“I will not.”
“You don’t remember because you didn’t do it.”
“You are a fool,” she snapped.
“I don’t think so.”
“I hate you,” she shouted.
“That may well be true, but you didn’t kill your family.”
“You know nothing about it.”
“I apparently know more than you do.”
“You bastard,” she screamed.
“I’m not doing this to hurt you, Victoria-san.”
Tears trickling down her cheeks, she said in a pleading voice, “Then why are you doing this to me? I do not understand.”
“I’m actually trying to save you.”
“From what?” she exclaimed.
“Maybe from yourself.”
Her hand slid to the gun’s trigger and her voice regained some resolve. “You cannot save me. You cannot save yourself because I am going to kill both of us. We end tonight.”
“Then go ahead, Victoria-san. Go ahead.”
Then she did something unexpected.
She placed the gun’s muzzle under her chin.
“No, you will not die, Dillon-san, but I shall. It is better this way. For everyone.”
The tears were now streaming down her face and the pale skin had a sheen of red from the blood pulsing through it.
“Taking your own life will solve nothing,” he said.
“It will solve the dilemma ofme,” she retorted.
“You are aperson,not a dilemma.”
“I am a person who does not deserve to live.”
He watched as her features calmed and her finger curled to the trigger. But he couldn’t let it end, not like this.
“If you kill yourself, you will leave behind many unanswered questions, to be sure. But you will be leaving behind people who care for you.”
“Who? Who cares for me!” she screamed, her features twisted. “My father is dead. My own mother, I now realize, does not care for me. She only cares for thebusiness.For power. Sowhodo you speak of?”
“He speaks of me,” said the voice.
Nash turned to see the diminutive Hiroko standing there in her robe, though at this moment she seemed to loom far larger than her physical self. She was not looking at Nash, but rather her focus was directly on Steers.
“Hiroko-san,” Steers said in a strained voice. “I do not wish you to see me like this. Please go.”