Shadow Reaper (Shadow #2)(97)

"It's all right, Eloisa. We must find out who is behind this. The sooner the council realizes I'm telling the truth, the sooner they'll look at the members conspiring against us." Ricco stood and looked at the council members. "We can use the smaller office right off this room. Mariko was not even three. What she remembers is mostly from nightmares. Her life has been hell, and if you want to talk to her, you'll do it with me in the room."



"Ricco … " Marcellus began.



"That's nonnegotiable."



To her shock, Marcellus nodded. "That doesn't seem unreasonable, although you have to know we all would be gentle with her."



"You'll be gentle with her with me present," Ricco declared, not giving an inch.



She couldn't believe he would talk to a council member like that and, more, they'd give in to his demands. She had confidence in herself as a rider, knew she was respected as one, but she wouldn't have had the nerve to speak to a council member so directly, let alone giving them what amounted to an ultimatum.



Ricco nodded toward his brother Stefano. "I'd appreciate you watching out for her while I do this."



       
         
       
        



"I will be going into the interview with you. As head of the family, that is my right." Stefano was decisive, coming to his feet, his expression grim. "Taviano, Vittorio and Emme will keep her company."



Eloisa glared at him. "I'm still quite capable of defending my family."



Stefano bowed toward his mother. "Of course. Forgive me."



Mariko didn't understand the dynamics of the Ferraro family. Clearly the siblings were close. They all seemed to almost revere Stefano, but their mother, Eloisa, they treated as an outsider  – and it wasn't because she was a woman. She watched Ricco and Stefano head toward the small office with the members of the council.



For some reason, her heart beat far too fast as she watched him go. She realized she didn't want him to have to relive the horrors of that day or the subsequent two years that followed in the homes of the families whose children he'd killed. He would have to tell them about how he didn't sleep for years, that instead he guarded the homes of his siblings. He would have to tell them about that terrible night when her family had been massacred by four disturbed boys. She knew the interviewers would question him closely over and over and it would be an ordeal. She realized she wanted to be there with him when he had to go through it all again.



The low murmur of conversation swirled around her and she had no idea of time passing as she tried to puzzle out the enormity of what the three families in Japan had conspired to do. She had grown up there. Japan was beautiful and she loved the country and the culture. The people she'd grown up around were very traditional and held to the old ways, unlike others she'd encountered. Was that part of the problem? Should the riders consider modernizing their training methods? Their society was very small and the ways entrenched. She believed what happened in her country could happen in any of them.



She could understand why their families felt the need to hide the truth from the world. She couldn't understand why they had taken her legacy from her or from her brother, Ryuu. She also couldn't understand how shadow riders could turn so severely on their own kind.



"Mariko." Taviano finally got her attention. "Emilio told us how effective you were in the maze. We appreciate you helping Ricco out when we all know he's still not one hundred percent."



She couldn't imagine how effective Ricco would be when he was at full physical strength. He still had repercussions from the original accident in his race car. She sent Taviano a small smile. "I'm a rider." That said it all. Naturally, she helped Ricco. 



"Are you any closer to figuring out who has your brother?"



She shook her head. "Before I went to your brother, I followed Ryuu's trail here to Chicago. He was seen in the airport and he checked into one of the hotels. He never checked out. I went into the room and there was no sign of struggle."



"Where did you go from there?" Emmanuelle asked, moving three seats closer.



She shook her head. "His new job. I went to the company, a software company, small but upcoming, and they had never heard of him. They hadn't sent him the invitation or the ticket to Chicago. I tried tracing the ticket but that was a dead end."



"You believed those you spoke with at the company?" Vittorio asked.



She nodded slowly. "I couldn't detect any lies when I spoke with them."