Song for the mood: Heartshaped Tattoo by Lazer Owl. The manga-style YouTube clip of this nostalgic love song fits with the Japanese setting in this chapter.

You're winter, they're summer
And no one compares to you.
You're branded on my skin
Glowing up like a heart-shaped tattoo.

Vera

Tokyo, four months later

"F. Lazarus! I should've known!" Alistair's green eyes shone at a fashionably dressed man who emerged from the elevator onto Tokyo Tower's top deck observatory.

The man's light-blond hair curtained his steel-gray eyes as he dusted the cuffs of his tailored jacket. He looked up, brushed his hair back, and grinned.

"Scotty! How have you been?"

Alistair ran his hands through his halo of curls. He had dressed casually in a T-shirt, jeans, and a leather jacket. "Nicholas Fionn Quinn! How does it feel to be back from the dead?"

"I feel very much alive," the good-looking man boasted. He removed his black leather gloves, gripped Alistair's shoulders, and hugged him fiercely.

"I should've known it was you. F. Lazarus. Fionn, huh?" Alistair beamed, radiating with energy.

Fionn. I once stole Julian's book on Irish folklore and remembered that name-it meant "fair-headed" and "handsome." In Irish mythology, Fionn was a great warrior who protected the high king.

"Nicholas Quinn? I'm Vera Richland." I stepped forward, extending my hand for the initial handshake.

"Nick. You can call me Nick," he said, shaking my hand with eager enthusiasm.

Still smiling, he turned to Alistair. "I never thought I'd live to see the day you'd find yourself with a good woman."

"I'm in love." Alistair's angel eyes gazed at me through his long lashes.

Nick took both my hands. "Ah, Vera! You're the woman who put my sister in jail."

"I could say I'm sorry about that, but I'm not," I admitted. "It was teamwork."

His eyes relaxed as his lips parted, revealing white teeth. "I'm not sorry either. I should be thanking you. I never thought Saira would lose control over, well, everything!"

"We all thought you were dead, Nick," Alistair said.

"I wasn't on the boat when it exploded off the Italian coast."

"Oh? What happened?"

"I slept in that morning," Nick admitted sheepishly, then cleared his throat.

"Why didn't you admit you were alive?" I asked.

Nick remained silent for a few seconds, then spoke. "I was shell-shocked at first. The initial shock wore off after the explosion, and that's when the fear started to manifest itself in me."

Noticing his hands tremble, I placed my hand on his. "Saira was a monster to us all."

Nodding, he continued his story. "I realized that my sister would do whatever it took to make sure I was dead. The fear of being murdered was far beyond anything I'd felt-it was pure terror."

"I'm sorry that your sister caused the trauma," Alistair consoled.

"It doesn't matter anymore. I've lived peacefully after moving here. After starting from scratch, I've done rather well, don't you think?"

"You know something, Nick? I admire you. You've always had a knack for making money out of thin air," Alistair mused.

"So, Scotty tells me you were the final nail in the coffin-that you helped him push Saira out of business," I said to Nick.

"I needed to do it so discreetly that not even the left hand," he admitted, nodding at Alistair, "would know the right." He inspected his right hand, which tightened its hold on his gloves.

"Jesus, Nick! That's how Saira plays her games," I exclaimed.

Nick raised one eyebrow. "It was a tactic that my father taught my sister and me." His aristocratic nose sniffed the air as his high cheekbones flinched.

"Come and see the city," he offered, changing the topic by guiding us toward the window. His pace was steady and slinky, yet masculine like a puma on a hunt.

Alistair shook his head slightly and laughed. "Very well, then. But you know I'm not too fond of heights."

"Look at the spectacular view, Scotty," Nick said, entranced by the endlessness of the city's lights contrasted against the darkening sky.

"Tokyo looks like Legoland on speed." Alistair chuckled. The two men stood side by side, tall, confident, and undefeated despite life's challenges.

"I've grown accustomed to the Japanese culture and way of life over the years," Nick spoke, breaking the comfortable silence among friends.

"Do you speak Japanese?" I asked.

Nick turned to me and grinned. "Anata wa totemo kirei desu."

"He said you're very pretty," Alistair translated, shaking his head in jest at Nick.

Nick took my hand and kissed it. "I look forward to getting to know you."

"Now, Nick. I'm not into sharing anymore," Alistair warned.

"Monogamy, eh? Fair enough." Nick smiled wistfully. "On another note, how's Alicia? Have you kept in touch with her?"

Alistair's grim face tightened. "That's why I'm here."

"Oh?"

"You need to return to Lester Harbor, Nick," I urged, stepping away from the window that showcased Tokyo's lights. "You have a son who needs his father."

Nick stepped back in shock, his face ashen. "I have a son?"

"Alistair and I met your ex-girlfriend recently. She's no longer hiding from Saira, and her boy is the spitting image of you."

"Are you sure it's mine?" Nick asked.

Both Alistair and I nodded.

"The queen is dead, Nick. Come home," Alistair said.

"Long live the king." Nick patted his friend's shoulder.

"And our new queen," Alistair declared, smiling at me.

"Vera and I need your help," he said to Nick. "We're moving to Dubai, and we need someone to keep things in order in Lester Harbor."

"Well, I'm heading the Quinn family business again," Nick said, then cocked his head to one side. "I also heard that you're selling your share of The Church."

"I don't have much time for it these days. Are you interested in buying?"

"Perhaps," Nick replied. "Considering it's a lucrative cash cow, I'm interested."

***

I sighed while gazing at the neat garden outside our luxury townhouse hotel, a former Geisha house. I had just dismissed our butler and sipped the calming tea he had prepared for me.

"Vera?" Alistair's deep voice rumbled from behind me as I felt his lips touch the smooth curve of my neck.

"Can you believe Julian and Saph are getting married in less than two months?"

"Mmm, I'm thrilled for them," Alistair murmured. I breathed in his enticing scent, feeling my heat rise. For him. Only him.

His fingers traced the silk of my kimono-style gown, then untied the belt, letting the garment slip from my body. "Do you want to know something, sweetheart?" he asked.

"Tell me," I replied, turning to face my lover. He reminded me of a Spartan warrior, lean and muscular in his naked glory. Fresh from a shower, his natural scent spiced the cool night air, sending me into a trance.

"I first saw you in a Lester Harbor Daily photo before we met," he confessed. "I may as well have been Orion, a night hunter captured by your Mona Lisa smile."

"Well, there was that moment I walked into The Church with-"

"The two buffoons? Those playthings of yours?" Alistair laughed. "Did you know that I asked Angelique to distract them from you?"

"I wasn't ready to be played," I admitted. "Yet, you played me."

"It takes a player to know a player," my boyfriend teased. His eyes craved mine with deep, passionate hunger as his brows furrowed.

Then, slowly, he got down on one knee. "You are my Artemis. You're the goddess of the moon, the hunt, and my heart. Vera Kathryn Richland, will you marry me?"

"Alistair!" I gasped as my eyes widened at the sight of an embossed Tiffany velvet box in his hand.

He flipped the lid open, revealing the sparkle of a round brilliant diamond at the center, gracefully woven in an eighteen-karat gold rope design. "Try it on," he encouraged.

Tears ran down my face as my heart burst with happiness.

"Scotty, I've wanted to say yes for so long! I love you, and I will marry you." I sealed the deal with a firm kiss on his warm, supple lips.

"I will never stop loving you for as long as I live," Alistair vowed. He removed the ring from the box and placed it on my wedding ring finger. It fit perfectly.

"How did you know my ring size?" I asked.

"I may have borrowed one of your rings," my fiancé admitted, grinning like a little boy.

"We can call our families tomorrow to tell them the wonderful news before we tell Bianca," I gushed like a schoolgirl. "We promised her-"

"Now's not the time to think about them," Alistair cut in. "Tonight is about us."

Moments later, he unfolded what looked like a heavy-duty briefcase, turning it into a bondage board.

"Oh, Daddy!" I flirted, now dressed in a sexy schoolgirl costume-a tight, white collared shirt, a tartan miniskirt, and a pair of white knee-high socks. "I've been naughty again. Will you spank me?"

"No." Alistair sighed, gazing at my shapely legs. "I'm not taking the lead tonight."

"But-"

"Trust dominates our relationship. Tonight I'd like you to dominate me. That's my gift to you."

"Are you sure?" I asked, remembering the trauma he had survived in his youth.

"I trust you to take good care of me." Alistair took a bamboo cane with a leather handle and placed it in my hand.

I raised one eyebrow while he pursed his lips and nodded.

"Get down on your hands and knees!" I ordered. Once he was on all fours on the board, I strapped his wrists and ankles with the restraints, making sure he felt comfortable and safe.

"Have you been a good boy?" I asked, grabbing his hair.

"Yes!" Alistair replied.

"Not good enough! It's Mistress to you, you dirty man," I replied, whipping his ass cheeks with the cane, carefully avoiding contact with his testicles.

"Yes, Mistress," he obeyed.

"Good! Now, do you know why you've been bad?"

"Yes, Mistress."

The hardness of the wooden cane smacked into his skin, rendering it red and raw. "Tell me," I ordered. "Tell me why you've been bad."

"Because I've been spying on you when you're naked in the shower!" Alistair yelped after taking another whipping from the cane.

"And what do you do when you spy on me?" I snapped, tracing the cane along his skin.

"I masturbate," he replied with a cheeky smile.

I caned him again, sending him to yell out, "Fucking hell!"

"Address me as your mistress, or this ends now."

"No, no! Please don't stop, Mistress!"

"You've been very naughty to spy on me, playing with that pathetic big cock of yours," I taunted, circling my lover as beads of sweat ran down the sides of his face. I twirled one of my plaits, then lifted my miniskirt, revealing a smooth and freshly shaven pussy.

"Goddamn it, you're such a fucking tease. I promise I'll be good!" Alistair yelled.

I tapped the cane on the back of his thighs, inspecting the flesh before delivering a light blow to the area, causing him to cry out again.

"Oh, I don't want you good," I drawled, pulling his hair back. "I want you filthy and sinful. Do you think you could do that for me?"

"Yes, Mistress!"

"Very good! I'm going to release you now. Then, I want you on the bed, and you're going to give me an orgasm I won't forget. Then, I want your wicked Daddy cock. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mistress! I'm going to pump and grind my big Daddy cock into you until you scream my name!"

After unshackling the restraints, I climbed on top of Alistair, mounting his hard length and sheathing it with my tight, wet core.

"I love it when you straddle me!" Alistair smirked wickedly, staring at my dark erect nipples beneath the semi-transparent white blouse. He placed his large hands on my buttocks, encouraging my body to share the rhythm of sex.

Smiling, I unbuttoned my tight top, allowing my bare breasts to spill out of it. Alistair groaned and bucked his hips, pushing his length deeper into me. I slid my hands along my curves, caressing the fullness of my breasts.

"You are a dirty man, aren't you?" I teased.

"The dirtiest of them all," Alistair growled, undoing my plaits to play with my long caramel curls. "Lean forward more so I can lick your tasty tits."

"No! I'm in control here," I fought back, gently squeezing the base of his cock.

"Please, Mistress?"

"Promise me you won't be a bratty boy," I demanded as I arched my back and rode harder, bringing our bodies into a fast rhythm.

"I promise you," he vowed, gazing at me.

Oh, those angelic green eyes! My heart skipped a beat at the sight of them, while his hard and fiery rod rocketed inside me.

"That's it. You know how to ride me," his rough voice rasped as I picked up on the speed, riding him as if tomorrow would never come.

Listening to his deep grunts, I inhaled his sexy scent and closed my eyes to feel my inner senses coming alive.

"You're an incredible woman," he groaned, then suckled my right nipple while his wicked tongue twirled around it.

"Alistair, you're driving me wild!" I exclaimed, reacting to the magic of sex as his penis thrust harder, sending me into an overload of frenzied ecstasy.

I felt the tremble of a climax shudder down my spine, rippling down with fierce intensity until I couldn't hold back any longer.

"Come in me. I'm coming now!" I screamed, calling Alistair's name over and over until there was no breath in my lungs.

"I'm coming inside you!" my fiancé shouted, grabbing me roughly while his body convulsed in orgasmic tremors.

My inner thighs shook uncontrollably, and my sex contracted, milking seed from Alistair's cock, while tingling electricity traveled from my core down to my toes.

Tears involuntarily escaped my eyes as Alistair withdrew from my body. I ached for him again, wanting more and somehow knowing that we existed for each other.

***

Minutes later, I rubbed my face into the warm curls on Alistair's chest, breathing his aroma. He had removed my skirt and blouse, leaving me in only a pair of knee-high socks. I clasped my fingers around his strong wrist, feeling the soft, fine hairs coating his skin.

Alistair gazed intensely into my eyes. "I want only you. I don't want anyone else."

"You're all I need, Scotty," I whispered. "You know that I love you."

He smiled assuredly, stroking my wild and unkempt post-sex hair.

There was something special about Alistair. He was rough and possessive, but protective and affectionate at the same time.

All the world's money couldn't buy what we had together to make love happen: trust, honesty, faith, and hope.

There was no room for anxiety in our relationship. I felt incredibly safe and loved with Alistair.

As for my secrets, will I ever tell Saph that Alistair was Mister Z all along? Probably not.

Some secrets are best kept a mystery.

I am, after all, a master of secrets and a slave to none.

A/N: What a ride! A short epilogue follows.

Please comment and vote; it motivates me to keep writing. Thank you for the boost.⭐️