Page 20 of Whiskey's Redemption

“It’s not an idle threat. Both of the girls are on lockdown until the end of the week. You arriving is the only thing that will change that.”

Are you fucking kidding me? Really?Now family has gone a step too far, holding my sisters’ hostage. None of this is their fault, and they were never intended for this position. I may not want it, but I don’t want to leave them to the fate of marrying old men who won’t love or appreciate them.

“Kato, I have to go to work.” Handing the steward my boarding pass, I move forward. “Unless you’re going to Indianapolis, I suggest you head off,Jiji.”

Grabbing me by the arm as I take my passport back, Kato looks ready to murder me on the spot for my flippant quip. I in essence called him an old man in a not so friendly term. He deserved it. He’s acting like my father, and that’s the last thing I would refer to him as with any term of endearment. He knows that my comparison was not meant in a nice way.

“Excuse us,” he says with a tight smile to the steward at the kiosk.

Tightly grinning with a hint of sarcasm, I say, “I’ll be right back,” before anything escalates. The look on his face echoes his fear for me, but he doesn’t pick up the phone in front of him. I’ll consider that a win.

Leading me away and to the side, I yank my arm from his grip. “Kato—”

“No, Kaori, you don’t speak right now.” Steam rises off his words as he spits them succinctly in Japanese. “The position is and will always be yours, and Oyabunexpects you will be there.”

“I never asked for the position or the branding.”

“Yet you have the wealth that keeps you in the lifestyle you desire. You don’t deny it.”

Got me there. “Cut me off then. I don’t need the money that bad.”

“Kaori, this was not your sisters’ fates, and they don’t belong there. You know this. Fulfill it, or there will be repercussions.”

“And if I flat out refuse it? Will you make them?”

Hanging his head slightly, fully exasperated with my denial of the fate that is mine, he announces, “He’s dying. There will be no choice.”

Damn.

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