Okay. Everything is going according to plan for now.
I looked at Hiroko. Her two guards shifted closer to her, ready. "Stay close to me."
She nodded.
I looked around the helicopter at everyone else. Hiro. Reo. The Claws. All of them had their hands on their weapons now.
All of them knew what was about to happen.
The rooftop security was walking toward us, batons still lit, smiles on their faces like they were greeting honored guests.
They had no idea.
Let’s begin.
Chapter thirty-four
Bullets and Blood
Kenji
The helicopter began to touch down on the rooftop of the Shirogane Hotel, and I looked out at the security guards waiting for us.
They wore black suits and earpieces and waved us in with illuminated batons, guiding the helicopters to their landing zones like they did this every day.
I looked out my window and took in the security guard closest to our helicopter as he stepped forward. The lights from his baton swept across his face, and then lower. His collar shifted slightly as he moved.
And that's when I saw it.
A fox.
Branded into the side of his neck. Dark ink in the shape of my father's symbol.
My hand went to my gun.
I thought about my own people. The Claws. The Roar. The Fangs. The Eyes. We were united as one body—a family built on loyalty and choice.
My father saw his men as possessions. To be in his inner circle, he branded and marked the man like cattle, putting his symbol on their neck.
"Reo." I gestured to the window.
He leaned forward and looked. Then his jaw tightened. "Those aren't Yoshiwara guards. They’re the Fox's inner circle."
Hiro sneered. "Let’s get them.”
I counted twenty guards, maybe more. Every single one had the fox brand on their neck. For a rooftop this size, that was a skeleton crew. "Save your bullets for the bigger fish."
Hiro tilted his head. "The Fox didn't expect trouble from the sky."
"Which means they had no idea we'd come this way. Good." Reo's fingers went to the small mic at his collar and pressed it. "Kill all the guards on the rooftop. Now."
Before my other helicopters could even land, their doors burst open and bullets poured out in deadly waves.
One of the guards tried to run, arms pumping. Made it three steps before a bullet punched him in the back of the head. His body pitched forward. He dropped face-first onto the concrete, shattering his jaw. Blood sprayed. Teeth scattered.
I smiled.
Gunfire erupted across the rooftop. Sharp cracks cut through the sound of helicopter blades.
