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Hearing that it wasn’t my family who paid the ransom isn’t all that surprising. But knowing it was the Leone family, once again, that stepped in? I owe them so much.

“If you ask me, I’ll sign it all over to you,” I say into the quiet room, gaining every man’s attention, but my eyes are on Vinny.

“You can’t,” Uncle pleads, but I don’t look at him. Not yet. I want Vinny to know just how grateful I am to him, to his father. I would be dead if not for them. Sure, I wanted it a few times, but wanting it and knowing it are different things.

“Barbara—” Uncle starts, and I snap.

“My name is Natalie. Don’t you dare utter that name to me or anyone again. I will have my husband kill your entire family while you watch before he kills you too. Do you understand me?”

I’m not sure if it’s the menace that surprisingly pours out of me or that Atom chuckles with glee at the possibility of causing harm that has Uncle nodding like a damn bobblehead on a dashboard.

“Is this true? Can it all be true?” the other Japanese man, whose name I don’t know, asks with a critical eye at all of us.

“It is,” Grandfather confirms, finally speaking up.

The man I don’t know walks up to me. Atom stands quickly and steps in front of me to block him from coming closer. The man stops and bows deeply.

“Mrs. Natalie.” He rises. “I, Shin Kuratko, head of the Kuratko family, welcome you.”

Atom looks back at me with a raised eyebrow.

I nod. “It’s a thing,” I say, because I can read him easily enough to answer his question if what this guy is doing should happen or not.

A grunt from my uncle pulls my attention briefly to him as he also walks over. Not as close, but enough to bow. He’s far quicker, and he doesn’t address me at all.

I’m not sure if I’ll take this… this… job? Inheritance? This complete fuckery that landed in my lap not by choice but by shitty happenstance?

“I’ll alert the rest of the family.” Uncle leaves before anyone can say anything. Riku follows but bows to the room. Not sure if it’s to Grandfather or me, but I get it. We’re in murky waters regarding who’s in charge right now.

“I, too, shall leave you. Please call on me as you need.” Shin bows low to me and then separately to Grandfather before retreating as well.

“Don’t they ever tire of bowing?” Atom says as he sinks into the seat beside me once more.

“It’s a culture thing,” Vinny says as Keiko comes in with the coffee. “Finally.” He rises and pours the coffee into four cups, taking one for himself and leaving the others there as he sips on it. “Consider it this way.” He looks at Atom. “If someone doesn’t like her, they don’t bow. It’s the easy way to see who’s on her side or not. Am I right?” Vinny turns a wicked grin on Keiko, who goes wide-eyed and nods, bows to the room, and leaves in haste, shutting the doors and finally giving us some sense of privacy.

“Luca, come have some caffeine. I know you need it,” Vinny says to his man, and then he goes to sit in one of the vacant chairs the Yakuza men left. He’s facing us now as he sets his half-drunk coffee on the table. “We’ll need to move quickly if you plan to take over.”

A strangled noise comes out of me, but nothing coherent enough to be considered words.

“I get that it’s a lot,” Vinny says with a kind smile that gets me breathing again. “But we unfortunately don’t have time to weigh all options. As we speak, those willing to be loyal to you are learning about the change in command.”

“And those who aren’t?” Atom asks with a deadly tone.

Vinny raises his eyebrow at him. “I thought Hounds were smart.”

“High school dropout. Spell it out for me.”

“They’ll be gathering allies to overtake you.” We all turn to look at Grandfather. I almost forgot he was in the room with how quiet he’s been through it all.

Standing, I feel Atom’s hand on my wrist, and I look down at him. Without knowing it, I’ve come to read his mind without him voicing anything. I know he’s concerned for my safety, but he doesn’t need to be. Not that I don’t think Grandfather would hurt me, but because, despite my limited fighting career, I really do know how to fight back. If Grandfather were to harm me, it would end with him having lasting repercussions, not me.

I give Atom a small smile, and when I walk past him, his hand slides off me. But his warmth lingers in the wake of his touch.

I go to my grandfather and kneel in front of him. His head is bowed in defeat, and for once, I don’t see the powerful man I’d always seen in him. Age seems to have caught up to him ten times in the last ten minutes. That, or I just never looked past the front he put up. Now I take in the deep bags under his eyes, the slight shake in his hands. The way his shoulders hunch and his knuckles curl.

“Did you love my grandmother?”

I look into his eyes, searching for the truth. He spoke of her as if she were his entire world, but I’m not sure if I trust it. It could just be something he said to manipulate me. It happens. It has happened so often to me that I can hardly determine who can be trusted at first glance.