Page 33 of Phantom Flower

I stared at the desk. My hand hurt. My face too.

My chest felt tight with leftover adrenaline. “He was bullying my friend. I stopped it.”

“By breaking his nose?” Hargrove raised an eyebrow. “There are better ways to handle conflict, Rei. You know the rules. Zero tolerance for violence. I should suspend you for a week at minimum. Possibly expel you if Brad’s family pushes.”

The door opened.

Mother swept in first. Daniel followed, his fake smile already in place, though his eyes were cold when they landed on me.

“Rei, sweetheart, what happened?” Mother asked, sitting beside me and touching my arm like she could smooth this over with charm.

Daniel didn’t sit. He stood behind her, arms crossed. “Punching some boy in the hallway like a common thug. What were you thinking?”

I kept my voice flat. “I was thinking my friend was getting shoved into lockers and called a cocksucker because he’s on scholarship. So I stopped it.”

Daniel’s smile thinned. “Language, Rei.”

Principal Hargrove cleared his throat. “Enough. Rei, you’re suspended for three days. Effective immediately. Your mother will take you home. We’ll discuss further consequences after I speak with Brad’s parents. And I suggest you use this time to think about your choices.”

Daniel’s smile returned, colder now. “We’ll handle it at home. Come on, Rei. Let’s go before you make this any worse.”

Chapter 9

Dimitri Morozov

The meeting was pure fucking torture from the second I walked in.

My father had pulled me into the back room of one of our warehouses at dawn.

A bunch of uptight mafia pricks in suits sat around the long table, all of them acting like they were the most important bastards in the city.

They talked in circles about the Italians. Shipments had gone missing. Rumors of betrayal. Territory lines kept shifting.

I sat at the far end, boots kicked up on the chair across from me, smoking and wishing every last one of them would choke on their own words.

I hated every single person in that room. I hated their fake respect.

I hated the way they glanced at me like I was some reckless kid instead of the one who was supposed to run this empire one day.

The only person in the entire organization I actually gave a shit about was my grandfather, and he wasn’t here. He would have shut them all up with one look and told me to handle it my way.

But he was back in Russia, and I was stuck listening to this bullshit.

The meeting dragged on for hours. They argued about who to trust, who to cut off, how to send a message without starting an all-out war. I barely spoke.

I just smoked and stared at the ceiling until one of the older ones finally turned to me.

“Dimitri, what do you think we should do?”

I shrugged. “Kill them. End of story.”

A few of them chuckled like I was joking. My father didn’t. He just gave me that cold look he saved for when he was disappointed.

When the others finally filed out, my father stayed behind and shut the door.

“You didn’t speak up once in there,” he said. “You need to be smarter than this. You need to speak up. You need to show them you’re not just the muscle. You’re the one who’s going to run everything when I’m gone. Do you understand me?”

I rolled my eyes before I could stop myself. “Yeah. I got it. Talk more. Be smarter. Message received.”