Penance Page 25

I turn to Torque, my face contorts in anguish. “I can’t let Sass die. I have to go. I have to fight, Torque. I can’t let them take Sass and my mother.”

  Torque nods. “We won’t let them. But this needs to be your mother’s decision. We can’t force her, Sensei. We can’t exchange one life for another. But make no mistake, all of us are fuckin’ going. It’ll be us against them. We will do everything in our power for your woman, and your mother. I’ll round up the men and tell them we’re gonna have a fuckin’ fight on our hands.”

  “I have to talk to my mother, I have no idea what the fuck I’m going to do.” Anxiety swarms inside of me. Never before have I been placed in this kind of predicament.

  Torque places his hand on my shoulder and nods. “Good luck.”

  As I turn the corner to the hall, I’m met by the concerned faces of my parents. Mother looks stoic, but Father looks petrified. I bet they fucking heard everything.

  Mother steps forward embracing me tightly. “Son… do you care for Ayla?”

  I jolt my head back. This isn’t what I was expecting her to ask right now. “Yes, mother I—”

  “Then we will not argue over this. The demand is for me, then we shall go and make sure Ayla is returned to you.”

  Father scoffs turning up his nose as he pulls Mother to him.

  “I don’t think you are understanding the big picture here, Mother.”

  Father stands taller with a low grunt. “If she goes, I go, too.”

  Sighing, I tilt my head. “They knew you would do so. The demand stipulated you are not to go…” I pause. “I fear, Mother, if you go, you would be running straight into the arms of the man you ran from.”

  They both gasp as Mother’s hand shoots to her mouth and Father’s face hardens. “You believe the man holding Alya to be Aiko?”

  I nod, and Mother’s eyes glisten as she turns to my father and looks into his eyes with a sniff. “Then it is even more imperative I go, Hiro. I cannot let Raiden go alone. I also cannot let Ayla be harmed by that man… you know if you come, you will only aggravate his temper. If I go, if Raiden goes, along with the club, we will find a way out of this. Of that I am sure.” She turns to look at me raising her brow in question. “Correct, son?”

  My stomach falls as I think about Sass. I need to get her out of this, but if I don’t come baring my mother as the prize, I won’t get Sass back. Trading my mother for Sass doesn’t feel right. But with my brothers by my side, I’m sure we can leave with both of them.

  Even if it means I don’t get to come out of it.

  At least they will be safe.

  I nod. “The entire club is going to be there. We will not let them take you, nor harm you. You have my word.”

  Tears fill her eyes as she looks into the eyes of my father, her bottom lip trembling as she rushes into his arms embracing him. “I know what I must do, Hiro. It pains me. But I must go. If something happens, tell the girls I love them. I love you, my dearest, do know that,” she gushes, and I look away from them as she leans in kissing my father hard on his lips. A sense of guilt washes over me, and I hate that this is happening. It’s abhorrent to me that I have to be the one to do this to my family.

  My father breaks apart from my mother and places his hand on my arm. “Bring her back to me.”

  I nod as he looks into my eyes. “You come back to me, too, son.”

  Taking Mother’s hand, I nod again and pull her with me out into the clubhouse, not looking back at my father for fear of changing my mind. Leaving him behind after all the training and everything he’s put me through, after him raising me, feels like he should be here in this fight with us. Him, sitting this out feels so wrong.

  Once we step into the clubroom from the hall, I notice everyone’s ready. Trax walks over and hands me a Glock as Mother’s eyes open wide, hers still full of tears as we all head for the vehicles. I’ll be in the van with Mother and Vibe while everyone else rides. We need to be a club in this, we must ride as one.

  Together.

  A brotherhood.

  A family united.

  We slide into the van, and I look at Mother. She looks pale like she’s about to fall apart at any second. I reach out grabbing her hand and look into her glistening eyes. The weight of this situation weighing heavy on us both as Vibe drives.

  “Mother, I just want you to know, I love you. Everything you did for me, to make my life better. I will never forget that.”

  She weakly smiles and shakes her head. “It is like you are saying your goodbyes, Raiden.”

  “No, we will make it through this. I just want you to know that you are the best mother I could have asked for. And Father, he was the best man you could have possibly picked to raise me.”

  She sniffs while tightening her hand in mine, a tear running down her face as she smiles at me. “Hiro lives up to his name. He truly is a hero. He saved me in so many ways. From Aiko and from myself when the memories took over. He raised you and your sisters in the best possible way. I love that man more than life itself.”

  I smile. “And you can tell him that when we get back.”

  She nods looking like she doesn’t believe me. I’m not sure if I believe me. I have no idea what we will be walking into when we get there. All I know is I’m going to be protecting my mother and Sass with my life if it comes down to it.

  SENSEI

  We pull into the warehouse parking lot, and there are no signs of anything as Vibe pulls the van to a halt outside of the warehouse. We slide out of the van, my Glock in my hand, and my mother by my side.

  Torque moves in beside me as we look at the old worn-down building out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.

  “We go in together. Everyone surround Sensei and Shinobu. We guard them with our fuckin’ lives throughout this whole thing. We are family. Got it?” Torque announces.

  Everyone nods as they file in surrounding us.

  Mom grips onto my cut, holding tight as we walk as one inside the warehouse. It’s dark, it smells old as we walk through, but once inside, it opens out and instantly, I see Sass tied to the chair, gag in her mouth. She’s bleeding, and my instinct is to bolt through everyone to get to her.

  Fuck the cause!

  I want to make sure she’s okay.

  But the fact there’s at least fifteen Yakuza men standing either side of her is halting my decision.

  We all walk, guns drawn, but they don’t even attempt to aim weapons at us.

  This is strange. It’s like they don’t want a fight. It’s fucking weird.

  We edge cautiously, while I observe all around us.

  Waiting.

  Watching.

  No sign of them making a move as they watch us cautiously approaching. They step aside, and Aiko makes his appearance through the middle to step up beside Sass placing his hand on her shoulder. I flinch as Mother cowers beside me. I wrap my arm protectively around her, supporting her discomfort as his eyes lock on her in an evil stare. His hand tightens on Sass’s shoulder making her scream out in pain, and I grunt out my disapproval as we all halt in a standoff.

  “Get your hands off her,” I call out.

  Torque looks back at me sternly in disapproval, but I don’t care.

  He can’t touch her.

  Aiko smiles running his hand a little lower toward her breast but not quite there. “From what I understand, she isn’t claimed, so she’s up for grabs,” he announces.

  My chest tightens as her eyes widen, and I grit my teeth.

  No fucking way am I having that. No one but me is touching Sass let alone having her. I don’t care what it takes. It might be too soon, but in my eyes she’s mine. Always will be.

  So I stand taller. “She’s mine. She’s claimed. No one touches her but me.”

  My brothers all subtly look toward me as I keep my eyes firmly on Sass, her eyes glisten as she sinks into the seat slightly. I’m not sure if that’s from relief at my words, but either way, she’s mine now.

  Aiko chuckles while shaking
his head as he lifts his hand from her and shrugs. “Shame. She’s a delightful little thing. But then again, I have no need for a feisty mechanic when I have my wife back.” The way he grits his teeth and sneers out the word ‘wife’ makes me cringe, and Mother begins to shudder beside me.

  “What makes you think she’s going anywhere with you? We have the numbers,” I sneer, and he smiles.

  “Hmm… what makes you think she’s the only one going with me… son?” he blurts out, and my body riddles in disgust as Mother looks at me letting out an almighty wail.

  “No. No, Aiko. You cannot take my son.”

  “Our son, Shinobu!” his booming voice yells through the warehouse so loud her name echoes twice. “He’s my son, too, and you stole him from me. He should be my Wakagashira, and he will be once we arrive in Japan. Speaking of, the jet is waiting… let’s go.” He signals his men to move forward, and we all raise our guns as he lets out a booming laugh.

  “We have the men, remember. You think we’re just gonna let you take Sensei and Shinobu without a fuckin’ fight?” Torque asks laughing at Aiko.

  He grins wide, and a sense of dread washes over me as he shakes his head. “No. That’s why we called in reinforcements,” he sneers letting out a loud whistle, and more men run in with rifles.

  I open my eyes wide when I see the Andrettis in their black pinstriped suits standing on the side of the Yakuza aiming their weapons at us as the Yakuza now raise their guns at us for added effect.

  We’re severely outnumbered, outgunned, and not to mention outplayed by the fucking Italian Mafia.

  Motherfuckers.

  “Enzo you fucking piece of motherfuckin’ shit,” Torque calls.

  Enzo smiles and shrugs. “Got to play the winning side, Torque. And you… you’re not on the winning side anymore,” he sneers aiming his gun right at my president and best friend.

  “I’m going to gut you like a motherfucking fish when I get my hands on you, Enzo,” Trax calls out, and Enzo laughs.

  “I look forward to it.” Enzo winks at Trax cockily, making Trax move to bolt forward, but Torque grabs his brother before he gets himself fucking killed.

  “Hey, Sensei, just so you know… I ran your girl off the road. Hit her real good, too. Delivered her straight to Aiko like he asked me to. Man her tits feel good. I knew they would the moment I tried to hit on her in the club. Fucking shame she refused me. Felt good to give her some payback,” Franky, Enzo’s second-in-charge, calls out to me.

  Gritting my teeth this time I’m the one to move forward, and Vibe pulls me back as I breathe harshly out of my nose, while Sass shakes her head infinitesimally like she’s begging me not to start something. Looking into her eyes, I see she’s desperate to tell me something. I just can’t figure out what it is with her mouth tied up.

  I need to get to her.

  “Right, enough! We have a jet to catch. Bring me my wife and son. We have years of catching up to do,” Aiko calls out.

  Four of his men rush forward to collect us, and I look to Torque begging him with my eyes.

  He nods. “We’ll fix this shit up, Sensei,” he whispers before the men grab Mother and me, and they yank us away from my brothers—my family.

  Enzo’s men have guns aimed at their heads, and I look back to Sass, a lump in my throat while they push me, grabbing my gun and taking my hands so I can’t do anything but walk with them as they lead me to one of the cars in a procession of vehicles.

  I’m utterly helpless.

  A blur catches my sight from behind Enzo, but the underlings push Mother and me into a long black limo which forces me to lose vision of inside the warehouse. I turn to see some Ishikawa underlings sinking into the other cars. Aiko slides in with us, then we’re alone. Just Aiko, a guard either side of him with guns aimed at Mother’s head, and me in the back as the convoy drives off. My initial instinct is to take out a guard, then shoot Aiko with the gun. But that still leaves one guard. Mother could be harmed, and I can’t risk it. So I sit still while Aiko stares at me.

  My breathing is short and sharp while I take my mother’s hand beside me as he sits opposite us. His intense stare is grating on the very last of my nerves. I wish he would just say something. Any damn thing.

  “How did you find us?” I blurt out.

  He curls up his lip. “We’re finally alone, a family reunited, and this is the first thing you ask your father?”

  “You are not my father.”

  He tilts his head like he disapproves of my words as he juts out his hands and adjusts his cufflinks. “You would be wise not to disrespect me in the future. I will give you just this one because you’re new to this, but as my Wakagashira, you will need to learn devotion to me.”

  I snort out a heavy laugh. “I’m not joining the Yakuza or being your second-in-fucking-charge. You’re fucking crazy.”

  “Son—”

  “Don’t call me that—”

  “Raiden—”

  “How did you find us?”

  He lets out a long huff and sits taller against his seat. “The guard…” he looks at my mother, “… you paid to find cadavers that looked like Hiro and you… he cracked under pressure. It took years of torture, years of pain. But finally he cracked and told me you were indeed alive, and that you moved to America. However, it took me some time to track you down, Shinobu. You and Hiro should have changed your names that was your mistake.

  I furrow my brows. Looking to Mother. They paid the underling to help them? She always told me he helped them because they forged a friendship. I guess payment makes far more sense to turn on your Oyabun. She winces at me as Aiko continues, “Then imagine how I felt when, to my surprise, I found out you had a son, Raiden, who was born seven months after you left Tokyo. I put two and two together. And then when I saw pictures of you, Raiden, I knew I was your father. Your eyes, they’re mine. Then I had your records pulled from the hospital. Of course, I have people everywhere, and I had a test done. The results came back… unequivocally that you’re mine. There is no doubt.”

  Anger swarms through me that he was able to get this done without my knowledge. I feel like he has not only come in and tried to take over our town, tried to take my family, but he’s also invaded my privacy. This man is nothing but a bane on my existence.

  I glance at Mother who’s now slowly crying into her hands. “There was never any doubt. We just did not want you around,” I spit at him, and he smiles—the fucker actually smiles.

  “You are quite the honest man, aren’t you, Raiden?”

  “You won’t get away with this.” I tighten my hand on my mother’s to comfort her.

  “Oh, but I have, and I will. Enough now, we’re here.” He waves his hand through the air to dismissively shut me up as the limo pulls to a stop in a field, and I look out the window to see a jet on the smallest of runways, and I wonder how in the hell I’m going to get us out of this.

  The car door opens, and he files out along with his underlings. I look to Mother, her eyes are open wide in fear. “Don’t worry, Mother. I’ll protect you.”

  She nods as an arm reaches inside grabbing and yanking her out of the car. I groan in anger as I jump out of the car, my hands not hesitating as I punch the underling in the face for manhandling my mother.

  Aiko pulls a gun shoving it in my chest making me stop as Mother lets out a small scream. I pant hard as my knuckles ache and the underling stands back up smiling at me but does nothing in retaliation as he shakes it off and starts walking us toward the jet. I glance around to see the other vehicles pulled up, and the underlings standing tall, their suits well maintained, their faces stoic as they watch us, standing guard.

  It slowly sinks in.

  There’s no one here to help.

  My brothers can’t be here to support me.

  I have no weapons.

  The jet is firing up ready to go.

  I don’t see a way out of this other than my mother and me flying back to Tokyo with my blood father to join the m
otherfucking Yakuza. It floods my senses, it fills my pores, the dread leeching into every fiber of my being, and I can’t stop it. That typhoon is overwhelming and immersing me, my lungs are filling with water drowning me from the inside out. I can’t breathe as I look to my mother, the same thoughts obviously flooding her mind as her eyes well with so many tears they overwhelm her beautiful eyelids and fall.

  I shake my head in some sort of apology.

  I’ve fucking failed her.

  I have absolutely no idea how to fix this situation.

  Aiko heads with us to the bottom of the stairs leading to the jet.

  This is it!

  The last time I will be on American soil.

  I didn’t even have time to say goodbye to Sass or kiss her tender lips farewell. To tend to her wounds, or to ensure she’s all right, and to help her recover from what she will be going through right now. I will never taste her again. Never be with her again. Never see her gorgeous face, or stare into those tender eyes.

  I hope she knows how I feel about her.

  I hope she knows what she means to me.

  At least she aware I’ve claimed her, that’s if she’s even still alive. The remaining Yakuza and the Andrettis may have killed my brothers and Sass back at the warehouse by now. We may be the only ones still alive. The thought cripples me, and I hunch over letting out a long breath as Aiko’s underling prods me in the back trying to force me to step up the stairs.

  A faint noise pricks up my ears. It startles me as it becomes more apparent. And as I stand up and spin around something hurtles past my face. It’s only now I realize it’s motherfucking bullets.

  Quick reflexes come into play. I reach out grabbing my mother yanking her to me as I turn to see bikes, all of them, and not only that, Alpha Romeos and Subaru WRX’s speeding toward us at an alarming rate.

  My brows knot in my confusion as I try to figure out what the hell is happening.

  More bullets fly past me, I duck, but quickly realize they’re flying straight past me and are landing in the jet’s tires and gas tank. I grin as I make a run for it, taking my mother with me.

  Aiko yells out in frustration. One of his underlings grabs him and runs along with us. I guess he figures if Aiko is with me, the bullets won’t hit him.