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“He told him to leave.” She licks her lips and looks at me, then at her grandfather. “He said he brings shame to himself for calling me that.”
“It is true,” Takahashi-san says. “You made it clear that Natalie is your preference, and I will honor that.”
Hmm. Maybe this Taka guy isn’t so bad after all.
He was the one who allowed Natalie to leave before. Perhaps he’ll do so again.
“But Hiroshi is right. We still need to discuss the wedding.”
Or not.
“There will be no wedding. Natalie is mine now and forever. If you try to take her from me, I will kill each of you with my bare hands, and then I’ll piss on your food and sell everything you own. Except I’ll keep that giant rug hanging behind you. I think my cats would like to use it to climb on.”
He tilts his head, raises his eyebrow again, and nods. Then he wipes his mouth with his napkin and rolls his wheelchair away from the table. As a unit, everyone else stands as well. All but me and Natalie.
Then he leaves, and they follow.
“Was it something I said?” I ask the empty room before turning to Natalie, who’s looking at me with a little wonder and a little confusion on her face.
“You’re not scared of him.”
“Should I be?” I reach out and pick up another meat on a stick. Don’t know what it’s called, but it’s delicious.
“Most are. The Yakuza aren’t a group to be messed with. They take things seriously.”
“Too seriously. I would never give that rug to Fido and Rex. It’s far too big for them to climb on. I’d have a heart attack if they got too high up and fell.”
“It’s a tapestry from the Ming Dynasty,” Nat explains. “Worth about a quarter of a million, if I recall correctly.”
“Fine. We can take it with us, but I’m cutting it down to only let them climb half of it.”
“They’re not going to let us leave,” she says softly enough that she pulls me away from my food to look at her.
She has her hands in her lap, head down as if in defeat.
“I meant every word I said.”
She looks up at me. “I know. You’ll die if you try to fight them.”
“Nah. I’m too stubborn for that,” I say with a smirk. “Might be on the run for a while, but I’m a Hound, baby. And Hounds don’t go down. We might stumble, but we aren’t out for long. And you want to know the best part?”
“What?”
“Hounds. It’s in the name. Ain’t just me who’ll protect you, Sunshine. It’s all of us.”
Chapter 21 - Natalie
“Mrs. Natalie?” the woman from before calls out as she enters, bowing quickly before standing. “Takahashi-san waits for you in the tearoom. You and your husband.”
I look at Atom, who’s still putting more chicken teppanyaki in his mouth, then nod to the house woman. She must be new, as she wasn’t here the last time I was. But that seems to be the only thing that’s changed around here. I’m still being summoned without a say on if I want to go.
At least he knew Atom was going to come, even if he wasn’t invited.
“We’ll be there shortly,” I say, and the woman bows once more before exiting as quickly and as quietly as she came in.
“Don’t tell me we have to drink more tea,” Atom grumbles as he stands, then holds my chair as I stand as well.
I don’t think I’ve ever noticed just how gentlemanly he always is with me. Holding the door when he could, making sure I walked on a certain side of him when outside. He even made sure to get me things I like to eat and never seemed to be afraid to show he didn’t poison it by tasting it first or letting me choose between the two meals he either picked up or made for us.
