There wasn’t even a second when it crossed my mind that using my looks was beneath me. This was to save my father’s life. When the guard refused to shake my outstretched hand, I let it glide down his bicep before dropping it back at my side.
“What do you want?” he asked stonily, but not too stonily. His eyes roamed quickly up and down, and I cocked my hip so he’d get a better view.
“Oh, I should have an appointment,” I said. “I’m scheduled to meet with Riku Yoshida about the therapy session.”
He snorted. “My boss doesn’t do therapy.”
I licked my lips and leaned closer. He didn’t back away, and for a brief moment I wondered if I could get his gun out of the holster, snap off the safety, and have it aimed at his head before… yeah, no. I could already picture myself flat on the ground the second my hand went anywhere near it. I may have been untrained, but I wasn’t an idiot. Instead, I tried to force a twinkle into my eyes.
“Massage therapy,” I said, winking for good measure. “We met last night, and he booked me right away.”
Now I prayed that Riku actually went out last night to a place where he might meet a freelance massage therapist. For no damn reason whatsoever except that I was about to explode from the tension in my chest, I laughed.
The guard joined in, and I relaxed the tiniest amount. Was this going to work?
“That’s cute, honey, but he’s not here.”
My brain revolted, and I couldn’t pivot to a new story quick enough. “I can wait,” I said. “I’m sure he told me to meet him at this address at this time.”
“And I’m just as sure he didn’t. Now move along and try to drum up business elsewhere.”
I looked down to hide the burning that rose in my cheeks. “I hope he’s not too mad at you,” I said, gathering the last of my courage at the same time I forced down the bile rising in my throat. “Look. Why don’t I work on you while I wait for him? Surely you’ve got a private office where I could get you nice and relaxed?”
I was going to puke. This was way too far. When I managed to look up, the guard gave me an appraising look. I prayed for him to say yes; at the same time, I prayed harder for him to say no.
“Cute,” he repeated, a mocking smile on his hard face. “You can be here when I get off work tonight, and I’ll take you up on that offer, but you’re not getting in there without the express permission of my boss. Who I’ve already told you isn’t here.”
I cut my losses and left before I passed out, still not giving up. The guy thought I was attractive, and maybe he wasn’t joking about meeting up later. This wasn’t a bust. I might still get information if I could find the courage to show up and face him again tonight.
Papa would kill me for even thinking about it, but Papa wasn’t around, was he? I was on my own, and desperate times called for desperate measures. I only needed to regroup and rethink, and maybe find a way to buy a gun before tonight.
Nothing was off the table except crying, though my eyes were getting a bit blurry as I made a show of swaying my hips until I turned the corner and was out of sight of the guard. I absolutely was not going to cry because then I’d never stop. The fear and anxiety of being so far out of my comfort zone that I might as well have been on Mars was bad enough, but the worry over Papa, the doubt that he was still alive at all, kept threatening to drop me.
Not going to happen. Nothing was going to take me out of this fight.
As I gathered the last shreds of my courage and determination, a car zipped up behind me at an alarming speed, slamming to a halt directly next to me. I swiveled on my towering heels and staggered back, gearing up to run, but a man in a mask was already on top of me.
Literally. I was on the ground, pressed beneath his rock-hard body. In an instant, both my hands were locked in one of his while his other huge palm clapped over my mouth. Not that anyone would have come running if I got out a single shout.
It was all over in another blink as he tossed me into the trunk of his car and slammed it shut. Total darkness as the engine revved and the car peeled out, jolting me backward. I scrabbled for the emergency latch, but it had been disabled, and I was truly trapped. The man was a pro at this.
It didn’t matter if no one heard me or if anyone would help. I let loose and screamed like I had never screamed before.
Chapter 3 - Konstantin
This was not fucking ideal. Now I had a screaming woman in the trunk of my car. A very bad idea, not thought out at all, though brilliantly executed. A glance at the tracker map on my phone showed me that Riku was going to turn and pass us. I turned down an alley a mere fraction of a second after his car came into view around the corner.
Thankfully, it wasn’t a dead end, and I got as far away from Yakuza headquarters as I could, sticking to the small service roads and alleys to keep from raising an alarm when someone would inevitably snap to the fact I was clearly in the middle of a kidnapping.
Damn it. Fury filled my veins and had me slamming my palm against the steering wheel as I tried to find a secluded place to stop the car and let Tati out so she’d quiet down. And then give her my own loud opinion for being so stupid.
A stupidity which I shared, at least a little bit. I should have left as soon as the guard told her to get lost. She was already walking away, but there was no sign of her car being anywhere nearby, or if she even had a car to get into to make her escape. Riku was seconds from passing her, and there was no way she wouldn’t be noticed in that skimpy getup of hers.
No way he wouldn’t recognize her for who she was, either. Not if he was any good at his job, and I knew firsthand that the Yakuza were very good at their jobs.
Thankfully, I was better, and my instincts had overridden any logic. There was no denying the powerful need to get her out of Riku’s proximity. It still flowed like lava, decimating everything else. Even my anger at Tati’s foolishness.
She had to be scared to death. I had pulled on a mask left in the car from the night before when I was helping my nephew Nik scope out a lead on this new group that had been giving them trouble. Tati didn’t know it was an old friend trying to rescue her and probably thought she was on her way across the border to be sold.