Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 161615 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 539(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161615 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 539(@300wpm)
"I just. . .noticed things."
"That's exactly the point. You notice the things we don’t. You see people. You read what they don't say. That's not just a skill, Velma. That's a fucking gift. We might have lost this war, if not for you."
I widened my eyes. "Thank you for saying that."
He went back to walking. “Now let’s talk about the cocktail party—”
“Absolutely not. And by the way, I didn’t know you were a drama queen.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Bringing it up during the meeting. You wanted to rub it in the Fangs faces.”
“They were rubbing those bento boxes in our faces.”
“You all better keep it chill before Kenji roars at you all again, and you don’t get any food at all.”
“As I told you before, Kenji is going to have to learn how to share you.”
Warmth hit my chest.
I laughed, but the sound felt hollow in my chest. Because beneath the teasing and the warmth of Hiro's praise, questions still coiled in my mind like restless serpents.
Did we find all of them?
Four snakes. The Eyes. Mami. Sako. People who had been embedded in Kenji's life for years—decades, even. People he'd trusted. People he'd loved.
But the Fox had been playing this game longer than any of us had been alive.
Four seemed like a lot.
Four also seemed like not nearly enough.
What if four wasn't the final number?
What if there were more, buried so deep we'd never see them coming?
The Fox had decades to build this network. Years to plant seeds of betrayal in the people closest to his son. It seemed almost too easy—finding them all in one night.
Then again, maybe that was the point.
Maybe ripping open the wound fast was the only way to start healing it.
And even if we had found them all. . .
What happens now?
Surely if Kenji's men could make the spies talk—if they could trace the threads back to the Fox himself—then maybe this war could end sooner than anyone expected.
I thought of Reo's cold efficiency. Hiro's sharp smile. The Fangs. The Claws. The prison beneath the mansion that Hiro had mentioned so casually.
They would make the spies talk.
Whatever that looked like, I knew it wouldn't be gentle.
Blood.
Screams.
Maybe flames.
Undoubtedly death.
My stomach tightened as we walked toward the hallway to meet the twins.
Four snakes, caught.
But somewhere out there, the Fox was still breathing.
Still scheming.
Still waiting to see what his son would do next.
And soon, he would find out.
Chapter forty-one
Soul Food for Soldiers
Nyomi
Minutes later, I entered the bedroom, closed the door behind me, and leaned against it.
Breathe. Just breathe.
My pulse was still erratic, my skin still humming from everything that had just happened. The twins remained on the other side of that door under Hiro's calm authority. Meanwhile, Hiro was going to take the phone to his brother.
My thoughts spun in my head, torturing me with what-ifs and maybes. I closed my eyes and desperately tried to snuff out the relentless images flashing behind my lids. It was as if some malicious film director had taken up residence in my mind, intent on replaying the night’s events in an unending loop.
Did we really find all the spies?
I opened my eyes.
The stillness of the room mocked my internal turmoil.
The moonlight streamed through the windows, painting the space in shades of silver and shadow.
The bed—where Kenji had expertly fucked me last night and then given me passionate aftercare—now looked foreboding and distant.
But my body remembered.
Even now, with fear still thrumming through my veins, my thighs clenched at the memory. The way he'd spread me open and devoured me like I was his last meal. The way his voice had dropped to that dangerous register when he'd told me exactly what he was going to do—and then done it, over and over, until I'd forgotten my own name.
I pressed my palm against my lower belly, trying to quiet the ache that stirred there.
Not now. Focus.
But my mind was already drifting to those sketches I'd found in Mami's room. Kenji and Hiro tangled together, all hard pierced big cocks and dangerous want. The way Mami had drawn Kenji's jaw clenched in pleasure, Hiro’s back arched, Kenji’s hand gripping their cocks until cum spilled out.
Stop it.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
God, I needed Kenji back here not just because I worried about him.
I also needed his weight pressing me into that mattress.
Needed him to fuck the fear right out of me until I couldn't think about spies, serpents, or anything but the shove and drag of his hard, pierced cock inside me.
Don’t worry. Kenji is the Dragon for a reason. He’s got Reo and Hiro. He’s got the Fangs and the Claws. They’ll do the rest and figure this out.
I swallowed and brought myself back to the space again.
The bedroom was dim, lit only by the soft glow of the bedside lamp.
Normal.
As if my entire world hadn't just shifted on its axis. And then another realization pierced through the haze.