Shadow Reaper (Shadow #2)(24)
Ricco nodded. "I know what I'm asking. I need this chance."
"I'm willing to take the risk," Taviano said. "Ricco's been through enough and I'll stand with him."
Stefano looked at Vittorio. "You?"
"I'll stand with Ricco, but I want added protection for him."
"The last thing I need is my brothers or sister standing in the shadows while I'm trying to seduce a woman," Ricco said, faint humor coming to the surface. That was his family, in the worst of circumstances, siding with him and making him want to laugh.
"I'm in," Giovanni said. "I could use some pointers, Ricco. You've always been good with the women."
"As if you need any help," Emmanuelle said and threw a wadded-up napkin at her brother, striking with deadly accuracy. "I don't like it, but I'll help. I'm befriending her, Ricco, and if she so much as blinks wrong toward you, I'll break her neck."
He was a bit startled by the intensity of his sister's attitude. She meant it. Even smiling at him, she meant it. He inclined his head.
"If I get a vote, I'll help, too," Francesca said. "I can be her friend and tell her why I adore you."
"Of course you get a vote," Ricco said. "You're family." He looked to Stefano. They all did, waiting for the verdict.
"I'll contact our cousins in New York and Los Angeles. If a war is starting they need to be aware as well. I'll contact the international governing family and ask them to keep the investigation quiet, but not for long, Ricco. If someone is after you, we'll need to know who it is. And we're starting our own investigation as well. I don't much care whose toes in Japan I step on."
"Thank you." He should have known his family would back him.
"You were fourteen years old, a kid, Ricco. They were adults. Their children fucked up and they would have had honor if they'd faced that with courage. Instead, they tormented you and threatened you. God knows what they did to this girl and what they've told her. We're going to find out what happened to Tanaka's other two children. There has to be a trail, elders who knew about them. God help them if they turned over those innocent children to the Saitos and left them in their care. Those three families would have kept the details of their sons' deaths secret. They told everyone they'd died in a car accident with the Tanakas. There's a trail, and we'll uncover it."
Ricco nodded his head. "I'd like to know what happened. I'm fairly certain Mariko is a Tanaka. She has to be that same three-year-old."
"One more thing. You will be guarded at all times. I don't want you trying to give us the slip. Obviously, we can't be with you twenty-four-seven, so you watch your back at all times."
"Consider it done."
"You weren't guilty of anything, Ricco," Stefano added. "Not one fucking thing. They twisted what happened in your mind. You did the honorable thing, fighting for that family. Finding your way through Tokyo when you'd just arrived a few weeks earlier would have been difficult for any of us, let alone a teen. I'm proud of you. You honored our family with what you did to save those children and then coming home and watching out for all of us. You carried that burden alone for too many years. You should have trusted me, but the decision was made by a boy who feared three powerful families threatening to kill his own. I understand, and I can look you in the eye and say I'm proud of you."
That meant more to him than anything else could have. He looked around the room at his family, the men and women who stood with him. He wanted Mariko there with them. His woman. He just had to find a way to seduce her without being killed.
CHAPTER FOUR
M
ariko slept fitfully, expecting Ricco to make his move any moment. Every creak, every shift of the outside branches had her jumping up, her dagger in her hand. She would lie back down, sliding the reassuring weapon under her pillow, the hilt in her palm, eyes wide open, waiting for him to take advantage of a woman silly enough to put herself in such a position for money.
It was a great deal of money. She contemplated that as the first rays of the sun streamed into her room. It was a beautiful room, very spacious and appointed with every luxury. The fireplace was old stone, the floors gleaming hardwood. A bank of windows faced the east, allowing the sun to stream in if the drapes were open. Sheer lace panels covered the windows and the darker, thick drapes were open or closed via a remote by her bed.