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)
Her lips moved against mine, and her arms wrapped around my neck as I pulled her closer. There was an urgency in her grip, a desperation that echoed my own need to claim her, to mark her in every way possible.
I drew back, needing to see her. The desire in her eyes matched the pulse of need inside me, a relentless rhythm that shouted, 'Mine! Mine! Mine!’
“Naughty Tiger.” A quiet, possessive growl rumbled deep in my chest. “You’re not sharing me, Tora, not with them, not with anyone. You own me. Completely.”
A beat passed.
"Which means, Tora, what's mine is yours to decide. Including them."
Confusion flickered across her face. "What does that mean?"
"Yuki, Mami, and Hina." I kept my voice steady, even though offering this felt like handing her a blade and exposing my throat. "If you want me to release them from service right now. . .I will. They'll be compensated. Protected. Set up with new lives far from here. I will never see them again."
Her eyes widened. "You would do that?"
"For you?" I traced the curve of her jaw. "I would do worse. I would kill them, if you asked.”
She shivered. “D-don’t say that.”
“Your comfort matters more than their lives. More than tradition. More than convenience. More than anything. You decide, Tora. Right. Now."
“Kenji—”
“Let me know and I’ll tell my men to take them away.”
Her bottom lip quivered as if she were suddenly realizing that she could end their lifelong employment with a word. I saw her processing that power, weighing it in her hands like something precious and dangerous.
Nyomi directed her gaze to them, and I followed it.
Outside, I could see Yuki subtly adjusting Mami's collar. Hina was still practically vibrating with restrained energy.
Nyomi remained quiet for a long moment, studying them through the window. Then finally she spoke, "Tell me about them."
“Always a journalist.” I grinned. “What do you want to know?”
“Well. . .I want to get an idea of who they are before I make such a big decision.”
I traced circles on her palm. "Yuki reads philosophy and poetry. She typically collects first editions when we travel. She's learning Italian because she fell in love with opera three years ago when Reo bought them tickets."
"And Mami?"
"She paints. She has a small studio in the east wing of my mansion in Tokyo. This year, she began selling her work under a pseudonym at galleries in Tokyo and Paris. Most people don't know the artist is one of my Scales."
Nyomi's thumb resumed its gentle circles on my palm. "Hina?"
"The youngest. She's studying architecture remotely through a university in London. Wants to design sustainable housing for displaced communities."
"And you fund her education?”
“I do.”
Nyomi turned to look at me. "They have whole lives."
"Yes."
"But. . .they’ve also. . .built their lives around you?"
“Ever since they were kids.”
"If you released them. . ." She parted her lips. "What would happen to them?"
"They would be compensated. Protected. I'd make sure they had everything they needed."
"Money isn't the same as purpose." She pulled back enough to face me fully. "They've served you since they were girls. Their identities are probably wrapped up in being your Scales. In belonging to you—even if you never touched them, even if you gave them freedom, they may still choose to stay. Or. . .they may harm themselves if they’re forced to go."
The helicopter cabin felt smaller suddenly.
“Tora. . .but what do you want to do?”
"If you sent them away," she continued, her voice dropping, "even with the best intentions, even with money and protection. . .wouldn't that break something in them?"
I thought she would simply tell me to get rid of them.
I hadn't expected this.
Hadn't expected her to think beyond her own comfort to theirs.
I tilted my head to the side. "You're worried about them?"
"I'm worried about what it would do to them." She glanced back outside where the three women waited. "They didn't choose this life initially. Your father chose it for them. But they stayed. They built their whole existence around you. And now I show up and—" She made a frustrated sound. "God, this is so complicated."
"It is." I agreed quietly.
"Part of me wants them gone," she admitted, her honesty cutting clean and sharp. "The jealous part. The part that wants you completely to myself. No shadows of what your father intended, no pretty women who look at you like you hung the moon."
"And the other part?"
"The other part sees three women whose entire lives would be upended because I felt. . .insecure." She met my eyes. "Now that I know you love me—really know it, feel it—I can't shake the feeling that sending them away would be cruel. That it would hurt them more than keeping them could ever hurt me."
“Hmmm.” I pulled her close, pressing my lips to her forehead while my mind spun with something I couldn't quite name.