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My teeth grind as I wait for Ares Drakos to answer my call.
“Gabriel,” he says casually. “What can I?—”
“I need to know if that travel ban we spoke about a few weeks ago is still in effect,” I growl curtly. “And I need to know yesterday.”
Ares knows when it’s not a time to fuck around.
“Give me an hour or so. I’ll call you back as soon as I know.”
“Please, come in.”
Hideo bows as he welcomes me into his apartment. I return the gesture, slipping my shoes off before stepping in.
“Can I get you a drink?”
I shake my head.
“Have a seat.”
I sit on the couch as Fumi’s father sinks into a chair by the window—the same chair he favored back at their old place, which he’s had moved here.
“You look troubled.”
I’m not about to tell this man that I’ve chased away his daughter. Nor am I going to let him know why exactly she’s hiding from me.
Truth be told, I’m not actually sure why I’m here. Maybe it’s because this is the closest to Fumi I can get right now.
…And maybe that means more than I realize.
“I…” I smile wryly at him. “I was about to lie to you. I was going to tell you it was a work thing, but…” I spread my arms. “It’s more of a your-daughter thing.”
He grins. “My daughter is a force to be reckoned with when she wants to be.”
“That’s…one way to put it.”
“Did you fight?”
“No—” I frown. “Sort of.”
“Do you know the very first thing my Bella—Fumi’s mother—said to me when we met?”
I shake my head.
“Stop bothering me.”
I chuckle, and damn, it feels good to have a different emotion aside from anger, confusion, and worry right now.
“That woman was tenacious, just like our daughter is tenacious. Believe me,” he says, arching a brow. “Marriage is hard. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar.”
“Or maybe just a good lawyer,” I smirk.
Hideo smiles back, nodding at me.
“Mr. Yamaguchi, I know you’re aware of the circumstances surrounding my relationship with your?—”
“Do you love my daughter, Mr. Black?”
I could stall. I could ask for a court recess, or force a delay, or slap up some roadblocks.
