Molly stood and stretched. “It’s weird working this late because you leave a vapor trail as soon as five o’clock rolls around. What are you and Ronin doing tonight?”
Nothing, since she hadn’t contacted Ronin yet.
After he’d pointed out her admittedly selfish behavior Friday night, she’d had every intention of calling him first thing Sunday morning after spending Saturday working, pretending everything was peachy. But on Sunday, Emmylou had a meltdown after her breakup with Sasha and had sounded near suicidal.
As much as Amery had appreciated Emmylou’s friendship over the years, it occurred to her as she listened to her friend complain and cry that Emmylou’s friendship was one-sided. She’d never asked about Amery’s state of mind during her breakup with Ronin. She’d never asked how things were going after they’d gotten back together. Since they hadn’t spent much time together recently, Amery had invited Emmylou to the MMA fight—and then had to listen to Emmylou’s diatribe against men’s need to prove their dicks were superior through violence and then recite stats on physically abused women who were involved with those types of men who used steroids and their fists.
Seemed Emmylou’s personality had undergone a drastic change in recent months, and Amery didn’t like the changes. She’d keep their landlord and tenant relationship businesslike from here on out. Then she vowed it’d be the last time she’d waste an entire day trying to make someone else feel better about herself at the expense of fixing her own problems. By the time Amery had returned home, she’d been in no frame of mind to offer Ronin the apology he deserved.
Four loud raps on the front door had Amery checking to see who’d show up so late. Ronin? No. He’d use his key and come in through the back door.
Shiori was impatiently tapping her foot on the other side of the glass. Amery unlocked the door and Shiori walked past her with a brusque, “We need to talk.”
Then she stopped abruptly upon seeing Molly.
“Shiori Hirano, VP of Okada Foods, this is my assistant, Molly Calloway.”
Molly offered her hand. “It’s good to finally meet you in person. I’m excited to work on the new Okada line.” When Shiori stared at her blankly, Molly added, “Oh, I enjoyed watching you fight the other night.”
“The feeling is mutual,” she said, obviously not really paying attention to the conversation, and headed toward Amery’s office.
When Molly raised both eyebrows in a silent, Is she always this self-absorbed? Amery shrugged.
“I’ll lock up,” Molly said, grabbing her coat and purse. “See you tomorrow.”
Amery waited until Molly left before approaching Shiori as she prowled in Amery’s office like a caged cat. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but why are you here?”
Shiori whirled around. “I need a drink.”
“Did something happen to Ronin?” Amery asked sharply.
“Not in the way you think.”
“Start explaining. Now.”
Those beautiful golden eyes, identical to Ronin’s, were a little wild looking. “Naomi is in Denver and she confronted Ronin tonight.”
Amery froze. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t hear their conversation, but I saw her smug fucking face as she walked out. When I tried to talk to Ronin, he cut me off and bailed. So I know you want to go to him, but there’s more to the story with Naomi and it’s time you knew the truth.” Shiori looked more miserable than Amery had ever seen her.
“Now I need a goddamn drink. Come upstairs.” She shut off all the lights as they headed to the back room.
Shiori took one look at the circular metal staircase, then slipped off her spike heels.
Amery hadn’t spent much time in her loft in recent weeks. Since she practically lived with Ronin, it shouldn’t be such a big deal to make it official and tell him yes, she would move in with him. But what if she rented out her loft and everything with Ronin fell apart? Where would she go? She’d suffered through something like that with her ex Tyler and had no desire to repeat the experience.
In the kitchen, she opened the cabinet where she stashed liquor. “Your booze choices are gin, whiskey, vodka, and Baileys. My mixer selection is limited.”
“I’ll have Baileys.”
Amery set out two lowball glasses, filled them with ice, and poured the creamy liqueur. “Here you go.”
Shiori knocked back the entire glass before she poured herself another.
Not a good sign.
But Shiori relaxed a little and slid onto a barstool. Then she spun it around to check out the space. “This place has a great vibe. Like you, I lived in the same building where I worked in Tokyo. I could never really get away from work.”
“That is the downside. Ronin has the right idea about keeping his work space separate from his personal space.”
“He’s always been able to compartmentalize.”
“Quit stalling and tell me what happened tonight.”
“Ronin and I met at the conference hall before we split up so he could meet with equipment sponsors. I was chatting with a guy who sets up trade shows in Tokyo when I saw her.”
“Naomi.”
She nodded. “At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me. I followed her and got close enough to see her face smeared with red lipstick. I’ll admit I panicked, thinking she’d already found Ronin and baited him.”
Amery’s gut clenched.
“But then I saw her nasty grin . . .” Shiori briefly closed her eyes. “When I tracked Ronin down, he was in that state between shock and fury. Naomi told him that I’d told her where to find him.”
“Did you?”
“No! I haven’t seen Naomi for years. But I can see where my brother would believe it because I introduced them in the first place. I told you that Ronin and Naomi met at a Japanese social club. What I didn’t tell you? It wasn’t a random meeting. My marriage . . .” She looked away. “Wasn’t good. I married against my mother and my grandfather’s wishes and against my own common sense. Anyway, when it became too unbearable to endure, Grandfather promised to handle my divorce and all the legal stuff if I did one thing for him.”
“Set Ronin up with Naomi.”
“Yes. In Japan, arranged marriages aren’t unusual between families with similar interests. We knew Ronin wouldn’t ever agree to it, so we had to take a different tack. Since Naomi’s family owns banks in Japan, Ronin would know Naomi wasn’t after him for his money. But those banks were in trouble—I don’t know the exact details, but Okada Foods transferring twenty percent of their financial business to a different bank would have a tremendous impact.”
“But why Naomi?”
“She’s beautiful. Cultured. She’s from a respected family. It appeared she was successful in business in her own right—but that was just another family fabrication. She lived modestly—which also appealed to my brother, although he didn’t know it wasn’t Naomi’s choice to live that way. My grandfather understood my brother would suspect anyone he introduced him to. And since I was supposedly in Denver on business, Ronin promised he’d escort me to official Okada functions. The only reason Ronin went to the Japanese social club with me that night was because they were holding an auction of shunga art.”
“Naomi was there.”
She nodded. “He and Naomi struck up a conversation about the pieces and ended up in a good-natured bidding war. Ronin won, but he asked Naomi out for dinner. Within two months, they were seeing each other exclusively. They swapped one kind of club for another. His rope expertise isn’t a secret in the jujitsu martial arts world—he’s a record holder in Japan for the second-fastest time for a hojojutsu tie.”
She’d been on the receiving end of that particular skill. “Did Naomi know about Ronin’s rope mastery before they met?”