“Don’t bother denying it. You’ve been with him for over a decade. There’s got to be a reason you’ve stuck to him like glue, and I’m not buying that it’s out of a sense of duty.”
“Perhaps that’s because you don’t understand the meaning of the word,” Nuri stated. When that caused Ackor’s eyes to narrow, he leaned back against the couch, allowing himself to settle into a false sense of ease as he stared the blond man down. “But then, no one expects you to. High school dropout, kicked out of the house at seventeen for robbing your grandparents, blew the money gambling in the Bloo. I wonder,” Nuri glanced around the luxurious room, “how you scraped together enough money to be able to afford coming to a place like this. You haven’t held a job for longer than a month in years.”
“You can’t speak to me like that,” Ackor said, nostrils flaring.
“Why?” Nuri cocked his head. “Because you fucked the Emperor? I saw the footage. I’m not convinced it was really you he was doing. Clearly his mind was somewhere else.Onsomeone else.” Standing, he made a big show of doing up the center button on his navy peacoat before he carefully collected the paperwork and slipped it into his briefcase. “It seems you were so bad in bed, the Emperor was forced to imagine you were someone else entirely. Should we add that to your list of failures?”
Ackor shot to his feet, blocking Nuri’s path to the door. When Nuri merely smiled, he hesitated, some of the anger in his eyes replaced with uncertainty.
“By all means,” Nuri said, taking a single step closer, “try something, Mr. Hue. I’d love to add assault as well, and as you’ve already pointed out, I’m the closest person on this planet to the Emperor. What do you think the charges will be for attacking hissecretary? Certainly more than six years. You might even earn yourself a one-way trip to the Bridges.”
Ackor shuddered like Nuri expected he would. It was the reaction most gave when the Bridges were brought up.
A desolate area of the planet where it always snowed and temperatures dropped to below zero on the regular, the Bridges had long since been used as a prison for those given harsh punishments. Whenever it couldn’t be decided how bad the crime had been, the person was sent to the Bridges. Whether they survived the elements or not was a fifty-fifty chance. There were cabins stocked with the bare minimum, all monitored by air drones. The Bridges itself was surrounded by heavy security and an electric wall impossible to scale.
It was a bit barbaric, and prisoners weren’t sent there often, but it did the trick in shutting Ackor up and getting him to stand down.
He stepped aside.
Nuri had just reached the door when he found his voice again, however.
“I didn’t film it,” he said. “The video? It wasn’t filmed by me. I was just as surprised when I found out there’d been a camera there that night.”
Nuri couldn’t help it, he frowned, but didn’t turn back, not wanting the other man to see his crack in resolve. “Do you have any proof of that statement?”
“I can send you the file I received,” he told him. “It was sent anonymously, so there’s no way of tracing it, but you can see that I was sent the video and given a message.”
“Which was?”
“One sentence.For when you’re scrapped for cash.”
“You want me to believe that someone else illegally filmed you and the Emperor, and sent it to you with the suggestionyou use it as blackmail?” He snorted. “That sounds awfully convenient, don’t you think?”
“Believe what you want,” Ackor stated. “It’s the truth.”
If there was even a chance that it could be…That meant the threat wasn’t necessarily over.
“Send me the message.” Nuri opened the door and exited into the hallway, quickly bombarded by the loud noises of the club in full swing.
He was exhausted. He’d head to his apartment first, take a bath and a nap, then—
“Nuri?” a familiar voice called out to him just as he turned down a side hallway leading to the back of the building.
Twisting on his heels toward the sound, Nuri’s hand tightened on the handle of his briefcase when the last person he’d expected to see made his way toward him.
“Brix?” Nuri internally winced, and corrected in a more polite tone, “Mr. Brixton. I didn’t know you were back on planet.”
Romeo Brixton grinned charmingly, coming to a stop only a couple of feet away, far too close for someone Nuri hadn’t seen in over three years. Hell, the guy hadn’t even bothered returning for his uncle’s funeral.
Silver’s cousin was the same age as them, with a similar stature as the Emperor, though that was where the similarities ended. Romeo had chestnut colored hair he wore styled with curtain bangs, and eyes the color of ripe strawberries, not an unusual color for Igna’s, but not super common either.
As a member of the Imperial family—he didn’t share the same last name—Romeo never missed an opportunity to hold his status over others. Though, he was subtle enough about it; Nuri wasn’t sure many had noticed the same way he had.
In college, Romeo had tried tagging along with Nuri and Silver, but his cousin had always been openly againsthis presence, leading to many an argument between them. Eventually, Sij had convinced Romeo to transfer to Sacrum Cor University, located on another planet. Aside from a single visit one holiday five years ago, he hadn’t returned.
“I was told you started an interior design company on Usurn,” Nuri said.
“Yes, I received your congratulations card,” Romeo replied. “Though, I was admittedly disappointed that you didn’t come with it. Was the invitation lost in transit?”
