Chloe huffed. “What did you think? That me and Tanaka’s security were just going to let both of you walk into a building and have lunch together without making it a whole thing?”
I simply stared back at her.
Her lips compressed into a thin line. “Really?”
“In my defense,” I said, “this came out of nowhere. I wasn't exactly thinking straight when she called me like this?”
“You need to start thinking more about your security. You’ve been lucky.”
“That’s what I pay you for, Chloe.”
She looked at me coolly, but didn’t respond.
Because I was goddamn right.
I hadn’t given Chloe a lot of time to put together a security strategy—whatever the technical term was—for my meeting with Sachiko Tanaka. Still, she managed to pull it off anyway with some additional help from Hannon, who supplied me with most of my security.
The thing was… she wasn’t the only one concerned about safety. It turned out that an impromptu meeting like this concerned the security of every other high-profile person there. Sachiko’s security had coordinated with Chloe to agree on protocols, work with the owner of the restaurant, and check the surrounding area to ensure safety for everyone.
Not only that, but Helen, Erin, Chloe, and I were all screened and searched for weapons before being given the all-clear. According to my bodyguard, Sachiko was receiving the same treatment.
By the time I was escorted into the restaurant proper, I had been notified that Sachiko would be in there with two bodyguards and an assistant. She’d also been informed that I would be accompanied by two bodyguards, an assistant, and my lawyer.
I was able to point out Sachiko the moment they came into view.
She stood at an average height for a woman, with dark, near-black hair. She had Hiro’s sharp, high cheekbones and exotic, upturned eyes. However, that was where the resemblance to Hiro ended.
Her lips were thin, but not unpleasant. Her hollowed-out cheeks, sharp jawline, and carefully-applied makeup gave her an understated, but undeniably beautiful quality. She was like the Asian version of one of those female protagonists in a 2000’s teen movie… the ugly duckling that everyone ignored until they removed the glasses and took down the ponytail.
No wonder Ryo looked like the human equivalent of a six-month-old used kitchen sponge. They were saving all the looks for his sister.
Honestly, I was disappointed. I wanted to needle Hiro next time we talked about how his daughter looked like an absolute troll.
She was flanked by two hulking bodyguards—each wearing wraparound sunglasses indoors like it made them scarier. A mousy-looking young woman stood next to her, holding a notebook in her folded arms. She adjusted her glasses as we approached, watching every move with dark eyes that glinted from under a fringe of black hair cut in a pageboy style.
I stopped in front of her and gave the daughter of my enemy a quick up-and-down glance. “Sachiko?”
She looked smart in a charcoal gray suit and crisp white shirt. Her jewelry was minimal, and she wore flat black shoes. Her hair was the most luxurious-looking thing about her—done in thick layers that had been teased into soft waves that cascaded down her back. Her bangs were swooped to the side in that nineties Disney movie style.
She gave me a closed-lip smile, dimples forming in her cheeks as she took a step forward and offered me her hand. “Yes. Marcus?”
I took it, immediately noticing the measured grip—soft and feminine without feeling limp. “That’s me.”
“Thank you for meeting me on such short notice.”
The non-existence of an accent was throwing me off. Hiro had a prominent one, as did Ryo, even though his was less pronounced. Sachiko didn’t have even a hint of one. She must have been educated here in the States.
Once the handshake was ended, Sachiko walked to the middle of the table, where one of her bodyguards held a seat for her. I did the same, though no one was holding any seats for me or my crew. Instead, I stepped forward and pulled out two of them, one on either side of the seat directly opposite the youngest Tanaka.
Helen gave me a ghost of a smile and dropped into the seat. Erin waited until I was done with the older woman before taking hers, giving me a much warmer and less reserved expression of gratitude.
The waiter took drink orders as I sat down and then backed away, looking briefly unsure about whether or not she should ask the still-standing security if they wanted anything. Seeing them standing perfectly still in intimidation mode seemed to dissuade her.
I turned my attention to Sachiko. “Have you ever been here?”
“I haven’t,” the young woman across the table said, looking at the menu. “I’m skeptical of a place where it’s possible to get an entire meal for less than twenty dollars.”
“You’ve never been poor,” I pointed out.
Without sitting in a taller chair, Sachiko was able to look down her nose at me. “Mr. Upton, I’m not here to discuss my upbringing. I’m here to discuss the release of my brother.”
Right to the chase. Well… I could do that, too.
“Why?” I asked.
She looked slightly confused by my question, so I answered her unasked question. “Why does your dad want Ryo back? I’m pretty sure he hates him.”
“He does. That doesn’t mean he wants his son dead.”
“If he wants him so badly, why didn’t he come see me himself?”
When she didn’t respond, it hit me. The hesitation on the phone… the low speaking volume. The way her eyes shifted when I asked that question just now…
“He doesn’t know you’re here, does he?”
She sighed. “At this point, my father’s too prideful to do this. He’s content to put pressure on you until you either give him what he wants, or he kills you and takes it anyway.”
“So there’s no negotiating with him at this point?”
Sachiko shook her head, glancing at the server as she returned with our drinks. “He’s never been denied anything. Even your grandfather showed him respect.”
I sipped on my drink as I considered that. My grandfather had been one of the wealthiest, most powerful people in the world… and, according to multiple sources, a stubborn asshole who was just as difficult to deal with as Hiro was. If Sachiko was right about Colin Gerrard tiptoeing around Hiro Tanaka, then continuing to butt heads with the old man was just going to get worse for my health. Chloe was right—I’d been lucky to last this long. Compared to my grandfather, I didn’t know what I was doing.
Entertaining offers—even ones I might not like—might be the best move. I’d already agreed with Helen and Psalter that I shouldn’t give in to Tanaka, but if giving up his kid and a little more got such a dangerous man off my back, then it could be worth it.
“If I make a deal, can you give me any sort of guarantee that your dad will leave me alone?”
She gave me an apologetic look. “I’m afraid I can’t.”
“Then why are we even here?” I asked, feeling the urge to toss my drink across the room. I enjoyed going out for sushi with a bunch of gorgeous women as much as the next guy, but a lot of effort had gone into making this happen, and I had hoped it would prove more useful than this.
“Because I’m appealing to you—as someone who means you no harm, and has done you no wrong… I’m asking you to please consider trusting that I know best how to handle my father. You’re not the only one trying to survive him, Mr. Upton.”
I eyed her over my drink, trying to decide whether I was being played.
“But, she continued, “only if you give me the proper tools to work with.”
Tools—the operative word. It was plural.
“You mean both of them,” I said. “Ryo and Carla.”
The waitress was hovering nearby, forcing us to pause our conversation to order food. Eventually, she left after taking Helen’s request.
Sachiko focused on Helen. “I’m sorry. I didn’t introduce myself.”
“It’s okay,” Helen said, giving the younger woman an ingratiating smile. “Helen VanCamp. I’m Mr. Upton’s attorney.”
“As in Yunger, VanCamp, and Price?” Sachiko asked, referring to my lawyers.
“Yes!” Helen said, clearly pleased that Sachiko knew of the firm. “I’m the VanCamp on the building.”
“I thought they were all men.”
“A small change in leadership,” Helen said, quickly glancing at me. There was a mixture of heat and gratitude in her look, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that was for my benefit, or Sachiko’s.
The young Japanese woman seemed pleasantly impressed. She glanced at Erin.
“Ah… Erin Malik,” she said smoothly, stirring her straw. “Director of Executive Affairs.”
I almost did a double-take on that one. That was the first time I’d heard that title! And affairs… was that supposed to be a double entendre?
Sachiko glanced back and forth between my two companions, studying them just long enough for things to begin to get slightly uncomfortable… as if she were making an observation. Then she said, “Nice to meet you both.”
Then she turned her attention back to me. “Yes. I’m talking about both of them. Ryo and Carla. My brother is my priority, but I have the strongest chance to convince my father if I have them both.”
“I can’t do that.”
She arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow at me. “Why not?”
“You know what Hiro’s going to do to Carla, don’t you?”
“Well,” Sachiko said, leaning forward to put her elbows on the table and place a delicate, pointed chin on her clasped hands. “Father will probably have her killed.”
“And you don’t have an issue with that?”
“It’s a trolley problem—Carla versus you and everyone you love.”
Well, that was bleak. I didn’t know what to say.
Sachiko stared at me without blinking or saying a word for roughly ten seconds before finally replying, “Why do you care?”
Wow… this really was Hiro Tanaka’s daughter. Carla wasn’t precisely the sort to be overly motherly, but she was Sachiko’s stepmother. Surely, she felt something!
“You’re telling me that you don’t care what happens to her at all?” I asked, finding it hard to believe. She just seemed more human than her brother and father.
Sachiko tilted her head to the side, reminding me a little of a bird of prey. “I care exactly enough to do what has to be done. That’s how you survive a man like my father. The math is simple. You can continue this feud and doom all of us to a lot of suffering, or you can hand over two people who mean nothing to you and let me work on him. I won’t promise you anything except that I will do everything in my power to ensure this stupid war ends. So, let me ask again… why do you care what happens to Carla?”
Because no matter how annoying and manipulative Carla was, she didn’t deserve to die. Especially at the hands of her own husband. I imagined Hiro strangling her to death with a belt or something while those two burly bodyguards held her down. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I handed her over to that fate.
I was about to say as much when another thought struck me.
Carla did just try to blackmail me into dating her in exchange for help with Hiro. What if instead of dealing with that, I actually did give her back in exchange for getting Tanaka off my case? That would certainly make things nice and tidy.
But on the other hand, could I trust this absolute stranger to keep up her end of the deal when she couldn’t even promise me success? Was it worth even considering becoming a monster for an outcome that wasn’t one hundred percent sure to work?
No… even if it was a sure thing, I wasn’t a monster.
“I care because I promised I’d protect her.” I held up one finger. “Because, despite everything, I try to keep my word.”
Two fingers. “And yeah, she’s a pain in the ass, but I hate your dad more.”
Then I lifted a third. “And because she’s a human being. One who doesn’t deserve to die because her husband made a bad business deal.”
Sachiko smirked. “And I suppose it has nothing to do with how good she is in bed?”
“Well, she’s got to be a sight better than your dad,” I quipped.
The girl wrinkled her nose at that. “I did not need that image!”
I pressed on. “Are you aware of how much of a pain in the ass your family has been?”
“My father has—”
“Probably lied,” I said. “Sachiko, I don’t care what Hiro says, I never conspired to turn your mom against him.”
“She’s not my mother,” Sachiko said.
I ignored her. “Carla was looking for a way out of your dad’s control, and I was the unlucky target. I’d barely said more than six words to her before that day!”
I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest. “So, yeah… I’m kind of pissed at Carla. She was trying to get out of a bad marriage that could have killed her. That doesn’t make her a bad person. It makes her a survivor.”
“Also, we did get… intimate, but it was after your dad declared war on us, and I did it more out of anger than because I was interested in Carla. In fact, I have no interest in Carla. I’d hand her over to you guys and be done with her if I didn’t think my conscience would scream at me.”
“And don’t get me started on Ryo. That little piss stain shot me out of the sky with a rocket. Now that I have both of them, I seem to have a lot of leverage on Hiro. So why should I throw away my only leverage on the chance that you can sweet-talk your tyrant dad into playing nice?”
Something akin to weariness passed Sachiko’s face—something that had no place on a woman in her early twenties.
“Mr. Upton,” she said, composing herself. “You’ve seen the wildfires in California, right? I’m trying to prevent what is currently a housefire from turning into something like that.”
“Hey,” I raised my hands placatingly, “I would love for you to put out this fire, but I’m not going to hand over the one thing keeping me safe. I saw what happened to Desai, and Hiro liked him… I think.”
“My father had nothing to do with that,” Sachiko said.
Her conviction almost had me. “How do you know?”
“He told me.”
I studied her for a long moment and couldn’t pick up on any dishonesty.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for me. I’d been burned by Hiro before and it almost cost me my life. “He’s lying.”
She sighed. “Is there anything I can do to convince you that handing over my brother and Carla are in your best interest?”
“Maybe,” I said.
“Please… tell me.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek, and then had to stop myself from smiling, remembering the weekend I’d just had with Natalie. She was already starting to influence me.
“I want information,” I said.
“On my father?”
“On your family. I just want to know who I’m dealing with. Everything I hear about your dad makes him sound like the boogie man, and I know almost nothing about you.”
Sachiko’s eyes flickered briefly around the room; it looked more like she was taking a moment to think more than anything suspicious.
“In exchange for what?”
“We can’t just enjoy a good conversation over mediocre sushi?” I asked.
“This isn’t a date,” she protested.
“And I’m not asking for a kiss. I just want to know a little more about the family that’s been trying to kill me.” I glanced at Erin. “Jesus, it’s like pulling teeth to get the smallest bit of info.”
Sachiko side-eyed me. “You have to understand—in my world, nothing is free.”
I wondered how true that was for her. Sachiko had probably never questioned where her next meal would come from, or whether the roof over her head would hold. Whether the cost was money or leverage, I doubted she and I were even dealing in the same currency. We were taught different definitions of value.
Not that I had a whole lot of room to talk. I remember my mom cooking cabbage and peas many nights when I was really young, but most of my life had been spent in the upper middle class since Henry and my mom got married.
Yet I’d struggled in college. Shauna and Henry Upton believed in catching us when we fell, but they didn’t believe in spoiling us. I’d eaten my share of ramen… and not the good kind.
I would have bet dollars to pocket lint that Sachiko was about to eat one of the cheapest meals she’d ever had, while I considered this fine dining.
“How about I buy you dinner then? Will that earn me some conversation?”
Sachiko looked like she was fighting the smallest of smiles.
Erin caught my eye, and I glanced her way. Her eyes were wide, and the look on her face was easy to read. I could almost hear her voice in my mind: Go get it, king!
Or something like that.
I hazarded a quick glance over my shoulder to see if I could catch Chloe’s eye, but she was looking everywhere except at me—probably to avoid the smug look I was probably wearing.
“What would you like to know?” Sachiko asked.
I blinked, a little surprised that she wasn’t walking out on me when she didn’t get what she wanted.
“Well,” I said. “I guess you could tell me how you speak English so much better than the rest of your family.”
As our food came out, Sachiko launched into her background. She’d grown up in Japan, but was sent off to a few insanely overpriced boarding schools in Montreal, Syracuse, and Sacramento. That’s where she’d learned to speak English so well. As she got older, she’d gone on to study abroad in London, Copenhagen, and Zurich before finally returning to Japan to take her place tending the Tanaka household.
Her mother had died not long after she was born, which was why nurses and nannies had raised her until she was old enough to be sent away. By the time she returned home, it was to strangers. There were no warm, smiling faces. No friends to catch up with.
At least, that was my takeaway.
She didn’t give me the impression she was telling a tragedy.
As her story unfolded, there was no resentment toward her father. There were no notes of regret about her life—only simple acceptance. This was the way things were.
My attitude toward her privilege softened a little with each passing minute as I started to realize that this woman had undergone severe grooming—being molded and shaped into a tool to be used for the good of the family. As I listened, I saw no hints of a loving home or concern for her or her desires.
And yet, it was all told so matter-of-factly. It almost made the entire thing worse.
I found myself grateful for my mother and how she painstakingly worked to make sure I had the very best. She’d always encouraged me to pursue my interests and inspired curiosity in me. She was warm and affectionate—not… whatever Hiro had been to his kids.
No wonder Ryo was a fucking mess of a person.
And as I sat across from Sachiko, listening to her tale, I had to remind myself that she was probably just as messed up as her brother, in her own way.
Still… a few things became crystal clear.
One, she was a brilliant, capable woman who demonstrated considerable initiative by arranging to meet me behind her father’s back.
Two, she seemed a whole hell of a lot easier to deal with than Hiro or Ryo.
And three, she just wanted peace.
Ryo had blown up my helicopter, and Hiro had tried to use Rajesh to blackmail me.
Sachiko definitely seemed the preferable of the three, and ideas began percolating in the back of my mind.
As we continued to eat and exchange stories, I noticed Helen doing her thing—listening intently with her lawyer’s senses. She was looking for something… anything she could use against the Tanakas.
Erin seemed uncharacteristically quiet as she listened to us talk, while Sachiko’s mousy companion had not uttered a single word the entire time; I was starting to wonder if she was mute.
“So,” I said, turning my attention back to Sachiko, “Hiro married Carla while you were away. You find her annoying, and while you’re not particularly thrilled about her dying, you won’t lose any sleep over it. Does that about sum it up?”
Sachiko stopped eating, a piece of sushi hovering halfway to her mouth. “That’s about right. If he weren’t so determined, I would be happy for her to find a new life somewhere else. Unfortunately, bringing her back as well with Ryo would buy me a lot of credit with him and possibly get him to listen to me.”
“Credit, huh? Must mean a lot to you. What if he asked you to kill me?” It wasn’t an idle question. Sachiko was a broken woman, and I was testing just how far she would go to satisfy her father. It was one thing to hand Carla over to him so he could have her killed. It was another thing entirely to do the actual killing.
I only hoped this didn’t turn into another Astrid situation.
Sachiko shook her head. “That’s not in my skill set. He wouldn’t ask me to, and I wouldn’t do that. I’m here to provide comfort, handle any administrative duties my father has, and help our family to flourish. In my opinion, reasoning with you is the best approach. Our families have worked well together in the past. Perhaps we can even return to that one day.”
I watched her in silence as she ate another piece of sushi as if she didn’t have a care in the world. The ability to do that when so much hung around her neck was astounding.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“I can’t stop you,” she said.
“If Hiro passed, Ryo inherits everything, right?”
“Yes.” It was a measured response—one that told me nothing more than I needed to know. I couldn’t tell whether she was disappointed by that fact, disappointed… or relieved.
“What if something happened to both of them?” I asked.
Suddenly, that stare felt much heavier… like an invisible weight on my chest.
“You don’t have any love for your brother,” I pointed out. “And I don’t think you really like your dad, either.”
She arched a single delicate eyebrow. “What are you suggesting?”
It was my turn to give her a look. “I think you know.”
“I won’t do that,” she said.
“Why not?”
“They’re my family.”
“No they aren’t,” I said. “They’re strangers you share blood with.”
She put her chopsticks down. “I think we’re done here.”
“Wait,” I said. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” she said. “You won’t surrender my brother or Carla, and I won’t entertain this topic. We’re at an impasse, and I’m sorry I wasted your time.”
She stood up.
I did the same.
I could feel the tension coming from Erin. Out of the corner of my eye, Helen seemed as cool and collected as usual, a mirror image of Sachiko’s mute friend.
“Wait,” I said. “I won’t bring it up again.”
She stared at me from the corner of her eye, still as a wax figure, and actually stunning, now that I could see her complete profile.
When she didn’t move, I kept going. “I’ve got enough on my plate. I’m sure you know about the kidnapping. I’m already dealing with someone else, and your father breathing down my neck doesn’t help. I want this over, and talking to you is the most progress I’ve made.”
Plus, I was really hoping her help would mean I didn’t have to rely on Carla.
Seconds passed. Then Sachiko sat back down.
Relief hit me first. Then disappointment. Trading Hiro and Ryo Tanaka for Sachiko was the easiest solution to my problem.
As long as I was willing to stoop to Tanaka’s level, anyway. I’d been so focused on getting her help, I hadn’t stopped to ask what it would cost me to want her help.
But it looked like I wouldn’t have to worry about selling my soul after all.
“Thanks,” I said.
Just as I was about to return to my seat, however, I felt fingers dig into my arm.
I glanced at the hand and followed the arm up to see Chloe’s face, looking like it was carved from freckled stone. She wasn’t staring at me… not exactly. It was as if she were looking through me.
I was just about to ask her what the problem was when she said, “Got it.”
Then her gaze focused on me. “Sir, we need to leave.”
That’s when I realized that someone was speaking into her earpiece.
I started to glance back at Sachiko, who was springing up from her chair. The bodyguards behind her were moving forward to block her with their own bodies.
She looked alarmed. “What’s going—”
“Nunez!” Chloe barked at my other guard. “Get Malik and—”
“Yep!” Nunez said before Chloe could even finish giving the order. He shouldered past Helen, who was on Chloe’s heels, and grabbed Erin’s arm, half-dragging her away from the table.
Sachiko peered around one of her bodyguard’s beefy arms. “What’s going—”
A door crashed open ahead of us, and another of my security came around the corner a heartbeat later. Jon had his gun drawn and immediately dropped it so it pointed to the floor as he saw us all approaching. He glanced past us, watching our flank.
“Clear?” Chloe asked.
“Clear!” Jon said.
As Chloe passed Jon, dragging me in her wake, she reached behind his back and drew a pistol. We hit the restaurant lobby. The front doors were already wide open. Two of my security stood at either side, guns raised. At their feet, crumpled and still, was a man in a suit identical to Sachiko’s bodyguards.
“Fuck!” I yelled as we approached the doors. “Is he dead!?”
“Clear?” Chloe barked.
“Clear!” one of my guards called out, never taking his eyes off the surrounding area. “Car’s ready!”
“Move!” Chloe said.
The two guards swiftly moved forward in unison while maintaining high alert.
Jon moved in next, about five feet behind them and in the center.
“Clear!” he called back.
Chloe gave me a little shove toward the door. “Stay close behind Jon. Get in the car. Keep your head down!”
I glanced at the body as I stepped over it, but followed everything else my bodyguard told me as best I could. Keeping just behind Jon, I remained hunched over while glancing around for any sign of danger, peering through arms that I’d reflexively thrown over my head.
“What happened!?” I called out to the void.
“Not sure, sir!” Jon said. “Let’s get you safe, first!”
The car was only a few feet from the door, half up on the sidewalk. It probably would’ve been even closer if not for those obnoxious metal posts lining the curb. As I neared it, I glanced back—Chloe was right behind me, followed by Helen, then Erin and John.
In seconds, the three of us were shoved into the car. The door slammed shut, and we launched into the street, accelerating so fast I thought my stomach might still be back at the restaurant.
“Jesus Christ!” I said, righting myself and sitting back in my seat. A glance at the passenger seat showed that Chloe hadn’t gotten with us.
“Hey!” I spoke up to the driver, “What the fuck? You left Chloe and Jon back there!”
“Need to get you back home, sir!” came his unapologetic reply.
“What happened!?” Erin asked.
“Not completely sure, ma’am,” he said, whipping his wheel around to take a sharp turn. “There was a shooter on a nearby roof. He appeared to be targeting the restaurant.”
“Wait!” I said. “We need to go back and get Chloe!”
“Miss Tanner will be fine, sir. You’re our priority!”
“I’ll fucking fire her if she gets herself killed,” I barked. “Fuck! Did Sachiko set me up!?!”
“Marcus,” Helen said, peering at me from over Erin. “We don’t know—”
“The fuck we don’t!” I spat back. “Spinning that sad fucking song—.”
“Marcus,” Erin said, clinging to my arm. Her dark eyes were massive. “She was so confused!”
I stared back at her. “I…”
My heart was still racing, and the logical part of my brain was competing for space with my amygdala, which felt like it had just grown twice its size. Still… now that Erin had mentioned it… Sachiko had looked confused and even a little scared.
“I…”
Erin just stared back at me, wide-eyed and panicked, but still logical.
Sachiko had come alone, though. Who else would have known? I didn’t tell anyone. Did she?
Had he known somehow? One of the bodyguards, maybe? That mousy secretary?
She’d used his phone, but surely she knew whether he would check something like that.
Fuck… there were so many ways he could have found out about this meeting.
“Did that old asshole just use his daughter to draw me out!?”
Erin didn’t nod, but she didn’t shoot down my theory either.
“But… why his daughter!?”
“Who else is he going to send?” Helen asked coolly.
“I don’t know… anyone!?”
Except I’d told him to come see me himself.
Rajesh had ambushed me at my party. His blackmail had failed, and an assassination at my apartment was pretty much impossible. There was too much security.
After Desai’s failure and my argument with Hiro, who better to pique my interest than another Tanaka?
“That motherfucker!”
***
Monday, September 16th, 2:52 pm
“Open the goddamn door!” I barked.
The guard next to the door looked at me, and for a split second, his expression suggested that I’d lost my mind.
Then he saw who it was and opened the fucking door.
By then, Chloe had messaged me with a quick rundown. One of our guys spotted a figure on a rooftop two streets over—high-powered rifle in hand. No one wanted to take chances. The second he called it in, my people moved fast to get me and the women out. There had been some kind of protocol agreed on with Sachiko’s security, but the second my side sprang into action, it nearly turned into Gangs of New York out there.
Chloe told me the assassin was dead, but not how. I didn’t know how our people got into the building, or if the Tanaka guard had made it. Once I knew Chloe and the rest of mine were safe, I didn’t care.
There was only one thing I cared about right now.
I stormed inside with Erin, Helen, and my driver/security guard in tow.
“Hey!” I bellowed, throwing open the door to the living room of the apartment.
Ryo Tanaka looked up at me in surprise as I barreled into the room. He sat at the dining room table we’d last chatted around, his computer set up in front of him.
“You let him have his fucking computer?” I growled.
“Psalter said it was okay,” said one of the guys who had been there last time I visited Ryo. “This room’s a Faraday cage. No signals going in and out. That includes internet.”
“It sucks,” Ryo said. “All I’ve had to play was fucking Minecra—”
I planted my palms on the computer tower and shoved as hard as I could. The entire machine slid across the wooden surface and crashed to the floor, RGB lights fading as the machine and its paraphernalia bounced and skittered across the floor.
Erin yelped and danced a little in place. Helen took three steps back, but remained silent.
Ryo shrieked wordlessly in protest at an ear-piercing decibel. It ended in something resembling, “What have you fucking done!?”
He started to lunge out of his chair, but was immediately grabbed and slammed back down into it by one of Psalter’s goons. Insults started to fly, but they were cut off as the goon put his forearm across Ryo’s neck, cutting off his windpipe.
“Throw him on the table!” I ordered.
I was a little surprised when Goon did just that, hauling Ryo out of the chair and slamming him onto his back across the dining room table. I’d given orders before, but I think this was the first time I’d barked at a practical stranger and had him obey my commands. The experience sent a little thrill through me.
“Helen. Erin. Please wait out in the hall,” I said as I approached Ryo.
“Marcus,” Helen said cautiously.
My gaze snapped to her. I don’t know what kind of look I gave her, but it was one of the very few times I’d witnessed her flinch. She didn’t finish that sentence. Erin and Helen both turned and left.
“Your dad just tried to have me killed, Ryo,” I said, turning my attention back to the younger Tanaka. He was coughing wetly, recovering from the arm on his neck.
“It wasn’t—”
“I know it wasn’t you, you dumb fuck. You’ve been here the whole time.”
“Then why—”
“Because I need to make sure you’re not holding out on me.”
All I could see was red, and it just deepened any time I looked at Ryo Tanaka’s pockmarked face. It reminded me of how scared I was when the helicopter was going down. How terrifying it was inside the guts of that wreckage when his men showed up and started shooting at me.
Fuck… what if that assassin had actually gotten off a shot?
What if it had killed me?
Worse… what if it had killed literally anyone else?
Charity, bleeding out on that concrete as fireworks went off, played in my head on repeat. What if that had been Erin? What if I’d had to hold her in my arms while she bled out? What if she’d been instantly killed and I’d never been able to go on that date?
What if I’d just helped Helen establish a new life away from that asshole husband of hers, only to see her get gunned down before she had a chance to thrive?
I reached out and grabbed the lopsided glasses sitting on his face, ignoring the tears sliding down his cheeks. Slowly, deliberately, I pulled them off, then crushed them in my fist. The faint crunching sounded extra loud in the moment.
“Someone warm the stovetop,” I said as I tossed the ruined eyewear aside.
“You’re going to tell me everything, Ryo. I want to know your dad’s favorite food. The color of your mom’s eyes. How does Hiro feel about hats? Did you play with your sister’s Barbies?” I placed a hand on the tabletop and leaned in. “If you so much as breathe a lie to me, I am going to make your dad look like the sweetest little man in the world.”
Ryo nodded.
I slammed my hand on the table beside him. “I need you to tell me you understand!”
“I understand!” he cried out, openly weeping.
I straightened, sighed, and then said, “Alright. Let’s start with your sister first.”
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While Book I is available here, there are an extra 21 bonus chapters for Tier 2 patrons.
Book II is now underway, with Chapters 1–42 already available. 11 bonus chapters for Book II are also available as well as several other one-offs for the story and a few non-related stories.