Scandalously Expecting His Child(67)
The Yakuza needed an ongoing merger to reap the benefits, the kind that came only from stable marriages and legitimate heirs. They’d already bought stock and placed bets depending on the marriage that wouldn’t come to pass. His relationship with Scarlett had already hurt their business, but they probably hadn’t removed her nuisance already since they expected Raiden to do as he was told, and they’d rather not alienate him unnecessarily. But if they thought they were losing him anyway, they’d have nothing at risk. Eliminating Scarlett would serve as a punishment to him, and a cautionary tale to anyone else who didn’t abide by their rules.
He’d sworn to his uncle he would kill them all first.
His uncle had only looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. Then he’d told him he’d do everything in his power to mollify them, to buy him time, until Raiden got his act together.
Even in his maddened wrath, Raiden had known that his uncle was right. Killing them all wasn’t a viable option.
He alone could eliminate a dozen Yakuza heads before the night was out. Enlisting his brothers’ help would widen his preemptive strikes by a factor of six. But there was no way they’d get everyone. The Yakuza were a cancer. Remove the main tumors and others sprouted in their place. There would be retaliatory hits sooner or later. Apart from keeping Scarlett hidden indefinitely, or changing her identity all over again, she’d always be in danger. Even if he disappeared with her, that still left his brothers. The Yakuza didn’t forget their vendettas, needed to demonstrate their lessons viciously to keep their future quarries in line. When their original target escaped them, they forced the target to surface by hitting at their nearest and dearest. If that didn’t work, they’d at least made an example that would ensure no one crossed them again.
No. Neither striking first nor hiding was the answer. Too much was at stake. Everything was at stake.
Scarlett was everything.
Keeping her and their baby safe required a different mode of attack. And for that, he needed his brothers. All of them. This had to be planned with no margin of error. None.
He entered his pitch-dark bedroom, knowing without needing to see that Scarlett was still out on his bed like the lights. Her scent enveloped him; her essence permeated him.
Doing what he’d wanted to do before his fateful meeting with his uncle, he stripped, joined her on the bed, rid her of her own clothes and cocooned her in his body, as if he’d taken her inside him, where she’d be totally safe.
He had to rest now, while she did.
Tomorrow a war began.
* * *
Raiden woke up the moment she did.
Keeping his eyes closed and his body relaxed, he hid the fact that he was awake, too. He needed her to go about her daily business as if nothing was different. The Yakuza would be watching both him and her more closely now that they’d sent their message. Yet he couldn’t alarm or distress her a moment before he had to. It already killed him that he would soon have to.
He lay there on his side as she separated her precious flesh from his, as she’d been doing every morning, gently, careful not to disturb him. Then as if she couldn’t help herself, she pressed back to him for a moment, feathering his chest with kisses. His heart almost imploded.
Pretending to turn in his sleep so she wouldn’t feel it thundering against her chest, he separated from her. A tiny sigh escaped her, a blissful little sound, as she placed a final kiss over his shoulder, then left the bed.