Meanwhile, Jada was slowly shedding the gloves, a move that was just what she intended—a stripper tantalizing a crowd who laughed politely. Jada was making a point. She was being sold to Ken’Ichi. I wanted to be angry with her. I wanted to scream and shout and tell her to knock it the hell off, but I also understood how deeply rooted her frustration was.
She didn’t want to be the prize her father gave to a man for doing his bidding.
With the glove finally off, Ken’Ichi slid the ring on her left hand, leaned in, and whispered in her ear much as I’d whispered to Violet, but Jada showed no reaction. He kissed her cheek, and she pulled away from him as if he’d hit her.
“Raise your glasses to the futureMatsuda-sans.”
The guests cheered again.
“Thank you for coming. Unfortunately, I must catch a flight back to Japan, but I leave you in the capable hands of Matsuda. Please enjoy your evening,”Mori-samasaid, stepping down and away.Ito-sanjoined him, and the two disappeared back through the doorMori-samahad originally come through.
He was leaving. There was no way anything that went down tonight would be able to be tied to him. It was happening when he was off the property, by people who were merely employees.
“Please”—Ken’Ichi waved his hand toward the tent and the tables arranged underneath it—“join us for dinner.”
Jada’s back straightened at his acting the host for a party she’d thrown, and she moved away from him even as he tried to put a hand on her shoulder to keep her in place.
The guests moved through doors directly into the tent that had been assembled right up against the house to protect everyone from the clouds that had blown in overnight. You’d hardly recognize the space as being a canvas tent with the sets Yuriko had designed standing against the walls. It felt, instead, like an exclusive ballroom. There were no folding chairs or tables in sight. These were all red velvet with gilded arms and legs. Grand chairs set next to tables with marble tops and matching gold frames. Each table was decorated with a birdcage with a live bird inside, exotic and colorful just like the flowers and candles surrounding them.
Over the last five years, I’d dined and partied in some very extravagant places. I’d seen Jada and Dax and their friends throw together parties in mere days that would have taken others months, but this topped them all. The pure wealth and power it had required to make this happen in basically a week was astronomical. Jada and Tsuyoshi Mori had said jump, and everyone had scrambled to see how high they could actually go.
Dax, Violet, and I were seated at the table with Jada, Ken’Ichi, and Ken’Ichi’s sister, a dark-haired, pale beauty who was demur and shy, eyes cast downward the majority of the time. As we moved through the courses, the conversation was smooth only because Dax, the master of all social settings, kept it going.
Dax asked after the Matsuda’s parents. Ken’Ichi’s sister explained they were involved in a great charity event to rebuild deteriorating hospitals and care facilities as part ofkeiro no hi, a national day honoring the aged.
“This is whyJada-chan’smother is not here as well,” Ken’Ichi said. “Our families are co-sponsors of the fundraiser.”
But there was something off in his forced words, and it made me wonder of Jada’s mother had objected to the arranged marriage.
Jada downed her half-full glass of champagne and stuck it out toward a server to for more. I’d lost count of how many times she’d emptied and refilled it. As the dessert was taken away, the server went to top it off yet again, but Ken’Ichi put a hand over the top. “No more.”
Jada stilled, and I saw the anger that flashed over her face before she hid it.
“Dancing it is, then,” she said.
Pushing her chair away from the table, she stood with the slightest of wobbles. She didn’t once look back as she moved toward the interior of the house, stopping occasionally to talk with people who called out to her. She was smiling and vivacious. If you didn’t know what was happening in her life, you wouldn’t think she had a care in the world.
Violet, however, looked like she was carrying the load for her friend as she watched Jada. I squeezed her hand. A silent message of both encouragement and apology. Violet twisted her napkin before dropping it on the table and standing to go after Jada. I followed, wishing I’d somehow been able to keep both of them out of all of this, hating that I was the reason they were feeling anything but the joy that the party should have been bringing.
When I turned to see if Dax was joining us, he was making his excuses to Ken’Ichi’s sister while utterly ignoring Ken’Ichi himself who’d also risen from the table, acting as if we hadn’t all abandoned him. On Dax’s way through the tent, he was waylaid by Benita. Behind my friend’s smiling face, I could see the same front we were all putting on. Happy to be celebrating while, inside, worry ate at us. If it weren’t for Jada having originally planned this party for us, Dax wouldn’t have come at all. He may not have been able to make Jada his, but he certainly didn’t want to see her celebrating her engagement to another man either. A man she hated.
A band had set up on the stage whereMori-samahad given his grand announcement. They were playing twenties-appropriate music. To my surprise, Jada and Violet started dancing all the right steps for the Charleston. At least, I thought that was what it was called. It made me wonder if they’d spent the day practicing it. While I enjoyed watching Vi’s body curve and sway, what I really wanted was for the music to turn slow and sultry so I could pull her into my arms and have a chance to kiss her again.
Ken’Ichi arrived in the doorway of the tent, stiff and uptight. There was no way he was dancing, but he was playing watchdog. I wondered how soon he would tire of this new role he’d been given byMori-sama. How long would it be before he just locked Jada in some mansion because he was weary of following her around and correcting her behavior?
One of the guests stopped him at the door. A man whose face tickled my brain. Someone I’d definitely seen in Dax and Jada’s social circles but not enough to recognize immediately. He was dark and lean and had a good inch or so on Ken’Ichi but without the aura of gloom surroundingMori-sama’slieutenant. This man was graceful in his movements, almost ballet-like. His goatee added to the artistic vibe he gave off.
My attention was drawn to them because of the two goons in expensive suits who trailed after him. They made no attempt to hide the outline of guns at their back. I racked my brain, flipping through the files I’d memorized, but I still couldn’t quite place the man.
I shot one more glance toward Jada and Violet. They were laughing as others joined them, trying to imitate their moves. They were safe and happy at the moment. If I could follow the money and the guns tonight, we had a chance of ending this. Then, Jada and Violet would be safe for more than just one night. Without another thought, I moved toward Ken’Ichi.
I ignored the conversation the two men were having and stuck my hand out across Ken’Ichi to the goateed man instead, playing the rude American once again.
“Dawson Langley.”
The man took the hand I offered reluctantly. His hands were lean and almost fragile, but his grip was firm and hard.
“Malik Leskov,” he said.
