My lips part to apologize so I can de-escalate the situation, but Kentaro stands up and aggressively says, “Or what?” He lets out a cocky chuckle. “Do you know who you’re fucking with,baka? The Yakuza.”
Hearing the word Yakuza, Mr. Vitale’s features tighten. He gets up and takes hold of his wife’s hand, pulling her slightly behind him.
He’s so protective of her.
“Let’s go,” Mr. Vitale tells his wife, but as they step into the aisle, Kentaro blocks their way. It has the foreigner saying, “You don’t want to do this.” He turns his head slightly toward his wife, whispering, “Push the buttons, baby. Just in case. If things get out of hand, run.”
I watch as she presses one of the dials on his wristwatch and the matching one on her wrist, then I notice two other foreign men coming closer.
One looks at Mr. Vitale and asks, “Everything okay here, sir?”
“No.” Mr. Vitale shakes his head, and the men immediately move in front of the couple.
They have guards.
“Nice watch,” Kentaro mutters while pointing at Mr. Vitale’s wrist. “Give it to me, and you and your friends can go.”
“Fuck off.” Mr. Vitale’s expression grows angry, and not caring that Kentaro is in the way, he begins to walk, pulling his wife behind him with each of their guards taking up a protective position in front and behind them.
When the guard at the front shoves Kentaro backward, Sho jumps up, yanking his gun from where it was tucked in the waistband of his chinos.
“Stop!” I snap at my guards while also climbing to my feet.
Unfortunately, it gets the attention of Jun and his group, and when I see them getting up and rushing our way out of the corner of my eye, panic floods my chest.
This is very bad.
I quickly bring up Masaki’s number and press dial. When I place the phone to my ear, I see Mrs. Vitale is receiving a call.
While I listen to the ringtone, I hear her say, “It’s the Yakuza, Daddy. We’re at a club, and they’re looking for trouble with Riccardo. They won’t let us leave.”
“Hey. Hey. Hey!” Kentaro shouts as he lunges toward Mrs. Vitale to grab the phone from her, but before he can get close to her, Riccardo and the guards go into action, and my eyebrows fly into my hairline.
“Run, Gianna!” Riccardo shouts at his wife when Jun and his friends hurry to help Kentaro.
I gasp as Riccardo punches and knees Jun, and while Kentaro fights one of the other guards, Riccardo aggressively moves toward two of Jun’s friends.
Gianna doesn’t waste time and clambers over the couches to get away from the brawling group of men.
I stand like a dumbstruck idiot and stare at the chaos.
“What?” Masaki snaps in my ear, reminding me I’m busy calling him.
“Kentaro started a fight with foreigners.”
“Get out of there right now,” Masaki orders. “Go to the manager’s office and wait for me.”
I move, doing the same as Gianna and climbing over the couches to get past the group of men. When I make it to the aisle at the same time as Gianna, she lets out a shriek, which gets Riccardo’s attention.
“Gianna,” he roars like an enraged bull, and as he tries to fight his way through the group of men, I hear gunshots ring through the air.
“Noooooo,” Gianna shrieks, and forgetting about her own safety, she begins to run back toward the danger. “Riccardo!”
Not thinking, I grab hold of her arm. “Don’t. It’s too dangerous.”
She swings around, and when her palm burns across my cheek, I’m stunned for a few precious seconds, and it gives hertime to yank free from my hold. She shoves me hard, and I stumble backward before regaining my balance.
Gianna pushes her way through the men until she reaches her husband and sinks down to her knees beside him. She presses both her hands over his chest to stop the bleeding while crying out, “Someone call an ambulance. Please!”
