27. Chapter 27
Chapter 27
Chi
The red dress looks perhaps a little worse off than it was when I put it on, a bit rumpled and stretched in certain areas, but I know I look good. Mostly, I’m just glad Andy didn’t rip it. I fucking love this dress. I’m about to make a bigger entrance than the one I made when I wore it to a party for the first time. And I made a pretty great fucking entrance then, too.
There is press swarming the upscale hotel venue as Andy helps me out of our rented Lexus LC. The rich here in Japan are not quite as ostentatious as those in America, so our choice of vehicle is important so that we don’t stick out too much. Andy and I have successfully stayed off the radar over the last couple of weeks, so the press swoops in to capitalize on everyone’s delight over a possible scandal.
As I pass the faces of people I only know from pictures, they look back at me in awe and surprise. The rich and influential here have to know who I am. They can’t afford not to.
Some give a Japanese greeting and a little bow, but most aren’t quite sure what to do. They can’t seem to take their eyes off of me, though — the new Yakuza queen, who hasn’t stepped foot in Japan for eight years.
“You’re famous, Chi,” Andy whispers in my ear.
“I think they just want to be part of the next big drama,” I reply, trying to tamp down the heat rushing into my face.
We’re next to a wall, and Andy stops to push me against it, his eyes burning through me. “I think you’re beautiful,” he says, leaning in close - too close for a simple bodyguard with his charge. “And I think everyone is jealous. Everyone wants to be you or have you. But I’m the one who gets you.” His hands are on my waist, his face in my hair, and I know right away that it’s obvious to any passerby that we are lovers. And… I don’t care.
“Chichi-san?” I know the voice that calls my name. Asuka has appeared out of the crowd and is the first person, I suppose, who feels comfortable enough to approach us. Or perhaps he just doesn’t realize that it’s an awkward moment to do so.
“Asuka-san,” I say, barely able to inject any sort of false enthusiasm into my voice. Although he is an integral part of our plan, I truly wish he had stayed home tonight. “So good to see you.” I force a crooked smile onto my face but stay rooted to the spot next to Andy. Now that the time has come to leave him, I don’t want to. But we spoke about this. It’s time for me to go inside and try to pull as much information out of my simpleton husband-to-be as I possibly can.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were in Japan? I thought you would call me. I have everything ready…” He trails off, looking between Andy and me. I wonder if he’s put it together too, like everyone else probably has. He’s going to have to get used to the idea that Andy is my man. I won’t hide it the way Papa hid Daiki. I won’t deny myself. I may still have to honor my dead father’s wishes and marry Asuka, but I left societal honor in the dust as soon as I let Andy fuck me in the tea room at the mansion. I may have to be legally bound to another, but I belong to Andy.
As if sensing my thoughts, Andy squeezes my waist tighter. “Don’t you dare let him touch you, my queen,” he whispers to me. I look at him out of the corner of my eye and bite my lip, then nod. It’s my promise to him.
I sigh and extricate myself from his arms. I force my words out of me like sludge. “My apologies, Asuka-san. It was an unexpected trip, and we just got here.” Despite my distaste for going anywhere alone with him, I feel bad keeping up this farce. A sweet, childish, overly trusting guy like him can only ever expect to be just another casualty of the avarice that our level of society breeds. There are far worse things I could be using him for besides his status and the fact that he won’t question my decisions, though.
I take a few steps toward him and grab his hand in mine, continuing to smile the crooked smile that hurts my cheeks. “Let’s go find a place we can talk now.”
If there was any worry or suspicion in Asuka’s mind, it’s wiped clean by the shock of his hand in mine. The last time I saw him, he hugged me like a child hugs their favorite teddy bear, but a simple hand-hold reduces him to a stuttering mess.
“Oh, um. You want to go somewhere alone? Why? Well, I may know why. But I don’t want to be forward…”
I allow myself to wince slightly at his painful awkwardness. Why hasn’t anyone ever taught him how to filter his words? I want to sit him down and explain that there are some thoughts we keep inside. But there is no time for that at the moment, and honestly, his inability to keep any thought in his mind to himself may help me.
“Let’s just find a place to talk. It has been a long time since I have seen you, and I was grieving then. I’m in a better place now.” I pull him along down the hall and physically feel Andy’s hard gaze on my back, which is why I don’t turn around. If I look at him, I’ll ask him to come with me. I need to be able to be alone with the man who will be my husband, as difficult as it may be. I need to be able to manipulate him for my own ends. Plus, I know Andy will be nearby the entire time.
Asuka blushes as we walk past onlookers who openly gape at us, but overall, he seems excited by the attention. Still, he hesitates as we get to a door leading to who knows where; a lounge of some sort, most likely. To my surprise, he looks at it like he wants to go in, and then back to me questioningly. I open it and peek inside. No one is in there, and there’s a lock, so I slip in, grabbing his hand again as I do. I catch Andy in my peripheral vision and give him a wink as I close the door.
“Chichi, you should have told me you were coming to Japan. Father told me yesterday that you’ve been here for a while. I have so much to show you.” He looks at me with childish hopefulness. I get the feeling that he doesn’t have a lot of friends, but that he wishes he did.
Then I realize that he’s implying he had no idea I was here. Yet, he had his man out following me. I look at him skeptically. “Asuka-san. Are you telling me the truth? Because I think you knew I was in Osaka.”
His face falls in genuine confusion. “No. I did not expect to see you here tonight. Once again, I wish you would have told me. I have every game available for the Playstation 5 and—”
“Yes, Asuka, but we have plenty of time to play video games,” I say, batting away the confusion over how Asuka’s guard knew I was here, but not he himself. I’ll need to circle back to it later, and then figure out how many others I might have tailing me. “You know why I really came here in secret? I have a mystery I’m trying to solve. And I want you to help me.”
Asuka’s eyebrows jut upwards, and his eyes go comically large and round. “A mystery? You want me to help you solve a mystery?”
I try to ooze as much false thrill as possible to continue his obvious excitement. “Yes! My father was killed, of course — everyone knows that. But not many know that we think…” I lower my voice and look around. “We think his death was far more sinister than a simple robbery gone wrong.”
Asuka’s eyes somehow widen further. I’m lying, and he’s buying every word of it. It’s likely that just about everyone at this party besides him knows that my father and Diaki’s deaths were more suspicious than a robbery gone wrong. In fact, most of them likely know that someone in the Kantoku-sha ordered his death, since many of these people are on the list of members.
He swallows hard, gathering his courage, and lays the tips of three fingers over the knuckles of my right hand. He stares squarely at the bench we are seated on as he says, “It will be my honor to help you, Chichi-san.”
I squeeze his three fingers in mine and put my other hand to his shoulder. “Wonderful, Asuka-san. You must tell me, then. Have you ever heard of the Kantoku-sha ?”
His eyes flick to mine, and he looks contemplative for a moment. “Yes. That name sounds so familiar.”
I nod in encouragement and give a genuine smile. “Great, Asuka-san. You’re doing great. Where have you heard it?”
“Father says it to his business partners sometimes. On the phone. They discuss all sorts of things that don’t make sense, like pear shipments and how many pounds of sugar are in each bag.”
Asuka doesn’t realize his father has been speaking in code on the phone. Does his father tell him nothing about this life? I’m almost angry — he has done so little to prepare his own heir for what he will face, as if throwing him to the wolves without a hint of how to survive and avoid getting ripped to shreds.
“Okay, Asuka. Do you know who your father speaks with? Have you ever heard a name? Jiro-san, perhaps? Chikhao? Sota? Hitachi?” I didn’t even consider looking for Asuka’s father on the list Oxy gave me because all of the men I was matched with are in their late twenties and early thirties. Asuka himself is thirty-one, the same age as Andy.
He seems contemplative again, but then his gaze slides past me, and I know — I know in that instant that someone else is there.
I turn, expecting to find Andy, but instead find Asuka’s father. I didn’t hear the door open and close, and I could have sworn I locked it, which puts me on high alert immediately.
Along with my wariness, I’m immediately embarrassed - anyone else but Asuka would know I’m trying to get information out of him for my own purposes. Why should I have to be embarrassed, though? He’s the one who should be embarrassed. He is trying to marry off a man who is incapable of social interactions and has little to no life-skills.
I stand tall and narrow my eyes on him. “I was just speaking with my fiance, Shimizu-sama.” I address him by last name and a high honorific, immediately regretting my choice. I should put him in his place better. I am his queen, after all, and he is encroaching on a conversation between my betrothed and me. In other words, he can kiss my ass.
“Asuka, leave us,” he says, looking past me. I look back at Asuka and scoff. He eyes his father’s hand now, and my mouth snaps shut when I see his shirt untucked and the glint of metal beneath it. His hand rests just above it. It’s not so much that I’m frozen in fear, but that I simply don’t understand.
This can’t all have to do with him. Why? How? Because I can’t figure this moment out, I don’t know what to say.
Asuka bites his lip and gnaws on it. “Father, what do you plan to do?”
Mr. Shimizu’s eyes dart to his son. “Are you questioning me, Asuka-chan?”
“No, Oto-san,” Asuka says, like an obedient child, dropping his eyes immediately to the ground.
“You will leave this room. You will tell no one we are here. And you will come back in five minutes to help me. Do you understand?”
Asuka nods his head harshly but doesn’t budge.
“Move, boy!” his father barks at him.
Asuka jumps and takes a wooden step, but seems to force himself to stop. “But she was going to be mine, father. Are you taking her away?”
Sickening dread fills my stomach. I have a terrible feeling.
“That is up to her, Asuka. Now leave us.”