It would seem the Murrays have entered the fray as well—those bastards who entice my brother Sandro into their fighting pits every week like we’re friends. They’re pounding anyone they can get their hands on.
And leading the charge is Kenji.
He leans out of the open door of his SUV, flat palm pounding on the roof as he shouts in Japanese, and the Escalade comes screeching to a stop at the foot of our front steps, spraying gravel far enough to reach me.
“Get back inside,” Miko commands, reappearing at my side. He plants a massive palm against my chest and pushes me back.
“Not a chance. I’m going to kill that bastard,” I snarl. If I hadn’t been so concerned for Sora, I would have strangled the life out of Kenji yesterday, right there on our yacht.
But now that he’s delivered himself to my front door, shattering our alliance in one fell swoop, I refuse to let him take another breath.
“Do you have a gun?” Miko demands, continuing to shove me back, and when my behemoth of an adopted brother chooses to use his full strength of force, I can’t stand my ground.
“I don’t need a gun. I’ll kill him with my bare hands.”
“Yeah, well he has a gun, so you’re going to need more than that to get close to him.” Miko gives me another shove, and this time I don’t resist, because he’s right. I can’t kill Kenji if I’m dead.
With a snarl, I turn back towa
rd the entry and race for my office—where I keep my closest gun. The house is in chaos, some of the staff trying to put out the rapidly spreading fires while others seem more concerned with finding a way to stay alive.
“What the hell is going on?” my father demands as he bursts from his study, storming toward the front entrance.
“We’re under attack,” I growl. “Your puppets managed to cut their strings, and now Kenji’s on our front lawn with a convoy of guns.”
I don’t bother explaining further as I race the last few yards to the door into my home office and throw it open, making my way to the desk.
That’s when the gunfire starts.
I suspect they were trying to keep the attack quiet for as long as possible to avoid police interference. But by now, our remaining guards have been alerted, and no doubt Miko has taken charge of killing as many traitorous snakes as he can find.
Snagging several guns from the safe in my desk, I holster three, checking each to make sure they’re loaded.
But as I grab the fourth, I catch the distinct sound of a gun cocking from the doorway.
“Too slow, Chiaroscuro.”
I know it’s Kenji before I straighten to meet him in the eye, and my stomach knots because the fact that he made it past Miko likely means my brother is dead. Fury boils inside me, turning my blood to molten lava.
“You fucking traitor,” I snarl, my hand twitching with the desire to shoot him, but I know that I won’t be able to raise my gun, cock it, and fire in the time that it would take for him to kill me. “I knew you would do something this stupid. You’re a disgrace to the Tanaka name.”
“Oh? And what makes you think my family doesn’t fully support what I’m doing right now?” he asks, taking another step into the room as he keeps his gun aimed at me. “You think I would risk destroying your family without my father’s blessing? Without Sora’s blessing?”
It feels like a punch to the gut when Kenji says her name, and for a moment, I can’t make sense of his words. “Sora wouldn’t…” I start, but I don’t even know what I’m trying to say because the thought of Sora betraying me is beyond my comprehension.
“Sora wouldn’t what? Choose her family over you? She wouldn’t want us to kill the man whohumiliatedher on numerous occasions?”
Guilt knots in my chest as my stomach sinks like a stone. I was a complete ass in the beginning. I can own up to that. But I truly thought we were past it. “She’s my wife. She wouldn’t deceive me like that,” I growl, my heart hammering.
“That’s just cute if you thought my sister was ever loyal to you,” Kenji sneers. “Did you think she would stay with you forever? That she was just a good little Yakuza wife who would show you the luxury of a civilized existence? Youbaka. Sora’s safely back at the Tanaka estate, eagerly waiting for me to come tell her I killed you.”
Kenji slowly stalks closer, getting in a better position, but I can’t seem to move.
It’s all I can do to force breaths in and out of my lungs. Because somewhere in the back of my mind, the details start to come together, and I know he isn’t lying.
Alfonzo did say that Sora went home to visit her family. She did so without warning and while I wasn’t around to ask questions.
Did she know? Was she getting out before the attack?
