CHAPTER 8
Lucas
One aspect in the game of manipulation was making others believe you were friends. Like Aldrich. He was my enemy for over a decade, and yet when he asked to meet at a restaurant in Sage City, I accepted. If we hadn’t had any history, I would have still gone to lunch out of curiosity. The more you knew, the more capable you were of overcoming your competition. Of defeating your enemies. He was doing the same. I had learned the hard way, from Aldrich himself, thatthatwas how you won. You played dirty. You misconstrued the truth. You kept your enemies closer than your own blood.
Raw was a sushi restaurant inside of a skyscraper at the center of Sage City. From the entryway, it seemed like a typical Japanese restaurant you would find downtown. Lanterns, a sushi bar, the delicate tea service at each table. But the second floor held private rooms, where elite diners could participate in nyotaimori.
I had experienced nyotaimori once before. It was Aldrich’s idea then too. Back when I was still with Isa.
“I’ll never get tired of this,” Aldrich said, grabbing a sushi roll with his fingers off of a leaf resting on a woman’s naked body. The leaf separated the fish from the skin. Diners were asked to use chopsticks to remove the rolls, both for the comfort of the diners and for the woman on display. Aldrich had never paid attention to the rules.
Neither had I. But I had my limits. Harassing a poor woman trying to do her job, was not a line I was willing to cross. Not with this woman before us, being used as a plate. Not with any of the servers at the Dahlia District. Not with Haley.
I used my chopsticks to remove an ahi roll. The woman stared at the ceiling. No eye contact. No acknowledgment that she was being used as a human plate.
“They are truly works of art,” Aldrich said through a mouth full. He grabbed a few more rolls and added them to his plate. “You hear that, beautiful?” He patted her shoulder. “Work of art.”
“Please don’t touch the models, sir,” a waitress in the corner said.
“It was her shoulder,” he said. “Not her breast.”
Luckily for the model, the table was large and wide, making it so that she was in the center and we could not get sushi without standing and leaning over. Aldrich finally sat down and began shoveling rolls into his mouth. After a few minutes, he said, “You’re getting close to Haley now.”
I nodded, though I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to alarm Aldrich and risk him taking drastic measures.
“Women are a delicacy,” Aldrich said. He motioned to the woman on display in front of us. Each leaf was poised to cover her sensitive parts, but it was knowing that she could be defiled at any moment that was invigorating to the diners, even to me. But when I let my mind wander there, I didn’t see her.
I saw Haley, covered in leaves, on display for me, waiting to be ruined.
“But virgins?” Aldrich continued. He grinned. “It’s the challenge, isn’t it? Knowing that you must conquer and deflower something so innocent.”
I wasn’t one to confuse virginity with purity. “Haley is not innocent.”
“That may be true,” Aldrich said, “but sheisuntouched.” He wiped some soy sauce from his upper lip. “I think I would have lost interest in Bella if I had known her status. I thought you two were waiting for the chapel.”
I cringed at those words. It had been years since I had felt anything for Isa. Years since I had taken her virginity, and she had taken mine. But hearing Aldrich talk about his late wife like that made me rage. He had no respect for her. She had dumped a man who loved her, so that she could marry a man who promised her a life in which she would never have to worry again. Aldrich had guaranteed that. Until her last breath, he made sure she had no financial woes.
Until he had no use for her.
I found it hard to believe that it had been e-coli that caused her death. The illness took so few, but it could come on suddenly, rearing its head and taking life along with it. While the possibility of death was always there, it was strange that Aldrich had never gotten sick too. There were too many missing pieces in her death. It was too…convenient to have two wives die of the same illness. Aldrich was keeping secrets. He was lying about something. I didn’t know what.
“Is this about Bella?” Aldrich asked. He stuffed a large roll in his mouth; the strings of fish flailed at the corners of his lips as he chewed. A large swallow down his throat. He was an intolerable glutton in every facet of his life. “Thisisabout her, isn’t it? Do you mourn my dead wife? It’s beenyears, Lucas. Let her rest already. I have.”
“So what if it is?” I said. I had nothing to lose by telling him this part of the truth.
“You risk a lot in the name of a woman who left you.”
Did I blame Isa? When it first happened, I did. But knowing her poor background, she would have done whatever it took to survive. The gleam of the mirage Aldrich had created seemed like the only opportunity she would ever need again.
I didn’t blame Isa now. Not once I realized that I had only truly known her, after she had left me.
I had to stay focused. Even if this bet with Haley was for revenge against Aldrich, there was more on the line now. Our businesses. Our futures.
Haley.
“Leave Haley alone,” I said. “Let her make the decision. A fair bet.”
He studied me for a moment, his eyes wandering over my face. “If I knew you any better, I would say you have feelings for her.”
