Chapter 7
We got into the limo and it sped away. I tried to figure what to say in my mind, first I needed to apologise and get things back on track.
"Eisuke, I'm sorry." I said.
"What are you apologising for?" Eisuke said.
"Well, I got upset because you wouldn't tell me anything and then I lost my temper without really giving you a chance…"
"You don't like doing as I say, do you?" he said.
"Not really. I trust you, but I don't want to just blindly do as you say. I want to be equals with you. If you want to get married and if you want the relationship to work, we need to be equals." I said.
He gasped in surprise "You want to be equals with me?"
"Yes. Nothing will change unless that happens. I want to be in a position to support you as your wife." I continued. Eisuke just sat there listening to me.
"You make it sound like I'm being thoughtless." He said.
"No, that's not what I'm saying. I know you're not being thoughtless, you're anything but. It's just sometimes, I feel like you don't trust me, or you see as weak. Well I'm not weak, I'm more then capable of being your equal."
Eisuke was silent for a moment before a small chuckle escaped his lips "Fine."
"Really?" I said, I was shocked that he so readily agreed.
"You're the only woman no, actually the only person, period, who's ever said they wanted to be my equal. We'll see how far you can go with it." He said.
"Is that a challenge? I'm ready for anything." I said.
"If you're prepared for it, I'll tell you what's going on."
"Ok, I'm ready. Bring it on." I said.
"First of all, the people targeting me are the MI6." He said.
"As in the British secret intelligence agency?" I asked.
"Yes. The person who bought the auctions is an MI6 operative."
"Really? He seemed like such a nice person."
"It was an act."
"Why did MI6 buy the auctions?" I asked.
"They wanted a certain photograph that was scheduled to be sold at the auctions in a few months. They thought if they bought auctions they would automatically get the item. But all I sold was the rights to manage the auctions, not the items being sold at them. So, they want the photograph." He explained.
"Do you have to protect this photograph from them?" I asked.
"Yes. The photograph is tied to the future of the Ichinomiya group. So I can't have them leaking that information to anyone. Since the MI6 and I aren't on good terms, me staying in England could have led to them using force. And that's why we had to come back to Japan."
Everything finally made sense, I knew he was trying to protect me but if had just explained this to me at the beginning, things wouldn't have been so difficult. I reached out and squeezed his hands.
"So can't this be solved by you just buying the auctions back?" I asked.
"That would be impossible given the contract we signed. Plus, it's the MI6 we're talking about. They could come out with some tough measures."
So it wasn't that simple after all. I sighed when I heard him chuckle.
"You really think they'll be enough to stop me?" he asked.
"Well, I assume you have a plan?"
"I'm in the middle of fighting back against them. They'll see that I mean business with the next step of my plan."
"I look forward to it." I said.
"By the way, be sure to take a bodyguard with you when you go out."
"Ok, I will." I said. At least he's letting me go out on my own and leave the hotel. It felt like we'd taken a really important step forward in our relationship.
"I can't believe you're trying to wrap me around your finger at a time like this." He said.
"I'm not doing it intentionally."
"Heh." He chuckled and planted a kiss on my lips. "That's exactly what I expect from my woman."
His kiss this time was gentle and loving. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me towards him.
"Still some marks left." He said and ran his fingers over my wrists.
"It's fine. They'll go away soon." I said.
"Hm." He said and then kissed my wrists gently. "You don't look satisfied. Do you want something else?"
"Maybe." I said and smiled.
"Good." He pressed his lips against my wrists, lifting my hands up to eye level. His lips then moved down to my fingertips, the slow, deliberate movements filled me with frustration.
"That's what you wanted, isn't it?" he said, blatantly teasing me.
I loved the feeling of his lips on my skin and I let out a little moan. I wanted me. I reached out and traced my fingers along his soft lips. My hand then went to the back of his head and I pulled him close and kissed him on the lips.
"You're so demanding." He said when we broke to catch our breath.
"Do you want me to stop?"
"Hush now." He said, and we continued kissing.
It wasn't long till we arrived back at the hotel, but we kissed the whole way there, making up for the distance that was between us the past few days. The moment we got back to the Tres Spades, Eisuke started to work.
Now that I could go anywhere, as long as I had a bodyguard, I started to think about what to do. In the movies, MI6 always had a such a mysterious image. If I was going to help Eisuke, I needed to understand our enemy. But how do I go about doing that? it's not like I could just look them up on the internet. I thought for a bit when Kishi suddenly came to mind. He must know something about the MI6 which could be helpful.
On impulse, I rang Kishi and he answered straight away.
"Kishi here."
"Kishi! It's Freya."
"Damn, don't yell at me. Whaddya want?"
"I need your help." I explained the situation and his tone of voice changed drastically.
"What a damn pain in the ass. All right, I understand what you're talking about now." He said.
"I want the others to help, too."
"I'll call 'em. I'll be over there later, so you just sit tight kid."
"Thank you so much." I said and hung up. I couldn't wait to see everyone.
Eisuke was away from the penthouse but a short time later, Kishi, Baba and Ota arrive.
"Where's Soryu?" I asked.
"Couldn't get a hold of him." Kishi said.
"Oh. I guess we'll just have to give him time." I said.
"That's going to be the hardest thing. First, we need to take care of MI6." Ota said.
"Yes. Did you come all the way here from England?" I asked.
"How in the world could I get here that fast? You think I have access to some secret, super-fast jet or something?"
"I wouldn't put it past you. But then how are you here?" I said.
"I'm sure he came to Japan earlier because he was worried." Baba said.
"I was just bored over there, that's all." Ota said.
"Well, thank you all for coming. Baba, I did think that you wouldn't help though." I said.
"You know I'll always race to help you when you ask, Freya." Baba said tenderly.
"I'm the one who called you, damn it." Kishi hissed.
I couldn't help but smile, this brought back so many memories. I was sad that Soryu wasn't here but there wasn't much I could do about that. I explained the situation to them and we all started planning.
"I thought our best bet would be to buy back the auctions, but Eisuke said it's not possible due to the contract he signed." I explained.
"If money could solve this problem, Eisuke would've done it a long time ago." Ota said.
"It's not a bad place to start thought." Kishi said.
"If there's a way to circumvent the contract, that could really help us out." Baba said.
"We're talking about the MI6, though." Ota said.
"What about trying to find a weakness in the contract? We might be able to void the contract out, so that legally they never bought it in the first place." I said.
"Huh?" Ota said.
"What?" Kishi said.
"What do you mean?" Baba asked.
"Forge a fake contract and then switch them, so we have the advantage." I said.
They all then started laughing.
"Guess he's rubbed off on her." Kishi said.
"I like it. Eisuke didn't ask anyone before he did what he did, so why should we?" Ota said.
"Sounds interesting." Baba said.
"Do you think we can do it?" I said.
"I can make up the fake contract." Ota said.
"I'll get info from Interpol, and Baba can sneak into the MI6." Kishi said.
"And I'll switch the contracts." Baba said. "Sorry I got the starring role again, everybody."
"Just don't screw up." Ota said, sounding oddly serious.
"As if the Great Lupin ever would." Baba said.
"Thanks guys, you're the best." I said.