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“Like I said,” he sighs heavily, “I expected this to be difficult.”
“Glad we’re on the same page.”
“What exactly are you after?” Sazuki folds his arms over his chest languidly. On anyone else, it would be a defensive move. A sign that he’s been rattled. On him, it seems more like a parent interrogating a child who stole money.
“Would you believe it if I said ‘her heart’?”
His expression remains blank. “You can be honest now, Mr. Sullivan. The cameras are gone.”
I chuckle.
He doesn’t.
I curb my amusement. “Someday, and I know this seems hard to believe in the moment, we’re going to laugh about this.”
“I doubt it.”
“Lucky for you, I love when people doubt me. Fuel to the fire.”
Sazuki looks at me like I’m detestable. “You’re toying with her.”
“And you’re overstepping your bounds. I don’t know how they do things in Japan,” I lean against the desk because something tells me I don’t need to be sitting while he’s standing, that power imbalance would only give him the edge, “but here in this country, people are free to make their own choices without interference.”
“Familyinterference.”
I stare into his expressionless face and realize I might be playing checkers while this guy is playing professional-level chess.
Sazuki’s eyes are blade-like. Totally devoid of emotion but sharp as hell. “I’m well aware, Mr. Sullivan, of how you’ve chosen to bind my sister-in-law to you.”
Guilt strikes hard and fast, but I keep it from my face. Sazuki is a fox who’ll sniff out any sign of weakness. “Whatever agreement I’ve made is between me and Yaya alone.”
“That is where you are wrong.” He takes a step forward, stealthy and dangerous. “There is nothing that she does alone. There is nothing she endures alone. She is, by definition,notalone, Mr. Sullivan.”
He glares.
I hold his stare.
Sazuki shifts his weight and turns to the door, but him breaking our staredown first doesn’t feel like a win.
“If you want to punish her for what happened with your car, go through the proper means.”
“Who said—”
“I know how people like us think.” Inky black hair falls into eyes that see a memory, not me. I wonder if he’s remembering—and regretting—what he did to his now wife. I heard he wasn’t… gentle when he pursued her.
“I’ll be watching you,” Sazuki adds.
My smirk is lethal. “Enjoy the view.”
Sazuki walks out, more of an enemy than ever before. I should have been nicer. If I have my way, he’ll be my brother-in-law someday.
But what should I have done?
He declared war first.
“Sir, there’s a scary ninja lady standing outside your—” Mosely bursts through the door almost barreling into Sazuki. He side-steps by pure instinct and pastes himself flat to the door so the piano prodigy can pass.
When Sazuki’s gone, Mosely scrambles toward me. “Was that…?”