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)
My footsteps echoed against the tiles too as I moved toward the center of the room.
With my right hand, I dove in my pocket and pulled out a gold antique lighter—heavy, ornate, passed down from my mother's family.
The metal was warm against my palm.
I flicked it open.
The flame appeared, small and hungry.
I flicked it closed.
Darkness.
I did the motion again.
Open.
Flame.
Closed.
Nothing.
The rhythm steadied me. Giving my hands something to do while my heart threatened to shatter.
Behind me, my army was already in the room and assembled in perfect silence.
The Claws stood in rows along the back wall. Their loyalty was absolute, according to my Tiger’s test. Their rage, barely contained. I could feel it radiating from them like heat from a furnace.
The Fangs flanked their sides.
All of my inner circle was there except the twins who were currently guarding my Tiger upstairs.
I stopped in the center of the chamber.
Flick.
Flame.
Flick.
Nothing.
The sound was the only noise in the room.
Even the traitors had stopped breathing.
"Let me explain how this works." My voice was soft. Almost gentle. The way a blade was gentle before it opened skin. "I am going to ask questions. You are going to answer them. Completely. Honestly. Without hesitation."
I turned slowly, letting my gaze drag across each of their faces.
Mami's tears had carved tracks through the grime on her cheeks. Her body trembled so violently that the chains above her rattled like wind chimes in a storm.
Sako wouldn't meet my eyes. His head hung low, his shoulders slumped. A man already defeated. Already dead in every way that mattered.
The two Eyes glared at me with hatred burning in their bloodshot stares. Their jaws were set. Their fists clenched above the chains.
They still thought they could survive this through defiance.
They were wrong.
Flick.
Flame.
I held it longer this time, watching the fire dance. The light cast my shadow across the floor—massive, monstrous, stretching toward them like a murderous promise.
Flick.
Darkness.
"No one speaks until I ask them to speak."
My footsteps resumed.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Each one a countdown.
"Begging for your life is a waste of time. Tears are a waste of time. Prayers are a waste of time." I paused in front of Mami, close enough to see the pulse hammering in her throat. "The only thing that will save you is information."
Her mouth opened. A sob clawed its way up her throat.
I held up one finger.
She swallowed the sound and trembled harder.
"Everything you know about my father's fucking spy operation in my network. Every name. Every contact. Every message. Every whispered word you thought no one would ever discover." I resumed walking, passing Sako without a glance. "You will give me all of it. You will hold nothing back. And then. . .we will see."
I stopped between the two Eyes.
Arata and Itsuki.
My fucking Eyes. . .were spies this whole damned time. . .
No one was born into the role of my Eye’s. It had to be earned through many years of loyalty. Once the position was given, the men were marked. I’d been there the night they took their oath and let the ink burn under their skin.
Each of them had the same kanji tattooed at the outer corner of their eyes.
視
A thin black stroke etched so close to the lash line it looked like war paint.
It didn’t just mean see. For the rest of their lives, they had to be watchful and unflinching in devotion.
It meant: You see what I can’t.
It meant: You never blink when the blade is coming.
It meant: You die before I fall.
The Eyes had seen me naked in more ways than one. They’d stood in corners like shadows while I fucked women into sobbing confessions. They watched my hands twist nipples until they begged for my mouth, watched my fingers curl deep inside slick pussies while I talked dirty.
They’d seen my mouth devour clits, seen me drag my tongue over trembling inner thighs just to make women scream my name loud enough to echo through hotel floors.
They’d seen my cock disappear into tight, willing holes—wet mouths, hungry cunts, the sweet, trembling grip of a woman’s ass while I pulled her hair.
And when I came?
They’d seen that too.
And the Fox made them his Eyes. Excellent move, Father, but you’ll still die.
I flicked the lighter and the flame soared higher this time.
Arata and Itsuki.
The Eyes were brothers. Recruited from Osaka many, many years ago. Trained by Reo himself. Given positions of trust and access that most soldiers would kill for.
And they had sold it all to my father for what? Money? Power? The promise of something better?
It doesn't matter anymore.
I smiled at Itsuki. "You will share all information or. . .”
The door opened
Seven figures stumbled through, shoved forward by Scales who held them at gunpoint.
The reaction was immediate.
Arata and Itsuki—my defiant Eyes who had glared at me with such hatred moments ago—transformed into something unrecognizable.
Their faces crumpled. Their bodies began to thrash against the chains, violent and desperate, metal biting into wrists that were already raw.