Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 96404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“If Mrs. Weaver hears you say that, she’ll have a stroke.”
He smiles, but it soon vanishes. “What do you plan to do now?”
“The only thing I can do. Bring down Akira.”
“That’s not wise.”
“And neither is being hollow for seven years.”
“Akira has dangerous allies, Sebastian.”
“I’m not a kid anymore.”
“You don’t understand.” He places a palm on the desk and leans forward. “He has allies you should never cross paths with.”
“I won’t know until I take my chances.”
“You will stop this nonsense of going against Akira and that’s fucking final.”
“No.”
“Sebastian…”
“No, Uncle. I’m not going to stand back this time and then lose my mind when she fucking disappears again.”
“This is about your life.”
“I’m well aware of the risks.”
“No, you’re not. I didn’t want to tell you this, but you need to know what you’re getting yourself into.”
“What are you talking about?”
Nate unbuttons his jacket and sits across from my desk. “Your parents didn’t really die due to an accident.”
“I kind of figured that out on my own. Mom embezzled something and she paid for it with her and Dad’s lives.”
“How do you know that?”
“The day they passed, I overhead them when we were in the car. As I grew up, I connected the dots.”
“That’s not the end of it. Do you know who Julia stole from?”
“Who?”
“The Yakuza. I don’t know if it’s the same branch Akira’s connected to, but it could be.”
My pulse quickens as the pieces of the puzzle start falling together. The fact that Ren knew about my tattoos and the accident back then all point in one direction, but I don’t want to think about its relation to Naomi.
So I say, “My parents already paid for it.”
“They did, but you were supposed to die with them. Instead, you were held prisoner in the hospital for ransom.”
“I was what?”
“You were kidnapped in Japan. They called Mr. and Mrs. Weaver and told them that if they didn’t pay, they wouldn’t be seeing their grandchild again.”
“They…paid?”
“Of course they did. They might have cut Nick off when he chose to be with Julia, but they always had this misconception that sooner or later, he’d come crawling back into their laps. So when they learned their precious eldest son had died, it devastated them. You were all they had left of Nick, therefore, they didn’t hesitate to pay the kidnappers.”
“But it’s done. They released me.”
“With a final note that said, ‘His life is ours now. Make sure he keeps his mouth and eyes shut if you don’t want him to end up like his parents.’ Mrs. Weaver burned that note and put the whole incident behind her as if it never happened. But I knew there’d come a time when you’d cross those people’s paths again. And here we are. Nick and Julia lost their lives because they messed with the wrong crowd. Don’t repeat your parents’ mistake, Sebastian. Don’t walk toward death with your own two feet.”
I lean back in my chair and let the information sink it, then I release a sigh. “But that’s the thing, Uncle. I’d rather die than live without being alive.”
40
Naomi
I make it to my father’s house.
Though I’m late, so the whole breakfast thing is over and everyone has moved on to doing their chores.
Mio tells me that Akira is with Father in his office and invites me to join her while she trains.
“Not this time.” My attention is focused on the second story where my father’s office is.
My sister’s shoulders hunch and she fingers her bamboo sword. “Is something wrong, Onee-chan?”
“Nah,” I say absentmindedly.
“Are you mad at me because I agreed to marry the Russian?”
I break eye contact with the building and stare back at her. Sometimes, I forget just how delicate my little sister is, and I don’t only mean physically. Yes, she has soft cheekbones, a small nose and lips, and huge almond eyes, but she’s also fragile on the inside.
Despite her love for kendo, Mio is the type who bawls her eyes out while watching an emotional scene in a movie. She’s also a bit naive, always finding the best in people before the worst. No clue where she got that trait from, because everyone surrounding her is monstrous. My father is at the top of that list.
“No, of course not, Mio. I’m mad at Father, not you.”
“But I agreed to it. I’m fine with it.”
“You think you’re fine with it, but you don’t know those people or how dangerous they are.”
“I can take care of myself. I’m not a baby.”
It’s useless to tell her that she doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into. She might be sheltered, but she’s as determined and rigid as one of her damn swords. She takes after our bastard father.
So I’ll just work on resolving this from the background without getting her involved.
“Okay, fine.”
She narrows her eyes. “You’re brushing me off.”