Page 80 of Pragma
“Nothing new. They’ve always had a close relationship,” I hear Soma’s uninterested voice.
“And it’s not weird after sharing as much as they do to…slip and fall,” Yuna utters.
“I guess the cat is out of the bag.” Aki bites his lower lip, eyes gleaming with mischief. Every man who was there saw the way I reacted toward Aki when we almost died.
“Oh, happy days. It would be actually hot to see them together…together.” Karin giggles.
A loud muffled scream stops the conversation, and as we get a good view of them, I see Masa kicking Ishida-san in the guts.
Karin is perched on the back of an old armchair, feet on the dirty, torn upholstery. Yuna is tossing knives at a broken wood beam on the floor, while Soma is reading a book, sitting on a crate. His arm is in a blue sling, he got hurt during the shootout, a bullet went through his forearm. Masa is standing near Ishida-san, who’s tied up and gagged, lying on his side on the filthy floor, wearing a white tank top, a pair of silk boxers, and black socks.
Everybody bows as Aki appears.
“Good to see you,wakagashira.” Karin grins at him, tugging on her flowery scarf. “You too, boss.” She smiles sweetly at me.
“I heard you all fought bravely.” Aki sounds proud.
“We struck viciously like the snakes we are,” Masa teases. He has a bruise on his jaw, and the skin over his knuckles looks cracked.
“The three dudes who vandalized the warehouse were among the shitdicks who attacked the restaurant,” Yuna deadpans. “We found the ski masks inside the trunk of one of their cars. Fucking morons.”
“You’ll all get a fat bonus this month.” Aki’s words are followed by cheers that get lost in the large room, but his eyes have moved to Ishida-san growling on the floor.
“Getting money for killing a bunch of people. I fucking love my job!” Masa exclaims, bumping Soma’s shoulder, earning a hiss and a glare.
Aki grabs Ishida-san’s cane from near a crate and starts twirling it with his fingers.
“And look what the cat dragged in…or should I say the snake?” He smirks at Masa, since he was the one doing the dragging. Sounds like Masa officially made the cut into the crew.
Aki tosses the cane my way and starts unwrapping a piece of cinnamon chewing gum as he goes back to addressing the man bound like a pig. “When I heard you were caught trying to flee to Mexico, my first thought was that as soon as I had you in front of me I would split you open right in the center.” He pushes the stick of gum into his mouth before gesturing a line from his chin all the way down to his dick. “I really wanted to find out what your toxic insides look like.”
I see sweat rolling down thetraitor’sface. He’s trying to hold the fear in, but it’s a losing battle. He knows Aki likes to becreativebefore killing. That’s why people are scared of him; they know he enjoys this part of the job a little too much, perhaps.
“But since then, half a day has passed, and I got bored with recurrent mental images of you gurgling, bubbling, and choking on your blood while I force you to watch your intestines being yanked out of your body.”
“Aki-san, you did that already, a year ago,” Yuna interjects.
“Pulled out the guy’s appendix that time,” Karin clarifies.
“The boss wanted to see what that looked like,” Soma reminds us.
A whimper leaves Ishida-san as I hear Masa mutter, “Fucking shit. You’re dead as fuck.”
“Because of you, I lost so much time looking for evidence against your company.”Not even ten minutes since he sent Yuki to do the search.“I thought a niceyubi-tsume,then incarceration—making sure you become some con’s bitch—while destroying your reputation and company with extensive public attention and extra pressure from the media would fit the crime, but you went and tried to off me, my crew, and evenKumicho. Bold. I would have admired your enthusiasm if you hadn’t chosen Ling Wang as your partner.” Aki tsks his disapproval and disdain toward him.
Ishida-san is talking now, but the cloth around his mouth prevents us from understanding. Aki flicks his fingers at Masa, and he lowers the gag.
“You dare to treat me like this?” he hisses, propping his torso on one elbow. If he’s trying to look less pathetic, it is not working. “I’m the yakuzakumicho’s adviser and the head of one of the most influential families in the US and Japan. She would never authorize this. You are acting rogue, hoping that your blood relation to her will cover your ass once again. The other families won’t turn a blind eye this time!”
I can’t halt the low, angry growl from escaping my throat. Aki turns his head toward me and sends me a flying kiss. It’s the most inappropriate and shameless act, especially in this particular situation, but it’s so him that I can’t help but smirk back.
He chews on his gum for a second before nodding. “The other families didn’t. Not after I showed them all the proof I dug up against you. Ling Wang vandalized one of my warehouses, and he tried to rape me. But Fuckchill didn’t have the brain, nor the balls to bribe one of my company employees in exchange for private files. He didn’t care about ruining my company or my stature in the yakuza. He was a short-sighted dick with the attention span of a fly. A puppet, your puppet.”
“I know nothing about that,” the traitor hisses, spitting flies from his chapped lips. I raise the cane and take a step forward, ready to make him talk, but Aki lifts a halting hand in the air, stopping my advance.
“Oh, but you do. You paid someone to get information on my construction company.” Yuki found a couple of calls on Ishida-san’s phone records directed to a shady P.I. agency. I sent Yuna and Karin tocheck.
“Lies. Where’s the proof you talked about? You have shit!” He spits toward Aki’s feet, but doesn’t hit the target.
