Page 36 of The Dragon 2 (Tokyo Empire #2)

Chapter thirty-three

Between Fire and Forgiveness

Nyomi

Twins. . .

My mind didn’t catch the words right away. It was like they landed on the table, slid past the silverware, and cracked open under the low jazz.

I blinked.

Once.

Twice.

The air felt thicker. As if someone had poured honey into the room and told me to breathe through it. I couldn’t hear the clink of dishes or the music anymore. Just the blood rushing in my ears, the faintest whimper of my own breath trying to remember how lungs worked.

Twins.

My gaze didn’t leave his face, but something in me had stepped back. Just far enough to observe the damage without falling apart.

My chest stilled. The music didn’t, but the energy between us did. It cracked like porcelain—beautiful, but now fragile.

It took a few seconds for me to find my voice. “ May have twins on the way?”

He nodded.

"With your ex-girlfriend?”

“No. There is no ex-girlfriend or anything like that, but there’s a woman. One of my Ears.”

I blinked. “The Ears are your spies. Right?”

“Yes. And there are levels. This type of Ear. . .she seduces powerful men. Gains their trust. Gathers secrets. She’s brilliant at it. Strategic. Cold when she needs to be.” He ran a finger along the rim of his glass. “I use her when I need to know things no one else can uncover.”

“Okay.”

“She was never a lover. She is only my spy. A weapon.”

“But. . .she might be the mother of your kids too?”

“She might be.”

My heartbeat boomed in my ears.

Kenji’s voice dropped an octave. “I was restless one night. She and I have crossed that line a few times over the years, but it was never romantic. Never emotional. Just something physical.”

“You don’t love her?”

“No, Tora. There are no emotions to what we had.”

“But does she love you?”

“No.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“She is my weapon.”

“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you, Kenji.” I picked up my cocktail, needing something to drink. “And she’s pregnant by you.”

“She’s five months along. She told me there was a chance the twins might be mine.” His frown deepened. “We used protection. But. . .I know there’s still a margin. A small one. Small enough to doubt. Big enough that I had her stop working immediately.”

I finished my cocktail and set the glass down.

He took a breath. “I put her up in a luxury home in Kyoto. Quiet. Safe. She has staff, a private physician, everything she needs.”

"Do you visit her?”

“No. Reo gives me reports on her medical visits.”

“But. . .you don’t talk to her?”

“There is no need to.”

“Maybe, she’s scared and alone.”

“No.” He was firm. “She’s not alone. She is well taken care of and has a great support system."

"But does she want you to be involved?"

"I don’t know, Tora."

“You should know.”

He blinked.

My mind spun with so many questions.

I sighed. "And will you be involved if the children are indeed yours?"

"I won't abandon my children if they are mine."

“Good. I would never want to be with a man that abandoned his kids.” A lump formed in my throat, a strange sensation of dread and relief.

“Because of the uncertainty of her children being mine only Reo and my brother, Hiro know.”

“And your father?”

Kenji looked at me like I’d just suggested he swallow glass. “I would never tell my father something like that.”

“Why not?”

“Because he would use it against me. He would turn the twins’ lives into leverage before they ever took their first breath.”

Holy shit, and I thought I had Daddy issues. . .

Kenji continued, “there’s no relationship or love between her and me, Tora. If the children are mine, I will be their father. I will protect them. But she and I will never live together. There was no further intimacy.”

“Wow. . .there’s children involved. And a pregnant woman. I’m not here to judge what happened. But I just. . .” I swallowed. “I don’t want to be part of any disrespect toward her. No matter who she is to you because. . .she’s carrying life.”

His whole body softened. Just an inch. A visible breath released from somewhere deep inside. “You’re not being disrespectful to her. Not now. Not ever.”

I pursed my lips.

He sighed. “This changes nothing for us.”

I shook my head. “You can’t answer for me. It could change things.”

The line of his jaw twitched.

“I just. . .would need to see how things go.” My mind raced with unvoiced fears. “I need time. . .”

Could I be a part of a relationship where children from another woman were involved?

Could I stomach the idea of the man I cared for having a whole family with someone else?

Probably, but he would have to be the sort of man that was. . .respectful, honest, responsible, and loving.

Kenji found my hand under the table and his fingers brushed my knuckles and it was both familiar and alien at once. The realization that Kenji might become a father hit me hard. It made me realize that our new relationship could become much more complicated than I ever thought.

His eyes narrowed, not in anger, but in that dangerous stillness I’d begun to recognize. The kind of stillness a predator gets before it pounces. “Nyomi. . .you’re mine.”

I didn’t flinch. “If I choose to be. That’s the part you keep skipping over.”

His gaze flicked to my lips, then my throat, then back to my eyes. “Are you upset with my confession?”

“I’m not upset so much as I’m a little overwhelmed. There’s a difference.”

“What will you need to not be overwhelmed?”

“Time. Continued information. Honesty.” I shrugged. “It could be all fine if there’s respect to her, the children, and me, but the biggest thing is. . .”

He raised his eyebrows.

“I don’t want to walk in on something that is harmful to another woman. Like. . .I don’t want this to be any bullshit where you are telling her one thing and me something else and you’re playing both sides—”

“That would never happen. What I am telling you is exactly what is going on. When I was messing with her. . .there was no emotion just sex. No love.” He ran his fingers through his hair, and I noticed his fingers shaking a little bit.

“And if you need more information right now. You could meet her. I would fly you to her whenever. Whatever you want. I am not that sort of man. I saw what my father put my mother through. I have never wanted to be like him.”

“I hope not because I’ve been alone for these years by choice . I do not like drama.”

“There will be no drama, Tora.”

“Good because if I think there’s disrespect toward her or me from you. . .I’m out of here.”

That line in his jaw twitched again like he was holding himself back from roaring.

I shrugged. “You’re not used to women walking away from you?”

Something flickered in his expression. Something sharp, ancient, and very fucking male. “Women never feel they need to walk away from me.”

“But I may.” My voice didn’t shake. “I may walk away. And if I decide this is too much—if I decide that I’m not ready to sign up for a life that includes another woman, potential children, secrets you kept until the soup was cleared—then I will.”

He moved his hand and sat back, barely blinking. When he placed his hands on the table, the light glinted off his ring. “I don’t beg, Tora.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

“But I would beg for you.”

I froze.

“In fact, I beg you to forgive me for taking too long to tell you about the twins. Please. . .I swear there was so much going on that I. . .forgot. . .I know it sounds impossible, but it is the truth.”

I studied him.

“And I beg you to please forgive me because I’m sorry. That will not happen again. I don’t ever want you to feel. . .nervous about us.” His voice wasn't pleading, it was earnest. His eyes weren’t desperate, they held a hope that tugged at the corners of my heart.

The atmosphere between us was heavy with sincerity, anxiety, and regret.

I didn’t speak right away. Couldn’t. Because part of me wanted to freeze time, roll it backward to the moment before he said it—before the fantasy cracked.

Another part of me, the sharper one I’d been sharpening for years, wanted to stand up and walk out.

Not because I didn’t care.

But because I did care , too fucking much.

Because this man could wreck me.

And I needed to know that loving him wouldn’t mean disappearing inside his world and losing myself—my standards, my worth, my sanity.

I took a breath and lifted my chin. “Kenji, this is not a story where I quietly accept everything just because you say I matter. If we’re going to have a future, then my boundaries get to live in it too.”

“I understand.”

I let out a long sigh, feeling the weight of his words. “You should’ve told me sooner.”

“I didn’t think we would be here .”

“Here?”

He gestured to the space. “Your. . .cooking for me. Opening yourself up to me. Doing this big night and. . .changing me. I never thought this would ever happen. I’ve never been here before.”

“Well, we are here now. . .because I’m. . .”

He quirked his brows.

“I’m. . .really. . .liking you.”

He studied me like he was memorizing the moment, and maybe he was. “You’re more than. . . liking me, Tora.”

“Maybe.”

“You and I both know that this is more than. . . liking for the both of us.”

I shivered. “You’re dangerous and scary, but for some damn reason. . .I want this to work. I know a long-distance relationship could be difficult and now with the addition of the kids. . .that could be challenging, but I don’t know. We’ll have to see. I want it to work.”

“Long distance. . .”

“Yes. Me in New York? You in Tokyo? Planes. Time zones. Real life. And. . .maybe babies.”

Something in him changed. Gone was the cool, amused expression. His smirk flattened into a line. The fire behind his eyes roared back to life.

I shifted in my seat.

“Tora. . .I accept your need to have boundaries. I will respect them, but there will be no distance between us.”

“There may. . .while we are figuring things out.”

“There won’t. I would make you stay.”

“You could try.”