I’m not dumb enough to miss the veiled threat he made toward Stephanie at her flower shop, and while I couldn’t care less if he’sgunning for me, I will not let her get caught in the crosshairs of my messy world again.
She might not want my protection—hell, I know she doesn’t trust in it—but Iwillmake sure she’s not in any danger.
Raf shakes his head. “There’s no way. You’ve finally gone off the deep end. That house is an impenetrable fortress. Why do you think Father never went after the Tanakas directly?”
“Because he wouldn’t so much as lift a finger if it might put his neck on the line—not if he could think of a way to manipulate the situation instead,” I say flatly, my voice dripping with malice.
My anger toward our father has only intensified since I found out what he did to Stephanie. Miko was right.
The Don was a sick, twisted man, willing to marry Leo, his first legitimate son and heir, to our sworn enemy to save face when he was losing a silent war for territory.
He stole Miko as a baby from his biological parents to keep them under his boot.
He kidnapped and brutalized Stephanie just to keep me in line.
And my brothers sit in stunned silence as I vocally spit on his memory for the first time.
I’m usually the calm one, the level-headed Chiaroscuro with an ability to take a step back and look at things objectively. But when it comes to Stephanie, that’s never been the case.
She is the very lifeblood that gives reason to my existence, and just the thought of Kenji making good on his veiled threat boils my blood.
Standing, I pace, the need for movement crawling under my skin like electricity. “I’ve been watching the Tanaka compound around the clock for days,” I explain, diverting the conversation back to my plan. “We know enough now that it could work. Especially if it’s just me, one man sneaking in under the cover of night. You know I can do it.”
I’ve done it before—to the family that took Stephanie from me.
And though I don’t say as much, I know my brothers are thinking it.
They’ve seen the incredible violence I’m capable of when I put my mind to it, and I can feel that heavy truth weighing down the air.
“It would be a suicide mission,” Raf says softly.
I turn toward him, let him see the cold in my eyes. “Then it’s my funeral.”
“If you think we’ll just let you?—”
“You think you can stop me?” My tone cuts across his words. “The longer Kenji breathes, the more danger Stephanie’s in. And Jackson.”
That gets them.
I see it in Miko’s face, in Sandro’s tightening jaw.
Raf is still shaking his head, but he’s outnumbered now.
Where we had been evenly split about going to war or waiting for a proper strategy, now it’s three on one, Raf being the only brother hoping to hold out for better odds.
Miko leans back, blowing out a loaded breath. “You’re really gonna do this?”
I don’t answer. I just look at him.
Sandro’s the first to nod. “Just tell us how we can help.”
Miko follows. “We’ll set you up for the best chance of success.”
Raf curses under his breath, muttering something about idiots, but even he doesn’t try to stop the momentum now, and something in my chest eases, allowing in a trickle of relief at the thought that I might at least be able to do this to protect Stephanie.
Two nights later, I’m crouched in the shadows outside the Tanaka estate.
Sweat trickles down the nape of my neck beneath the high collar of my dark shirt meant to help me blend in with the moonless night.
