75–Joey
The wound in Yuka’s leg was still bleeding, no matter how much pressure I was putting against it, and I worried that it might have grazed the major artery in his leg. If that was the case, he would bleed out and then there would be trouble. A clan war would erupt, because one of the most respected leaders, had been killed.
I ripped another piece of fabric from the bottom of my skirt and wrapped it around Yuka’s leg, tightening it. He hassed and frowned. “I’m sorry, Yuka. I have to try and get the bleeding to stop ”
“It’s fine, Jory.” He grimaced. “It’s just me being an old wook”
“No, you’re not.” I said, brushing some hair away from his face, smearing blood across his forehead. “I don’t know where the bullet is. I don’t know if it’s still in there, causing problems, or if it’s clean through. I can’t see well enough in here and I don’t want to go digging around and possibly cause more harm than good.”
When the door of the hotel room had splintered open. Aoto had done his best to protect both Yuka and I, but when the big man took a bullet to the shoulder, Yuka had raced to his aid. Only to be shot in the leg himmelf
If it hadn’t been for my quick thinking, I probably would have been shot too
The young white woman in the hotel room of a Yakuza boss. I would have been mistaken as a prostitute and been killed so I
didn’t talk.
I’d managed to convince the men in ski masks that I was Yuka’s doctor, and if they didn’t take me too, then Yuka would die They had argued amongst themselves for a few minutes, while Yuka bled on the carpet, but in the end, they agreed and bundled me up too. The last thing I saw, before having a bag placed over my head, was an unconscious Yavu and his security detail piled up with Aoto.
I didn’t know if they were alive.
I didn’t know if Alex knew we were gone.
gопе.
I didn’t know if we were going to make it through.
But we had been taken to another location. Something near water and dumped into a dimly lit room. Yuka was groaning in pain, and I could tell he wasn’t handling it well, I managed to elevate his leg a little with my jacket, but it wouldn’t be
enough. I tried to keep him lucid; at least until we got out of here.
If we got out of here.
“Yuka, tell me about when Oliver married Jade.”
The old man groaned and chuckled at the same time. “Where do I start? Jade’s hand had been sought after by other clans. for political advantages in marriage. And I honestly thought she was open to the idea. She’s always been quite politically minded. Also, she had some feelings for one of the Ikeda clan generals.”
I moved, leaning against the wall and pulled Yuka down against me, cradling his head against my thigh, smoothing his hair away, while he spoke. If he was going to die here, he would have some form of comfort.
“But then she went cold on the idea. Just after Oliver and Alexander came to the clan. I thought maybe she might have fallen for Alex. He’s a good–looking young man, with ambition, and courage. Plus he’s half Japanese and quite honorable. But I was very surprised when she told me she was seeing Oliver. And even more so, when he told me he wanted to marry her.”
“You didn’t say no?”
“Would you?” he asked, rolling to his back, looking at me. “If your only child told you they were in love and were being looked after. Would you have forbidden them from being allowed to marry? Would you have denied them their happiness?”
I shook my head, and he nodded.
“I couldn’t do that to my Jade. Besides, if I had, I wouldn’t have gotten my little samurai. Hiro. He’s a bright light in a very dark world that we live in.”
That he was. That baby was such a happy little thing, and he was so loved, by not only his parents but his grandparents and everyone else in the Takada clan.
A voice spoke outside the little room we were put in, and both Yuka and I looked up, as the door opened. “Get up!”
73 Jory
I glared at the shadows in the open doorway. “He can’t you shot him in the fucking leg!”
They came in, grabbing Yuka roughly and dragged him to his feet and I climbed to mine, grabbing at them
“Be careful! He’s sixty–eight years old!”
SMACK!
The backhand which whipped across my check had me falling to my knees and I winced as the concrete connected with my knees. Blood washed into my mouth, and I spat a glob of it onto the ground, before I turned my head and looked up at the man who had slapped me.
your place, whore.”
“Know
“Be careful, she’s not just anyone’s whore.”
That voice.
My gaze slipped past the men who were roughly dragging Yuka out of the room, to the figure just beyond the doorway 1 knew that voice. I knew that figure.
Slowly I climbed to my feet, as the man who slapped me stepped back and I walked toward the doorway. Stepping through. I noticed we were in a large boat shed and in the middle of the floor there was a pair of chairs
My gaze
“Reiji.”
moved back to the man who had spoken, and anger burned through me.
My ex–security chuckled as he stepped into the light, and I rolled my eyes. “The theatrics are not your style.”
My gaze shifted around the room, looking for Yuka. He was being shoved onto one of the chairs and I looked back to Reiji.
“Let me help him, or he’ll die.”
nodding Reiji looked back to the leader of the Takada clan and then to me,
I could see in the brighter room, I noticed the Moving past him, I went to Yuka, crouching down in front of him. No bleeding had ebbed. I lowered my head, trying to look under his leg and in the end, I had to grab it, feeling along the back of his thigh, causing him to wince. “I’m sorry Yuka, I just need to check if—”
My finger slipped through a hole in his pants and into a wound in the back of his leg and I sighed with relief but grimaced with the pain it caused my boss.
“It’s a straight–through wound, Yuka. Hopefully it hasn’t done too much damage. I’m sorry I can’t do much more for you. right now.”
Yuka smiled at me, but I was worried about how pale he’d become. “You have done your job, Jolene, that is all I expect.” His head tipped back, and I frowned as he went a little limp in the chair. I checked his pulse, my fingers pressing against his neck. It was still there, but I didn’t know for how long
Yuka needed a hospital.
Now.
But I had to get us out of this situation and I stood, turning and looked at Reiji “I thought we left you in New York.”
“You did, which made this harder.”
“Made what harder? Getting to Yuka?”
Reiji tipped his head back and laughed. A whole belly laugh, which I found quite unsettling. He sighed and looked at me again. “Yuka? Getting to Yuka is easy. He’s predictable and a soft target.”
“But
“Getting to you though…. Reiji stepped forward. “That was harder.”
I blinked and looked at the man I had once trusted with my life. “Me! What?”
Why did he want me? What the hell was going on? I was just a girl from Miami, who fell in love with a Yakuza soldier. What the hell did this have to do with-
I looked from Reiji to Yuka, then back. “This is about Alex.”
“Bingo.” Reiji said, clicking his tongue as he pointed his finger. “That upstart little prick thinks he’s invincible. That his place in the clan is secure. But nothing is secure when you work for the Yakuza. My boss has plans for the Takada territories. But
73 Joey
Alex just keeps getting in the way and spoiling everything.”
The break–ins. The incursions into the Takada territories.
Was that Reiji’s doing?
No, he wasn’t that smart.
*Planning stuff doesn’t sound like it’s something you’d be able to come up with on your own, Reiji.” I said, and the smug look fell away from his face.
“He didn’t plan anything. I did.”
If my blood could have turned to ice. It would have.
I turned and stared at the man who was standing off to the side.
He was gone.
The kid I had once worshipped, replaced with anger and hatred.
“Hello Joey.”
My stomach dropped to my feet, and I shook my head, as I tried to understand what this meant. What his presence meant. But in the end, I couldn’t and as tears started to roll down my cheeks, I knew this was far from over.
