The hand "Philip" had resting on her shoulder tightened.
"Was Jeremiah... really that bad?"
"That guy's a bastard."
Ririko poked his chest. Through his suit, she could feel Jeremiah's heartbeat beneath it.
"Oh, right. If we get married, you're kicking that guy out of the Kane Family immediately. I don't want to see a single red hair of his ever again."
"Philip" said nothing.
Then he suddenly turned sideways and leaned toward her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pressing her against the seat back.
That sudden burst of aggression was nothing like Philip's socially anxious manner.
"Please fasten your seat belt while the vehicle is moving," the Red Hood robot in the front seat gently reminded them.
He bent over her, a dangerous smile appearing on the Philip mask he wore.
"How about we get married right now? I'll do whatever you say from then on."
Ririko tilted her face up and looped both arms around his neck.
Her gaze slowly traveled upward from the line of his jaw.
She hooked a finger beneath the fiber mask, her nail gently lifting one corner to reveal a patch of pale skin.
Her fingers continued upward, seized a tuft of black hair at the back of his head, and wrenched his head back.
"Jeremiah, how long are you going to keep this act up?"
He clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Don't pull my hair. That's real."
He raised a hand and peeled off the Philip Kane mask, starting at the edge of his jaw, revealing a face twisted with a perverse smile.
"You bastard, you even dyed your hair to fool me?"
She sat up and snapped at him.
Jeremiah tidied his hair in the rearview mirror, tucked the unruly lock of fringe behind his ear, then straightened his tie.