by E A Hunt
Telling his Father that he did nothing but spend alone time with his mother’s flowers would have been disrespectful. It was how his Father was dealing with his mother’s loss. So, with a small bow, Ren was turning to leave when he noticed Kenzi looking around the atrium, tears brimming in her eyes. His sister, unlike their father, hadn’t come into this part of the house since their mother’s accident a year ago.
Mieko Tsao had been shopping downtown and intending to see his Aunt Luriana after her shopping trip, when a rival of their father’s had thought the best way to get back at Toshi was to take what he valued most - his beloved wife, Mieko.
She’d been ‘accidentally’ sideswiped while driving over the bridge on Wacker Dr. and hadn’t stood a chance. The impact knocked her unconscious and she couldn’t fight her way out of the car as it sank into the Chicago River. His father hadn’t been ready to let his mother go and had kept her on life support until just three months ago, when he finally realized that it was time to relieve her of her suffering. Since then, Toshi Tsao had only been a shell of himself. And while his father had been only a shell, Ren had hunted down the rival, ending the man and his family with no remorse before presenting the man’s severed head to his father.
“Kenzi -” Ren started.
“We can talk later. I have some ideas about marketing the condos. I’ll write them down and get them ready to present,” Kenzi replied quickly, cutting him off and rushing from the entrance.
Ren watched her go. His Father was grieving, his sister was flighty and the woman he loved had come back from the dead. What else could happen?
Chapter Three
“Oh Peanut, can’t momma have a few hours of sleep before you need to press on my bladder once more?” Audra asked, smiling as she placed a hand on her belly. “Come on little one, let’s go use the washroom before Papa comes home,” she said, while slipping from the uncomfortably full bed she’d been lying in.
Audra sighed as she walked into the bathroom. She missed Ren’s bed. It was a king-sized bed with a pillowtop mattress that he’d shipped over from the States, with all these wonderful warm blankets on it. She would often cuddle into the bed and drift off to a contented sleep while waiting for Ren to finish whatever business he had.
Done in the bathroom, she walked back to her bed. She would have loved to be at Ren’s tonight, waiting for him to finish whatever he’d been doing but it wasn’t possible. She had to be back on campus to finish her final project for her Master’s degree in Design. Audra slipped into the bed and snuggled into her pillows as sleep started to take her. In two days, her final project would be judged by her professor. If it was good enough, she’d be given her Master’s. If it wasn’t, she’d have to start all over again - something she really didn’t want to do. She had come to Japan a year ago through the exchange program run by her local university in Maine so she could finish her Master’s degree in an accelerated timeframe. All leading designers knew that if you wanted to see the next step in home décor or fashion, Asian countries were the place to be.
Rubbing her belly as her stomach started to flutter, Audra chuckled. Never in her dreams had she thought that her year in Japan would change her life in so many wonderful ways.
“You are a surprise blessing Peanut,” she told her baby. And it had been a surprise. When she’d met Ren six months ago, she never thought it would lead to a baby. But when you were as in love with each other as she and Ren were... And your schedules were quite busy with her classes and his businesses, they took whatever time you could get together. That meant they were usually in his bed or on her small apartment floor….. Chuckling turned to moaning when Audra thought about how her Peanut had got to where it was.
They’d been out dancing because her final concept had been approved. She’d been ecstatic that night and as soon as Ren had gotten her into his apartment, she’d jumped him. He’d carried her over to the counter in his kitchen and they hadn’t come up for air for at least an hour. “You, little one, are a gift that we didn’t even know was coming.”
And they hadn’t. After that night, Ren had been busy with work and she’d been busy with her project, getting all the furniture she needed to turn the oversized studio apartment she’d been given into a multi-use livable apartment. While Americans were just starting to understand tiny living, Japanese people had been doing it for decades. Her concept was that everything functioned as at least three other things while still making the space seem stylish and open. She’d been working non-stop until she’d fainted while helping bring in some furniture.
Taken to the infirmary, she’d been hydrated and given the news of her peanut.
Joy had consumed her and she’d been eager to tell Ren but then remembered he would be out of contact for a day because of some deal he was working on. “Your Papa is going to be over joyed with you,” Audra mumbled.
Ren would be overjoyed but he would also tell her to take it easy. He wasn’t enthused about her working on her project with other people, especially men, but she’d smoothed it over. And the men she worked with knew who Ren was, so they were very respectful of her and kept their distance. When she’d first met him she hadn’t known he was Yakuza but through whispers at her school, and the fact he walked around with a small detail, she had figured it out. Audra could careless about what Ren did. All she cared about was the love they had for each other. Which she’d told him once she’d informed him she knew who he was to this city.
Hearing her front door open, Audra felt a thrill run through her. Ren always had that effect on her. Whenever he would come near her or kiss her, she would feel this warmth wash over her, knowing she would always feel protected when it came to being with Ren. His footsteps were lighter than they’d been the other night when he’d come to her. He was always eager to be in her arms. Just as she was eager to be in his.
“Audra?”
Brows furrowed, Audra sat up in her bed. Usually when Ren came to her apartment, he undressed and slid into bed with her, kissing her shoulder, neck, or temple before he drifted off to sleep, calling her his Hana. The only time Ren used her name was when he was frustrated with her.
“Ren?” She questioned the darkened figure in the doorway to her bedroom. She reached for the light beside her bed, “Is there -”
“Don’t!” came a growl.
Why was Ren growling at her? Had she done something which had upset him? If she had, then they needed to discuss it. They’d pledged a while ago to talk about any issues they had in their relationship. There were no secrets when it came to the two of them. Ren dealt with enough secrets as a member of the Yakuza and she didn’t want to add to his plate by keeping secrets from him.
“Did you think I would not find out?”
Find out wh – well damn she should have known he would have someone following her when he wasn’t around. Dating Ren was a risk because of who he was, but she didn’t care. She loved the man not the Yakuza.
“How could you betray me?”
“You’re -” Audra stilled when the gun glistened in the moonlight. She lifted one hand while placing the other on her belly, “Ren I can explain.”
“No, there is nothing. You are nothing!”
And that was all she heard as the first round was released and travelled towards her and into her body, knocking her onto the bed before another round entered her body, and the last round took her to unconsciousness.
***********
Iain’s conversation with his online Japanese instructor brought Audra out of the past and the heartache she had felt when Ren had put those three bullets into her. She wiped at her tears. If she hadn’t had the sense to cry out after the second bullet and her neighbor, who was usually out partying, hadn’t been home to hear her or the shots, she and her son would be dead.
Turning towards the oversized computer screen, she smiled at the instructor as he gave Iain a few homework assignments to work on before their next lesson. Once done, Audra ended the lesson and her son went to play with his
little fake samurai sword. She’d gotten it for him at a Japanese exhibit they’d visited a few weeks ago. Iain had been so enamored with his other culture and all the wonders it possessed.
“How was your lesson?” Audra asked her son in Japanese. Since Iain was in the womb, and once they were back on US soil, she’d spoken to him in Japanese, with English as his second language. Many had questioned why she had done it. All she had done was look at her son, knowing most would see the Japanese, Iain’s skin tone a shade deeper than hers while his eyes were slanted and his hair was jet black and wavy; much like his father’s, in him before the American. An answer to the question would be a simple ‘he needs to know both heritages and I will not deprive him.’ With those words the subject would be dropped.
“It was fun Momma. I like talking with Master Hoshi,” Iain replied, as he swung his sword.
Audra was also fond of Master Hoshi. He’d been Iain’s teacher since he could talk. He helped with Iain’s dialect so he wouldn’t have an accent when he spoke with others. Which Iain didn’t. His school not only taught the basics when it came to foreign languages, but they also had a Japanese study group which her son was a part of.
“And I’m sure he likes talking to you also,” Audra assured her son, which was probably true. Master Hoshi was an older Japanese gentleman who taught online classes. When she had first researched classes for her son, Audra had got the sense from talking to the man that he was lonely and teaching these classes gave him a sense of purpose and someone to talk to.
Looking towards her apartment door when she heard a knock, Audra wondered who could be on the other side. It was late in the afternoon and usually at this time of day most people were either at work or heading to work so she didn’t expect too many people to be coming to her door.
“Iain, enough slaying dragons,” she said in English.
“I like slaying dragons Momma,” Iain replied.
“I know but it is time for dinner,” she replied, walking the short distance to her son. “Now get washed up while Momma answers the door.”
Audra took the sword from him before turning and heading towards the door. Just as her son started walking down the hall, she opened the door to complete and utter shock.
“It is you,” Ren breathed pulling Audra into his arms. He inhaled the flowered scent which had drawn him to this woman in the first place. “I thought I’d been dreaming. Thought I’d seen a ghost!”
“What are you doing here?!” Audra asked, not returning his hug. She needed him to leave. Needed him to be nowhere near her or her home.
“What am I doing here?” He leaned back. Her arms were to her side and her posture was rigid. Did she not know he would come for her? Once he knew she was alive. Once he knew he could touch her again… of course he was coming for her!
“Yes,” Audra replied stepping out of his embrace. She didn’t want him here. She never wanted him here. Reaching behind her, she grasped the door handle and closed it before Iain could come back into the living room looking for her and his dinner.
With the door at her back, she looked at Ren, “I thought me not talking to you at the wedding was a clear sign that I never wanted to see you again,” she replied. She had spent the last two days looking over her shoulder for Ren or his men. She didn’t want him to find out about Iain. He couldn’t find out about their son. He would only try to hurt the boy like he’d hurt her all those years ago. When she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the man or anyone associated with Ren, she’d believed she was safe. Believed he hadn’t found any information about her whereabouts. Oh, how wrong she was.
“I took that more as shock than you not wanting to see me, Hana,” Ren replied. Why was she so rigid?
“There was some shock,” Audra admitted. While living with her parents in Maine she’d kept tabs on Ren. Watching as he was mentioned in different articles in Japan about him dating one woman after the next. Speculation about impending engagements or marriages. She’d seen it all while trying to keep their son and herself off his radar. That was the whole reason they were in Chicago. She knew that if he ever discovered she was alive, he would come looking for her in Maine. So, when an opportunity came across for her to work in a small firm in Chicago, which had folded a year after her move, she’d taken it. Iain had been just a year old at the time and they had both needed a new start.
“I hadn’t expected to see you. I thought you were still in Japan.”
He could understand her thinking. He hadn’t been too forthcoming when she’d questioned his origins. It wasn’t easy explaining why a boy from Chicago was in Japan teaching his older cousin, Hiro, how to lead, because the man was an embarrassment to his uncle.
Hiro Tsao had never been given a birth designation because Ren’s Uncle had believed the boy would not live up to the Tsao name. No matter how Hiro tried. So, when he was asked to come and help Hiro, Ren had agreed reluctantly. He’d been coming into his own at the time and hadn’t wanted to derail his plans because his cousin was a screw up. But he hadn’t known at the time that because of his cousin he would meet the woman before him and fall madly in love with her.
“I left Japan several weeks after ...” he gestured towards Audra, “and I came home.”
“Chicago?” Audra questioned. She could hear her son through the door she needed to get Ren out of here.
“Yes,” Ren replied, “Can we talk about this inside? I have so many questions and -”
“I don’t want you here Ren!”
“Hana…”
She closed her eyes, bowing her head. God, she had missed his light tenor voice calling her Hana. “Don’t call me that,” she snapped.
“Why?” Ren asked, stepping towards her and crowding her into the door. He placed a hand on her chin, bringing her gaze up to his, “It is your name.”
She steeled her resolve, “It is not my name. It has never been my name,” she said, turning the knob and saying a final, “Goodbye Ren!”
“Hana... Audra. I deserve to know why you allowed me to believe you were dead for the last five years,” Ren pleaded.
“No, you don’t!” she said, opening the door just enough to slide through.
“Please -” Ren started. He was not above begging her to talk with him.
“I have nothing to say to you!” Audra replied as she fought back her tears. It had felt so good to have him pressed against her once more. He’d felt so solid. So warm.
“I thought I lost you,” Ren told her as he placed his hand on her door.
“You did,” was all she said, before she finally closed the door and locked it.
Wrapping her arms around herself, Audra let her tears fall. She had to leave. She had to pack up her life and her son and leave before Ren came back and discovered her secret.
Chapter Four
Picking up his escrima (Japanese fighting sticks) Ren bowed to his opponent and took his stance for a workout he desperately needed. Blocking his opponent’s strike, Ren went on the offensive – which was also where he’d been for the last five days when it came to Audra and her shutting him out. Ducking a defensive strike from his opponent, Ren stepped back and assessed the situation as he kept up his offense, simultaneously analyzing the situation with Audra. She wouldn’t see him at her apartment, nor would she allow him into the office building of her small firm. Anytime he set foot in the building, the rent-a-cop there would stop him and ask him to leave. He thought several times about breaking the man’s arm and going straight to Audra’s office anyway, but that wouldn’t go over with his Hana very well and he knew it.
While she’d once cared nothing about the fact that he was Yakuza, he never used violence in front of her, opting to keep her from what he did to make a living. So instead he waited for her. Outside her office, outside her home. If he couldn’t be there, then he always had a small detail of four men watching her. He was not going to let Audra get away from him this time. She wasn’t just going to walk out of his life now that he had got her back.
&nbs
p; Spotting a weakness in his opponent, Ren quickly kicked out his leg sending the man to the floor. Once there, he raised his escrima as if to strike, stopping only inches from the man’s face.
“Impressive,” a voice from behind him commented.
“Not all of us are good with knives,” Ren replied lowering his escrima and reaching out to help his opponent up off the floor. Releasing the man, Ren gave him a small bow and released him from his duty for the day.
“Isn’t what you have in your hand considered a knife when there’s a blade in it?”
Ren turned towards Seamus’ voice. “No, it’s still considered a sword,” he advised. Walking over to the man, he asked, “And what brings you here?” There wasn’t anything pressing for The Four, so he was curious to know why Seamus was at his estate and not at home with his wife.
“Bram sent me,” Seamus replied, walking further into the training room. He hadn’t been here since that whole mess with the former potential second Dar. He’d used Ren’s training room to shadow box and work through his anger that Dar had made people think the McTavishes were involved in child pornography and the kidnapping of minors. Through the boxing he’d realized he needed to place himself in exile. Give up his heir apparent ‘Boss’ title with the McTavish Family since it was he who brought Dar into the family in the first place.
“Why would Bram send you to me? Isn’t he supposed to be enjoying his honeymoon?” Ren asked, as he placed his escrima on the table closest to the door and twisted off the cap of a water bottle. He made an offering gesture towards Seamus.
“No thank you,” Seamus replied, taking a seat on the bench next to the table with the escrima and the water bottles. “He was on his honeymoon, but he came back last night. Nelle and Sara have been in semi-constant contact since they left and though Sara loves the island she was ready to come home. So being the loving husband that he is, he brought her back.”
