Page 126 of The Dragon 1

And Hiro was waiting.

Tied to a monster I called father.

Yet, even as I walked toward darkness, my body still burned with the taste of her.

I can’t wait to see my sexy Tora again.

Chapter twenty

Memories, the Throne, and Taiyaki

Kenji

My Rolls-Royce hummed low as it sliced through the Tokyo night, neon bleeding across the windows like brushstrokes in motion.

I didn’t speak to Reo who sat across from me.

I couldn’t because the only thing playing over and over in my mind was her.

Nyomi.

That kiss.

The way her mouth had opened for me so slowly, then responded with that hungry, molten fire I hadn’t expected. Thatkiss had detonated in my veins, scorched my control, rewired my goddamn body chemistry.

And now?

Now, I was heading toward my father’s trap with the taste of her still on my tongue.

My hand rested on the box she’d given me earlier in the evening—wrapped in thick gold paper, tied with an ink-black ribbon that shimmered under the passing lights.

Her second gift.

It sat on my lap like a promise.

Reo glanced at it, then back at me. “Are you going to open your present now?”

“No.” I shifted my gaze to the tinted window and took in my city.

Tokyo moved past in gold and steel. Even in the deepest hours of night, she breathed—restless, shining, watching.

Billboards flashed ads for luxury whiskey and immortality serums.

Designer boutiques glowed.

And in the alleyways between all that shine, I knew blades were being drawn, debts enforced, women stolen, and futures snuffed out before they had a chance to begin.

I watched it in silence.

Even after all these years, I still didn’t feel like this city belonged to me.

Not fully.

Not honestly.

I was never meant for this life.

The throne was never supposed to be mine.