Page 96 of Cunning Lies
Her eyes flicker up, finally meeting mine. “You made a promise—”
“I promisedIwouldn’t hurt him,” I say, pointing to my chest. “I never said anything about my family.”
Her lips curl, but I can see the hatred in her eyes.
I hate liars, but I’m a liar now.
I grab the camera, then turn off the lights. Ronin and I go through a side exit, leaving Vi alone in the darkness.
Ronin taps the exterior of the building. “You want me to stay here?”
I shake my head. We’ve got business now with the rest of the Endo-kai. Whatever this is with Vi, it may have something to do with the Ito-gumi. But recently, I’ve started to like Ronin, and I want proof from Jay that it’s the Ito-gumi before we make any decisions. For that interrogation, Ronin needs to come with me. I can’t let him run.
But most of all, I want Vi to have a chance to live. And she can’t do that if Ronin is here.
She has to run away.
CHAPTER30
KENZO
And we’re right backto where this started, with Jay cuffed to the table. The holding cell is a concrete cage surrounding us, and it’s claustrophobic with all of us in there. Tomo and Cherry lean against the back wall, their lips curling in disgust. Ronin takes his place by their side. And Dice’s knuckles are blistered and red. If we were back in Dice’s dungeon, there’d be a lot more blood, but fists means he’s being hasty. Jay must be pissing him off. Jay’s face is black and blue, with one eye swollen shut and his stubby pinky twitching back and forth.
“And here comes my favorite son-in-law,” Jay says, laughing and coughing out each word. “Come give me a hug.”
I ignore him.
“He’s a prick,” Cherry mutters.
Tomo grimaces. “He won’t say shit.”
“Where’s Niko?” I ask.
Tomo lifts his shoulders slightly. Niko’s never been one to follow orders, and though Tomo always claims that it shows true leadership skills, I know it grates on him. In Tokyo, Niko would have been beaten into submission until he followed the oyabun without any question, but Tomo refuses to follow in his old boss’s footsteps. Tomo may be selfish, but family means more to him than traditions. In that way, Tomo is making his own path too.
But that means Niko, even thoughhewas the one pressuring me into taking care of business, is gone. And that irritatesme.But not as much as seeing that smug, brown-and-gray-haired son of a bitch sitting in front of me.
“What?” Jay says in Dice’s direction. “You don’t like the way I stare, do you? Scared of what I might see? Fucking freak.”
Dice lunges across the table, choking Jay until he wheezes. I ignore them, flipping through the footage on the camera until I find what I’m searching for.
His niece’s red face. Tears running down her cheeks. Plastic shreds around her neck.
Dice lets go and Jay focuses his good eye on the footage, blinking until he realizes who it is. Then he laughs.
I close my eyes as Jay’s laughter ricochets through the concrete room. Dice punches him in the eye again, and adrenaline buzzes through my body. If I truly kept to my word, I’d make sure my family didn’t touch him, but in this case, I relish in being a liar. A manipulative sokaiya. A backstabbing asshole who doesn’t deserve Vi, just as much as Jay doesn’t deserve her.
In fact, after what his niece went through, IwantJay to feel pain. If that makes me a liar, then so fucking be it.
“Who’s your client?” I ask.
“If you don’t know by now, then I guess you’re fucked,” Jay cackles. Dice raises his brow at me, exchanging a silent look. I don’t know exactly what Dice has planned, but I nod. He takes out his knife and stabs it into Jay’s thigh. Jay howls like a dog, but it’s a non-lethal spot. He won’t die from it, but it will fucking hurt.
Once the agony cools, Jay looks at me with a grin.
“You couldn’t get it out of Vi, could you?” He licks his bloody lips. “You’re in love with her. A pathetic little puppy dog. You can’t hurt your master, can you?That’swhat we were banking on, you fucking idiot.”
Everything inside of me boils red.
