Chapter Eight #2
Yuki nods. “I couldn’t come to you empty-handed.” He drops what looks like a large, serrated, prehistoric tooth.
“Is that real?” Masa sounds doubtful.
“Is that big-ass Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton on the fourth floor of the Museum of Natural History real?” Yuki replies with a question of his own, his eyes are glued to the phone.
“I…think so.”
“Then yes.”
“This is not the souvenir I was referring to.” Aki sighs, even though he seems quite taken by the tooth. “But thanks.”
Yuki stops playing Temple Run on the stolen phone and slides it back into the ex-cop’s pocket.
“I arrived ten minutes ago. I’ve been familiarizing myself with the fauna.” Familiarizing equals picking pockets.
Yuki’s pout reminds me of Aki’s. It’s probably the only scrap of resemblance between the two cousins.
“If you want to get paid, less familiarizing and more looting.”
It looks like he hired Clover to steal something from Ishida-san. Is that why he didn’t oppose coming to the ceremony as much as I expected?
“The looting is done. And the loot is in a safe place. Give me twenty to thirty minutes. I’ll find you, cuz.” I’m sure he will. Yuki has a way of finding…anything.
Before sliding away, he adds, addressing Masa, “Two-two-zero-six-seven-seven. Your phone password.”
“How the fuck…?” A wide-eyed Masa is still staring in his direction after he disappeared into the crowd, just as one of Ishida-san’s lieutenants join us to politely ask Aki to follow him. His boss would like a private chat.
“Dum, dum, dum,” I hear Aki humming ominously.
As we walk out of the banquet hall, we keep Aki between us. Masa sends a text to the others to let them know we are moving, just as I instructed him beforehand.
We reach the elevators and take one to the third floor. We go down a corridor and stop in front of the first door on the right. The guy opens it but remains outside. I tell Masa to do the same while I follow Aki in.
It looks like a conference room, with a long black table and a big screen hanging from the wall.
Ishida-san is sitting at the head of the table.
His walking stick, lying against his chair.
I can see his round belly bulging from the open suit jacket.
The yellowish tinted lenses of his glasses cover his eyes, but the downward curve of his lips is filled with bitterness.
“Oh, Hebikawa-san you are finally here.” Ishida-san’s words sound more scolding than welcoming.
“You called?” Aki responds sarcastically, as we both bow.
“You can keep your scarred dog outside.” The older mob boss waves a hand my way.
I hate the dickhead, not because of the insults he always throws my way, but because he does it to provoke Aki into losing his control.
He enjoys poking at his temper to prove how unfit Aki is to be the heir of the organization.
“You are the reason why there’re instructions on bottles of shampoo, fucking moron,” I hear Aki mutter under his breath before making his way to the table and taking a seat a couple of chairs from the man. I move near him, but I stay on my feet.
“I said get out.” Ishida-san turns his head my way. His commanding tone makes my hands twitch. But I keep them at my sides as I look down at him from my standing position.
“You dare disobey an order from your kanbu, you repulsive prick!” He snarls before raising the walking stick in the air and swinging it down.
The yakuza code states that when a superior inflicts a punishment, the subordinate must take it.
That’s why I grit my teeth and don’t move from my position.
But as I hear the thud of the wood hitting something, that something is not me.
Aki sprang from his chair and caught the cane with his hand before it landed on me.
“No one hurts him but me,” Aki declares in an icy tone, releasing the wood with a shove.
“Never understood your attachment. He’s a gaijin!”
“It’s not for you to understand. He belongs to me. Touch him, and there’ll be consequences.” The threat is clear. Fuck! His words make my gut twist with desire and hope. I want to grab his face and suck his lips. Immediate regret envelops me.
Ishida-san lets out an incredulous laugh. “Remember who you’re talking to. Kumicho does not allow wars among bosses.”
“Of course.” Aki smiles, taking his seat again.
“You are one of the oldest of Kumicho’s advisers.
And I am on a territory your family formed.
You are a prominent figure in the manufacturing industry, who has amassed substantial wealth and power while building a business empire.
You married a rich woman with family connections, but you still like to have a couple of side pieces stashed on the island.
Did I forget something?” He looks up at me with a questioning look.
“Think telling my wife about them will be of any consequence for me?” Ishida-san smirks.
“No. What I’m talking about is the little collapse accident that happened a month ago at a redevelopment site where the Shanghai Construction Company was using materials from your factories.”
Ishida-san’s face has turned pale. How the fuck did Aki know that? And why didn’t he tell me anything? Wait, did he say Shanghai? Does that mean…?
“It’s obvious there was some corruption within your manufacturing company. It turned the prosecution’s eye on it.”
“Until it didn’t. There was no proof of foul play.
It was a witch hunt, nothing more. The elections are close, and the mayor was trying with a big bust to keep his seat while scoring more votes.
” Ishida-san tsks. He’s trying to look unfazed.
“A young, inexperienced boss like yourself should learn when to attack and when to retreat. And when to pay respect to a higher-ranking boss.”
“My apologies, I don’t learn, it’s one of my issues.
” Aki gives him the fakest contrite face before continuing, “Do you really think that our kumicho would have given the wakagashira position to a young inexperienced and handsome boss just because he was her nephew? That sounds like an insult to the big boss, doesn’t it, River? ”
“Yes, it does,” I promptly answer, keeping up the taunting. The dickhead is a sly motherfucker, always kissing the big boss’s ass.
“I wasn’t insulting Kumicho. Stop twisting my words!” The cane comes down on the table with a loud thud. It doesn’t stop Aki.
“So who were you insulting? Me? The rightful heir?” He stretches his arms out like Jesus Christ on the cross.
“Hiding under Kumicho’s skirt again?” Ishida-san changes tactics.
“No skirts. She only wears kimonos,” Aki counters sassily. “But you didn’t invite me here to talk about the big boss’s fashion choices, did you?”
“Kobayashi Ito.”
“Who?” I don’t know if Aki is pretending not to remember candidate number two, the fucker who groped him. My fists clench.
“The suitor you sent to the emergency room.”
Aki’s mouth curls in a wicked smile. “Oh, that. Yes.”
“He’s asking for compensation for the damages you caused.” Aki responds to Ishida-san’s stern tone with a snort.
“What a wimp. You know what they say, if you can’t even take a light, deserved beating, don’t sexually harass people.” Who says that? “I mean, the karma dildo rarely arrives lubed.”
His last statement makes me almost cough with amusement.
“Wimp or not, he’ll go to the authorities if you don’t agree to his conditions, and the new police chief is not as pliable as the last one.”
Meaning: he’ll ask for a bigger bribe.
“Am I right to think that Kobayashi was the candidate you recommended for me to the kumicho? You know what? Don’t answer that. But tell me this, did you meet him during one of your pillage, plunder, and rape jobs and thought, oh lordy, that shitbag would be just perfect to marry the Hebikawa heir?”
This reckless, arrogant side is Aki’s worst quality, and still, I stand by him.
Even though going toe-to-toe against a higher-ranked boss is risky as fuck since we are walking on precarious land at the moment.
Heir or not, it doesn’t matter. Because if the people rebel… the king is dead, long live the king.
“He wasn’t the candidate I recommended. But settle with him.” Ishida-san slides Kobayashi’s business card on the table.
“Will do,” Aki states with a too complacent expression on his face.
The older boss stands up and hooks the curved handle of the walking stick to his forearm, which he uses only to hit people—like a James Bond villain—surely not to walk.
“Please stay for the cake. I’ll see you again…soon,” he adds, almost ominously before leaving the room.
Masa walks in after a few seconds. “Everything okay, boss?”
I nod.
“I have another job for you and Soma.” Aki raises the business card from the table. “Go and let Mr. Kobayashi know what happens when he threatens to squeal to the police.”
“Consider it done, Mr. Boss.” Masa grabs the card and exits the room.
“Shanghai Construction, isn’t that one of the Triad’s companies? The same company Ling Wang manages?”
“Yep,” Aki answers my question.
“Do you think Ishida-san is working with the Chinese mafia?” We arranged for a very fragile truce between the organizations to stay out of each other’s business. Working together is impossible. But maybe to destroy a common enemy…
“A certain Fuckchill would know about it, right?” And we are back to Ling Wang.
“Probably. If it’s true, that’s ballsy even for Ishida-san.”
“Like recommending an old, repellent, sexual harasser as a suitable candidate for marriage?” Aki leaves the chair to go look at the view from the large window.
I always thought I’d die by his side before leaving him, but will I be able to remain near him after he gets married? Can I really stay with him when I know someone else has rights over him? He could go on with his life just fine without me. But as for me, I don’t think I could.
I sigh. “You shouldn’t make enemies like this. Not now.”
“He’s a dickless idiot. He called you a dog, when clearly you are a bunny.”
His teasing is not welcome.