Chapter 7
Augusto
While I’m waiting for Rosie to get back to me, I take a few minutes to shower and eat.
Sitting in my hotel room with a plate of sushi, my thoughts keep alternating between Riccardo, the Yakuza, and the woman we left at the hospital.
Knowing she’s getting medical care doesn’t do anything to ease the guilt that keeps growing in my chest.
My mother raised me to respect women. Even our enemies. There’s no reason to ever hit a woman. If my life is threatened by one, I’ll kill her, but I sure as fuck won’t torture her.
I keep seeing the woman’s chest covered in a myriad of ugly bruises, and no matter how much I try to think of something else, the image keeps popping up.
Setting the plate of food down, I pick up my phone and scroll through my contacts list. I stare at Mom’s number for a minute or so, trying to build up the courage to call her.
A heavy sigh escapes me as I press dial, and bringing the device to my ear, I close my eyes.
“Hi, sweetheart,” Mom’s loving voice comes over the line, sounding surprised to hear from me. “I thought you were on your way home with Riccardo?”
“No. I stayed behind to deal with the Yakuza. Riccardo should be home in a couple of hours.” I clear my throat as I open my eyes, and climbing to my feet, I walk to the window in the hotel room and stare out over the foreign city. “Something happened.”
Worry thickens her voice as she asks, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I lower my head as shame coils around my heart. “We found the group responsible for hurting Riccardo and thought we had Tanaka’s son.” Mom keeps quiet, listening patiently. “I tried to get information out of him, but earlier today I…”
“Shit. Did you accidentally kill Tanaka’s son?” Mom asks.
“No. I never had his son. It was a body double.”
“Oh.” I can hear her confusion in the word. “What happened?”
It takes a lot for me to force the words over my lips. “It was a woman.”
Mom’s quiet for a few seconds. “What are you telling me, Augusto?”
I suck in a deep breath and close my eyes again. “I tortured a woman.”
Mom lets out a quivering breath that’s like a knife to my heart. “B-but why?”
“She was disguised as a man. She started having breathing problems and took off her hoodie. That’s when I saw the padded shirt, and after I helped her take it off, I discovered she’s a woman. We took her straight to the hospital.”
“Oh. Well, that changes things, doesn’t it? You didn’t intentionally hit a woman? Right?”
“Right,” I agree. “But I still feel like shit.”
“I’d be worried if you didn’t feel bad,” Mom says.
Nodding, I glance out the window again. “I wanted you to be the first to know, but don’t tell anyone else. I still need to talk with Enzo.”
“Okay.” Mom lets out a soft sigh. “Do you think the woman will be okay?”
I have no idea. Even if she heals physically, I’m certain I scarred her mentally.
“I hope so,” I answer. “I keep thinking there’s no way Bianca or Sienna would’ve survived what I did to the woman.”
“What’s her name?”
“I don’t know. No matter how much we hurt her, she wouldn’t give us any information.” My throat feels scratchy, and I clear it before adding, “She only spoke to us once we found out she’s a woman, and it was to beg us not to rape her.”
“Jesus,” Mom gasps. “Augusto.”
“Mom,” remorse thickens my voice, “I’m so fucking sorry. I know I deserve it, but please don’t be disappointed in me.”
“Oh, baby,” Mom coos. “You didn’t mean to hurt her. I understand what happened was outside of your control.”
My voice is hoarse as I say, “I need to hear the words from you.”
“I’m not disappointed in you, Augusto. I’m worried about the poor woman, though. Can you check up on her? Just to give my heart some peace.”
“I’ll have Rosie hack the hospital.”
“Okay.” I hear Mom moving around as she asks, “How are you holding up?”
“I’m fine.”
“Augusto.” There’s a no-nonsense tone to her voice, which she always uses when she’s serious. “How are you doing with everything that happened?”
“I feel fucking guilty. I keep seeing the woman in my mind’s eye.”
“I wish I could hug you, my baby.”
I lift my head and suck in a deep breath. “I can’t do anything about it.” A knock at the door has me glancing over my shoulder. “I need to go. I love you, Mom.”
“I love you, too. Be safe out there. I want you back in one piece.”
A smile flirts with the corner of my mouth. “Okay.”
As I end the call, I walk to the door and check the peephole before I open for Raffaele.
Noticing he has also taken a shower, I ask, “Did you eat?”
“I can’t stomach food right now,” he replies as he steps into the room. He glances at the food I barely touched. “I see your appetite is missing as well.”
“Yeah.” I walk to the minibar and pour us some whiskey. While I hand Raffaele a tumbler, I say, “I just spoke to my mother about what happened.”
Everyone in our close circle knows about Mom’s past. Even though a lot of time has passed, she still has anxiety around men she doesn’t know, so all the guards have been ordered to keep their distance from her.
His eyebrows lift. “How did she take it?”
I shrug as I take a sip of the amber liquid and savor the burn before I answer, “She actually took it well.” I meet my second-in-charge’s eyes. “But I don’t feel any better.”
Raffaele nods, and we stand in silence as we drink our whiskeys. When he sets his tumbler down, he exhales a heavy sigh. “Jesus, we beat the shit out of a woman.”
“I gave the order,” I repeat my words from earlier. “This is not on you.”
He glances at me, his eyes dark with guilt. “How did we not notice?” He shakes his head as he crosses his arms over his chest. “I keep replaying the past few days, but I can’t remember a single second where she gave her identity away.”
“I noticed she was short, but most people are shorter than me.”
We keep going over everything, and after a few seconds, I say, “There was no way for us to know.”
My phone rings, pulling my attention to an incoming call. Looking at the screen, I see Rosie’s name and quickly answer, “Hey, Rosie. Do you have anything for me?”
“There’s movement around the hospital. A group of men arrived a few minutes ago. They have Yakuza tattoos. I was making dinner and almost missed it. They’re still there. I’ll send you photos of the cars and men.”
“Thanks, Rosie.”
I end the call, and while all the information comes through, I tell Raffaele, “Get Santi and John. The Yakuza is at the hospital.”
As he sends a message to the guards, I pull my weapon out of my chest holster to check the magazine before I tuck it back into place. Heading toward the door, I grab my suit jacket from where it’s lying over the back of the couch, and shrug it on.
As we exit the hotel room, he asks, “What did Rosie say?”
“A group of men arrived at the hospital a few minutes ago. She thinks they’re Yakuza.” I open the secure chat I share with Rosie, and we look at the photos as we walk to the elevators.
“Definitely Yakuza,” Raffaele agrees.
Another message comes through from Rosie with a close-up photo of one of the men.
Yutaro Kano. Tanaka’s underboss.
My eyebrow lifts as I glance at Raffaele. “What if Tanaka doesn’t have a son, and we had his daughter? He could disguise her for her protection?”
“Fuck if I know. Either way, that woman is important to Tanaka if he sent his underboss to check on her.”
Even if she’s Tanaka’s daughter, I still feel a fuck ton of guilt for hurting a woman.
When we reach the first floor and exit the elevator, Santi and John are already waiting for us.
“Ride with us. We’re heading back to the hospital. The Yakuza’s there,” Raffaele updates them as we head to one of the SUVs.
After we all pile into the vehicle, I dial Rosie’s number again.
“Hey. They’re still at the hospital,” she informs me the instant she answers.
“We’re on our way. Let me know if they leave before we get to them.”
“Okay.”
During the drive, I send a text to Enzo, telling him to call me once they land in New York. I want to be the one to tell him that we beat a woman. I don’t want him to hear the upsetting news from someone else.
As we approach the hospital, I put my phone away and draw my weapon from my holster. Taking off the safety, I say, “Try not to die on me. The goal is to make them pay for what they did to Riccardo and our fallen men, and not to lose anyone else.”
“Yes, boss,” the three men answer me in a chorus.
Just as the SUV is steered into the parking area, a message comes through from Rosie.
They’re on the move.
My eyes lock on the exit where I see the six men, but I’m shocked to see the woman with them. She’s swaying on her feet, and every time she stumbles, one of the men yanks her arm to keep her on her feet.
“Okay, so maybe she’s not Tanaka’s daughter,” Raffaele says, sounding confused.
There’s a twinge of pity in my chest for the woman. “They’re probably going to interrogate her to find out what she told us.”
When our SUV comes to a stop, I order, “Don’t hurt the woman and don’t kill the underboss. The rest is fair game.”
We jump out of the vehicle, and we stalk toward the group, one of the men notices us and shouts something in Japanese.
While Kano grabs the woman, hauling her in the direction of a black sedan, the other five men run toward us. Bullets begin to fly, and we take down two before the remaining three get close enough for hand-to-hand combat.
They move fucking fast, clearly trained, and as I block and deliver punches and kicks, I quickly work up a sweat.
The one I’m fighting pulls out a knife, and I dart backward to avoid the blade, but he manages to cut me across my collarbone.
I hear a gunshot, and when Raffaele shouts, “Fuck!” I glance to my right. Just as I see the blood blossoming by his shoulder, the man I’m fighting delivers a kick to my gut, and I stagger backward.
Rage ignites in my blood, and letting out a growl, I storm the fucker. Using a move my father taught me, I wrap my arm around the man’s neck, and as I do a flip, I hear the crack as I snap his spine.
I drop his body, and turning toward Raffaele, I shoot the fucker he’s fighting before I run toward the sedan that’s already on the move. I fire one shot after the other, blowing out two of the tires, and when the underboss gets out of the car, I train my weapon on him.
“Don’t fucking move, and you’ll leave here alive,” I shout.
Even though all my attention is on Tanaka’s second-in-charge, I notice the woman struggling out of the car and trying to stumble away.
I hear Raffaele curse under his breath, and knowing he’s behind me, I focus on Kano, who’s covered in scars and tattoos from all the wars he’s waged alongside Tanaka.
“The Yakuza will retaliate,” Kano snaps angrily, then he also notices the woman and shouts something in Japanese at her.
She stops, and I hear a muffled sob before she slowly turns around to return to the car.
Kano looks me up and down. “Do you know who you’re fucking with?”
Ignoring his question, I demand, “I want a meeting with Tanaka.”
“Your brother is alive,” Kano says, his tone filled with anger and disrespect.
The sound of screeching tires fills the air as more Yakuza soldiers arrive on the scene, and it has Raffaele saying, “We have to go!”
I quickly glance over my shoulder and notice Santi bringing the SUV closer while John limps toward the vehicle. It’s only now that I notice he’s been shot in the leg.
As my sight focuses on Kano again, my arm flies up, and I shoot him in the shoulder. “That’s for my men. Next time, I’ll kill you. Get your fucking boss to make contact with me, or I’ll wipe out his entire organization.”
With the warning hanging in the air, I run toward the SUV while Raffaele has my back. We climb into the backseat before Santi speeds toward the oncoming cars.
Even though some of the Yakuza soldiers open fire on us, Santi maneuvers the SUV around them before fishtailing onto the road. He floors the gas, and I quickly glance out the back window, seeing one of the cars coming after us.
“Lose him,” I order Santi before I look at Raffaele and John. “How are the two of you holding up?”
“I’m fine,” Raffaele answers. “But I’m out of ammo.”
John tightens a belt around his thigh and lets out a grunt.
“We’ll take care of you at the airfield,” I tell him while patting his shoulder. “Hang in there.”
He nods, sweat beading all over his face.
“Do you think Tanaka is going to contact you?” Raffaele asks while he lifts my shirt collar to see where the blood is coming from.
“It’s just a cut,” I tell him. I take off my jacket and fold it before I press it to his shoulder. “Keep it there so you don’t bleed out on me.”
As he carries out the order, I respond to his question. “We’ll have to wait and see what Tanaka does next.”
If he doesn’t crawl out of his hiding place, I’ll ask Georgi and Adriano to come with more men. They’re the heads of the Rizzo and Torrisi families and also my best friends. One word from me and half the Cosa Nostra will descend on Tokyo.
The Yakuza started this war, and it won’t end until Masato Tanaka apologizes for what his incompetent men did to Riccardo and Gianna.
It’s a matter of the Cosa Nostra standing strong and showing our enemies we won’t allow anyone to fuck with us.