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My entire body stops cold. I turn slowly around.
“Kimochi ii.” She points a soft smile at the window as if she’s imagining something. Her eyes hold a distant wistfulness.
A slap to the face would have been less shocking. I suck in a sharp breath, grasping at thin air as my hands curl into fists.
“Do you know what it means?” Her heels click against the tile in a steady rhythm. Lowering her voice to an intimate hush, she mimics Sazuki’s breathless panting. “It… feels…so… good.”
My eyelashes flutter. I’m shaking with rage, with embarrassment, and with hurt. It’s like she walked into my most sacred memory and tarnished it.
“If you’d like more translations, I can help with that.” She rubs her chin. “Ryo doesn’t talk a lot, but he gets strangely mouthy during—”
“Whatdo you want?”
The smile finally leaves her face to reveal the true cruelty beneath. She tilts her head. “I came to inform you that I will always be right there, in every memory, at every event, and in every sacred moment between you and Ryotaro. I’m not going anywhere.”
A sharp, fiery arrow plunges into my heart. I let it coat my words in venom. “You’re sick.”
She laughs.
“Does your husband know how obsessed you are with your ex?”
Ashanti gives me anoh, aren’t you cutelook.
“Didn’t Sazuki tell you? I got a divorce.”
Her words rock my entire world. “A divorce?”
“You know,” she moves in closer, “at first I was going to play up the evil ex-wife role. Really throw all the ways you and Sazuki don’t work in your face, but I think you already know that, deep down, you’re nothing but a nice little detour for him. Every man wants a younger woman to bring a bit of excitement to his life. But it doesn’t mean anything more than that. One day, he’s going to tire of you as all men do of their toys.”
“You drove all the way here thinking you’d accomplished something, didn’t you? But in the end, you look petty, foolish and desperate.” I fold my arms over my chest. “Thank you for your advice, but I should go. My boyfriend is in bed probably wondering where I am.”
Her eyes twitch, but she hides it well. “Oh, this isn’t advice. This is a warning.” She leans forward. “I’m coming back for my family.”
“What makes you think you can take them from me?” I grind out.
“I’m not going to take them.” She flutters her eyelashes. “You’re going to give them to me.”
She’s insane.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you love Niko. That much I saw from the night you played piano together. You love my little girl like you pushed her out the womb yourself.” Her laughter is tight. “And what Niko needs isn’t for her parents to be fighting, cold and distant from each other. She doesn’t need a tiny, inconsequential college student mucking up the family tree. She needs her mommy and daddy together becausethatwill give her the future, the life, that she deserves.”
My heart slams against my ribs.
“I trust you’ll make the right decision, Miss Williams.” Ashanti plucks a pair of sunshades out of her purse and slides them over her face. “Oh, remember. My offer for those translations is still valid.”
CHAPTER20
AFTER THE FALLING
SAZUKI
I awaken to an empty bed.The sun taunts me, dancing over the space where Dejonae should be.
I am a private man to my blood.
Yet, it bothers me to find myself alone.
