Page 36 of The Dragon 1

Hiro cracked the lollipop between his teeth. “So… we kill him.”

Silence spread for a beat too long.

I turned to him. “Hiro.”

He lifted his gaze. “We’ve done it before. Important men with empires. Lions bleed, don’t they?”

Reo let out a dry chuckle. “The Lion also has the nuclear codes.”

My jaw tightened.

That was the real problem.

The Lion didn’t just command men, ports, and drugs.

He commanded fear.

And the codes to Russia’s nukes weren’t symbolic for the Lion. He would use them. Everyone at the table knew it. The Americans knew it. The Chinese. Even the Vatican sent a whisper through the grapevine:Pray the Lion doesn’t get bored.

He was cocky, yes—young and too confident in his inherited power—but he was also a psycho.

A demented psycho.

The kind that smiled while entire cities and people turned to dust behind him.

“The Lion won’t make a move here,” I said aloud, trying to convince myself as much as them. “Not in Japan. Not without cause.”

Reo crossed his arms. “He doesn’t need cause. He just needs to feel disrespected.”

“I haven’ttrulydisrespected him.”

“Yet,” Hiro licked his lips.

I turned back to the window.

If the Lion came to start a war, I would be willing to burn him before he roared. However, there were levels to war, and as much as I hated to admit it, we weren’t ready to battle him.

Not yet.

“If the opportunity ever arises,” I looked back at them. “we kill him.”

Reo lifted a brow. “You’re sure?”

“One day, yes. If the moment ever comes clean—no collateral, no fallout, no nuclear smoke—then yes. We take him out.”

Hiro’s grin curved like a blade. “Now that’s a meeting I’ll look forward to.”

“But not today,” I said.

“Why not?” Hiro asked.

“Because I’m not starting a war with the fucking Lion over 20% of drug shipments.”

“At least not yet,” Hiro added.

I ignored that.

The air in the room shifted.