Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 66993 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66993 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
It took five of them to barely get him restrained again. Even then, his body bucked and twisted, his teeth bared, his voice hoarse from screaming. Blood dripped down his face like a mask and still he thrashed.
I moved in.
Not too close—but just enough.
Just enough to show him he wasn’t alone.
“Hiro,” I whispered this time. “Look at me.”
His eyes found mine—wild, broken, shining with tears and rage.
“I’m going to fix this.” I said, trembling inside but holding steady outside. “Let me fix it.”
He didn’t nod.
He didn’t blink.
But he stopped fighting.
Barely.
I turned back toward our father—and that goddamn gun still resting in his lap like a crown jewel.
Reo was at my side now. His shoulders stiff, his breath too shallow, and for the first time since I was a child. . .Reo looked terrified. That made something inside me shift. If Reo was afraid. . .we were deeper in the pit than I thought.
Then the Fox spoke again.
Like none of it had just happened.
Like Hiro wasn’t bleeding.
Like Nura wasn’t still trembling naked, at the end of a chain.
Like the threat of death wasn’t coating the air like formaldehyde.
“Did you know…” my father said slowly. “That the Lion paid me a visit this morning before he left Japan?”
I put my view on him. “And?”
“The Lion brought no gift or any form of respect. He simply walked into my room, unannounced with all of his men, and he did not sit down.”
I swallowed.
“He just. . .strolled around the room, touching the wall, giving it a knock or two, and then stepping forward to knock on another wall. He did this without saying hello.”
I held out my hands. “Is that it?”
“No, son.” My father sneered. “That is not it. Then, the Lion after assessing my goddamn room, he turned to me and simply said. . .”
“What?”
“The Lion said. . . ‘This hospital’s foundation is not strong enough to survive any of my bombs. You should consider a new place to lay or at least. . .talk to your son and teach him the many ways of respect.’”
I stared at him.
The oxygen hissed again.
“And then the Lion left,” my father added, voice barely above a whisper. “No goodbye. Just his men and him walking away.”
The Lion’s message was very clear: “If Kenji fucks up one more time with me, I will bomb this hospital, old man, and finish what your enemies could not do.”
Not a warning.
Just a promise.
The more I thought about it—the more I pictured it—I could see it all play out in my father’s mind.
The Lion strolling into my father’s hospital room like it was his fucking penthouse.
No greeting.
No gun.
Just silence and power.
Knocking on walls.
Listening to the way the structure echoed beneath his knuckles. Testing the bones of the building like a butcher tapping ribs. Calculating where the explosions would need to go.
And my father?
He probably shit himself during the visit.
Literally.
He probably fucking shivered in front of his men. Tried to hold his bowels, tried to hold his pride, but it all spilled away.
All while Kazimir walked circles around him, dragging his bulky shadow through the IV drips and monitors—death in custom shoes.
And now we have it. You feel like a punk and want to take it out on your sons.
Therefore, this show tonight with Hiro and Nura wasn’t just about me, it was about the Fox trying to sew his manhood back together with humiliation and chain links.
He was trying to remind the world—remind himself—that he was still a boss. That he hadn’t become some brittle old bastard tied to oxygen and fear, forever trapped in a bed that might blow sky-high if a crazy Russian whispered the word.
And now he needed to punish someone too, for feeling like a weak man.
Make a show of power.
Re-establish dominance.
Remind the Dragon that the Fox breathed fire first in Tokyo.
So, he picked the one soft spot I had left—my brother. And. . . He would use Nura too if he deemed it necessary.
Dear God.
I swallowed. “I apologized to the Lion. All is fixed now. He will not be back.”
“I told you not to work with the French—”
“And I have learned that lesson.”
“I fear you need more lessons. Never is the Lion to come to me.” His bottom lip shivered.
“That will not happen again.”
“It won’t because you will learn this lesson tonight.” Just as fast as he said those words, he lifted the pistol and pointed at Nura.
“No, Father. Don’t.” I trembled.
Nura looked up.
Not at me.
Not at the Fox.
She looked at Hiro with her eyes—still wet, still shining. Yet somehow, through all the blood, through all the bruises, through all the guns pointed at her head, she smiled.
My father fired the gun.
A single crack split the air.
Her head snapped back.
The smile vanished like smoke.
Blood sprayed across the tile.
And the chain fell silent.
No!!!
Nura collapsed in a heap of bare skin and bruises, blood pooling beneath her.