Page 97 of Cunning Lies
Maybe I am in love with Vi. What’s done is done. I can’t change that.
But we need those words out of his mouth.
“Did the Ito-gumi hire you?” I ask.
Dice swings toward Ronin, his fist still gripping the bloody knife, ready to strike. Jay laughs. Tomo and Cherry face Ronin too.
“Ito-gumi?” Tomo asks. “Did they send you too, Ronin?”
Ronin lifts his hands in a show of defense. But Dice takes another step forward, his anger aimed at Ronin.
“I came here because I’m not going to watch Akio destroy decades of honor,” Ronin says, his voice strong. “A low-life kumicho deserves no respect.”
“You think we’re better than Akio?” Tomo snarls. “If we have to, we’ll kill you right now. Did you or did you not know Akio hired the Petruses to spy on us?”
The room is completely still. Even Jay is quiet, his eyes wide as he gawks at us. Ronin licks his lips, his nose twitching.
“I heard about a wedding. But Akio and I haven’t seen eye to eye in years,” Ronin says. “I refuse to serve an oyabun who doesn’t deserve a single grain of rice.”
“That’s low,” Tomo laughs, wiping his mouth. “But it doesn’t mean shit if you’re lying.”
Tomo throws a punch, knocking Ronin in the cheek, but Ronin doesn’t retaliate. My jaw drops; I’m not going to fight the oyabun either, but I’m shocked that Ronin feels the same way. Dice and Cherry move forward, fists flying. I shove Dice into the wall, and then pull Ronin aside until Cherry’s off of him too.
I stand in front of Ronin, blocking him from their attacks. He may be an outsider, but he didn’t question my decisions when it came to Vi. And so far, he’s kept his word. He could have told everyone about me fucking her in the warehouse, or told them that I left her unguarded, but he hasn’t. I have to defend him.
“He’s our brother,” I say, repeating Dice and Tomo’s words from before. “He’s not our enemy.”
Dice wipes a hand across his cheek, and Cherry crosses her arms in front of her chest. Ronin’s lip is bloody and his cheek is slightly swollen. The old man landed a good punch. I half-smile at that.
“You want to prove yourself?” I ask Ronin, going right back into business. “Tell the Ito-gumi that we know they sent spies, and that if they want our guns, they’re going to have to meet our new prices.” I turn to Tomo for approval, and he nods deeply. “Fuck it. Tell them we don’t need their Shabu Eight. We’ll get a new cook out here. A better cook. We don’t need them.”
“What will it be called this time? Shabu Nine? No! How about Shabu Eighty-Eight?” Jay cuts in.
I sneer and Dice immediately rams the back of his elbow into Jay’s face.
“Can you do that, brother?” I ask Ronin.
The word ‘brother’ hangs in the air. “I’ll make it happen,” Ronin says.
Tomo clears his throat. “Wait for Niko. He’ll sit in on the conversation,” he says. Tomo dips his chin at me. “You need to take care of Jay and Vi. They may be your legal family, but they’ve betrayed us, Kenzo. There’s only one honorable way to fix this.”
A weight settles on my chest, my insides shuddering. I couldn’t give a fuck less if Vi’s ‘uncle’ dies. But when it comes to her?
It kills me.
She’s a bad con artist, but she’s believed in Jay’s lies her whole life. I can’t kill her for that. But the Endo-kai has been my only family since I was a kid, and this is an order from my oyabun. I took a blood oath, exchanging cups of sake, knowing that I would always,alwaysobey Tomo. You put the oyabun’s word above everything else.
But Tomo is just as careful with his words as I am. He never said that I had tokillthem, only that there’s only one honorable way to fix this. It’s almost like he knows my position and sympathizes with it. Tomo has a shady past of his own, especially before he split off from the Ito-gumi and started the Endo-kai. He knows what it’s like to disobey an order when it comes to a woman.
I can’t kill Vi, but I can make this work. I’ll end this. There’s no other choice.
“I will,” I say. I nod at Dice. Dice removes Jay from the table, then binds Jay’s wrists, and hands me the rest of the rope.
I lead Jay through the back stairwells, out of the resort, and into the midday sun.
CHAPTER31
VI
