“You said he cut out part of the footage?” Nuri needed to get his head on straight. Damage control. That’s why Silver had brought him in here and shown him this. Not to get him all flustered. “Where did you get the completed video?”
“He told me he’d cut it in his message.” Silver moved over to his desk, setting the remote down and then leaning back against the edge. “He’s demanding one million coin and claims he’ll delete his copy once he’s paid.”
“Sure he will.”
“You don’t buy it either.”
Nuri inhaled slowly to help himself focus. “Do you have any of his information?”
“Aside from his name?” He shook his head. “In the message he provided a link to a site where I can transfer the money, but that’s about it. His name should be enough to hunt him down in any case. Once you do, make sure he stays quiet. This took place at Club Spade.”
If he released the footage without the ending part, there’d be an uproar. Of course, they could always retaliate by providing the rest themselves but…The people of Ignite were upper-class citizens who might not frown on sex, but certainly would love to gossip about the Emperor’s kinky proclivities in the bedroom. It would be distracting for the company, and the board might end up deciding to remove him as CEO.
Especially since it’d happened at Club Spade, a notorious Red Light District club on the opposite side of the capital city. Only the richest of the rich could afford memberships there, and the policy was guaranteed secrecy. Nuri had an inkling before this that Silver frequented the club, but he hadn’t been certain and had never had enough courage to ask.
Nuri had taken care of more threats than he could keep track of, but none of them had ever involved a leaked sex tape. The Emperor was typically more careful than this, to the point that even Nuri didn’t know how many sexual partners he’d had, or when he found the time to meet up with them. He rubbed at his head, starting to get a migraine just thinking about this situation reaching the media.
Silver came over then, pushing his hand out of the way so that he could replace Nuri’s fingers with his own. He massaged the pads of his thumbs in circles over his temples, applying just the right amount of pressure.
Nuri hated it, but his body swayed a bit toward him, reacting despite logic. He shouldn’t be letting the Emperor this close, especially not when he was still semi-hard and at risk of it getting worse with every passing second that he could smell the amber-infused scent of the other man.
It felt so good though, his headache already fleeing, chased away by the soothing sensations. This wasn’t the first time he’d touched him like this. The Emperor had given him head massages in the past, but it’d been a long while. The last Nuri could recall had been back in college while they’d been cramming for their finals. He’d been so stressed out and in an almost constant state of head pain. At one point he’d needed to lay down and close his eyes to try and alleviate the discomfort. He’d woken sometime later to Silver standing at the head of the bed, massaging his temples silently.
“Should we take a trip to the Mab islands?” Silver said in a low tone.
Even though he’d spoken softly, the words still pierced through some of Nuri’s bliss and he blinked at the Emperor.
“You need a break,” he continued at Nuri’s questioning look. “This year has been hard on the both of us. A visit to the hot springs will do some good.”
The natural hot springs on Mab were famous, and it typically took booking months in advance to get a spot at the fancy five-star hotels there. Of course, as the Emperor, Silver would be able to get them rooms with ease.
It was tempting, incredibly so, but that guilt he’d woken up with flickered back to life in the center of his chest, reminding him of the promise he’d made to Neve. He stepped back, removing himself from the Emperor’s hold.
“Thank you for the offer, but I’ve already scheduled my vacation days.” It wasn’t a secret, Silver was already aware of Nuri’s plans, but it also wouldn’t be surprising if the other man had forgotten. “My sister is graduating and she needs me there afterward.”
“I need you here,” Silver stated.
“I’ll only be gone for two days.”
Silver tilted his head. “You sound disappointed.”
“It was meant to be longer.” Nuri licked his lips, wondering why he was bothering with this conversation. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll take care of this problem before I go. If he contacts you again, please let me know immediately.”
Nuri bowed and turned toward the door, but was stopped.
“Where are you going?” Silver asked.
“To my room,” he said. “I have to make some calls to track Ackor Hue down.”
“Do that here.” From the look on his face, it was clear it wasn’t a suggestion.
Nuri’s gaze wandered back over to the screen, which was still paused at the part where Silver walked away from the man he’d just had sex with.
“Would you like to watch it again?”
Nuri’s eyes went wide. “What?! No!”
The corner of Silver’s mouth tipped up slightly. “Are you sure?”
