She got closer to him.
Hiro held up his hand. “Don’t touch me. . .not right now. . .”
She slowly nodded. “Okay.”
Hiro trembled as he looked at Nura’s face. “W-where did you get that picture?”
“Reo gave me his helper, Ali today and Ali was able to find some footage of Nura when she worked for you all. And there he—”
“I’m taking that picture with me tonight.”
“Good.” She nodded. “And uh. . .”
A tear spilled from Hiro’s eye.
I bit my lip and looked away.
“And. . .” Nyomi cleared her throat. “I have a locket on your nightstand with this same picture inside.”
A sob left Hiro that crushed me.
Shattered everything within.
Next thing I knew, Hiro walked by us and went to Nura’s image.
He continued to sob.
My brother.
The most dangerous man I knew.
Sobbing.
Spit trailing from his mouth.
Knees crashing to the ground.
And the sound that came out of him was a gutting noise pulled up from beneath his bones, a sound flesh should never be able to make without tearing first. And it was forced out of his mouth in uneven fragments. There was no control in it. That sound just harshly scraped the air, dragging my brother into madness.
No.
My chest cracked open behind the sternum, and I fucking wanted to kill someone just to make it stop. There should have never been a moment where my brother was unmade in front of everyone who loved him.
The monks rushed to Hiro. One lit the candles to honor Nura. The others grabbed Hiro to hold him up and he shook against them.
Goddamn it.
I sneered and turned to Nyomi.
She stepped in closer. “Kenji—”
"Why the fuck would you do this?" I tried to keep my voice down, but I was close to yelling.
She blinked.
Chapter thirteen
The Power of Tears
