Page 54 of Wrathful King

“Maybe she was looking for their marriage certificate so she could prove your legitimacy and claim to the Omertà seat,” Dante suggested, his tone unsure. “She just didn’t want to outright say it because it’d reveal her secret.”

“Maybe,” I agreed, but my intuition warned there was something more. Returning my attention to the painting, my chest throbbed painfully. Those floating lanterns would forever remind me of Reina. My first dance.Ourfirst dance.

“Any trace of the idiot?” Dante asked.

“No, none.”

I suspected Itsuki might be with my mother, which left the taste of bile in my mouth.

All evidence pointed to her.

She knew about the illegitimacy of Romero’s girls. She was the only one who could have slipped the connection to the Cortes cartel, making her a permanent target. The question was why. That was the part I couldn’t wrap my head around.

Of course, Romero wasn’t completely innocent in that clusterfuck either. His dodgy business dealings had been putting both his daughters at risk for over a decade.

Goddammit! None of it made sense. Perez had stated his information came from the Yakuza, and he truly had nothing to lose.

I needed to start taking the idea of my mother wanting the throne to the Yakuza seriously. We’d been suspecting it for years, and Romero confirmed she was hungry for power, even before I was born.

It didn’t fucking matter. I’d have given her whatever she wanted, if only she’d asked. But instead, she fucking dared to allow the kidnapping of my wife.

My. Wife.

My mother might as well have been the one to inflict every one of those scars on my wife. She hurt her. Hurtus.I couldn’t forgive that. Her hate for the people who’d wronged her had taken her too far this time.

I read through the reports from my hacker again, worried I’d missed some clues. There was only one thing that jumped out at me. My mother had withdrawn five million dollars right before the attack happened.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was preparing to flee.

I shook my head. The bottom line was that Mother and Hiroshi betrayed me. I suspected the latter did it because he loved my mother, but his loyalty should have been to me first. We could have come to a different resolution.

“Romero, why don’t you go lie down?” I suggested, noting how he swayed on his feet. He was getting weaker by the day, and none of this stress could be good for him. We had our differences, sure, but he was still my father-in-law. Well, technically my father.

“That’s not a bad idea.” He made his way out of the room, then lingered in the doorway. He glanced over his shoulder. “Thank you for getting her home, Amon.”

A beep pierced the air and my eyes snapped to the monitor.

“Is it Phoenix?”

Phoenix’s whereabouts were a top priority, even more than finding my mother and Hiroshi. Her last known location was the Paris airport. From there, we had nothing. No ticket, no trail. We’d scanned all individuals who flew that day to ensure she didn’t use a fake name.

I didn’t like the idea of Dante’s distress. He was here for me, but I suspected he wanted to be out there searching for her.

I shook my head. “It’s not Phoenix,” I told him. Dante’s eyes were bloodshot but alert. There was no way he was getting any sleep these days. “It’s my dear cousin.”

An unhinged smile curved his lips. “Bingo. Motherfucker’s about to die.”

He sure fucking was. I tasted the bloodthirst that I usually saw lingering in Dante’s eyes. I would enjoy killing Itsuki as much as I enjoyed killing Perez.

“Where is he?” Dante questioned.

“Japan. Hiding in Ojisan’s bunker.” It dated back to World War II, meaning zero surveillance. No wonder I hadn’t been able to find him. “But not for much longer.”

“Want me to go with you?”

I shook my head. “No, I want you to stay here with Reina. I don’t trust her grandmother.” After all, she’d kept me from her before. “And Romero’s feeling worse by the day.” Dante’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t say anything. “You still despise him,” I stated. “Why?”

His expression darkened. “He just rubs me the wrong way.”