As one of the biggest players in the Yakuza, I do my duty and rule my syndicate with a hard but fair fist. I follow my own rules and adhere to my own sense of duty.
Until Mei.
When my mentor sends his daughter to live with me and instructs me to put her on the correct path, I try to use a strong hand to guide her. But that hand tends to gravitate to her rear end, especially when Mei runs her smart mouth. She’s young, fiery, and looking for love.
Though I follow strict rules and enforce them in my life, Mei bucks them with ease. She’s a little rebel, one I never want to break. In fact, I fall for her just the way she is. She’s the one I never saw coming, and the one I can’t live without.
When an enemy sees an opening and tries to use her against me, I’ll burn his lineage to the ground and salt the earth behind me. For Mei. For our future. For our family.
MINK's Note: Grab a fuzzy friend and a cup of caffeine for this tale of a beast, his rebel, and their happy ending.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
Kazuo
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know the Itos had any idea we were using that dock for shipments.” My soldier shakes, blood dripping from his busted nose.
“I don’t think that’s true.” Toru shakes out his fingers, then slides on his brass knuckles. “I think you knew exactly what you were doing.” He swings, bone crunches, and my soldier screams.
“No one can hear you.” I sigh and lean against the doorframe to wait for the screaming to subside.
“Don’t lie to us, and I won’t have to hurt you.” Toru says it in a matter-of-fact tone as he wipes the blood from his knuckles. “I can make this quick, but that’s up to you.”
I massage my temples. The quiet war the Itos have been waging against me is finally starting to rub me raw. They want to control all Yakuza in this city, but that’s not how this works. The founding families share the reins, just like they do in Japan. But Isamu Ito has already destroyed the entire Yoshiko line, fracturing the families, and now he’s set his sights on my empire.
“What did he offer you? Money? Position?” Toru runs his hand along a table full of tools, all of them polished and clean … for now. He’s meticulous with his implements just like he is with all things.
“Please,” the soldier blubbers. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything. I promise I-I-I would never–”
“Enough!” I snap and advance on him. “Your actions got seven people killed. Seven! Two women who won’t be returning home to their kids. Five men who had families waiting for them, who depended on them! They worked for me. I took care of them. They were my responsibility. And you killed them with your betrayal!” My roar seems to echo off the walls and magnify just like my rage.
He wails.
I snatch a blade from Toru’s tray and slam it down into the soldier’s thigh. “Tell me the fucking truth!”
He screams again, and I slap my palm over his bloody mouth, containing his pain and making him swallow it back down.
“Damn, Kaz.” Toru nods appreciatively. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
“I’m going to let you speak.” I glare into the soldier’s terrified eyes. “And the words that come from your mouth better be the fucking truth. Understand?”
He blinks, shock and agony in his eyes.
I release my hold on his mouth.
He gasps in a breath, then another.
“The next words from your lips better be the truth.” Toru bends over, his hands on his knees. “Because I’ve never seen Kaz this mad. I don’t know what he’s going to do to you if you lie again, but I’m dying to find out.”
The soldier whimpers. Then his entire demeanor changes, his body going limp as he sniffles pathetically.
Toru gives me a look, surprise and pride in his eyes.
“Yes.” The soldier lets his head fall forward, his cowardice apparent when he can’t meet my gaze. “Yes, Ito said if I gave him information, he’d put me in charge of your holdings once he killed you. He said I’d have everything. All I had to do was …” He sighs. “Tell him about your business. The shipments. The money. Your movements.”
I back away and stare at the traitor, my anger boiling inside me.
Toru chooses a wide blade from his table. “How much did you tell him before we caught you?”
“I—I’m sorry.” He starts blubbering again, but when Toru waves the blade in front of his face, he spills. “I told him about the warehouse and the drugs. I … I’m the reason they’re dead. I told him. I thought … I thought he was going to kill you tonight. I thought …” His words fade, and I can almost pity him when he finally realizes what a dupe he’s been. But I don’t have room for pity. Not when I have seven bodies to bury.
Toru looks at me, his eyebrows raised, his blade at the ready. I give him the nod, then turn and climb the stairs. “Send his head to Isamu. Let him see what his treachery got him.” I push through the door to the main house and stride toward my office.
My men don’t bat an eyelash despite the gore on my hands, the blood splattered on my shirt.
“Sir.” One of my men hurries along at my heels.
“What?” I bark.
“The package you were expecting from Mr. Nakamura is here.”
“Package?” I don’t recall expecting a package from my old mentor. “What the hell are you talking about?” I whirl on him.
He blanches. “At the front door,” he says meekly.
I bypass my office and storm down the hallway to the foyer.
When I get there, I stop. Dead.
A girl stands there, her wide eyes on me–more specifically, on the blood all over me. Her perfect pouty mouth drops open, and she shrinks back against the door. She’s beautiful yet out of place, like a flower blooming in the middle of a battlefield.