Marcellus smiled at her as he courteously held the back of a chair for her to sit. She glanced up at Ricco's chiseled features. He was back to his expressionless mask, but that disappeared whenever he glanced down at her. His features softened, his dark eyes gentled, giving her a feeling of being cherished. She had no idea what to do with Marcellus's courtesy let alone Ricco's protective care. She'd never experienced either.
She sank into the chair and took the glass of water from Alfieri Ferraro. "Thank you," she murmured. "I really can't tell you much. I've had nightmares all of my life, but I didn't think it was real."
"Have you already discussed your nightmares with Ricco?" Shaun Holmes, from England, asked. His voice was exceedingly gentle, as if she were a fragile flower.
She nodded. "Yes. Not in great detail, but he told me what happened."
"Your dream," Shaun persisted. "Does it change?"
"Only to add or subtract more detail. Someone wakes me up and takes me to the closet. They put my brother, Ryuu, in with me and tell me to keep him quiet. I hear screaming and threats. There's blood. It's running under the crack in the door."
She was suddenly there, in that tiny, cramped closet, shaking. Terrified. The smell of blood was heavy in the air, making her gag. "Ryuu whimpered and I clapped my hand over his mouth. He sank his tiny little teeth into me." Involuntarily she rubbed the pad of her finger over the little scars there.
Ricco slid his hand down her arm to take her hand, his finger tracing over the scars. Somehow she found it soothing.
"A big boy drags Ryuu out of the closet and throws him. He cries. I'm afraid. There's so much blood everywhere, but the big boy is stomping on Ryuu and he's screaming. I have to do something but I'm so scared. I rush the big boy and kick him as hard as I can the way my father taught me. It makes him very mad."
"Stop." Ricco's voice was very soft. "Stop right now and come back to me."
She blinked rapidly and found herself looking into Ricco's dark eyes. She took a deep breath, gulping at air in an effort to try to recover. She'd been in that closet so many times. It was real and vivid and a place she couldn't seem to ever escape. Ricco's thumb gently brushed at the tears on her face she hadn't known were there.
"We're done with this. She has memories. You can doubt it all you want, but she doesn't need to relive them for you."
"Forgive us, Mariko." Marcellus's voice was gentle. "We're not putting you through hell for our own amusement." He didn't look at Ricco when he said it, but he was making a point.
It didn't seem to matter to Ricco. He'd made his. Marcellus sighed. "Are you willing to take a DNA test?"
Ricco stirred again, and for the first time there was anger spilling into the room. "She doesn't need to do that."
"There is a great deal of money involved. An entire estate, Ricco. As with all families of riders, if there are no survivors, then the estate goes to the league. There will be a demand for proof from every lawyer, including hers."
"I have no problem with that," Mariko stated.
Marcellus nodded approvingly. Ricco pressed her hand to his thigh, his fingers stroking over her skin, making her heart beat fast.
"How were you contacted concerning your brother?"
"A note was on the floor of my room when I returned from a mission. It said they had Ryuu and would kill him if I didn't kill Ricco Ferraro. They gave me three weeks to get the job done."
The council members exchanged long looks. "Why didn't you do it?" Alfieri Ferraro asked.
"A rider doesn't kill another rider, and I certainly wouldn't do so without thoroughly investigating him. I found Ricco to be a good man. I couldn't trade his life for my brother's. In any case, it made little sense to do so. All they had to do was kill Ryuu after it was done and then me."
"Our investigators will help look for your brother. Every family will send their people," Shaun added. "Do you believe the Saitos or the Itos are involved? And what about Nao Yamamoto?"
"I know that Nao's parents sent him out of the country immediately after. They said it was to give him the best medical care available. He runs one of their companies and he inherited everything when his father died."
"We looked closely at him," Ricco said. "He seems the likeliest candidate, but he's lived here years and has never made a move against us. Still, it's too coincidental that Mariko, the child I saved, would be sent to assassinate me. The note was found in her room. It wasn't mailed to her. Someone went into her home. Whoever is coming after us knows to have their mercenaries shoot into the shadows. We aren't neglecting investigating Nao Yamamoto, but Stefano and I are making a trip to Japan to interview Osamu Saito."