Owned by the Yakuza: A Japanese Mafia Bad Boy Romance (10 page)

I swallowed hard. Her words made my heart want to burst.

“I’m in love with a yakuza,” She said softly. “And that’s ok. I understand the risk.”

“Don’t make that decision yet,” I warned her. “We barely know each other. There’s so much more to the yakuza that you don’t even realize. Let’s take this slow. Once the feud is over, then make your decision.”

“And the debt,” She added.

“Screw the debt!” I could barely hold back my frustration. “You can’t be working at the hostess club while the Shimazu-kai are after you and we have an informant to silence.”

“I have to pay it off. There’s not much left. Two nights at the most.” Oriana’s eyes burned. She was not going to take no for an answer. “It’s a matter of honour, Tadao. I
will
pay that money. I don’t know how it was racked up, but I am going to see this through to the end.”

“Have it your way then,” I sighed.

Oriana smiled. “So, I guess some makeup sex is in order then?” She grabbed me by my collar, dragging me back down to the sofa.

#

We made love until the sun came up. She fell asleep in my arms, laying in her bed.

I blinked, my eyes were heavy. I needed to get out of here, there was so much work to be done. She was a wonderful distraction.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

My phone was vibrating along the hardwood floor. I groaned and edged away from Oriana slowly so I wouldn’t wake her. I pulled the sheet to her shoulder and looked around for my phone.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

I found it under the bed. I snatched it, swiping the screen to see a bunch of text messages from Tatsuya, Masaru, and Kenichi.

Kenichi:
Flight’s booked, we’ll be back in two days

Tatsuya:
Your car is clean. Where are you? I parked it outside your condo. Idiot, answer me! I’m going to leave it unlocked so it gets stolen. Just kidding.

Masaru:
I found that dirt you wanted. We need to talk.

#

Typical Masaru, he would never give information out over the phone. He was so suspicious and he had every right to be. Though, I doubted the Shimazu-kai had any hackers as good as him.

I left without waking her. I took the train home. I looked terrible, tired and dirty. There was blood on my shirt from the fight, and my clothes were wrinkled from lying on the floor all night.

Before I met up with the kyodai, I desperately needed to shower. I made tea, bathed, shaved and dressed. No matter how good I looked, I still felt exhausted. “I can’t wait until you’re back Kenichi,” I muttered aloud as I texted him. “Then I’ll be able to sleep again.”

As Tatsuya promised, my car was parked in my stall at the condo and locked. Inside, there was a note of a crude drawing of him killing a caricature of me. I rolled my eyes. “Real mature,” I chuckled.

I met Masaru in the office. Yuji and Kaoru were there. Yuji’s arm was in a sling, but aside from that he seemed to be doing well.

Masaru breathed a sigh of relief when he looked up from his phone. “There you are, I thought you’d never get here.”

“I wasn’t very presentable. Forgive me for wanting to shower first.”

“Aw, you don’t have to get all dressed up for us,” Tatsuya said, appearing from behind the desk with a bundle of papers in his hand.

I shook my head, ignoring the comment. “Well, what’s up? You said you needed to talk to me.” I crossed my arms. “Let’s get to it, I haven’t slept properly in days.”

“And you’re not about to anytime soon,” Masaru said, grabbing the documents from Tatsuya. “It seems that McMillian-san had a lot more going on than a little bit of debt with us.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Ok, let me have it.”

Masaru plopped down behind the desk, opening the file and flipping through the information that his shatei had gathered. They were good at what they did. “Ok, so first off, Gregory is his middle name. His first name is Thomas.” He glanced up to make sure I was listening. “He started using Gregory on legal documents around 2011, the first time being when he signed the lease for the apartment where he was living until the car accident. According to this, he went by Greg with family and friends for most of his life but suddenly started using it on everything. They moved halfway across the city in 2011, further away from where he worked at the University of Tokyo, all the way to the outer edge of Shibuya. Then he quit and took a job at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.” He took a breath. “You still with me?”

I nodded. “Ok, so what of it?”

“Well, we dug up some past stuff from when he went by Thomas,” Masaru paused. “It seems that we aren’t the only group he owed money to.”

I took a breath. “Let me guess, Shimazu?”

Masaru nodded. “He borrowed money from them six years ago to pay debt and interest that he owed a different family, and the chain continues from there.”

I sank down on the sofa, rubbing my temples. “Ok, so he was a serial borrower with a gambling problem.”

“Yes. And he never paid back the Shimazu-kai.”

“How much did he owe?”

“About fifty million yen.”

My mouth went slack. “Are you serious?”

Masaru nodded grimly. “Yep.”

Shit. That was like five hundred thousand US dollars. He must have racked up an unbelievable gambling debt. And then to have the balls to just disappear and not pay? How did the Shimazu-kai not catch him? Even they weren’t that stupid.

“Alright, so he disappears and tries to turn his life around,” I thought aloud. “Then why did he borrow that little bit of cash from my father?”

Masaru shrugged. “Maybe he was going to start gambling again. It seems that before, he would borrow a small amount, pay it back promptly and then ask for more credit. It’s pretty common.”

“Yeah, I know,” I was the finance guy after all. “But for whatever reason, he stopped.”

“Maybe he got help. There’s no indication that he was ever caught for illegal gambling, but something must have stopped him.”

“Fear of getting snuffed by the Shimazu-kai, probably,” Tatsuya spoke up. Yuji and Kaoru nodded in unison.

“That would do it. Or maybe he was refused further credit and just couldn’t continue gambling without his family finding out,” Masaru added. “Did your girl say anything about it?”

My girl.
The feeling was still so fresh in my chest. “She’s not my girl,” I said, knowing that I wouldn’t convince anyone. “And no, when she asked me why he owed the debt I just told her that it was grouped with the other gambling debts. I had nothing else to go on. She seemed surprised.”

“Addicts are good at covering their tracks,” Kaoru said.

Masaru shut the file on the desk. “Yes, and that’s all we got. We don’t have any idea who he was borrowing from before the Shimazu-kai.”

I shook my head. “You did wonderfully, thank you.” I stood up. “So now, the question is… What do we do about it?” I held up the photo that had been taken of Oriana. “They’re targeting her and we need to offer her protection until this gets sorted.”

“We can’t pay that debt, Tadao,” Tatsuya said as if reading my thoughts.

“I know!” I shot back. “I know. But we can’t let them kill her over her father’s debt.” The thought of it made a chill run down to my bones.

“You know that’s how it works.”

I turned at Tatsuya. “No, that’s not how it should work. There’s no way a girl who just lost both of her parents could work off that much money. They aren’t even going to give her the choice. Just because her parents died before they could get revenge…” I trailed off.

“What is it?” Masaru caught the look in my eyes.

“She said her parents died in a car crash. What if it wasn’t an accident?”

PART THREE

CHAPTER TWELVE

Oriana
オリアナ

“You’re here early.” Hide flashed me a smile as I walked past the bar.

I waved at him. “Yes, I figured I should make up for missing my shift yesterday.” I leaned against the bar, setting my purse down on the stool beside me.

Hide glanced at the clock. It was seven, there were two hours until opening time. He was always in first to prep the bar and kitchen before the customers started to come in. There were bangs and shouting coming from the swinging doors behind him. The kitchen staff was unloading an order.

“I’m going to miss this place,” I said, tracing a circle on the bar with my finger.

“And I’ll miss you,” Hide replied. “You’re the most down-to-earth person in this crazy club.”

I laughed. “What? I thought you and Sora were close.” I grinned mischievously.

Hide rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. How about she retires and you stay instead.”

“I can’t,” I sighed. “I have to go back to University, remember?”

“Right.” Hide ran a cloth over the spotless bar. “I’m really going to miss you.”

“I’m sure I’ll be around.” Thoughts of Tadao entered my mind, leaving me flustered. He had left without waking me, just leaving a note that said he had work to finish. Is this what loving a yakuza man would be like? I guess I would find out once the debt was paid. Two more nights and then we could be a real couple.

Hide chuckled. “I know that look. Which of them has caught your heart?”

“What do you mean?”

“The yakuza,” He whispered. “It’s no secret that they own the club, always hiding out in the VIP section. Which one of them has been promising you the moon and stars?”

I blushed. “No, it’s not that.” I was sure that my tone was far from convincing.

Hide shook his head. “I’m not going to lecture you. But, they’re trouble for nice girls like you. Believe me.” He gave me a pointed look. “Once this debt is paid back, you’d better cut your losses.”

I shrugged and made a noncommittal noise. I pushed off the bar and shouldered my purse. “Well, I should get changed. See you later.”

Hide frowned as I walked away.

I didn’t want to be lectured about staying away from the yakuza by people who knowingly worked for them. Weren’t we all in the same boat anyways?

I walked into the back room. Sora was standing by the door on the phone. She glanced up at me. “Yeah, she’s here. Don’t worry.” She turned her back towards me, finishing off the call.

I glared at her suspiciously. I shoved my bag into my locker. “Who were you talking to?” I asked once she hung up.

“Wow, is it any of your business?” She snarled.

“It is if you were telling them that I’m here.”

Sora sighed dramatically. Her jewelry glittered in the light. “Ok, it was Tadao. He just wanted to make sure you got here safe.”

Somehow I didn’t believe her. I shrugged. “Ok, whatever.”

Sora shot me a dirty look, hiked up her pantyhose and left me alone.

I pulled my phone out of my purse. There was a text from Tadao.

Are you at the club?

I texted him back a yes and waited for his reply.

Ok. Whatever you do, don’t leave. I’m coming to get you. Just carry on as usual. I’ll be there soon.

My heart jumped in fear. I texted him, but he didn’t reply again.

The doors swung open, the other girls were coming in now. I plastered a smile on my face that was as fake as the ones they gave me. I dressed in the corner, listening to them chatter on while they ignored me. It was like high school all over again.

I went to the bathroom stalls.

I heard Sora come in. The other girls were flocking around her. “Oh, I love your necklace,” Someone exclaimed.

I paused to listen.

“Isn’t it nice?” Sora gushed. “I finally found a man who appreciates me, not like the yakuza duds that this place brings in.”

My mouth fell open.

The other girls spoke quickly, in hushed voices. “You shouldn’t say that. Himura-sama wouldn’t like that.”

“I don’t care,” She replied with an airy laugh. “I don’t think I’ll be sticking around much longer anyways. Too much favoritism.”

I blew out a growl and zipped my dress.
Whatever. Just let the mean girls be mean,
I thought. I only had two more shifts after tonight and the debt would be paid off. Then I would get as far away from these chicks as I could.

I waited until they finished their twittering and left before I returned to the main changing area. Half an hour, then the clients would be coming in. I checked myself in the mirror, brushing back some stray hairs.

I wondered why Tadao didn’t want me to leave. I smiled to myself. He probably just wanted the rock star treatment in the VIP lounge again. Men. Not that I minded, I would be more than happy to play his little willing slave girl every night once we could be together for real.

I looked myself over once more and then left the back room. I waited for the doors be unlocked, hanging out near the bar where my list of appointments was kept.