Page 24

SYDNEY

As soon as Regan shouted my name, I knew in my soul that our sister was gone.

I ran into the living room to find Regan sitting on the couch, tears streaming down her face as she covered her mouth with her hand as the news played in front of her.

I watched as they extracted a body from the water, blurring out the face and part of the woman’s body. But I didn’t need to see her torso or face to tell me who it was. The black feathers trailing down the upper arms confirmed it could be only one person.

Raven.

I felt my heart break, and tears welled in the corners of my eyes, but from the cracks running through my soul, it wasn’t just sadness pouring forth. It was rage.

Someone had ripped away one of the most important people from our lives, and I was going to find out who had done it. When I did, whatever they had done to her was going to be returned with a vengeance. I would make them feel fear, helplessness, and desperation before their inevitable end.

Regan’s cries grew louder, wrenching me out of my inner thoughts.

“No! Not Raven! We already lost our father. We can’t lose her too!” Regan cried as she buried her face in her hands.

Fuck, I need to focus. This doesn’t only affect me.

I rushed to the couch and sat next to my sister, wrapping my arms around her. I tugged her into me and held her tight.

“I know. I’ve got you, Regan. I’m going to stay here with you until we know for sure,” I said.

I knew she knew I was lying. We both knew in our hearts, without a doubt, that it was her on the TV right now.

I glanced over at the TV again, instantly regretting it as I saw them making an effort to block off my sister’s body from the camera’s view.

I tried to soothe Regan, knowing it was going to be impossible.

This had been Raven’s specialty, being able to bring that calming, motherly energy to situations. I could never replace that.

How can this be happening? I talked to her a couple of days ago.

She was fine! Now she is gone, and I still don’t know who she was last seen with or where he is!

How am I supposed to know what happened after she left the fight that night if no one knew anything about where they went?

! Fuck, sister! Why didn’t you tell me anything more that morning?

My mind was reeling with emotions and thoughts as the front door burst open. My eyes snapped over my shoulder at it. I tensed at the thought of who it might be, but I was instantly flooded with relief as I saw Touma limp his way inside.

“Touma!” Regan cried out as she leaned away from me, her makeup ruined by the tears streaming down her face.

He came over to us as fast as his crutches would allow him, and I moved over so he would fit on the couch next to us.

He pulled her into a massive hug, and she sobbed on his shoulder, clutching his shirt as her body shook.

He locked eyes with mine. They were full of anguish, and I could see that he felt the same as we did.

He knew it was Raven as well. He knew we had lost the person who had held everything together this past year, and just like me, he wasn’t sure what the hell would happen from here.

I stood up as he consoled my sister, trying to get my thoughts in order. I couldn’t leave this to the police to find out what had happened to her. I needed to get to whoever had done this before the police did. They deserved to be taken out, not shoved in a cell for the rest of their life.

I walked over to the drawer I had shoved the photo of my sister and the mystery man in and brought it out. As I unfolded the photo, something hard and small fell onto the countertop.

What the hell?

I reached down and picked up a business card for some sort of shipping dock in Yokohama.

“How did you get here?” I muttered to myself, puzzled.

Then it hit me. The man I had bumped into. Had he placed it there? Why? Unless … unless it was where the man I was looking for was!

“I have to go,” I exclaimed.

Touma looked over at me as Regan cried harder into his shirt.

“Watch her! This can’t wait. I’ll explain later!” I yelled as I took off toward the door, grabbing my keys. I tugged on my shoes as I ran outside to my car.

I punched in the address on my phone from the business card, and gassed it out of the garage. I barely kept my focus on the road as I traveled, my mind occupied by thoughts that had my anguish and rage mixing into a dangerous cocktail.

I should have never let Raven make that deal in the first place. But I was so wrapped up in our father’s death and threw myself into the dojo and the students he had left behind that I let Raven do whatever she thought was best outside of it.

I might not have had a direct hand on what had happened to her, but maybe if she hadn’t felt like it was all on her, she would have never even agreed to the deal with Kaito.

I hit the steering wheel and screamed as I slammed on the brakes for a red light.

“Fuck! I’m so sorry, sister!” I cried out, tears threatening to overtake me as I waited at this stupid light for it to turn green.

Keep it together. Remember, find the guy who did this to her and make him pay.

I sucked in a few deep breaths, calming my emotions while I repeated that mantra in my mind.

I cruised down the docks at faster speeds than I should go and whipped it around the corner of a warehouse. I stared out the windshield in shock.

I can’t believe it.

Luck must have believed in karma because the exact person I had come here to search for was walking in the middle of the road. There was no mistaking those tattoos on his arms.

I came to an abrupt halt in front of him.

I grabbed the photo and paused as I glanced at my passenger seat before deciding to lean over and grab my hidden tanto.

I tucked the short blade into the back belt loop of my pants.

Then I flung open the driver’s door and stood up, coming face-to-face with the man I suspected was my sister’s killer.

He faced me, and I could see he was observing my every move.

He looked like he’d seen a ghost.

Bingo. That reaction could only mean he knew who my sister was beyond just that night at the ring.

I looked enough like my sister, to the point that our childhood photos usually got mixed up until we were around ten years old.

So, if him seeing me caused this kind of reaction, there was zero doubt in my mind about what I was about to do next.

I stepped around the door and over in front of him.

“Is this you?” I asked as I held out the folded photo toward him.

He raised an eyebrow but still grabbed the photo. I knew it was him. His tattoos were obviously the same ones in the picture. I wasn’t actually waiting for a reply. I simply needed his focus on something else.

And as he looked down and unfolded the photo, I pounced on my opening. I gripped the hilt of the Japanese dagger and yanked it from its sheath, swinging it at his head.

The blade was so close that it sliced through the air right in front of his nose as he jerked his body backward to avoid the swing.

Dammit! Again!

I went to flip the blade and do a back slash as I lunged forward, but he did something I’d never expected. He straight-up tackled me onto the hood of my car, knocking the wind out of my lungs. He flipped me onto my chest, then took his hand and grabbed my wrist holding the knife.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Drop it,” he growled as he kept his weight firmly pressed against my body, preventing my lungs from being able to take in enough air.

I gasped as I tried to fight him off, but the more I struggled, the faster I realized I would pass out before I could ever get my hand out of his grasp. I released the blade, and it slid off the hood and fell to the ground with a sharp clang as the metal hit concrete.

“Don’t try some stupid shit again,” he said in my ear before I felt his weight disappear.

He yanked me off the hood and threw me to the ground; I rolled onto my butt, raised my fists, bent a leg, and prepared for another attack.

But he wasn’t looking right at me. He was glancing down at the opened photo that was still in his hand.

“Where did you get this?” he said as his eyes turned toward me.

“Why? Can’t handle the face of the woman you killed looking at you again?” I snapped.

But where I expected fear, anger, shock, or even a knowing smugness that a caught murderer would have, all I saw were the eyes of a man fighting back sadness.

“Hold up. You think I was the one who killed Raven?” he said as he folded the photo.

“Yes! It had to be you! No one knows who you are, and you were the last person seen with my sister before they found her dead!” I shouted at him.

I heard people mumbling to each other over to my left, and I turned my head. A few men from the warehouse next to us were watching. They looked like mechanics, and suddenly, I felt the urge to run to my car and take off. But I couldn’t, not when I was this close to getting my revenge!

He stepped over to me, and I snapped my eyes back at him, bracing myself for anything he had to throw at me. I stilled as he reached a hand down.

“I’d never hurt her. If you let me explain, I can tell you just how wrong you are about Raven and me. Thought you looked like her. It makes sense that you’re one of her sisters.” He kept his hand out and sighed. “Unless you want to put on a show, take me up on my offer.”

“I don’t trust you,” I said as I slapped his hand away.

“You don’t gotta trust me to listen to what I have to say. But if you don’t give a shit”—he shrugged his shoulders—“then get the fuck out of here and leave me alone,” he said as he tucked his hands into the pocket of his sleeveless hoodie.

I sat there, glancing between him and the men standing nearby.

“My car. And if you try anything, I will crash us into the damn ocean,” I said as I pointed at the end of the pier ahead.

“Fair enough,” he said as he turned and walked over to the car.

He bent down near the side of the car and picked up the blade, hiding it from view. Then he slid into the passenger seat and leaned back, tossing the blade onto the floor in the back seat before looking out the windshield, obviously waiting for me.

I stalked over and got inside my car, slamming the driver’s door shut. I threw the car in drive and kept my foot firmly on the brakes.

“Tell me everything then, killer,” I said as I twisted to face him.

“I didn’t kill your goddamn sister. Fucked her, sure. But I never hurt her,” he said as he stared back at me.

Fucked her?! There’s no way …

But I thought back to some of the last conversations I’d had with her. She’d sounded happier, hopeful, like something big was about to change and for the better. Could he have been the reason for that?

I took a minute to really get a good look at him.

He was relaxed in the seat, leaned back with his black ball cap tipped up a bit, revealing his dark hair and a set of amber-colored eyes that smoldered as they stared back at me.

His body was in amazing shape, from what I could see.

Tattoos wrapped all over his arms, accentuating each perfectly proportioned muscle.

He was good-looking, and I could see how someone built like this could appeal to my sister.

“Why should I believe you? How do I know you aren’t just saying things to try to get away with murder?” I snapped at him as I gripped the steering wheel tightly.

“Because she told me something about the situation she was in and how a part of her wished she could just take off with her sisters, but she couldn’t.

Why would I step into a ring to fight in place of her fighter if I planned to kill her?

It would have been easier to let her lose by default.

She was someone I cared about. The morning after the fight, I dropped her off at a breakfast joint in the city.

It was the last time I saw her. I get you don’t fucking know me, but if you use your brain for a second, you could see who was most likely to hurt her—me or the yakuza she was with?

” he said, his calm, deep voice never wavering.

I sat there, letting everything he’d said sink in. But if what he was saying was true, then this meant Kaito was more cunning than I’d thought. He’d set up Raven’s death in a way that he knew would send me after this man in front of me, seeking revenge for her killer.

Did Kaito hope I would kill for him or that this guy would kill me once I attacked him, getting me out of the way as well? He never liked me. I could tell he had only restrained himself because of Raven.

“If you’re actually being honest … then I’ve had this all wrong,” I said to him finally.

Defeat filled my heart. If Kaito had killed Raven, how was I going to get my revenge on one of the city’s most renowned yakuza leaders? How was I going to avenge her?

A tear slipped down my cheek, then another.

He reached out, and his rough, callous thumb brushed a tear away.

“Hey, it’s okay. Talk to me,” he said in a gentle tone.

“Kaito fooled me. That’s why I came here.

He had played my emotions like a fiddle, and I almost fell right into his plan.

I don’t even know your name, and I tried to kill you.

I’m never going to make this right for Raven.

I’ve already failed her so much!” I cried out as I fought to control my tears.

“Nah. Hey, take it easy. Deep breaths, baby,” he said as I wiped my eyes. He reached over and put my car in park, then turned the key, killing the engine.

I sat there for a few minutes, letting him stroke my cheek as I calmed down.

“Listen, a lot’s gone down today. For both of us. How about we just start with names and go from there?” he asked as I peered over at him.

I nodded.

“Sydney,” I said as he lowered his hand back over to his lap.

“AJ.”

“I can’t really think straight right now. If what you told me is true, it means I’m back at square one. I need to think. I need to get home to my sister. I can’t handle anything else,” I said as I realized just how badly I wanted to get home to Regan.

He nodded. “Go home, Sydney.” He said it in a comforting tone and not a scolding, get-lost way as he opened the passenger door and stepped out.

“Wait!”

He paused and bent down as I grabbed my phone from the holder on the dash.

He knew what I was after and rolled his number off.

It was like we had a shared understanding that we needed to talk more about Raven and everything that had happened, but neither of us was ready to do that today.

He shut the door, and I watched him walk over to the shop, hands tucked in his hoodie pocket.

The other men were nowhere in sight. They must have gone back inside.

I reversed and turned my car back toward the road.

Tomorrow, I could worry about what I was going to do next. Right now, I just needed to get home.