The Queen’s Denial

Chapter 13 Chi

Chapter 13

Chi

I spend the rest of the week fucking Andy as much as possible in between my lessons. Many new ones have unfortunately been added since my father told me about my Omiai. I’ve finished my college degree and really don’t feel it necessary to get another, so at this point I only take lessons for the things I enjoy, like yoga, knife-throwing, fencing and karate. I’d rather just spend my extra time in the library.

But now I have to take lessons on how to snag a husband — Japanese etiquette lessons. Really, they just teach me how to act in the presence of the big strong men who will be vying for my hand in marriage, as if I’m some medieval princess. I mostly inwardly eye roll through them, but my father makes it clear that they aren’t optional.

Over the next few weeks, I am finally getting used to this routine of mindlessly working through each lesson during the day and fucking Andy each night. And then a bomb is dropped on everything.

Mara’s face shows up on my phone for a video call and I answer it just like I normally would. I guess I should always be prepared for something bad to be happening these days, but I think I just want things to be back to normal, the way they were before this godforsaken war.

She starts talking about something weird going on with the heads of the surrounding families, but her voice is quickly drowned out by the sound of sirens. If there are sirens close enough to be that loud, they are on our property.

It’s sudden and heart-stopping. I look through my window and watch as four cop cars pull up the long driveway and park in the horseshoe lot. The guards at the gate look stressed and nervous as they rush inside the house.

I don’t even put what Mara is saying together with why the cops are here until I push through the doors to Papa’s study. There are a swarm of them, grabbing his arms and cuffing them behind his back.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask them in outrage. “What has he done?”

They say nothing to me or to him, and he gives me a severe look, but I won’t back down. He’s never been taken in. They can’t do this.

I hear Mara asking what is going on from the phone — I almost forgot she was on with me. “There are cops here! They’re cuffing my father!”

Mara’s face drops. “No! Why?”

“I don’t know, they won’t tell me anything!” I am the future Yakuza queen, and goddamn it, someone needs to give me some fucking information. I look at them and deliver a speech filled with red-hot frustration that the normally meek, sweet Chichi Yan would never give anyone. “I want you to know that I’m recording, and you have no idea what we can do to you! All of my followers will see this blatant ignorance of your own oaths and rules! I swear to God, if you’re taking him in without cause, you will be pariahs of the internet, of the Massachusetts PD, everything! You’ll never get a job again, and we won’t just be suing the state; we’ll make sure you all pay for taking an innocent man in, even just for questioning! You haven’t given a reason—”

“Chichi-chan!” my father whisper-shouts at me, which is worse, I think, than him actually shouting. “Calm down. You know what to do and who to call. We will comply, and then we will take action later.”

I can’t believe my father is allowing this. I can’t believe he’s throwing in the towel right now. Things must be worse than I even knew if this is happening. It feels like everything is coming to a head.

“Yes, Oto-san,” I have to call Daiki. He’s in Japan right now, likely making sure my mother and brother don’t do anything stupid. Hopefully, whatever is happening here doesn’t extend overseas.

I give a slight nod of compliance and look toward the phone. At least I’m not being taken in today. But I’m not the one who has to constantly watch my back in this war.

Cas comes into range of Mara’s phone camera. “Take care of yourself, Chi.”

He should be more worried about Mara than about me. There is always someone trying to mess with her these days. I think the words, but I try my best to give them an encouraging half smile. “I will,” I say, before hanging up the phone to deal with the shitstorm that has been laid at my feet.

*****

“Get Andy there with you immediately.” Daiki doesn’t say hello when I call. There are no pleasantries. Somehow, he has already heard about what is happening and is headed toward a plane to come back to me.

I’m surprised he names Andy. My father knows him well, of course, but Daiki has barely spoken to him. Still, I’m relatively certain that, although they don’t know the extent of it, my father and Daiki realize that Andy and I have been… close since he took over operations here. I can’t imagine either of them are thrilled about that, since they’re trying to marry me off in the near future. But I agree anyway and call him.

“I’ll come as soon as I can,” he says in frustration, and I hear the rev of a car engine in the background.

“What are you doing? Don’t break traffic laws just to get here quickly, Andy. I still have tons of your own guards around.”

“That’s… not why I’m breaking traffic laws, baby. It’s because I’m being tailed by a bunch of fucking cop cars.”

I take a sharp breath in. Andy is being targeted, too. I’m going to end up being truly alone for some amount of time. Daiki is still making his way from Japan, and that is a long flight. Even if Andy makes it here, I’m certain whatever is happening goes above his and Cas’s heads. If my father was taken in, Andy is probably going to get taken in as well.

“Maybe you shouldn’t come here, Andy.”

“Fuck that, Chi. I need to see you… I need to make sure everything is okay there before they grab me.”

He seems to accept that they're going to take him, so I will just have to as well. At least I’m good at accepting things I don’t like because I do it all the time. I puff my chest up with courage that I don’t really feel and say, “Okay.”

*****

I’m waiting at the grand entrance when Andy comes in and sweeps me up in his arms, kissing me hard. “They’re coming. You need to call—”

“Daiki, I know.” He breathes out frustratedly, and I know why. He’s a little jealous of someone else watching over me, and something flip-flops in my belly at the thought. A guy like Andy doesn’t get jealous. I both hate and love that it matters to me whether he cares about stupid shit like that only when it comes to me.

“You need to tell me everything you’ve heard,” I say, trying to make my face as stern as possible.

“We have about 15 minutes, according to Oxy. So with that time, I’d rather do this.” He grabs my ass cheeks in both of his huge hands, slipping right under the loose shorts I’m wearing without underwear. In hindsight, this might not have been the best choice of wardrobe, because I’m immediately groaning with arousal. Suddenly, I’m manhandled into his arms as he effortlessly picks me up and slings my legs over his hips to carry me into the nearest room without cameras.

“We should—”

“No.” He pushes me down onto a desk by the throat and cuts off my air supply just enough so I can’t talk without choking. “We should do this.” He rips his pants off as I go to protest and pushes down harder on my neck while plunging into my embarrassingly wet center. “Shush. Be my good girl, Chee-chee.”

Goddamn him, every time he says those words, I go silent. It’s like he knows what will happen and uses it against me. And I hate it and love it at the same time. I think. I don’t even know where we are for the next 10 minutes as he fucks me into the shiny wood with gusto.

As the mist clears after he squeezes two orgasms from me and roars out his own, I come back to my senses.

“Please tell me what’s going to happen. What can I do to help? My father is wrapped up in this shit too, Andy! And I have resources. I know Oxy a little, and my father has soldiers here and in Japan. If you give me some information, I can try to get them over here!”

He looks hesitant for a second, for the first time considering that I might actually be able to help instead of hindering him, like I did when I got smacked on the head the last time we went on a mission together.

“Listen, Chee-chee. It’ll be okay. Cas and I will figure this out. We always do. But if something happens…”

Just then, unfortunately, is when the police decide to break down the front door and head straight to us. I quickly pull up my shorts and pull my shirt back on and Andy pulls up his pants.

“No fucking knock, huh?” he asks as they barge into the after-dinner study we’ve made into our little fuck den.

I draw myself up with as much authority as I can muster in a tank top and running shorts. “Twice in one day. You idiots have no idea who you’re dealing with. But you will. You’ll be so fucking sorry you ever thought this was a good idea.”

They say nothing, ignoring me as I expected, and Andy just smirks as they grab his arms. He sees the worry in my face as they cart him away, and he hates it — I can tell he does.

“You’ll be fine, Chi. I’ll make sure of it,” he vows.

And then, he’s gone.