Page 46 of Shifting Gears

With another snap of his fingers, the two men near him vanished in opposite directions.

“They’d better,” I muttered under my breath.

I straightened myself and resumed my position of having my arms folded across my chest; this time though, I stood at an angle where I could see everyone in the room and the two directions the others had left in. No one else was going to get the jump on me today.

We stayed that way in silence. The only movement was one of Kaito’s hands playing with a strand of my sister’s hair as his eyes lazily glanced between her and me. I swore to God he did that intentionally, knowing how much him being around her bothered Raven and me.

Eventually, his two guys came back into the room, shaking their heads at Kaito before getting back in formation behind him.

“It appears you were telling the truth. She isn’t here. But I’m afraid we might have a situation on our hands,” Kaito said as he dropped my sister’s hair, much to her relief, as she let out a soft exhale.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope. He opened it and tugged its contents out. Holding it in my direction.

“Take it, Sydney,” he demanded.

I walked over and grabbed it from his hand, then looked down. It was a photograph. It was of Raven, and she was standing next to a man wearing a mask and a hat that covered his face.

“What about it?” I said as I looked back at Kaito.

“This man was the last person to be seen with her. She showed up to the fights two nights ago around the same time as him, and this is the man who randomly stepped in when her fighter—Touma, wasn’t it? Yes, this man took over the fight when Touma was injured. After the match, they left together, and I haven’t seen or heard from my fiancée since,” he said.

It appeared as if he might actually be worried for her, but I wasn’t buying it for a minute. He had never acted like he cared for her before, so why pretend now? Also, I’d talked to Raven the morning after the fight. She had been fine then.

But I sure as hell wouldn’t tell him that. The less he knew, the better.

“So, who is he?” I asked.

“No idea. The point is, I’m afraid Raven is missing and has been for almost forty-eight hours now. I recommend you help search for her. If your sister has skipped town … Well, it won’t end up good for this place. And I’d hate to see two beautiful women like yourselves homeless or worse,” he said as he leaned into my sister again.

I swore he just sniffed the side of her neck, and if I wasn’t here, I doubt he would have just stopped there.

I wanted to slug him so hard.First, he comes here and acts like he owns the place, drops the news on us that our sister might be missing, and now he’s leaving threats?

I took another step forward when Regan quickly twisted in her seat.

“Excuse me, Mr. Yamazaki,” Regan said softly next to him, and he rapidly returned his attention back to her.

“Yes, my dear?” he asked, his voice full of fake sweetness as he brought a hand over to her thigh and rubbed.

I wanted to shove him away from her. With how rigid she was sitting next to him, it was clear she was extremely uncomfortable with his hand on her. Besides, here he was, supposedly concerned about our missing sister, but he was putting his disgusting hands on Regan in places he shouldn’t be.

“What happened to the side of your face?”

I waited for the answer. I had almost asked him about it myself when I first saw him, but I had gotten distracted when he told us he hadn’t heard from Raven for two days now.

Good for you, sis. I didn’t think you had it in you to ask something so bold.

I should have known that even if Regan was the polite and gentle sister, she still had the family trait to ask the real questions we all wanted answers to.

“Oh, this?” he said as he gently touched the bandage on the side of his temple. “I was redecorating my office and fell while grabbing something. It’s only a scratch. Don’t worry yourself over it.”

“It looks like it hurts. I hope the doctors gave you something for the pain,” Regan said, giving him a polite smile before she looked back down at the book in her hands.

“Nothing would help my pain more than finding my future wife,” Kaito said. He turned his face toward me. “You will tell me immediately if you hear from her, or if you find the man she was with,” he said as he stood up, letting his hand leisurely slide off my sister’s thigh in the process.

“I expect the same from you then,” I said as he straightened his suit and smirked at me.

“If I find her, she will tell you herself.”

---