Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 96404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Or at least, he could be hurt.
“What’s your deal with Akira, anyway?” Daniel tilts his head. “This whole thing can’t be because you want to secure a client. You don’t even search for new people like Knox and me, who, by the way, are always on hunting missions for fresh blood.”
I’ve gone on a hunt, countless times, but it was never for a client.
“It’s the wife, isn’t it?” He grins, a sly one that makes the sharp lines of his face harsher.
“She’s not his wife.” Or at least, she won’t be soon.
“I always wondered who would be your type. Never thought it would be a married woman.”
“And what’s your type? A skirt?”
“Brunettes in a skirt. Abso-fucking-lutely.”
“A blonde broke your heart?”
His lips twist in what resembles disgust before he smirks. “Not as much as Akira’s wife broke yours.”
“Stop calling her that.”
“Hit a nerve? This shit’s got my interest piqued and I need the inside scoop. Which of the rumors is true?”
“What rumors?”
“They say you broke her heart in college and she married someone more powerful than you and threw it in your face.”
“That’s not true.”
“Pity. I would’ve done that.” His usually joyous features scrunch into a frown. “If someone betrayed me, I’d make sure to slowly destroy their lives until they fell to their knees at my feet.”
“Someone betrayed you? Is it the blonde?”
“Maaaybe.” He shakes his head, seeming to pull himself out of a trance. “But this isn’t about me. This is about you and your Japanese princess. Sorry, I mean, Akira Mori’s princess.”
“Call her that again and I’ll punch your face so hard, no doctor will be able to put it back together.”
“Bloody hell, mate. Not the face! This shit is real estate.”
“Then don’t make me destroy it.”
“I’m just warning you so you don’t get yourself and us in trouble. If you’re gone, Nate won’t have his beloved prince and we won’t have anyone to throw under the bus when we screw up.”
I raise a brow but say nothing.
“Anyway, do what you like, but don’t forget who Akira Mori is. He might be new to the States, but he’s something entirely different internationally. The Mori family is very influential domestically. Not only because of their bloodline, but also because they have direct relations with the emperor of Japan and other business tycoons across Asia. And let’s not forget his recent black diamond fortune that I told you about.”
I couldn’t give two fucks about his power. Either he lets Naomi go or we’ll both die while trying to free her from him.
The door of my office opens and my uncle comes in, his hard gaze taking in the scene in front of him.
Daniel grins. “Nate! I was just telling Sebastian that you’re my favorite boss.”
“Save the ass-kissing for Van Doren, Sterling.”
“Thanks for putting that weird image in my head.” Daniel makes a face and points at me. “I’ll throw you the best funeral when you get yourself killed, Weaver Prince. And then I’m taking away your interns.”
He leaves with an evil laugh that I shake my head to as I fall into the seat behind my desk.
My uncle doesn’t sit down. Instead, he merely places a hand in his pocket as he observes me closely.
“What is it, Nate?”
“I was told you came to work when you’re still on a sick leave.”
“I’m fine.”
“Die someplace else that isn’t my firm, Rascal.”
“You’ll get good press out of it.”
“Not if the cause of death is exhaustion.” He narrows his eyes at me. “What are you up to?”
“A lot of things and nothing at the same time.”
“Let me guess, it has something to do with Naomi?”
Everything has had to do with Naomi since the day I said yes to that fucking bet. I’ve fought it over the course of time, but that doesn’t change the place she currently occupies in my life.
Or that she should’ve been in seven fucking years ago.
Nate takes my silence as affirmation and sighs. “I knew you’d get yourself in trouble because of her the day you kissed her on TV without caring if Mr. and Mrs. Weaver saw you.”
I grin. “Remember how Mrs. Weaver clutched her pearls? Priceless.”
“Her reaction doesn’t make you less impulsive. Or stupid.”
“Stupidity is accepting that she was gone. Besides, getting back what was originally mine isn’t impulsive, Uncle.”
“It certainly is if you lose control of your head for it.”
“You’re only saying that because you’ve never loved someone so much that being apart from them feels like drowning and burning alive at the same time. You’ve never stayed up all night, staring at the fucking sky with the minuscule hope that she’s also staring at it from a different nook in the world. You’ve never loved, period, Uncle. You’re nearing your forties and still are a cold-blooded bachelor with no settling down in sight.”
“Why settle down when you can be free? And you’re right, I’ve never loved and I don’t plan to. It’s all a stupid idea of nothingness that fools like you believe in. It’s not real. Not tangible. And certainly not lucrative.”