Chapter 27 The Pleasure District #2
I walked to the table and leaned over the diagram before anyone spoke. My eyes found the main elevator entrance immediately. I'd studied partial maps of the Depths years ago when I first became the Dragon—one doesn’t inherit an empire without learning where its hidden pleasure spaces were.
But what I had years ago was old and incomplete.
The tunnels had been restructured since then.
The Depths’ main entrance was now through the restaurant's elevator. From there, the tunnels branched in twenty different directions. Ten led to private chambers. Five led to dead ends designed to disorient intruders. Five led deeper into the labyrinth where the most exclusive areas existed.
"Hiroko will guide us through here," I traced my finger along the correct path. "We'll take the main corridor to the third junction. Then east through the silk hall. That leads to the central chamber where the Council meets. If my father is anywhere in these depths, it's there."
Hiro crossed his arms. "The Ukiyo won't appreciate us bringing a small army into their territory."
"They chose a side when they let the Fox hide there."
“Good plan.” Reo cleared his throat. "However, we're not going through the main entrance.”
I quirked my brows.
“I spoke with Hiroko. She knows several service entrances that can get us inside and down there undetected.
If we move fast and go masked, we can kill who we need to kill and get out before the Ukiyo even know we were there.
At the bare minimum, they won't be able to prove that it was us that did anything. "
I looked at him. That was smart. If we could operate in the shadows of their own territory, we'd avoid a direct confrontation with the Council. We'd keep the delicate political balance intact.
Or at least give ourselves plausible deniability.
"Good," I said. "We use the service entrance. We move fast. In and out before anyone has time to react."
Hiro shook his head. “I’m not going in masked. I want our father to know who the fuck is coming for him. I want him to see my face and see the hate I have for him in my eyes.”
Reo and I turned to my brother.
Hiro's jaw was set like concrete, his eyes burning with a cold fire that made even me—his own blood—want to step back. The muscles in his neck stood out like steel cables, and his knuckles had gone bone-white around the lollipop stick.
This wasn't stubbornness. This was the kind of resolve that had toppled empires and started wars.
No force on earth would move him on this.
I nodded. “Then, we go unmasked.”
Reo let out a long breath, clearly not happy with the decision.
Then another thought hit me. "What if this is a different sort of trap?"
Reo and Hiro both looked at me.
"What if this whole phone call was designed to pull us off the island? The call. The location. The scouts seeing my father's men. What if it's all bait?"
Hiro quirked his brows. “How would they know the island’s location.”
I frowned. “The Lion could have made a deal with our father.”
“The Lion is a bastard but is he that bad?”
"I’m not sure, but we do have to consider the possibility that the Lion could have left us and went straight to the Fox and made the same offer. We both know our father would have said yes."
Reo crossed his arms. "If that's true, the Lion would have given up the island's location."
"Exactly." My voice grew tight. "My father is patient enough to wait. Patient enough to let us chase this lead. Patient enough to watch us leave the island unguarded so he can come for my Tiger."
"Get a message to the Fangs now. Before we leave this room. I want them in defensive positions within the hour—not when we depart or are en-route. Now. If this is bait, the clock started the moment we heard that recording."
Reo pulled out his phone immediately.
Hiro's face went still. Then his jaw tightened and rage flashed behind his eyes. "Our father will never get a chance to get Nyomi. Never."
The same fury rose within in my chest.
The thought of my father's men setting foot on this island. The thought of them getting anywhere near Nyomi. It made brutal violence stir behind my ribs.
Reo's voice cut through the tension. "The Fangs won’t go with us. They’ll watch Nyomi and stay on the island. We’ll have more Scales provide full perimeter security. No one gets in without going through them first."
Hiro's jaw stayed tight. "We’ll have the Claws remain too."
Reo shook his head. “The Claws come with us. We'll need them in the Depths."
Hiro frowned. “They remain here to protect our Tiger.”
I blinked.
Our Tiger?
Reo rolled his eyes. “Hiro, the Claws will not let you leave this island by yourself. If you leave, they will leave, regardless of who tells them to stay.”
Hiro pursed his lips.
Reo spoke carefully. “The Fangs will keep her safe. They know all the secret exits and tunnels out of here. We made sure this island was prepared for any attack. I have faith in her being fully protected.”
Silence held the room for three seconds.
My eyes drifted to the door she'd walked through. The air still carried her scent and the faintest trace of smoke from last night. I could still feel where her hands had framed my face. Where her teeth had pierced my skin.
And I imagined my father's men coming through that same door.
My vision darkened at the edges. I swore a beast shifted behind my ribs. Perhaps, it was my dragon-shadow. The one that would burn the world to ash if a single finger touched her while I was gone.
I looked back at Hiro and Reo. "Make sure every person on this island knows that, if anything happens to her while we're gone. . .anything. . .there will be another pyre of bodies the next morning.”
Neither of them flinched.
“I’ll make sure that message reaches every inch of this island.” Reo typed into his phone.
“Good.”
“We should leave now.” Reo put up his phone and turned to gather the map. His gaze passed over the stone slab. He stopped for half a second. His eyes tracked the leather restraints still hanging from the iron ring, the residue of melted wax on the stone surface and faint scorch marks.
His nostrils flared.
One slow breath in.
One controlled breath out.
Then he straightened the map's edge and continued as if nothing had interrupted his thoughts. But the vein in his temple was visible now, pulsing against the skin in a rhythm that had nothing to do with the Fox or Yoshiwara.
Fine, Reo. I understand.
I made a mental note to have a conversation with my Roar when this was over. Not to apologize, but to acknowledge that I would be making his job tough by not letting him know my secret plans.
Then, I thought of Nyomi. "Give me an hour. I have to say goodbye to my Tiger."
Hiro smirked. "You mean we have to say goodbye to our Tiger."
I rolled my eyes and walked off.