Even keeping herself to the periphery of the party Airi was very aware of the animosity toward her. Curious eyes, malicious whispers. Why had Hatter asked her to come here? She’d tried to refuse but if she was playing the role of complacent mistress, she really didn’t have a valid argument to go against his wishes. So here she was, enduring the overt glances, the obvious dislike aimed at her.
Sticks and stones, she thought. What was that? Sticks and stones–more like knives and guns in this godforsaken place–may break my bones but words and looks will never hurt me. Or something like that. She tapped her foot impatiently and checked her watch. How much longer would she have to stay here? Airi wasn’t just thinking about the party. How much longer would she have to stay in his house?
Airi knew her superiors were displeased. Her assignment was supposed to be a simple one: infiltrate the cartel, acquire valuable information (which meant anything and everything that would help build a case against them) and report her findings. That was it. Nothing had been mentioned about sleeping with the crazed drug lord. That had been her own initiative.
But really, did they expect her to join the cartel as a meth cook? That position would barely get her any intel and plenty of risk. Not to mention it would take her ages to rise to a position where she could actually exert influence and get near the Boss. So, yes. Her approach had been riskier, but ultimately she was where she wanted to be. At the very top of the food chain, getting information (which she did pass along, she wasn’t completely slacking off) and, more importantly, getting to manipulate the man she hated, driving him to self-destruction.
Granted, she hadn’t expected him to become obsessed with her. No. Her original plan that night at the club had been simply to spend that night with him, hack his phone, steal his passwords and keys and then use that to find the best way to kill him. She hadn’t counted on being invited to his actual house, let alone being asked to stay. Indefinitely.
Airi had assumed he would forget about her the next day but that didn’t happen. A few days later, he was still watching her with the same intensity. Fine. It was nothing she couldn’t handle. But she hadn’t prepared for that, so now she was improvising.
Just as she had improvised an excuse to pick up her mail that morning. Hatter had just asked her, well, he had told her to come to that night’s party. Had she heard right? She had been eagerly awaiting the party because then the house (and his office) would be empty and she could take a look at his files. Maybe he was getting suspicious.
Airi had smiled sweetly at him and told him she couldn’t attend the party because she didn’t have any fancy evening wear, which was true. His response? To bark an order into his phone for someone to take her shopping. And that was that, no point arguing further.
The only silver lining was that she had managed to convince the two goons following her around from one upscale boutique to the next that she needed something from her apartment, ‘just makeup,’ she’d told them. Airi wasn’t sure if she had any important letters but she had to check. And there it was, a note pushed under her door: We're watching. Get out of there and come home at once. The note was unsigned but Airi knew who had sent it.
At the party, Airi smoothed her new dress and thought about her sister. How she’d love to heed her words and get out of this place where nobody liked her, where everyone thought she was just another brainless gold digger, but she was so close she couldn’t just leave now.
She pretended to take a sip from her drink and looked around. The overwhelming extravagance was not to her taste. The fake smiles and voices of most of the guests… matching hers. Airi caught sight of Andrómeda and she couldn’t help but wonder why Takeru slept around. That woman was a goddess. Airi certainly didn’t want to make an enemy of his wife. She would have to talk to Andrómeda sooner rather than later.
Airi took a turn around the room, she was starting to get bored. She’d lost sight of Andrómeda a few minutes ago so she wasn’t expecting to run into her as she entered the restroom. And she certainly wasn’t expecting the cold words Andrómeda threw at her. She watched her exit the bathroom thinking that wasn’t the first meeting she’d had in mind but it was done.
‘Fuck you, Tak,’ Airi mumbled under her breath as she washed her hands. Surely he had intended for this to happen. Probably he wanted an even more public display. The motive? She couldn’t possibly guess.
Hadn’t he said they didn’t give a fuck about each other? Hatter’s words, not Airi’s. Had he lied to her about that? Airi rolled her eyes. She wouldn’t be surprised.
Airi walked out of the party and looked for the chauffeur that had driven her. And she ran into Andrómeda again. Alone, maybe getting some fresh air. Airi didn’t know if she would have another chance so she spoke in a measured tone, all emotion absent from her voice.
‘I do get tested regularly. Does he? Because like you said, I think both of us are smart enough to know that we’re not the only ones he sleeps with.’
She couldn’t quite make out Andrómeda’s expression in the dark so Airi wasn’t sure if she’d even listened to her. She wasn’t about to explain everything to Andrómeda, there was no time, someone could come out and overhear them. All the same, she had one more thing to say.
‘I’m not here to take him from you, it’s just in my best interest to make it look that way. In order to get into his head I had to get into his bed. But don’t worry. You’ll be a beautiful widow soon enough.’
Airi gave a curt nod and left.