Page 22 of These Sinful Kingdoms

“It’s polite to shake hands, Kenji. Don’t be such a muddle-headed fool.” Agatha said as she watched him. He swallowed slowly, reaching out to take her hand and pulling away just as quickly like she had burned him.

“Ummm. Yeah. Maybe. Look, I don’t want any trouble okay.” His eyes darted between me and Kingston, fear clearly showing, and I almost felt sorry for the kid.

“We aren’t here to cause trouble. I just need to understand the relationship you have with my son.” He watched her, eyes roaming over her face before he let out a sigh and sat down in a chair across from us.

“I’ll go put on a pot of tea.” Agatha said as she left the room.

“Look. I never really intended to cause any issues. I just understand Fabian. I have my own… issues that haunt my past and the kid has a lot of talent. I wished I had someone to teach me when I was his age.” He shrugged, pulling off the headphones and playing with them in his hand.

Aurora looked at me, clearly confused about what to do as she sat back down.

“Look. We are here to make sure you aren’t some pedophile or freak looking to harm him. He is only twelve.” I said and Kenji’s eyes widened as he looked at me.

“Is that what you think? Hell no, man. I am not like that. I am just teaching the kid about computers and how to program things. He has a great skill for writing code already.” He smiled nervously.

“How old are you?” I blurted, curious about this kid more than ever now. His cheeks reddened.

“I’m twenty-two. Look, I am telling you the truth. I don’t want any trouble. I know who you are, and I know my dad wanted to look into things, but Fabian was my friend already.” He spoke quickly, stumbling over his words.

I sat up straighter, this information had taken a turn and Kingston stiffened, leaning forward just enough that his body slightly shielded Aurora.

“What do you mean by your dad wanting to look into things?” I said softly and he winced, as if realizing that he had messed up.

“Ahh. Okay. So, it’s like this. My dad is Kaito Kobayashi. He asked me to look into all of you for something to do with his work.” He hesitated and Kingston leaned forward, eyes narrowed. I tried to rack my brain where I had heard the name Kobayashi before.

“Who does your father work for?” Kingston asked, his voice low and menacing.

“The Yakuza” Kenji whispered, and I swore, realizing now who Kaito was. Kaito Kobayashi was the Yakuza’s hitman, the one they brought in when they wanted someone gone and he was damn good at his job.

“Your name is Hanson.” I said, trying to understand the connection and Kenji sat back in the chair like I had slapped him.

“Hanson is his mother’s last name.” Agatha said from the doorway. Gone was the sweet old lady we had seen before, the hardness in her eyes telling me that she would defend this boy with her life.

“I don’t understand.” Aurora said and Agatha sighed, putting a pot of tea down on the coffee table and standing next to Kenji, a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

“Bianca Hanson was my daughter. She met Kaito in high school, the two of them were the complete opposites, from two different worlds and yet they fell madly in love, marrying as soon as they left school.” She smiled at the memory, glancing at the wall behind us where a bunch of photo frames were hanging.

“Bianca went on to pursue her love of art, she was a beautiful painter and had big dreams for her own gallery. But she put those dreams on hold when she found out she was pregnant with their first child. Kaito on the other hand inherited his father’s position in the Yakuza, following in his footsteps to be the man he is today.” She sighed, stroking Kenji’s arm as if it was a comfort to her.

“I know what he does, I know what he is capable of and so did Bianca. Yet for all that he comes from, the man never let it interfere with his family life. He was and still is a good father to his three children. He was a good husband and an honorable man.” She looked away, wiping a tear from her eye as Kenji closed his own.

“What happened to Bianca?” Aurora asked and Agatha looked at her with haunted eyes.

“She was picking up Kenji here from school one day and there had been a problem within the Yakuza ranks and Kaito was called in to fix the problem in the way only he can. They took revenge by killing Bianca in cold blood.” Kenji whimpered, as if lost in memory and part of me wanted to hug the kid.

I knew how hard it was to be pulled into the life we lived.

“They slit her throat in broad daylight as she was opening her car door. Kenji was already in the car, witness to his mother’s death. They left him there alone on a hot summer’s day in that car. Kaito found them of course, but the damage had been done.” As she let out a breath, eyes distant, we sat in silence for a long time.

“I recently hacked into my own files and changed my name over after my dad told me to do so. I do some work for the Yakuza on occasion when it comes to tech stuff, and he had asked me to look into you.” He stared at Aurora pointedly.

“I don’t know why, he never tells me anything important and I didn’t find much. When I realized the connection between you and Fabian, I told him I didn’t feel comfortable with continuing the search and I stopped.” He ran his hand over his face as if it was too much for him to take.

Now I understood why he connected to Fabian. They had both experienced traumas as children that no child should.

“You have nothing to worry about from me. I haven’t left the house since my mother’s death. I… can’t.” He said, voice breaking, and Agatha pat his arm, squeezing his hand.

“I am sorry we caused you so much distress. I had to know who was talking to my son.” He nodded, smiling softly.

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