Get comfortable, turn the page, and let’s see what this story has been hiding 🔥 ✦ Emma’s only time each week when she felt alive was the drive to the club.
The vast drop in status after everything changed had left her feeling as if she could no longer belong to the city’s upper circles.
She maintained her poise and craved recognition anyway.
Mr.
Hands had once been a corporate executive.
As his wife, Emma knew exactly what status meant.
Those days had felt like a dream.
She loved freedom, and Hands had given her exactly that.
Now freedom had nothing to do with her.
She lived inside the cage Hands had carefully built, guarded against his enemies and against every possible threat.
Westbrook was the best choice for a “fallen” wife like her.
The elites from Charter Hill and North Oak still treated it as desirable.
In other words, it was a proper substitute for Corpo Plaza.
The golden Thorton Colby 388 Jefferson luxury sedan was Emma’s favorite kind of ostentation.
The car crossed the bridge out of the entertainment district and headed along Japantown.
As the ride smoothed out, Emma adjusted her hair to make sure nothing was out of place.
Hands’s business was large now.
Pacifica and Dogtown both treated him as someone important, but money was not the point Emma hated most.
It was status.
A fixer, however large, was still someone who introduced jobs from the shadows.
That sort of life never truly entered respectable society.
“Madam, we are almost there.” The bodyguard watched the road.
After entering Japantown, the heavy foot traffic forced the car to move slowly.
Emma nodded.
“As long as we are on time.” She enjoyed the attention her car drew.
Corpo dogs and businesspeople all liked showing up in Westbrook with expensive rides, provided they could afford security strong enough to stop Mox or Tyger Claws from repainting the vehicle for fun.
Screech.
Emma tilted slightly.
The bodyguard saw her expressionless face in the rearview mirror.
“Madam, some damn kid ran in front of the car.
Mother-” Emma raised a hand for silence.
She hated crude language.
Through the one-way bulletproof glass, a young man in an oversized leather jacket stood in front of the car.
A long rifle sat wrapped in a case across his back.
He lowered his head with an apologetic smile.
Emma rested her chin on her hand.
Since they were waiting at a light, she did not mind looking at a handsome man.
Cyberware could give anyone almost any face now, but most people chose loud, aggressive aesthetics: protruding optics, half-metal faces, strange exposed mechanical patterns.
This man had deep eyes, strong features, and cyberware lines placed with restraint.
He fit her tastes.
“Mm.
Looks like Japantown is learning a little beauty.” The bodyguard kept his mouth shut.
On his first day, he had been told not to make conversation with Madam.
The young man vanished around the corner, and Emma looked away.
“What is it, darling?” Emma answered the call in fluent French.
“Things have been unstable lately.
You should not be going out.” Emma gave a cold laugh.
“Mm?
Did I make some brat embarrass you, Mr.
Hands?
Darling, your problems should not be forced onto me.” “Remember, the child grown in a medical facility was my greatest concession.” “I do not believe in marriage.” The man on the other end sounded helpless.
“Fine.
As long as you are happy.
But I am sending another security team.
Nothing matters more than your safety.” Emma ended the call, and the resentment in her stomach burned hotter.
A proper traditional German man living with an equally proper traditional German woman made life feel like unsalted Italian stew: colorful, complicated, and utterly bland.
She sometimes fantasized that a merc would rough her up, drag her somewhere unspeakable, and force Hands to send people to rescue her.
At least she would breathe different air for a while.
The braindance club was only performance.
She let everyone see she was lively, bright, and thriving, with no problems at all.
As the only true skyscraper in Japantown, the building was one Arasaka liked using for celebrations and high-security events.
The braindance club occupied the top floor.
Emma waited for the bodyguard to open the door, then lifted the slit of her long dress and stepped out.
The dress came from a Corpo Plaza boutique and did excellent things for her figure.
“Madam, your dress is stunning.” Dogtown money had sponsored the famous singer before.
As the wife of Dogtown’s mysterious man, Emma was someone Lizzy Wizzy knew how to flatter.
Emma raised her shield of disguise, put on a flawless smile, and walked into the club amid upper-class laughter and conversation.
The bodyguard’s tense back finally eased.
He drove around to the rear entrance.
Madam would return through there.
“Shit.
Stupid woman.
There goes this month’s bonus again.” He had only braked because of that idiot in the road.
Still, the way Madam had looked at the guy?
Like her soul had left her body.
Definitely bored and looking for trouble.
No way around it.
Madam held grudges.
One brake cost him three hundred eurodollars.
He would have to take the loss.
Wait.
Wasn’t that the same brat?
Near a steaming manhole in the distance, the young man crouched by the curb.
The bodyguard’s smile turned vicious.
Getting back three hundred eurodollars suddenly looked easy.
Cade watched the bodyguard approach from the corner of his eye.
Cameras covered the nearby area.
Not a good place to move yet.
Right.
A little closer.
He watched with mild interest as the man came striding toward him with his fists clenched.
Time to test the new chrome.
Dogtown’s fighting style had not been learned for nothing.
“Hey, asshole.
Stop right there.” Cade stood, spread his hands, and put on an innocent look.
A powerful grip hauled him in by the collar.
“You little fuck.
Know how much you cost me?” “Huh?
I don’t even know you.” Cade slowly backed up while playing dumb.
During the argument, the coverage from the optics camera finally stopped reaching them.
“One thousand eurodollars.
Hand it over.
If you call NCPD, I promise you’ll be on the ground before they get here.” The bodyguard snarled.
Cade’s hand closed over the man’s wrist.
“Hey.
Take it easy.” Raw strength surged.
The bodyguard’s face changed fast.
The man in front of him was too strong.
His free hand started toward his waist.
Unfortunately, Cade caught the gun hand too.
For a second, Cade wondered if things were too easy.
Was Viktor’s chrome that strong?
It was not even high grade.
No.
The idiot was probably just bad.
That had to be it.
Cade drove a knee up, then slammed an elbow into the side of the bodyguard’s head.
Crack.
The man who had tried to earn some off-book cash hit the ground immediately.
Cade dragged him into the alley, changed into the idiot’s suit, and fished a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
Once he had the look in place, he covered the man with a few sheets of newspaper.
In the camera feed, the bodyguard walked toward Emma’s car with his head lowered and a cigarette in his mouth.
He opened the door, got in, and nothing abnormal registered.
The camera turned elsewhere.
…
✦ ✦ ✦ Ready for more?
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS EmberHollow Thank you for reading.
I hope this chapter pulled you deeper into the story.
Stick around, because there’s still a lot waiting just ahead.