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I slide my arm around her back and pull her just a little closer to me. “Of course. We’d be delighted. I wasn’t aware you’d set the date.” Or that he was even engaged, since I didn’t see him with anyone at the wedding and someone said he left early to attend family business. I wasn’t paying attention since they didn’t ask for our help. But Casper gave them a number to reach out to OHH if they needed it.

“I am glad to see you have met my granddaughter,” Takahashi-san says as one of his men moves him closer to us.

I stiffen, but Natalie seems fine by the title. And with the way no one seems to react, I can only assume it’s something he calls her quite often. A lie and a truth, all in one. Wonder how the group will act once all of this comes out.

“Yes. We met several years ago when my father took her under his care for the short time she was in New York.”

The layer of ice Vinny can put in his words is a work of art. The mention of Natalie’s kidnapping so openly has the room going still. No one speaks or pretends not to be listening. Everyone has been hyper-focused on us since the moment we entered. I was surprised they could keep the farce up for so long.

To drive the point home, Vinny looks straight at Hiroshi with a raised eyebrow. The man doesn’t speak, but he leaves.

And not a single person follows or calls him back.

That alone speaks louder than any words ever will.

“Perhaps we can speak in private,” Takahashi-san says, and immediately his men leave the room. “Your people are free to wait in the gardens if they so wish.”

Vinny bows his head slightly, and his team moves without a single word.

Once the room is mostly empty, Takahashi-san gestures to the available sitting area.

“Shall we?” he asks as Keiko comes in pushing a cart of food. Well, finger sandwiches, but more like seaweed wraps.

I look at Natalie out of the corner of my eye as I take the side of the couch by her. She rolls her lips inside her mouth, but her smile is still present enough for me to tell she knew this was coming.

“You owe me a steak, woman,” I mutter for her ears only, and a giggle slips out of her before she covers it by clearing her throat.

“Would you like some herbal tea, my dear? It always helps me when I have a dry mouth,” Takahashi-san says with a look of concern.

She shakes her head. “No, thank you. But if it gets worse, I’ll let Keiko know to get me some.”

This time, Natalie doesn’t reach out and serve anyone. Keiko does it for us, putting a selection of food on everyone’s plate and passing them out. When she holds the plate out to me, Natalie takes it from her and then gives it to me.

I watch Keiko bow lower to Natalie as a blush stains her cheeks before she moves to pass food to Vinny.

“She was making a play for you,” Natalie whispers in my ear, her head turned away from the group.

“As if anyone could outshine you, Sunshine,” I say before putting a seaweed wrap in my mouth. A mistake on my part, but after you get over the saltiness, the rice inside is relatively good—for plain-ass white rice.

“It means someone is testing us. Testing you to see if our relationship is fake.”

I stop chewing and scan the room. Three of Takahashi-san’s men stayed. One is the person Natalie called Uncle, but now I know he’s not actually a relation. The other two I saw last night, but nothing stood out then and it still doesn’t today. They just look like old men to me, nothing special, with squinty eyes and round faces.

The only other man is one of Vinny’s people, and I trust him without even knowing the guy. If Vinny keeps him around, you know he’s to be trusted.

I swallow my food and mumble to Nat, “By me taking the plate from her, what would that have meant?”

“That you were interested.”

I don’t hide my shock. “That has to be the stupidest thing ever,” I say loud enough for others to hear.

She only shrugs and nibbles on her own food.

“Was she also doing the same when she handed it to Vinny?” I ask, lowering my voice once more.

She shakes her head. I guess it wouldn’t mean the same as it would for me since I’m the problem in their eyes.

Quieter, I ask, “Should we start making out now or just fuck?”