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“I find us five million dollars.”
“Fumi? Earth to Fumi?”
I blink and shove away the fog that’s been circling my head all weekend. My gaze raises to Elsa, who’s smiling quizzically at me as she leans on the counter in the Crown and Black break room.
“You gonna leave any room for coffee in that cup?”
I blink slowly, still coming out of my haze as I drop my eyes to the mug that’s almost full of half and half.
Fuck.
“Sorry, I’m…” I shake my head. “Case of the Mondays, I guess.”
More like a “case of having the entire narrative of my life altered in radically jarring ways this past weekend”. A case of finding out my mother was murdered twenty-two years ago. That my father used to be a vicious, ruthless crime boss—and I do mean ruthless. There wasn’t much, but I poked about online and found some old news articles about the Mori-kai in Kyoto thirty years ago.
When I realize I’m staring at the floor between Elsa’s feet, I try to shake off the fog again.
“Sorry,” I mumble. “It was…a weird weekend.”
My friend nods, her face sad and sympathetic as she steps closer to me and lays a hand on my shoulder. “How’s your dad?” she says quietly.
Part of me wants to snap “Just dandy for a former Yakuza boss, how’s yours?” But that would be in extremely poor taste. First, because Elsa’s father was a monster, and second, because he’s dead.
But he was a Bratva avtoritet. Honestly, if there’s anyone who would actually “get” what all of these revelations about my dad is doing to my head, it’d be Elsa.
But I don’t say anything about any of that, or the five million dollars I somehow need to find.
“He’s okay,” I smile wanly. “Treatments are going well. They’ll run his numbers again in a few weeks to see if there’s any improvement or if they need to up his meds.”
“I’m so sorry, Fumi.”
I shake my head again. “He’s gonna be fine.”
“Attagirl,” she smiles, giving me a hug.
I turn to dump out my mug of cream and pour some actual coffee into it.
“How was your weekend?”
“Oh, just fine. Hades took Nora to some big car show over in Jersey on Saturday so I had all the alone time I could ask for. Then on Sunday Nora disappeared into Teenagerland, so Hades and I had the house to ourselves. It was great.”
I grin as I turn back to her and lean against the counter. My social life—especially my love life—might be trash. But until that changes, I live vicariously through the fairytale world of friends like Elsa.
Elsa, with the amazing marriage to a guy who fits her perfectly. Okay, Hades Drakos is technically speaking Greek Mafia, for anyone trying to nitpick what the dictionary definition of “perfect husband” is. But he’s perfect for her, and it’s almost sickening how in love they are. Plus, bonus points that Hades gets along with Elsa’s much younger sister Nora like peas in a pod.
The glass door to the break room opens. Elsa and I both turn as Cassidy walks in.
“Hey,” I smile. “How was your weekend?”
“Oh, you mean after Mr. Roboto banished us to Siberia?”
Elsa makes a face. “Ouch. Yeah. I heard you guys got stuck with that deposition duty. How was it?”
“Twenty-one hours of Devin Marshall lamenting the state of her trust fund, bemoaning her dad’s refusal to buy her a castle in England, and whining about all the rich, snobby douchebags she sleeps with who turn out to be—wait for it—rich, snobby douchebags. Seriously riveting stuff, Elsa. You missed out.”
She giggles. “Yeah, sounds like it.” She snorts. “Mr. Roboto, huh?”
“Do. You. Like. My. Nick. Name. Hu-man. Wo-man?” I blurt mechanically, jerking my arms around in a robot dance.
