Keng opened his mouth, but then closed it and nodded. “Understood, sir. Thank you.”
“Tell Avelina the cookies she sent to the office last month were a huge hit. The staff appreciated her consideration.”
Keng smiled, nodded again, and then left Nuri to it.
Chapter 4:
“Mr. Hue,” Nuri folded his hands over his knee, “this is your one and only chance. If you refuse to comply, we’re prepared to file a Privacy Overstep against you. As I’m sure you’re well aware, if found guilty, you could end up spending a minimum of six years in a Sion prison.”
Ackor Hue was only a couple of inches taller than Nuri, with a similar lithe frame, yet he sat across from him like he owned the place. His arms were spread out over the back of the red velvet couch, his legs crossed, foot swinging to some imaginary tune. If not for the slightly pinched furrow between his brow, one he kept trying and failing to smooth away, Nuri would have been convinced the guy didn’t care about any of this.
As it were, clearly his pride had been hurt, either because he’d wanted more from Silver from the get-go, or because the Emperor hadn’t bothered to show up himself for this meeting,and instead had sent his secretary. It didn’t really matter to Nuri. All he cared about was getting the job done and getting back home so he could hop into a hot bath.
He’d spent the past two days following up on the warehouse incident, on frequent calls with their other suppliers to try and fill the monumental gap in supply, and finalizing the details for the launch. Fortunately, as he’d promised, things were on track and would still go smoothly, but they’d yet to identify the culprit, and it was hardly the only problem left on Nuri’s plate.
The blizzard had finally let up, but it was still freezing outside and Nuri had traveled a half hour to get here.
Apparently, this club was where Silver and Ackor had met. The two had gotten along at the bar and when Silver had invited Ackor to his hotel room the other man had eagerly accepted the invite.
Nuri tried not to focus on what Silver prebooking a room meant. How he’d clearly come to Club Spade with the intention of finding a hookup. Already, images of that video plagued him, both day and night, and he was doing everything in his power to purge all thoughts of the Emperor in the throes of passion from his mind.
By the time he’d made it back to the estate the day after the warehouse incident, his room had been cleaned spotless. The toy he’d left soaking in soapy water in the bathroom had been left on the counter, discreetly rolled in a hand towel, and his sheets and pillow had been replaced.
Nuri hadn’t been able to look Falc in the eyes since, mortified knowing that the butler must have been the one to clean up his mess, and therefore was well aware of what Nuri had been up to that night.
“You say that as if you don’t already know that I will of course be found guilty,” Ackor drawled, pulling his attention back onto the matter at hand. “He’s the emperor, after all.”
“Which is why it was foolish of you to try blackmailing him in the first place.” Nuri had sent the digital files over to the other man’s multi-slate already, but the blond man had yet to check it. Opening the leather briefcase at his side, he pulled out a physical copy and slid it onto the low black table between them.
They’d been given a private room, one in the corner away from most of the raucous noise. Since it was mid-day, Nuri had anticipated it being less crowded, but he’d underestimated the people of Ignite’s love of partying. He’d almost missed Ackor when he’d been searching through the crowds, it’d been so packed.
No wonder Silver had chosen this place. There was no way he’d ever leave without someone on his arm, what with how many people there were to choose from.
Ackor was attractive too. With a straight nose and sharp eyes. His hair was sandy blond, and he dressed in silks and tight black jeans. He’d lined his eyes in coal and had a shimmery gold shadow dusted lightly over his eyelids. He was both pretty and masculine and if Nuri had spotted him on the streets, he’d probably do a double take himself.
He felt plain sitting across from him in the large room meant for party groups. An expensive glass bottle of liquor sat untouched between them, and the lighting was set to dim despite this being a business meeting. There’d been no other option but to come here, however, since all attempts at contacting Ackor had failed.
“Paper?” Ackor snorted. “How…quaint.”
“Sign here, Mr. Hue,” Nuri said, setting a pen down over the documents. “I’ll have them scanned and a copy sent to you right away.”
The agreement was he delete all of the footage he had of that night and never contact or appear in front of Silver again. In return, they wouldn’t press charges and he was free to go on living his life.
“This is what he wants?” Ackor asked, some of his “don’t give a shit” attitude slipping.
“You should be grateful that Emperor Silver assigned me this task,” Nuri told him. “If he’d taken care of things himself, you wouldn’t be sitting here having a pleasant conversation.”
Silver had wanted him arrested outright, beaten, and shipped off-world. Though all of that was technically illegal, as the emperor, he could easily have it done. No one would say a single thing against him if he did. Nuri’s approach was more…subtle, not because he wanted to protect Ackor, but because experience had taught him that eventually Silver’s deeds came back to haunt them. Whenever that happened, Nuri was always the one who had to clean up the mess.
Really, he was just saving himself time in the long run by being here, meeting with the emperor’s ex-lover even though it made him feel sick.
Whenever he looked at Ackor, all he saw was the man clawing at the bed sheets, lifting his ass to meet Silver’s thrusts despite his verbal protests.
Nuri didn’t like feeling jealous, had spent most of his life working to purge himself of that emotion. The fact that Ackor was making him feel it again now made him angry and desperate to finish this quickly and leave.
“It’s interesting that you consider this exchange to be pleasant,” Ackor said, though he took the paper and scrawled his name at the bottom. “Are you this dull when you’re with the Emperor? No wonder he seeks entertainment…elsewhere.”
He gave no reaction to the obvious jab, but all that did was spur Ackor on.
