Chapter 34 - Konstantin
A glacier seemed to wash over me at the mention of Riku’s name from Tati’s lips.
Once again, she was asking to contact him.
I understood she was upset about being at another dead end.
She was scared to death that she’d never find her father alive, and every day I found myself searching for him for her instead of for my own vengeance.
But Riku was a different story. The thought of her even messaging that scumbag made my skin crawl. The bigger problem, and probably an even deeper source of my sudden anger, was that it was a damn good idea.
CJ and her crew couldn’t find a trace of the Yakuza leader anywhere, and the few people we were able to capture for interrogation either honestly didn’t know anything or kept their mouths shut until the bitter end.
Tati was right that offering Riku something he wanted might break us past this wall we were up against. She was right about him wanting to destroy my family. That wasn’t going to happen, but what if it was the only thing I could offer in order to give Tati the only thing that was important to her?
It was tearing me up inside, watching her scowl at me. But having her angry was better than letting her near Riku.
“We’re done discussing this,” I said.
A cowardly response. Even worse, I stood up and stormed out onto the deck, in hopes that the sound of the crashing waves would soothe away the war going on in my head. I hoped she would follow me, push the issue, somehow make me come around to her side of things.
Anything but letting her near Riku Yoshida.
The closest thing we had to a sighting was on the east coast of Mexico. If that was his actual location, it wasn’t as far as Tokyo, like I would have preferred, but it wasn’t that close, either. Maybe it would be safe enough.
No, not going to happen. Not even a message.
Over the next couple of days, Tati was coldly polite, tucked away with her weaving loom, and no longer asking to use her phone. There was no reason, and she knew it. I still checked it twice a day, but there was nothing. Not a single response.
Things were tense, and that was being mild about it. I missed the few idyllic days when we were planning and working together as a team. It was easy to imagine continuing after her father was found, but those thoughts always came to a crashing halt.
If her father were found and I had to punish him, she’d hate me forever.
If he were innocent, he’d rip my intestines out and strangle me with them for allowing myself to fall into bed with his only daughter.
The fact that I didn’t see her that way, but as an equal, a woman I could spend my life with, wouldn’t appease him.
And there was no damn way I’d apologize for it, either. So, neither outcome had a happy ending for me. Why was I still trying?
There was one thing I could concentrate on that didn’t make me want to tear my hair out, and that was tracking down and finding the college students who had tormented Tati.
The bullying seemed to originate in a club that she mentioned being in.
One of the girls who started sending her the threatening notes had also been in it, as well as some of the fraternity members.
It was a start, and I meant to make sure they learned a valuable lesson.
Don’t mess with kind, quiet people. They weren’t always weak, or at least those who cared about them might not be.
After another week, Tati was only picking at her food, barely going outside to get any sun or fresh air, and only shrugging off the olive branches I offered in the form of another day out on the town. The stress and fear were wearing her down, and I couldn’t bear watching her wither away.
I was supposed to keep her safe from harm, and I was the one ultimately harming her. There were still no verified sightings of Riku or any of his cohorts, and eventually I had to consider her plan again.
But let her contact Riku? Everything in me raged against it, even though she was in a house surrounded by guards, and me, who’d jump in front of a tank to save her.
She was listlessly reading a book in the living room when I unlocked the safe and held her phone in my hand. What real danger was there in letting her reach out and make her fake offer? Or better yet, why didn’t I send the message myself, under the guise that it was from her?
The need to protect her burned me up, but was it hot enough to make me forget my promise to her? Was I making excuses to keep her out of the loop in order to keep her safe?
Yes, absolutely. But was it also because her brilliant plan came too easily to her mind? It could very well be that she wasn’t only pretending to betray my family and me. The offer to Riku could be very real.
Not Tati. My heart wouldn’t let me believe that of her. But my mind still wasn’t sure.