“Please tell me you aren’t going to wear slippers to the meeting?” Katsu says in a teasing, playful way.
“No, I just didn’t want to put a run my hose. Do I look okay?” I do a small spin. Katsu pushes off the door frame and comes and stands behind me as I’m applying the finishing touches to my makeup.
“Sweetheart, if I could rip this dress off and take you right now I would. But first, we’re on a schedule, and second, you have a concussion. I’ll have to make you wear that dress in a few days so I can peel you from it and show you just how much I care for you.” He leans down and moves my hair out of the way and is kissing and licking the junction between my neck and shoulder.
He lets out a growl and pushes his body into my back, his arousal obvious, and his intentions crystal clear.
“You smell like oranges.” He stops and growls. “I love to lap up the sweet nectar of oranges, Anna.” He moans. Katsu’s hands are soft on my hips, moving slowly up my body toward my breasts. “I can’t wait to make you mine, Anna.” He growls again. I close my eyes and wish it were Ben’s hands and mouth on me.
Katsu pulls away, bringing me back to the present.
“I’ll leave you to finish getting ready before I’m not able to stop myself. I’m close to losing control, Anna, and tonight isn’t the night for anything to happen.”
“I think it may be best if you wait outside for me, honey. Let me finish getting ready without distractions.” I smile in the mirror as Katsu watches my reflection.
“We need to leave in…” He looks at his watch and rolls his eyes, “…now. I’ll wait outside.”
I finish getting ready in the bathroom within two minutes and walk out to the huge wardrobe where my five-inch Prada heels are waiting for me. I slip them on and leave the bedroom. Katsu stands by the front door and extends his elbow to me. I take his forearm and we leave the penthouse.
“You look sensational, sweetheart.” He leans in and gives me a tender kiss on the forehead, avoiding the area of my injury.
“Thank you.” He leads me to the elevator with Tyler following two steps behind me to the right. Several other security men are behind and to the left of Katsu.
We all enter the elevator together and Katsu pulls me closer to him, segregating us from his security. I sneak a look over at Tyler as I step back; he lowers his gaze and turns his head to face the elevator door. He immediately steps in front of me as a human shield.
The elevator ride down to the basement is silent. I feel an imminent excitement creeping over me because now I’ll finally discover what Katsu’s game is.
We’re escorted to the new limousine and Katsu holds the door open for me as I maneuver into the back in this fitted dress and incredibly high shoes. Katsu closes the door for me and makes his way around to the other side, entering rather smoothly.
He immediately takes my hand and brings it to his lips. Tyler’s sitting in the front passenger seat and one of the other Security Guys is driving. He looks over his shoulder and starts the car, leaving our designated parking spot. Katsu raises the privacy divider and turns his body to face me.
“I need to tell you the things that’ll be expected of you at the meeting.” He makes my skin crawl.
“Such as?” I ask.
“You’ll sit in the seat allocated to you, behind me. You’re not permitted to talk, except to ask to go to the bathroom or to address any of the wait staff. Tonight you must listen and show me ultimate respect. The meeting will be with other Yakuza bosses. You’ll see they have their girlfriends or wives–or both–sitting with them. Some are permitted to talk, but none do. Your job is to show me support, to show your devotion to me, and most importantly, to show your appreciation to the Yakuza. No other boss will ask you any questions or will speak to you as of a sign of respect to me. If anyone does approach you, you must let me know immediately and I’ll deal with them. You’re permitted to speak with the other women, but only if you choose. If they ask you questions or try to interact with you, it’s your choice whether you speak to them. I’d prefer it if tonight you just watch and listen.”
I fully intend to watch and listen, Katsu.
“And it’s imperative you understand that whatever is discussed isn’t to be repeated to anyone other than me.”
“I understand and I’ll follow your instructions.” I turn my head and watch where we’re going, so I can come back and do some recon work when I’m able to get away.
We drive to a rural area where the houses are large and the grounds even larger. There are no meddlesome neighbors to ask why there are so many black limousines congregating here.
The house we approach is best described as an old Irish castle. This property doesn’t have a single house within miles of it. It stands tall and ominous, almost spooky among fully grown pine trees. The castle is so authentic I can easily imagine we’ve stepped back in time a century.
I suspect the shelter of the trees may be for reasons other than landscaping. First, to prevent any law enforcement from gaining an eagle eye view into what occurs here, and second, no one can hear anyone scream. I imagine a lot of people have entered this Castle only to be taken out in body bags.
We pull up right to the front door. It appears this is a spot reserved for Katsu. Katsu jumps out and is around to my door in no time, opening it and taking my hand.
The gravel makes a crunching noise under my shoes and I can’t help but feel excited about the meeting we’re here to participate in. I look around to take in my surroundings and commit it all to memory.
“Breathtaking isn’t it, treasure?” Katsu whispers in my ear. I’m not looking at the scenery; I’m assessing the access and the security for a future clandestine visit.
“It’s just lovely, Katsu.” I keep my focus as we enter the castle.
I can tell that the aroma from the pine trees travels inside, a permanent and pleasant guest here. The doors open on a large open foyer with three sets of stairs leading into three different areas of the house. Two lead upstairs but in different directions and one leads down, possibly to a basement of some sort.
Katsu leads us up the second staircase and down a very long corridor. The doors are all closed and there are no sounds coming from any of the rooms we pass. I simply follow Katsu’s lead. We come to the end of the corridor and there’s a large steel door that’s different from the others we’ve passed.
“Don’t be scared, treasure; I can feel you trembling.” I smile at Katsu and give him a small nod and reassuring smile.
I’m not trembling because I’m terrified; I’m trembling because I’m excited.
“Just remember what I told you in the car,” he says in a lower tone.
“Thank you,” I whisper before we enter the room. I lean in and give Katsu a chaste kiss on the cheek.
He opens the door and the first thing I notice is how the door’s reinforced. It has two large bolts in the lock, and with the reciprocating holes in the stainless steel door jamb, it resembles a bank vault. The steel of the door is at least three inches thick. There’s a keypad to leave on the inside, but there isn’t a keypad on the outside to enter.
Interesting.
The next thing I notice is the sheer size of the room. It’s easily fifty feet in length and thirty-five feet in width. That pleasant pine smell is still evident, even inside this secure room. There’s a large, rectangle table made from maple. The table has twenty chairs on either side and one at the head of the table with a gavel in front of it. There’s a row chairs behind all those at the table.
I wonder where Katsu and I will be sitting.
There are already eighteen men here and some women flitting around in a corner toward the back, talking quietly with each other. The men already here stop when we enter to watch who comes in through the steel door. When they see Katsu stride in, they all stand and come over to greet him.
“Sir,” they bow to him one by one, greeting him reverently. He still has a death grip around my waist and he makes no conversation w
ith the men, only nodding politely in return. The men continue to address him as ‘sir’.
He leads me over to the head of the table and shows me to my seat behind it. The other women have stopped talking and look over toward me, sizing me up. The men don’t even look at me. They simply go back to their seats and sit in silence.
“Don’t be intimidated. None of these men will even make eye contact with you,” Katsu leans down and whispers in my ear.
“I know I’m safe with you here.” The door opens again and Tyler comes to stands on my left.
Katsu takes his place at the head of the table and waits while the seats rapidly fill.
Hmmm, Katsu’s running this meeting. He’s the boss.
Anna
I sit back and watch as the all these men take their places at the table.
There are two familiar faces at the table and I’m aware of who they are. They don’t worry me; they’ve been potential targets that the employer had canceled at the last minute. So I know there are at least two I can take down easily.
I miss my babies.
There’s one man sitting at the table on Katsu’s right hand side who is clearly and obviously glaring at me. From where I sit, I can see Katsu’s snarling toward him, most likely because he’s staring at me.
The man has a prominent scar running from the top of his left eyebrow, through a damaged eye lid, all the way down to the bottom of his left cheek. His left eye lid is so damaged it doesn’t close properly when he blinks. His body is reedy. He looks emaciated, quite sickly, and his face is sunken and pale.
However his eyes tell a different story, they’re cautious, untrusting and definitely suspicious of me.
I listen as Katsu initiates the conversation, welcoming everyone who’s travelled from near and far. Katsu demands and gets the attention of every set of eyes except for one–Scar Man. He continues to look at me.
Scar Man sits back in his seat, totally ignoring Katsu. I’m interested to see how Katsu handles this, so I relax and watch it all unfold.
After the introduction I notice Katsu stops talking, he stands and goes over to stand next to Scar Man impeding our view of each other.
“If you continue to ignore what’s necessary and keep looking at what’s mine, I’ll remove both your fucking eyes with my bare hands.” Katsu doesn’t wait for a response and turns to walk back to his seat.
“I know her,” Scar Man says in a voice that sounds like rocks rubbing together. Shit.
“What?” Katsu halts his movement back to his chair and he shifts an evil eye to me. I keep my reaction neutral. My façade tightens.
“I know her,” Scar Man repeats his statement with vehemence.
“How do you know her?” Katsu’s stare doesn’t leaving my face. I raise my eyebrows and shake my head innocently, indicating how I have no idea what he’s talking about.
“I don’t know yet. I can’t recall specifically, but I know she’s been around our kind before.” Everyone’s watching the standoff between Katsu and Scar Man and only give me a quick glimpse.
“Impossible. I had her thoroughly investigated.” Katsu refuses to talk to Scar Man face to face; he simply stands with his back to him, in a dominant posture.
The atmosphere’s becoming tense. Everyone is silent; you could hear a pin drop in the stillness engulfing us all.
How exciting.
“I tell you I know her. You may have had her checked out, but you obviously weren’t thorough enough.” Oh shit, Scar Man’s just sealed his fate with Katsu.
Katsu gives me a small smile and winks; he turns around and faces Scar Man. Taking very slow steps toward him. “You believe I haven’t done my research on something that belongs to me?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply you’re incapable,” Scar Man says. Katsu’s face is turned toward him, out of my sight.
“Now you’re insulting my intelligence. That’s exactly what you’re saying; there’s no implication.” He’s rounded the back of Scar Man’s chair and all the other eyes in the room are solely on Katsu.
My breath hitches with excitement and anticipation, I don’t dare loosen my façade though. I can’t wait to see how Katsu deals with Scar Man. If it were me, my beautiful babies would’ve already made their appearance and he would not be given another chance to speak.
In a fraction of a second, Katsu has Scar Man in a headlock. His head is tilted in an unnatural position in the crook of Katsu’s elbow. Scar Man’s pale face has filled with blood and he’s gasping for breath, his eyes rolling to the back of his head and his body losing the fight it had in it when he was questioning Katsu’s judgment and ultimately his leadership skills.
“Does anyone else have any thoughts on me or my belongings?”
He lets Scar Man go and Scar Man sags off his chair to the floor in a heap. He’s still alive but he’s gasping for air. No one dares to go to his aid.
I stand from my designated seat and slowly walk over to the lump on the floor. I kneel in front of him and check for a pulse. Katsu stands and watches as I do this. I lean down to hear for his breath, I can’t resist the urge to whisper something to him.
“You’re right.” I pull back and smile at him.
To everyone watching, it looks like I might be giving him a harsh word or two for treating me so badly, but Scar Man and I know this exchange is also his warning. Scar Man’s eyes widen and he chokes on a breath. He’s alive, for now.
I straighten myself up and Katsu gently leads me back to my seat while Scar Man’s struggling to regain an upright position. I give Katsu a wicked smile and stand with an air of authority; I let Katsu believe that exchange was anything but what it really was. A caution.
“I’m so proud of you, treasure,” he murmurs and leans in to give me a soft kiss on my cheek.
“Let’s get back to the meeting,” he addresses the rest of the participants. I take my seat and watch as Katsu proudly picks up where he was before Scar Man challenged him.
“First we need to talk about threats,” Katsu goes on to listen to everyone reporting about the Russians, Italians and local mob elements in all the areas. There have been some families fighting with one another and taking each other out. This is satisfying to Katsu and the members around the meeting table.
“There’s been movement in Salt Lake, sir. The James family has gone into hiding and the Pace family is nosing around.” A younger man starts talking. He’s dressed impeccably in a suit; he has jet black hair and is quite tall and well built. He’s a very nice looking Japanese man.
“What are you doing there, Daiki?” Katsu lets out a laugh and shakes his head.
“I might have sent them in a spin by starting to take out all our rivals. I’ve shut down all the money laundering we don’t control, and I might have sent messages to everyone on this side of America who’s laundering for anyone but us, Sir.”
“Daiki, you’re an impressive young man. How much more do you have to do?” Katsu puts his elbows on the table and steeples his first two fingers and thumbs on both hands together. He leans forward to show his undivided attention to the man known as Daiki.
“The James family has gone into hiding, sir, so they may be difficult to locate. However, they’ve also ceased all their operations, possibly out of fear. The Pace family are a very tight and united family with very tight security. They’re proving to be impossible not only to locate, but also to infiltrate. There are very few people who know who they are or where to find them. They’re very powerful and the biggest of our problems. From what I can tell, they don’t know it’s a Yakuza takeover yet, but once we find them they should be easy to take down.” Katsu now entwines his fingers and says nothing, just simply thinking about the situation.
“What sort of message are you sending out to the launderers?”
“I had them taken out. But not before offering them the opportunity to work for us, sir. It appears there are way too many people loyal to other families. Pity really, I liked some of them.” Daiki lets
out a malicious chuckle.
“Good. Make an appointment to come and see me at home this week.” Daiki smiles and gives a small nod.
“What’s happening with the trafficking?” Katsu continues.
“We haven’t encountered a problem, Sir,” Scar Man speaks up and Katsu gives him a curt acknowledgement.
I sincerely hope they aren’t talking about human trafficking.
“Takumi, I want to see you this week too.”
“Of course, Sir,” Scar Man replies.
“Now, I’ve found a new lab. I’ve had my eye on it for just over a year, but I needed to wait for it to fall off the local police radar. It was very successful before it was shut down last year by local police and federal agents. I’ll be purchasing the land with a dummy company and re-establishing it as a cocaine plant. Are there any questions?” Katsu asks at the end of his report.
“Where is it?” the man next to Daiki asks.
“St. Cloud. It was owned by the Mancini family.” An audible, collective groan is heard coming from all the meeting attendees. My heart leaps into my throat and I become much more interested in the conversation.
“Mancini never repaid his debt to us, sir,” the same man states.
“No, but he and his son never surfaced again. His son had penetrated the St. Cloud police department and he simply disappeared. The Mancini’s were investigating someone and had asked for our help again, but I decided they weren’t a good risk.” Shit, Katsu’s talking about me.
I flashback to the afternoon I was held hostage by Ethan. “Dad owes the Yakuza and this is the only business that turns over the kind of profit we need to keep the payments up. The fucking whores can only fuck so fast, and most of them end up with some disease so we have to fucking kill them, and the guns aren’t moving as fast as we need them to. You know how the Yakuza are, there’s no delaying their payments.”
Oh shit.
Katsu was who Ethan was talking about.
The HiT Series Page 33
