In the fifteen minutes it took her to get ready to leave, he almost suffocated with a dozen conflicting urges. To drag her back to bed and drown in her, to grab her and run out of Japan and disappear, to tell her everything now, not later. But the main need remained to go out and take down as many of those who threatened her as possible. A need he knew would go unfulfilled. But he still swore he was adding those goons to his list of undetectable and unendurable punishments.
But her safety came first, and last.
As she exited the bedroom, he thought he heard her humming a song. His heart stopped to make sure he’d heard right, before it rocketed into a whole new level of turmoil. She’d never done anything so spontaneous around him. He’d never heard her sound so...cheerful. For the first time in her life, he believed she was happy.
And he’d soon have to mar that happiness.
The moment the penthouse door clicked closed behind her, he exploded from bed. In minutes, he’d set off the general alarm, set up a meeting with those of his brothers still in Japan, with the others joining them on videoconference.
He needed a solution before this day was over.
And he would have it.
* * *
“Which Yakuza bosses made this threat?”
That was Numair, as usual the first one who spoke up with the most relevant question or comment after one of them made a report on a problem they were gathered to resolve.
Raiden had made his investigations. He now knew where the threat was coming from. He told his brothers.
All of them had intimate knowledge of every figure of power in the world, from heads of state to criminal masterminds. The names he’d just mentioned were among the most vicious.
After a minute of silence, Richard was the first to talk. “Are you sure you want to antagonize those vipers? You Japanese people have this weird obsession with honor and ritual, your vendettas last centuries and it makes your criminals the most tenacious on the planet.”
Raiden turned to hold the Englishman’s gaze. “I wouldn’t only antagonize the very devil for Scarlett, I’d die for her and take down anyone with me. But that’s why I gathered you all, to find another way that doesn’t include antagonizing them. I want this done gracefully and faultlessly, to ensure no fallout of any kind, ever.”
“I’m missing something, it seems.”
This was Jakob Wolff, their resident Norse god, as the media called him and as all women agreed. Having been given the codename Brainiac during their years with The Organization, he’d turned his weaponry and tech virtuosity into an R&D division that produced the next level of technology, probably Black Castle’s highest grossing. He and Raiden had always had their...differences.
Jakob now looked out of the screen at him, his steel-hued eyes boring into Raiden’s. “I assume when you say you’d take down anyone with you, that includes us? And we should agree to that, why?”
Raiden shot him a glance in lieu of a kakato-geri ax kick over his thick head. “Because you owe Scarlett your fortunes, your security and your very lives. Medvedev uncovered my identity and by association yours, and was coming after all of us. She almost sacrificed her own life taking him down. That’s why.”
Jakob met his infuriated gaze in utmost composure. “Now, that’s a good reason. I thought you expected us to do that for you. My bad.”