Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
RYO
My jaw ached from how hard I clenched. With every step I took, the louder my thoughts got, each one dragging up an unwanted memory of their cruel words and punishing blows.
The air felt heavy and thick, which added to my tension.
I didn’t want to face them, and yet, I needed to find out why they wanted this meeting.
They gave no notice or time, just expected Wolf to drop everything for this to happen, and that aggravated me more than anything.
For my family, hesitation wasn’t tolerated and obedience was expected before the command even finished being spoken.
That may be correct back in their hometown, but here, they didn’t rule.
At the door to the office, I forced my features into a calm indifference and knocked once.
“Enter,” Wolf called.
The tightness around my heart lessened when I saw my father and brothers weren’t in the room with him.
I bowed. “Where are they?” I asked. I’d quickly gone to my room to change into my best suit and holstered two guns in case blood needed to spill.
“On their way up. Are you sure—”
There were a few sharp raps on the door.
I nodded. “Yes, Taro-Sama.”
Wolf gave me a soft smile. I rarely called him that, and he knew that doing it now showed him my loyalty and how our trust went both ways.
“You are my friend and family, Ryo. I won’t allow them to walk over you.”
A bang sounded on the door. I glared over at it.
“I won’t either.”
Wolf nodded. He twisted to face the entrance, and I stood behind his chair with my hands clasped at my back.
“Enter,” Wolf called.
I locked every emotion away and ignored the pounding to my heart when the door opened and my oldest brother, Kenta, stepped through first to check the room was safe before moving to the side for my father. The second oldest brother, Kazuya, brought up the rear.
“Take a seat,” Wolf ordered.
They looked the same, but older, of course.
I thought I would feel intimidated or something from being near them, but there was nothing.
They’d become strangers to me, and I wanted to keep it that way.
Their gazes kept flicking my way as they sat in the chairs in front of Wolf’s desk.
“What is it you want?” Wolf asked.
“Our brother can’t even greet his father?” Kenta glared.
“Why should he?” Wolf asked.
When Kenta went to open his mouth, Father’s grunt silenced him, and then he said, “We wish to speak with Ryo alone.”
Wolf snorted. “That won’t happen. Whatever you want to say will be said in front of me. Ryo is, after all, my employee.”
“Your slave,” Kazuya muttered.
Wolf’s gaze snapped to him.
“Loyal employee, but more importantly, he is a friend and a part of my family.”
The three of them glowered.
“Say what you have to say in front of Wolf and leave,” I demanded.
Father’s jaw clenched. He was furious.
The door suddenly opened, and Ruin stalked in. He went straight over to Wolf with a smirk on his lips.
I glanced at all three men opposite us to see they had their eyes glued to the tough-looking man wearing a motorcycle cut.
Wolf tipped his chin up as Ruin got close. My heart clenched.
Could I ever be this open with Link?
“Pet,” Wolf whispered as Ruin bent and kissed him.
Ruin straightened, winked at Wolf, and moved over to lean against the wall.
“I had heard you disgraced your father’s memory by bringing a man into your bed and house,” my father said with a sneer.
“You do not speak to Wolf like that,” I ordered, hands dropping to my sides, fists clenching.
Kenta scoffed. “Don’t speak to your father that way.”
“Have we found out what these guys want?” Ruin asked, sounding almost bored.
My father stuck his nose in the air. “I refuse to speak with that present.”
I started to reach for my weapon, until Wolf lifted his hand. “Watch how you talk about Ruin around me, or I will make you leave. I didn’t have to agree to this meeting. Say what you need and get out.”
My family exchanged a look, expressions tight.
Father sighed. “It is time for my son to come home.”
I tensed. He couldn’t be serious.
They’d sold me.
“No,” Wolf replied.
“The amount that was paid wasn’t nearly enough for the years he’s been here.”
“He will not be leaving,” Wolf stated.
Father ignored him and met my gaze. “For once in your life, do right by this family.”
When had they done right by me?
I had a life here. One that was finally bright because of the man in it. There wasn’t a chance I would leave Link.
Or Wolf.
Before I got to tell them this, the door banged open, making my family jolt, and my heart jump into my throat when I saw who stood at the threshold.
Link wore jeans and a tee, no shoes, and I had never seen that look of fury on his face before.
My cock throbbed, but now really wasn’t the time.
Why was he here?
“These the fuckin’ cunts?” he asked Wolf, who nodded.
My body warmed. He was here because my meddling friend told him about the meeting.
He was here for me.
The man looked menacing as he stomped further into the room to stop at the edge of Wolf’s desk at the other end from where I stood.
Ruin watched him with a grin. Even Wolf’s lips were twitching.
“These guys are Ryo’s so-called family?” he asked again.
“Yes,” Wolf answered.
As if slow motion existed, my eyes widened and my pulse spiked as I watched Link pull a gun free, aim, and fire three rapid shots at my family.
Shouts and cries echoed around the room as blood pooled from their upper arms.
Kenta went for his weapon.
“Stop,” I snarled, drawing my own.
Ruin also had his out and pointed, but it was Link who darkly demanded, “Go on, move. I fuckin’ dare you.” He ground his teeth together, waiting and probably wishing they would move again so he could shoot them once more.
I shouldn’t have found this highly arousing, but I did. My ears didn’t just ring from the shots, but from how hard my blood sped through my veins, aiming for my cock.
Inappropriate, and yet, I didn’t care.
This was the Link who ran his illegal trade.
He’d said he wanted to kill my family for what I’d shared with him, and now I honestly believed he wanted justice for me.
He was getting it too.
“Who are you?” Kenta asked, voice strained from the pain he would be feeling.
“Name’s Link. Fuckin’ remember it because I’ll be the one making your lives miserable.”
“You allow this?” Father demanded, flicking his gaze from me to Wolf.
Wolf waved a hand around. “I have no control over Link. Especially when he’s pissed.”
With a frantic heartbeat, I moved over to stand beside a furious Link and placed my hand on his back.
Link drew in a deep breath at my touch.
He had probably been worried that I’d be offended or annoyed over him showing here. But I wasn’t. I couldn’t be.
Wolf cared for me, but even he wouldn’t go against my family. Back in Japan, they were the highest ruling family in the gun and drug trade. They’d been happy when Wolf’s father moved his dealing to Australia and I went along with them.
But Link didn’t care about anything but teaching my family a lesson for their treatment of me.
My family had looks of disgust on their faces.
“What is this?” Father clipped.
“This is your only fuckin’ warning,” Link told them, his voice harsh, low, and dangerous.
My stomach fluttered, and I watched his side profile, witnessing the vicious look he showed them.
“Ryo doesn’t exist to you anymore. You think about contacting him in any goddamn way or form, I’ll hunt you motherfuckers down and kill you all. ”
Kenta stood, wincing and holding his bleeding arm. “You can’t order us.”
Kazuya nodded and glared. “We have many at our back—”
“And I have fuckin’ millions,” Link bit out. “But no matter how many there are, I’ll still be the one to get to you if you don’t leave here now and never contact Ryo again.”
“Why do you do this for him?” my father asked.
Link’s lips thinned.
He wouldn’t tell them we were lovers.
My gut churned.
He’d come here for me.
He stood up to them for me.
He meant more to me than anyone else had.
He showed me I deserved to be wanted and needed and cared for in ways that had me falling for this man.
For him, in this moment, I could be strong.
“He does it because he cares for me, like I do him,” I told them, tipping my chin up slightly.
Link turned his body my way but still held his gun pointed at my family.
“Baby,” he whispered.
Sighing, I faced him, lips twitching at the brightness to his eyes. All the fury he’d been feeling had vanished. “Don’t overreact—”
“You care for me? I goddamn knew you’d fall for my awesomeness.” There was a sound of someone shifting. “Move again, and I’ll shoot you,” Link warned, not looking away from me.
“I think this meeting is done,” Wolf said.
Ruin grunted. “Tell Link you’ll never contact Ryo again and leave.”
Link grinned at me. “Can I shoot them again before they go? Or you wanna shoot them, snook?”
I smiled. “Not today.”
“Fuck, baby, that smile…. We gotta hit your room.”
Ruin and Wolf chuckled.
“You can’t—”
“Kenta,” Father clipped.
I turned to them. “I know the only reason you want me back is because it benefits the family in one way or another. Whatever it is, forget about it happening. I’ll never leave here.”
“Damn right,” Link added, crowding my back and kissing my neck.
The disgust was clear to see on their faces once again.
“You’re a disgrace—” Father cried out as his body jolted back in the chair when Link fired off another shot, hitting him lower on the arm.
“I can kill them all if you want,” Link said into my ear before he kissed there. He wrapped an arm across my chest and held me tightly to him.
Reaching up, I smoothed my hand up and down his inked forearm. “No. I want them alive to know that I’ll be living a happy and rich life with—”
“The one you care about,” Link finished for me, and I felt his grin against my neck.
Smiling, I turned my head and kissed his jaw.
He beamed at me.
Like I’d just given him the best gift I ever could.
Or like a devoted puppy to his master.
Wolf picked up the phone. “Send a team in to escort the Sato family from the premises, and let it be known that if anyone sees them lingering in our area, they have permission to shoot and kill.” Wolf replaced the receiver and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Means get the fuck out,” Ruin supplied.
The door opened, and Link unglued himself from me as guards rushed in. I didn’t even have time to panic about them seeing us in that type of position. Link acted before I could.
“Just remember what I said,” Link warned my family as they were taken from the room.
Ruin walked over and shut the door before he turned back to us. “Do you think they’ll listen?”
Wolf snorted. “I have a feeling they will.”
Ruin grinned. “Cool moves, Link. Never thought you’d just show and shoot.”
Link shrugged, winking at me. “When I’m pissed for someone I care about, I lose it a little.”
“A little?” Wolf asked.
“Babe,” Ruin said. “With the way they’re lookin’ at each other, I think we gotta leave the room.”
“That is not happening, pet. This is my office. No one is doing anyone over my desk but you and me.”
“I’m gonna take Ryo with me for the rest of the day,” Link told them while staring at me.
“Yes, fine,” Wolf said.
“But—” I started.
“No, no. Go with your needy man, or he’ll be annoying for the rest of the day,” Wolf told me. Ruin laughed.
My lips twitched.
He really would be annoying.
And now that he knew I cared for him, he’d become even more attentive, but he would also want my attention for him alone.
“Okay,” I said.
Link smirked at me before he rushed toward the door, not knowing I was a bundle of nerves because I wanted to tell him exactly how much he meant to me.