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I held myself still and steady, trying to keep a calm expression even as my pulse thundered through my veins. These weren’t the kind of people I’d want to show any weakness in front of. “All right. We’re listening. What exactly do you want?”
The man on the left, a burly dude who looked Asian but not like most of the Japanese locals I’d met—maybe Chinese?—flicked a discreet gun from a holster under his suit jacket and held it lowered but in view. He spoke with a polished British accent. “The Bright Dragon would like to know what your presence in Tokyo means in terms of your mother’s intentions.”
The other guy, his jowled head topped by tufts of bright red hair, palmed a pistol of his own. He aimed both it and a glare at me, spitting out his words with a mild Australian drawl. “And the March Wind would like to hear what the fuck you were angling for, sending around all those files about her operations.”
His tone was sharper than his companions, and his posture undeniably aggressive. I fought the urge to take a step back from him, seeing Rafael’s fingers close around the grip of his gun.
Mom hadn’t just made enemies with her plotting against her fellow Devil’s Dozen members. She’d had at least a few allies who were scheming right alongside her to take down some of their colleagues and divide territory they stole between them. From this guy’s demeanor, I couldn’t help wondering if my gambit had upended the March Wind’s plans as well as my mother’s.
Otherwise you’d think he’d have appreciated the warning rather than sounding pissed off about it.
“I think the answer to the second question should cover both,” I said tartly, as if I were annoyed by the interruption, not terrified for the men standing with me. “I disagreed with my mother’s tactics, and I figured the rest of you should know that she was hoping to tear apart the foundations of your organization. I also wanted to get her off my back. I’m not interested in inheriting her spot at the table.”
The March Wind’s man made a scoffing sound. “And we’re just supposed to believe that?”
I glared right back at him. “Yes. Because if you did even a fraction of the research I’m sure your boss would have expected, you’ll have seen that I’m here to compete in the World Figure Skating Championships. Which are taking place in Nagano, so of course I’m in Japan. We’re training in Tokyo to try to avoid having my mom’s people track us down, although that hasn’t worked out so well after all.”
The Bright Dragon’s man studied me with a cooler gaze. “And what is your game plan after this skating competition? Are you aiming to wrestle your mother’s empire away from her?”
I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes. “Did you listen to anything I just said? She can keep her empire. I just don’t want her havingme. She was using threats to keep me under her thumb, so I exposed her so that she’d have bigger problems to deal with. I’d be happiest if she forgets I even exist and I can focus on nothing but skating and regular life.”
“As if the heir to the Deadly Rose would ever give up all ambition,” the March Wind’s man sneered. “We know where you came from. It sounds like this is all another game to me, one you won’t win.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “The only thing I care about winning is medals on the ice. I haven’t had any contact with the criminal world since I left Austin, other than whatever my bodyguard has needed to do to keep us safe. But maybe you’re more concerned because of what your boss thoughthewas going to win if my mother got to see through her plans.”
I knew the second the accusation flew from my lips that it’d been a miscalculation. The stutter of the man’s expression gave away that I was right, but his eyes flashed an instant later, his gun hand jerking forward. “I don’t need to listen to a snake like you talk about my employer that way. Unless you want to know what the inside of your skull looks like.”
None of us were slow draws around here. Not after all of my boyfriends had gotten weeks of practice with their own weapons that Rafael had managed to smuggle over the ocean.
A second after the threatening gesture, I’d tugged my tiny pistol from my purse into my hand, and Jasper and Quentin had retrieved their weapons from their concealed positions as well. The March Wind’s rep flicked his gaze over all of us, a bit of the color fading from his ruddy cheeks.
He’d figured at least some of my men wouldn’t be prepared. He’d bet wrong.
“Let’s simmer down,” the Bright Wind’s man said in an even tone. “You have to understand that it’s difficult for any of us to believe you gave up all of that power simply to skate.”
Rafael stepped forward, gun ready but not aimed, his eyes glinting dangerously. “Is it really? Doyouenjoy every part of this job? Lou’s spent her whole life in a position where she has no more control over what she does and where she goes than you do. And she loves doing something her mother sees as silly. You’ve got to have enough imagination to see how all that supposed power could become a cage.”
I’d rarely heard him speak at that much length, but his conviction rang through his words—and the March Wind’s man lowered his gun just slightly at hearing it put that way. And maybe because it was coming from another man rather than a girl he probably saw as silly too.
My bodyguard had been part of criminal negotiations like this for nearly as long as I’d been alive. It made sense that he’d be comfortable talking at these men’s level—and making the right points to start to diffuse their apprehension.
I raised my hand to rest it on the back of Rafael’s elbow, surreptitiously encouraging him taking the initiative. “That’s right. I don’t feel powerful when I’m with my mother—I feel confined. And no amount of money holds a candle to the thrill of performing a routine that brings an audience to their feet with applause.”
The March Wind’s man scowled. “And with all those performances, you’re risking bringing the Devil’s Dozen into the public eye. There’s already been too much talk on the news about the attack on your coach.”
I sighed. “And who do you think orchestrated that attack? If you’re upset about it, take it up with my mom. I’d rather it’d never happened in the first place.”
Rafael nodded. “If anything, that should be more proof to you that Luciana is completely at odds with the Deadly Rose. She was almost killed in that ambush. The goons her mother sent didn’t hold their fire.”
“Yeah.” I lifted my chin. “So if you have a problem with the spotlight that’s being pointed on those crimes, you should be focusing on the Deadly Rose, not me. If there are no more attacks on me and my friends, then I won’t eventhinkabout the Devil’s Dozen again.”
“And if there are?” the Bright Dragon’s rep asked. “Are you threatening to expose us?”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. I held myself back from gritting my teeth. “No, I’m just pointing out the natural consequences of my mother’s insanity. She’s the one sending people to shoot at me. Believe me, if I could make her stop, I would.”
Rafael raised an eyebrow. “And your bosses should know how difficult it is to stop the Deadly Rose, considering the conflict with the entire Devil’s Dozen hasn’t managed to stop her campaign of vengeance against her daughter for even a couple of weeks. Are they coming down on their colleague as hard as you’re coming down on Lou?”
The burly man’s mouth twisted with a hint of a grimace. The March Wind’s man raked his hand back through his fiery hair.
