She nodded. “My father made his own fortune. He’s always seen himself as the hero of his own story, and the rest of us, secondary characters existing only to serve him. The idea of privacy is ludicrous to him. How did this enhance hurt anyone? Privacy is a privilege that you could buy if you were rich enough.”

I snorted. “Like clean air, food, and water? Like good health care?”

“I don’t agree with him,” she said. “I never bothered to think through the implications of my father’s actions, of his business practices, until after my kidnapping.” Her cheeks colored. She was embarrassed, even though I was the criminal in this scenario. “I had always pretended I didn’t see, but it was only when I read the plans for this enhance, and confronted him, that I understood . . . how warped his thinking truly was. He believed it was in his right to lie to the people, bribe and intimidate politicians—do whatever was necessary to get the results he desired.” She was clutching the thin blanket between her fingers, staring at the pattern with unseeing eyes. “I could partially justify in my mind his wanting to . . . seek retribution for what you did. I made sure that your paths never crossed. But when I heard him casually say he’d kill you after questioning you . . . I couldn’t make any more excuses for him.”

I caressed her cheek with the back of my hand.

“There’s more, isn’t there?” she whispered. “More that I don’t know.”

I nodded.

“Tell me everything,” she said. “Later.”

“All right,” I replied. From the beginning, I had thought we were on opposite sides, fighting against each other, when all along Daiyu had wanted what my friends and I had wanted. My heart had trusted her long before my mind would allow it.

She reached for my jacket again and began to pull it from my shoulders. Her mood had changed, and she was looking directly into my eyes.

My thoughts stuttered midstream. Every nerve ending went into hyperdrive, my body instantly remembering, as if I had never broken our kiss.

She slipped the jacket off. “Can it just be us now? For tonight?” Her pupils were dark, infinite pools. “No more lies?”

Daiyu leaned down and captured my lower lip with her supple mouth, and then we were kissing, her fingers running across my bare back, my hand reaching for her suit zipper, brushing past her arm, her breast, before finding the pull and tugging. The sound of her suit unzipping while she pressed herself against me, undressing me as we kissed, made my mind reel.