiot for doing that to them, but as a kid, my entire world was run by instinct and desires. If I’m being honest, my world still is. I’ve just got more perspective now.

“They’re better off without me,” I say.Still are.

“You weren’t, like, sold into the yakuza, were you?” she asks.

I laugh. “You think we do child trafficking?”

“I don’t know what the Endo-kai is capable of.”

“Fair enough,” I say, though it’s slightly insulting. If Tomo had heard her, he’d be pissed, so I’m glad it’s just us right now. Vi twists open a new bottle of fragrance oil.

“What happened?” she finally asks.

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