Page 35 of Soldier, Tailor, Spy

Jake listened to the whole recording, then deleted it. Later, he told Ginger what he said. She huffed, giving him no response. Being married to Ginger once, he knew pressing her would get him nowhere. So, he kept his damn mouth shut. He’d done his job. The ball was in her court either way. Jake knew, even before the incident—as Ginger now called it—what Mr. Yamamoto meant to Ginger and how she considered him family. He had no such loyalties to the Yakuza boss. Even though he felt sorry for the old man, he still wanted to beat him and his son’s ass. Jake also didn’t want the older man or his son anywhere near his house, his ex-wife, or his daughter.

But he knew that wasn’t his call to make.

It was Ginger’s.

He had issues with the man. The biggest being the old man was a flesh trader. They were the lowest of the low, snatching women from their families. Selling them into a life of sexual servitude. Those women usually only had one escape, and that was death.

As he stood there, staring the old man down, he wondered how the fuck Mr. Yamamoto found them. Not only that, but it was pretty ballsy showing up at the house so early in the morning. Unannounced. With no protection.

A calculated risk, for sure. One that had paid off for the old guy.

Jake came up behind Ginger, placing a hand on her shoulder for support. He knew Fawn was occupied, and he didn’t see Declan in her arms, which meant she’d most likely placed him in the little gated play area she’d bought for the front room before she opened the door.

He leaned into her and whispered, “Let’s take this outside.”

Fawn didn’t need to be involved, and he knew his daughter missed the man she thought of as a grandfather. Fawn often spoke fondly of the older man. Didn’t mean he’d allow the other man’s filth to invade their living space or infect either Fawn or Declan. It was bad enough Ginger knew the other man’s actual business and had to live knowing that she worked for and, at one time, respected and loved the older man.

Ginger didn’t argue as she stepped out onto the porch. Jake followed behind her, closing the front door behind them. Mr. Yamamoto ignored him, keeping his gaze on Ginger. Jake had questions, but he also knew Ginger needed to have her say. So, he did what he did best—observed.

“You shouldn’t have come,” she snarled, her tone and body language unwelcoming as she crossed her arms and tapped her toe.

Was it wrong her anger gave him a hard-on?Yeah… Asshole, it’s totally wrong.

Yamamoto took a small step back and nodded in acknowledgment. Jake suspected the small sign of weakness was not something the other man did often. Weakness in the Yakuza got a man and his family killed.

“You are correct, my girl. I shouldn’t have darkened your door. I can see it causes you pain. But my honor demands I come to you and offer restitution, along with my deepest apologizes for involving your beautiful family into my businesses,” Mr. Yamamoto stated, appearing contrite.

Jake stiffened when the other man reached into his suit jacket. He hadn’t snagged his gun, which left him and Ginger defenseless. Too many years off the job had left him carless, and they could pay for it with their lives. Jake exhaled when a white envelope with Ginger’s name scrawled on it, along with something in Japanese kanji, appeared.

“I have brought you a check for the value of your house.” The paper fluttered with the slight breeze coming from the ocean. “I must make amends.”

Like a spark to gasoline, Ginger exploded. “I don’t want or need your money. Money you earned illegally by selling humans. Children even.” Disgust lay thick in her voice, and the old man flinched. Jake felt no sympathy for him, although he gave the old guy credit. Having been on the end of Ginger’s anger a time or two, or a hundred and two, he respected the man a little more when he didn’t run.

Mr. Yamamoto bowed his head. “I understand, and yet I still will ask for your forgiveness.” Ginger remained stoic, shaking her head at him, but Jake knew her heart had to be breaking. He could sense it in how she held her body. Taunt as if she was afraid she might crack under the pressure, and her body fall to pieces onto the porch. “As a parent, and sometimes in life, my girl—”

Ginger sobbed, staring at Mr. Yamamoto.

His features crumbled. He looked every bit of an old, tired man. “We are forced to do things we don’t wish or want to do. It is against our nature, but we must in order to save those we love and care about. You were, and always will be, the daughter I was never blessed to have. You and your children are a treasure to me and will always be a part of my cherished family. Protected and loved. Believe it or not, I... Kiyoshi and I never wanted to contaminate you with what we did.”

“But you did,” Ginger whimpered.

He nodded. “This is true, and we must bear the shame of that. Not you, and certainly not your children. Kiyoshi and I, we both wanted to love and protect you and your children as we would our own.” It didn’t go unnoticed by Jake that Yamamoto had never once mentioned Oscar. “Family is extremely important in my culture. It’s respected. Honored even above everyone and everything. To fail one’s Kazoku is hazukashii... Shameful. It’s now the burden both my son and I must carry.”

Asher’s suspicion of perhaps Yamamoto and Kiyoshi being forced into the Yakuza seemed to have merit if he went by the old man’s words. Jake made a mental note to address the situation with his boss. Even with all the shit the man before him had done, Ginger’s boss had been good to his ex-wife and their kids.

“Ginger—” What he was going to say never left his lips when she turned on him and gave him a look that if he’d been naked would’ve scorched all the hair from his balls. Jake held up his hands in surrender.

Mr. Yamamoto gave a soft chuckle. “It is a smart man who stays quiet under the anger of his wife.”

“Ex,” Ginger snapped, and Jake swore he felt her anger lick over his skin, sending shivers down his spine.

When they were married, Jake used to purposely piss his wife off, because he knew in the end, they’d fuck it out. Far as he was concerned, it was a win-win for both of them.

Yeah... He had problems.

The older man, though, gave Ginger a pointed look, like he knew something Jake didn’t. And that put him on alert, especially when the old man continued. “That may be the case. But true love never fully fades or completely disappears. It sits, waiting, like a banked fire, and once you remove the ash, and provide more fuel, its flames return to life and burn strong. Providing light and heat.” Jake wondered how one moment the man before him could disgust him, because of who and what he did, yet make him like him with his simple, yet eloquent words.

“We’re not talking about that,” Ginger remarked, giving him a glare of warning. Seemed like Mr. Yamamoto’s words had taken the wind from her sails, too.

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