Lilli went very, very quiet. Because of the back-to-back shifts, the search for Ruby, basically the whole damn day…

“I’m sorry,” she told him. “I’m exhausted and coming down from a serious adrenaline spike. It must be messing with my brain, because I could have swore it sounded like you said ‘as long as it takes for me to become pregnant with my baby,’ but that can’t be right.”

No took another bored sip of whiskey. “Hai, that is what I said. I want you to repay me for your betrayal by having my baby.”

Okay... Lilli giggled. Covered her mouth. Then giggled some more.

“You think this is funny?” he asked. His voice held no emotion whatsoever. But his dark eyes burned fiercely as if the dragon on his back had awakened and was breathing fire inside of him.

“No, I definitely do not think this is funny. I think this is bat shit crazy!” she answered, her voice becoming more and more hysterical as she spoke. “That’s why I’m laughing! I mean, of all the things you could have said to me in this moment, like ‘you’re a bitch,’ or ‘you shouldn’t have ever spied on me for my dad’ or ‘I can’t believe you’d do something like that!’ or ‘where the hell does a grown woman find Hello Kitty scrubs in her size?’ Any of that, I would have been able to understand. The words that just came out of your mouth, though? I have no idea why you would ever say that.”

He regarded her for a cool second, his eyes traveling over her Hello Kitty scrub top, as if he had actually been wondering why one would choose to wear such a ridiculous outfit.

But then he went to the perfectly square glass table and picked up an electronic tablet. “I am not joking. Here. You’ll find the terms of what I want on this.”

No held the tablet out to her. And Lilli took it, more out of curiosity than anything else. But there was something very cold at play in the space between them. An invisible wall of ice she could distinctly feel, even if she couldn’t see it. For that reason, it felt to her as if she were pushing her hand through a wall of ice when she reached over to take the tablet from his grasp.

She wasn’t at all surprised to find the tablet was cool to the touch. Yet her eyes burned as she read the words on the screen in front of her. It was a detailed and concise explanation of what he wanted from her. A bunch of legal terms that could basically be summarized as “I want to pay you, Lilliana Tucker, a crap load of money to have my baby by way of artificial insemination, and then you will raise it on your own without me.”

She swiped through the rest of the contract and found it was a much longer, legalese version of what she’d seen on the cover page, broken up into sections and paragraphs. A lawyer—perhaps more than one—had definitely been here. The document was way too clear to be misunderstood, but far too official to be a joke. This thing was serious as a heart attack. Dead serious.

“But I don’t understand. Why?” she demanded. “Why would you want to pay me to have your baby? Then keep me on retainer to raise it? That makes no sense.”

“Actually, it makes perfect sense,” he answered. “I require no apology from you for what you did on my father’s behalf, but I do require…” he looked to the side, before coming back with, “reparations.”

“Reparations,” she repeated. “You do realize most people consider reparations to be things like money or property—not human lives.”

“I am not most people.”

“No, you’re not. I’m actually beginning to wonder if you’re the Japanese version of Rumpelstiltskin right now. Because who asks a girl to have a baby to make up for being dishonest with him?”

“You are failing to see my logic,” he answered after another long moment of silence. “Our family name is everything to my father. Our reputation everything. If I were to have a baby with you, the black American woman he sent to spy on me, instead of the Japanese bride of his choosing, our child would stand to inherit my shares of the company. Which means the perfect Japanese family he so carefully constructed would be irreversibly diminished in his eyes. It would be a cruel blow to his ego, one from which a man with his values could never truly recover. One baby—just one would punish his deeds like nothing else could. So you ask me why I would ask this thing of you, and my answer is simple. Revenge.”

He said all of this in a cool tone, as if every word coming out of his mouth was completely logical. Of course she should have No’s baby to get back at Kazuo Nakamura for spying on him. It all made perfect sense. Why wouldn’t she agree to do something so obviously rational?

Nevertheless, Lilli felt compelled to let him know, “That is a terrible reason to have a child. And you think I’m just going to, what? Sign on to completely mess up some poor kid’s head like your father obviously messed up yours?”

No’s chin tilted ever so slightly.

“I’m aware I would not make a good father,” he answered, his voice quiet and dark. “Which is why the contract is for you to raise the child in this house, alone. I will make sure you both have the best of everything, but after you become pregnant, I will move back into my home in Portland.”

She was trying. Lilli was seriously trying so hard not to touch him, which was her natural instinct when she was concerned about someone, whether it be a sick patient, a petulant niece, or this angry man standing in front of her. But she knew No didn’t want her concern. Not anymore. In his mind, she was just a pawn in his revenge game of chess, not someone he could talk to like he used to in Japan.

But in the end, she couldn’t stop herself from reaching out to him with her words, from looking up into his burning eyes with genuine concern in hers as she asked, “No, seriously. Why are you doing this? Is revenge really all that matters to you?”

A silent beat passed, then he set the whiskey aside on the glass table. “You have twenty-four hours to look over the contract.”

“Then what?” she had to ask.

He shook his head, “I do not understand your question.”

“What happens after twenty-four hours when I’m still really sure I’m not going to live with you for however long it would take for me to get pregnant and have your baby. Because that would not only be crazy but a truly horrible thing to do to an innocent life, no matter how much yen is on the table. So what are you going to do in twenty-four hours when my answer is still no?”

No glanced down at the contract in her hands, then back up at her, his face little more than stone as he answered, “Then I will give you twenty-four more hours. And twenty-four more hours after that. Like I said before, I’m aware I wouldn’t be a good father. But do not mistake me, Ana…” He stepped closer, and Lilli found herself suddenly remembering how much taller he was. How powerful. How easy it was for him to loom over her, casting her in his shadow with just one move of his long body. “I am a very good business man, and this is a deal that will be closed.”

Somehow she managed not to back down. Managed to open her mouth and shake her head as she answered, “I’m never going to agree to this. There’s no conscionable way on earth I could agree to have your baby—”

She abruptly went silent when he took another unexpected step forward. Still not touching her, but she could feel him in ways that felt more corporal than any physical touch. On her skin, and apparently, in her mind. Because she found herself thinking that if she stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her fingers around his jacket lapels like she used to, she could bring him closer. Bring his lips down to meet hers. Kiss him, just like she used to, until the smiling lover she’d known in Osaka came back out.

Lilli raised her hands a little, her fingers itching to do just that. To make her fantasy come true, but…

She lowered her arms, letting them once again hang useless at her sides. This wasn’t Osaka. More than that, she could clearly see the dragon in him now. Burning with a hate so cold, looking him in the eye felt like staring into black ice. She wouldn’t kiss him. She had no business even thinking about such a thing.

Besides, she’d read the storybooks countless times to children both recovering and dying. Dragons were for slaying, or in one extreme case, feeding tacos. Not for kissing. Never for kissing.

She swallowed. Looked up at him, forcing her eyes to stay strong where her voice would not. “I cannot…will not do that to a child,” she whispered. “I won’t. And I have to go to work tomorrow morning, so you can’t keep me here.”

Upon hearing her words, No’s eyes shuttered, a deep chill replacing the prior burn. “You will accept my offer,” he informed her. “You will have my baby. You will stay here in this house with me where I can watch you. And as for your work, you will not return there until you’ve signed the contract.”

“Like hell, I will! Ruby has school tomorrow and I’m not going to let her life be disrupted any more than it already has.”

“I’m aware of Ruby’s schooling needs. Montana-san will drive her to and from her school. I’ll also hire whatever other staffing is needed to attend to her medical needs. But you, Lilliana Tucker, you will stay here, in this house, until you agree to my terms.

It was then that images of what she’d seen of this house so far began flashing through her head. An impossibly large backyard, with an un-crossable lake behind it. The high, unscaleable—and apparently electric—gates at the front, left, and right of the property line. Why did she get the feeling that opening the gate from the inside and simply walking out wouldn’t be an option?

“Go and I installed a state-of-the-art security system when I moved in,” No informed her, as if reading her thoughts. “And even when Montana-san isn’t here, there’s an off-site security company monitoring this property at all times.”

“So I’m trapped?” she asked him. “You’re just going to keep me prisoner here? Against my will?”

His head lowered, his lips so close to hers, she could feel his breath as he said, “Hai, you are trapped. Hai, I will keep you prisoner here until you sign my contract. And as for your will…”

His head tilted left and right, his black eyes examine her as if some kind of bug had found its way under his microscope, as he reminded her, “You had your will during our time together in Osaka, and you used it to dishonor me. So understand this, Ana, from now on our relationship will revolve around you doing as I ask. And until you understand this, you will not leave this house.”

She might have answered. Once she found her voice again, she might have attempted a rebuttal. But No’s hands suddenly reached underneath her scrub top, releasing the front catch on her bra with ruthless precision. Next came the rough catch of her breasts in familiar palms, the seizing of her nipples by familiar fingers and then…and then he twisted.

Oh, God…suddenly she was biting her lip, cream gushing between her legs as a brutal orgasm sliced through her body, wave after wave of unexpected pleasure cresting over her as ruthlessly as if he’d been inside her.

And then she heard his voice in her ear, his hands squeezing and squeezing as she continued to helplessly come. “Do you see how well I trained you? Do you really think you’ll be able to resist me for long?”

No didn’t wait for her answer. He abruptly took his hands away. And only then did the merciless orgasm cease. But without him there to prop her up, Lilli realized she could no longer stand on her shaking legs. She fell to the couch, her untouched pussy still quivering from the force of the unexpected orgasm.

“Good night, Ana,” she heard him say somewhere in the distance.

Then he left her in the office that had been carefully designed to resemble a cozy den.

Somehow Lilli eventually made her way out of the den-office and found her room. Ignoring the slick feel of her pussy as she followed his directions to the guestroom that had apparently been designated as her room. It was easy to find, since it was the only room in that part of the house with an open door and the light switched on. The only bright thing in an otherwise dark hallway.

Lilli walked in, exhausted, but stopped short when she saw it…a gorgeous red oak baby cradle. Located next to the bed. As if had been waiting for her all along.

Lilli swallowed, her stomach flipping over several times, before—on instinct—she walked over to the set of drawers. Already suspecting what she’d find there, but unable to stop herself from looking…

Yes, all the drawers were filled.

With maternity clothes.

She opened the closet and found a long row of dresses hanging inside: maxi dresses, wrap dresses, empire waist sundresses. The kind of dresses that could easily handle the transition from not pregnant to very pregnant.

Oh God, she thought.

No was serious. So serious he’d already ordered her an entire maternity wardrobe.

What. The. Hell.

Lilli was seriously wondering how she’d missed the fact that her former lover was a madman. But more importantly than that, she was seriously wondering what on earth she was going to do now.