Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 96404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
The same father I had countless fights with my mom about.
Abe Hitori.
Aka the leader of the New York City branch of the Yakuza and a man even more dangerous than Mom could have ever warned me about.
The man who can blow the only thread keeping me alive to bloody pieces.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” Akira says in Japanese as we bow in greeting and take our seats opposite them.
Akira and I speak only in Japanese when we’re around each other.
“It’s okay. We haven’t waited long.” My father pours himself a drink and watches me from above the rim of his glass.
He’s not tall, but he has a piercing stare that’s meant to bring those who oppose him to their knees. My father is the epitome of a charismatic man who knows what he wants and how to get it.
Even if it means crushing his own family in the process.
“May I compliment the way you look, Mrs. Mori?” Kai’s calm attention is on me and I wish I could throw a glass at his face.
That man is not only Dad’s second-in-command/trustee/strategist, but he’s also the one who metaphorically twisted my arm.
He acts silently and without drawing much attention to himself or his beloved boss.
Kai and I share a dark past, though, which is part of the reason why I thought he was familiar.
“No, you can’t,” I say coyly, then take a drink.
Ren scoffs, laughing silently, and while I hate everyone in my father’s organization, Ren might be the one at the top of the pyramid.
He’s cunning and puts different masks on throughout the day. Sometimes, he tries to be friendly whenever we meet, calling what he did ‘a job,’ but I’ll never forgive him for what happened seven years ago.
At the sound of his scoffing, something my husband considers juvenile and tasteless, he stares at Ren. Instead of just lowering his head like Akira expects of people, the younger man glares back. It’s a full-on glare, as if he doesn’t like Akira to tell him when to scoff and when not to.
They’ve always had some sort of weird communication, even though they don’t really work together.
Kai tips his glass of sake in my direction as if drinking to me. He likes acting in that mighty way, as if he’s better than everyone else and doesn’t hold grudges. As if he’s too old for such nonsense. He recently turned thirty-five, but he seems as old as Father sometimes.
“How’s business?” My father asks Akira, to which my husband nods.
“Good. It’s growing.”
“Will you be staying in the States for a bit?”
“Yes. We need to stay here until I get the new branch up and running and Naomi takes care of her own business.”
“I can’t work from Japan forever,” I say. “Unfortunately.”
“Yes, yes.” My father pretends to act nonchalant as he takes a bite of his favorite fish. “Let Kai know if you need anything, Mori-san. We’re here for you.”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Of course they’re there for him. Because he’s also there for my father.
After all, he married me off to Akira because it fits his business ventures. It was either that or not get the chance to say goodbye to my mom.
That, among other things he shackled me with until I couldn’t move anymore.
While I was having naive thoughts about reuniting with my father, he was plotting to sell me off to the highest bidder.
Akira wanted to marry me ‘for reasons,’ as he likes to say, which are basically our secret. And Father had to make that union happen.
Becoming in-laws with the Mori clan is an honor that can’t be accomplished by just anyone, let alone someone with a criminal background, such as my father.
Akira’s family hates me and refuses to meet me for those reasons, but Father couldn’t care less as long as his business is up and running, thanks to Akira’s help.
My husband takes a leisurely sip of his sake. “Instead of Kai, I want Ren.”
The latter freezes with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. Ren, who I eventually discovered is around my age, loves his freedom more than anything.
So the thought of working with a control freak like Akira must be blasphemous to him.
“Kai is my most efficient man,” my father points out the obvious.
“No offense, but that makes him boring. Ren, however, is reckless and could use some discipline.” There’s a smirk on Akira’s lips as he speaks.
Father laughs, a deep-bellied one. “As you wish.”
Ren places his chopsticks down. “No.”
“Did you just tell me no?” my father hisses.
His younger lieutenant faces him on his knees. “I want to stay with you, Boss.”
“If Mori-san wants you, he’ll get you.”
Ren glares at Akira, who smirks. “It’s decided then. Let me go get the present I brought for you from Japan, Hitori-san.”
“You didn’t have to,” Father says in a fake way.