/

Episode 2: Dragon of the Boardroom

Ryú parked his car a block away and started walking toward the café, still wondering why Kai had insisted he do exactly that.

He spotted them before Kai noticed him.

Kai was animatedly talking with an older woman—most likely the sister he had mentioned.

How had he let himself get dragged into this again?

Kai was an excellent Marketing Director. That much Ryú knew firsthand, since he had hired him personally.

But the man’s manipulation skills literally and on paper?

Completely off the charts.

Ryú slowed slightly as he observed the interaction from a distance.

She didn’t look like she was buying a single word of Kai’s performance.

Either she was extremely intelligent…or she simply knew her brother far too well.

Probably the latter.

Just then, Kai looked up, spotted him, and immediately started waving.

Ryú noticed the subtle tightening of the woman’s shoulders at the gesture.

Ah.

So she had been coerced into this too.

Good.

He already liked her.

“Yes, he’s coming. Now I need you to behave,” Kai warned, fighting back a grin.

“ME? Behave?” Nari hissed in a forced whisper. “YOU started this mess. Now get me out of it.”

Unfortunately for her, she failed to realize Ryú was already standing directly behind her.

“Aw, give me a chance,” he said smoothly. “I promise I won’t bite.”

He watched her carefully regain her composure before turning toward him.

And then his heart stopped.

She was beautiful.

That smile should’ve been registered as a lethal weapon.

Ryú held out his hand.

“Hi. I’m Ryú Wei Lóng Alexander.”

“Hi. I’m Nari St. Claire,” she replied politely, shaking his hand before jerking a thumb toward Kai. “This meddlesome creature’s sister.”

“Hey! I resent that.”

Neither of them paid him any attention.

“You really openly admit to being related to him?” Ryú asked lightly.

“HEY!? I’m RIGHT here,” Kai complained indignantly.

Kai secretly grinned to himself.

That tiny stumble in her voice?

Extremely telling.

She was interested.

Nari, meanwhile, found herself momentarily trapped by Ryú’s eyes.

Gray.

Sharp with quiet intelligence and unmistakable amusement.

And his voice…

Whew.

The deep timbre of it sent an entirely inappropriate little drop through her stomach.

Normally, she didn’t care for long hair on men.

But on him?

It somehow looked both elegant and undeniably masculine at the same time.

Where the hell had he been hiding all this time?

“So,” Nari began curiously, “how exactly do you and my brother know each other?”

“Yes. I hired him for m—”

Ryú stopped as he caught Kai giving him a subtle shake of the head followed by a slicing motion across his throat.

Interesting.

“…for our company,” Ryú corrected smoothly, though not without giving Kai a distinctly curious look afterward. “His marketing skills are incomparable.”

Nari caught the look immediately.

Slowly, suspiciously, she turned toward her brother.

Kai instantly pretended to brush something invisible off his shirt.

She narrowed her eyes at both of them.

“So…you work in Human Resources?” she asked carefully, clearly unconvinced.

“He works with one of the partners,” Kai rushed to explain before Ryú could answer.

Ryú couldn’t help the faint smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Technically, Kai wasn’t lying.

He had simply neglected to mention that Ryú himself was the other partner.

I don’t know what game you’re playing here, Kai, Ryú thought in amusement, but I’ll go along with it…for now.

“Yes,” Ryú replied smoothly. “I work directly with Arjun Rhaminjin.”

Ryú noticed the subtle change in Nari’s expression the moment he mentioned Arjun’s name.

Not fear.

Recognition.

Interesting.

“Arjun Rhaminjin?” she repeated slowly, her fingers curling around her teacup. “As in the Arjun Rhaminjin?”

Kai suddenly became very interested in adjusting the sugar packets on the table.

Ryú’s mouth twitched.

“Yes,” he answered carefully. “That Arjun.”

Nari turned her head—slowly—to stare at her brother.

“Kai…”

“Oh no,” Kai muttered immediately, pointing at Ryú. “Don’t look at me like that. This part is technically his fault.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“You told me he worked in Human Resources.”

“He does work with humans,” Kai defended weakly.

Ryú actually laughed then.

Low.

Warm.

Unrestrained.

And Lord…

Nari felt that sound somewhere far lower in her body than she was comfortable admitting.

Traitor.

Absolute traitor.

She took another slow sip of her matcha chai just to buy herself some time.

Unfortunately, Ryú noticed.

Those gray eyes sharpened slightly with amusement.

Dangerous man, she thought.

Nari turned back toward Ryú, suspicion written plainly across her face now.

“So how much of this was a setup and how much of it is a lie?” she asked evenly. “What exactly are you getting out of this?”

Direct.

No nervous politeness.

No dancing around the question.

Ryú found himself even more intrigued and captivated.

Before he could answer, however, he glanced toward Kai.

“Actually,” Ryú said smoothly, “your brother sold your virtues like you were some kind of Celestial goddess.”

The look of absolute shock that crossed Nari’s face was priceless.

Ryú couldn’t help laughing.

Kai, on the other hand, immediately began inching his chair backwards.

He knew that look.

He was in danger.

Slowly, very slowly, Nari turned toward him.

“Kai Ren Cruz St. Claire…”

Ryú lifted a brow at the full use of Kai’s government name.

Ah.

So this was serious.

Kai immediately sat up straighter.

“Now before you react—”

“You sold my virtues?  Like I was livestock at an auction?”

Ryú lost the battle and laughed outright.

The sheer offense in her voice.

Kai pointed accusingly at him.

“You are NOT helping.”

“You described her,” Ryú corrected calmly, “as intelligent, beautiful, compassionate, intimidating, accomplished, emotionally unavailable, and capable of ruining a man’s life with one look.”

Nari blinked slowly.

Then turned back toward Kai.

“…Emotionally unavailable?” She said incredulously.

Kai shrugged helplessly.

“If the Prada fits?”

She grabbed a sugar packet and threw it directly at him.

Ryú caught it effortlessly midair without even looking away from her.

She looked at him and that action somehow did something strange to Nari’s stomach.

Unfortunately, Ryú noticed her pupils dilate.

Interesting.

Kai looked between them and suddenly grinned.

“Ohhh no.”

Both of them turned toward him immediately.

“No?” Nari repeated dangerously.

Kai pointed dramatically between them.

“That look. BOTH of y’all just did the look.”

“We did not,” Nari and Ryú said simultaneously.

Kai slapped the table triumphantly.

“SEE?! This is exactly what I’m talking about!”

Nari closed her eyes briefly.

“Dear God…”

Ryú leaned back slightly in his chair, openly amused now.

She was expressive without meaning to be.

Controlled, but fiery underneath.

Beautiful.

Enticing.

And entirely too easy to tease.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Nari reminded him, opening her eyes again and fixing him with a steady stare.

The amusement softened slightly from Ryú’s face.

Ah.

There it was.

The real question.

Kai suddenly became deeply interested in rearranging the sugar packets again.

Coward.

Ryú rested one arm casually against the table.

“No,” he admitted calmly. “I suppose I haven’t.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

“What exactly are you getting out of this?”

Ryú held her gaze evenly.

“Honestly?”

Nari waited.

“I was told your brother had a beautiful, intelligent older sister who worked too much, trusted too little, and was eventually going to marry her career if someone didn’t intervene.”

“KAI!”

Kai threw both hands into the air immediately.

“In my defense, every word of that was true!”

Nari looked one step away from committing homicide in public.

Ryú was enjoying this far more than he probably should have been or thought he would.

“And what,” she asked carefully, turning back toward him, “made you agree to this setup?”

That answer came surprisingly easy.

“Curiosity.”

That visibly caught her off guard.

“You agreed to a blind date out of curiosity?”

Ryú nodded once.

“Yes, your brother talks about you constantly.”

Kai beamed proudly.

Nari looked horrified.

“Oh my God.”

“And after a while,” Ryú continued, his voice quieter now, “I started wondering if anyone could actually live up to the way he described you.”

Silence settled over the table.

Not awkward.

Just still.

Nari’s fingers tightened slightly around her teacup.

Kai looked between them with widening eyes.

Oh yeah.

This was absolutely happening.

“So?” Nari asked softly, holding Ryú’s gaze now. “Do I?”

Ryú’s expression gentled in a way that caught her entirely off guard.

“No,” he said quietly.

Kai gasped dramatically.

Nari’s eyebrow rose.

Slowly, Ryú smiled.

“You’re considerably more terrifying.”

Nari stared at him for a beat.

Then her lips twitched.

After a heartbeat, Nari burst out laughing.

Ryú blinked slightly, caught off guard by how suddenly warm and rich the sound was, how his stomach flipped.

“Ohhhh,” she laughed, shaking her head. “Oh, you’re GOOD.”

Her eyes narrowed playfully at him over the rim of her cup.

“I’m terrifying? YOU work with Arjun Rhaminjin.” She pointed directly at him now. “Not to mention his partner.”

Ryú stilled.

Kai visibly stopped breathing.

Nari leaned back in her chair dramatically.

“The Dragon of the Boardroom.”

Silence.

Ryú slowly turned his head toward Kai.

“…The Dragon of the Boardroom?”

He had never heard that particular title before.

Oddly enough, though…

He liked it.

A lot.

“Who,” Ryú asked very calmly, though amusement was already threatening the edges of his voice, “called him that?”

His eyes tracked directly toward Kai.

Because that dramatic description sounded exactly like something Kai would say.

Kai looked ready to fake his own death.

Nari, completely oblivious to his suffering, continued cheerfully.

“Kai said he was a powerful force of raw, unadulterated power with the finesse of a serpent and the emotions of a rattlesnake.”

Her dramatic reenactment of her brother was painfully accurate.

Ryú completely lost composure and burst out laughing.

Across from him, Kai looked toward the heavens.

“Oh God,” he muttered. “Kill me now.”

“No, no,” Ryú managed between laughs. “Please continue. I’m enjoying this immensely.”

Kai pointed accusingly at both of them.

“I hate both of y’all.”

Nari looked between the two men suspiciously.

Then slowly…

Very slowly…

realization began creeping across her face.

Her eyes moved first to Kai’s deeply mortified expression.

Then to Ryú’s entirely too amused one.

Her gaze sharpened.

“…Wait.”

Ryú watched the exact moment the pieces connected in her mind.

Oh, this was going to be good.

“You said he worked closely with Arjun Rhaminjin…” she said slowly.

Kai sank lower in his chair.

“Sis—”

Nari ignored him completely.

Her eyes widened slightly as she stared directly at Ryú now.

“You’re THAT Ryú?  As in ‘the’ Ryú of RyúArjun Group?”

Ryú’s mouth curved slowly.

“Depends,” he replied smoothly. “How many Ryús do you know?”

“Oh…my…God…”

Kai covered his face with both hands.

“This is exactly why I withheld information.”