Page 98 of Crossed By the Stars
Jada
FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU AGAIN
“We've been together but it seems like forever
But I'm falling in love with you again.”
Written & Performed by Imelda May
The temple smelled heavily of incense.Even the food that had been prepared and left in the rooms next door was unable to hide the scent. I’d been unable to eat or even relax because I was stuck in a room full of men who’d plotted against my father as we waited for his body to turn to ash. The advisors and regional heads who’d tried to undermineOtosan?plus their families?all stood around, chatting and smiling as if they hadn’t been the cause of his death while they ate the food we’d had prepared for them. It made my stomach turn even more than the incense.
Kaida’s dark and gloomy face appeared amongst them, sharing my feelings on the matter perfectly. She looked decidedly unKaida-like, not only because of the emotions she was exhibiting but because of her outfit. It was the only time I’d ever seen her in a dress, but it fit her muscular frame as if it had been made for her, the black stockings showing off legs much longer than mine. Her eyes flashed with hatred at everyone in the room, but especially Osamu Yamasaki as he preened like he was the new emperor.
Isamu Yano was conspicuously missing, not only because the authorities were looking for him in conjunction withOtosan’sdeath and the hack into the FBI but because theKyodainawas searching for him as well. After the debacle in San Francisco, he’d disappeared into the garden, and that had been the last anyone had seen of him. He’d left Akari’s body on the tatami mattress with her throat slit and herkaikenin her hand. I would never know if he’d taken her life or if she’d been so distraught that she’d done it herself, ever the subservient daughter.
My only true pleasure was the family in the room with me. Family that was not my mother or grandmother who were off smiling at the enemy. Instead, it was Dawson and Violet who stood at my side and Dax who was at my back. Dax held me tight with his arm curled around my waist. Whenever I’d thought I couldn’t take any more over the last few days, I’d simply leaned into him, and he’d caught me before I fell.
Today, Dax was silent in a way that was completely opposite of his normally gregarious and charming nature. When my father’s men had first started filing in for the wake at the house, he’d been worried that one of them would say or do something to me or Dawson. But they had no reason to. In many ways, the actions that had started with Dawson and the FBI had allowed them to take over from my father. To increase their power. And they were completely in the dark about the secrets my father had given me to share with the authorities.
Regardless, Cillian, Rana, and the team were on high alert. Nearby at all times.
I was still unsure where Rana’s loyalty rested, but she’d gone to work for Reinard, fixed their system, and been with me ever since that day at the Matsudas. Her loyalty seemed to have been bred from failure and guilt. I wasn’t sure it was healthy, but then, who was I to judge what others did to forgive themselves? I had my own battles to wage with regret.
When it came time to sift through my father’s ashes and place his bones in the urn, I had to bite my tongue and cheek in order to prevent myself from screaming at the men to keep their grubby, disloyal hands to themselves. But then, I remembered that I too had betrayed him. Kaida was the only one who hadn’t, and I made sure she had a place of honor in the line.
After my father’s bones were sealed in the urn, and the men turned away, I let myself enjoy the fact that it would soon be their bones being passed around, even if it was only figuratively. They would all be going to jail. Malone had held off executing any arrests until after the funeral, making sure the case he—and a host of other international agencies—built was strong and irrefutable. TheKyodainawould soon be a crumbling relic that had started and ended withOtosan’slife.
“She’s leaving.” Dawson’s voice brought my eyes from the men in suits to the figure slipping into the shadows.
I caught Kaida just before she vanished.
“Ito-san,” I called, and she turned to me with surprise. As my chauffeur and bodyguard, I’d never used the honorific. I’d used her first name as a way of showing my disregard for her, my father, and my culture. By returning to the more formal address, I was hoping she’d see that I did respect her and what she’d done for all of us.
She inclined her head, and I returned it.
“Are you…are you okay?” I asked, really wanting to know if she was safe but not knowing how to ask it. “Do you need anything? Money?”
Her fingers steepled together, the motion so much my father’s that it hit me like a punch to the stomach. I realized how many times she’d done it in the years she’d taken care of me without me ever recognizing it as the same habit.
“Oyabunprovided for me,” she said.
If he’d provided for the daughter who’d betrayed him, I should have known he’d provide for the one who’d served him until the very last moment. No one but my team knew who she was. My half sister. His daughter.KaasanandObaasanwere in the dark. The men trying to take over his world could never know. It would be even more dangerous for her if they found out, because she was much more likely to fill his shoes than I ever was. Not that the leaders of theKyodainawould ever let a woman be in charge, as was evident by the silence that surrounded Ichika and Hina today. They’d stayed two steps behind their husbands at all times with their heads down.
“What will you do now?” I asked her quietly.
“Find Yano,” she said.
Revenge. Retribution. Things I didn’t want in my world anymore.
“You deserve your own life,” I said quietly to her, and her eyes widened in surprise. “He’s gone. Nothing that happens now can change that.”
“Don’t pretend to care, Mori-san. I’m not your sister. I never was. I was his child, but more importantly, I was his tool. I will let him use me this one last time.”
And then she disappeared into the night, leaving me feeling conflicted. I shouldn’t have felt more for her than I had before I’d known that blood joined us. Nothing had changed. If anything, I should have hated her for having a knife to my throat, taking me from Dax’s arms, and shoving me into danger. But somehow, knowing the truth had changed everything. I felt pity and sadness, remorse when it was not my fault thatOtosanhad kept her a secret, and I felt pride for a sister who was strong and fierce.
Dawson was the one to join me first, shoulder brushing against mine.
“What’s going to happen to her?” he asked.
