Page 53 of Wrathful King

For the next few hours, we screened through my surveillance software using facial recognition. The half dozen screens in my office gave us access to hot spots for criminal activity around the world. Every airport. Every train station. Even the activity on the dark web.

We were hunting and we wouldn’t rest until we found every fucking person who dared to be part of the attack on my wife. It didn’t matter that they’d attacked me, that came with the territory, but her… That was unforgivable. I needed closure, and I suspected my wife did too.

“Any news?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. “Leads?”

Dante’s lips tightened and he shook his head. “It’s like they disappeared into thin air.”

He was right; my mother and Hiroshi were nowhere to be found. I had my men and anyone who owed me a favor searching for them. Her properties all came up empty. No one claimed to have heard from them in weeks.

“I don’t know, Amon. Your mother might be a lot of things, but I just can’t see her taking a chance on you getting hurt,” Romero said. My jaw clenched and I curled my fingers into fists. It was a sore subject, although kind of ironic. She’d made his life hell, hindered the legality of his second marriage, and still he was defending her. As if he could read my thoughts, he continued, “I’m not saying she’s a saint, but attempted murder of her own son…? I wouldn’t think so.”

Dante lifted his head. “I hate to agree with the man, but I have no choice here. Why go years protecting you—us—only to do something like this?”

“But, then,who?” I questioned. “My cousin certainly doesn’t have the bandwidth to organize shit like that.”

“How about Hiroshi?” The question came from Romero.

“His right-hand man?” Dante asked, clearly as confused as me, to which Romero nodded his head. “He benefits more if Amon is alive than dead.”

I turned to face Romero.

“If there’s something you know, now is the time to share.” His eyes darted behind me and I followed his gaze to the painting. “It was Ojisan’s,” I clarified.

“I know. He’s rumored to have cherished it above almost anything.” He was right, it was my grandfather’s favorite. “The last time I saw him, he said something strange, and I’ve never been able to shake it.”

“Which was?”

Romero shook his head. “That it contains the secret to his legacy.”

“Maybe the old man was crazy,” Dante said in a dry tone.

I frowned, thinking back to what I knew about Ojisan. He was one of the sharpest men I’d ever met. Everything he did came with a purpose.

“Romero, was there an agreement drawn between you and Ojisan when you married my mother?”

Romero waved his hand tiredly. His fatigue was getting worse by the day. “Yes. We agreed that he’d supply me with drugs and I’d let him use my ports for his European distribution.”

My brows furrowed. “Nothing else?”

“Like what?”

“Concerning your daughters and their involvement in the Yakuza.”

Romero let out a dry laugh. “Are you nuts? Your ojisan barely tolerated outsiders in his business. Marrying your mother was just another business deal, one he didn’t even support in the beginning. Why would he put anything in place for my children?”

Dante and I shared a look. “What about ensuring succession for the Yakuza?”

Romero shrugged. “He had a contingency plan drawn up in the event no Takahashi heirs were produced.”

“What did it say?”

Romero shrugged. “No fucking clue, it wasn’t written in English. Hana and I went our separate ways, and considering your cousin was born, the document was useless to me. I had it destroyed.”

“Did my mother know?” I questioned, realization dawning on me. This had to be the document she was after.

“I assume so. I told her I was going to get rid of it.”

“So why would she task us with finding it?” I muttered more to myself than anyone else.