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“No,” I snap, tossing the papers on the floor. “Tell me where Hisashi is.”
“Hell no.” Shaking his head, his face is just as cold as it was the first time I asked and he refused.
“I’m his wife I have the right to know what you did to him.” I stand feeling strong enough to finally confront him.
“He nearly killed you,” he says the hard truth. It feels like a blow.
“H-he didn’t mean to.” My voice sounds small to my own ears.
“Don’t you think I know that? I told him he wasn’t ready. He wouldn’t listen. He had to have you. You wouldn’t listen.” He walks away putting distance between us. “Now look what’s happened.”
“I just want to see him.” I cover my mouth when the sobs escape.
He swings back his face ashen with shock. “You can’t be serious. Let me be very clear, Taylor. My brother almost killed you. If he doesn’t get help, he will succeed the next time. Do you understand? You can’t help him. It’s out of your hands. He’s ruined your chance of the fellowship. They have you listed as dropped out. Did you know that? Your parents are scouring the country looking for you. They’ve met with me and my cousin, Akchiro twice. This can’t go any further. You need to go back to the States and get your life back. I will do all I can to help you but my brother is out of your life. We can’t help him.” His voice sounds like it’s breaking.
Bomb after bomb falling from his lips makes me realize just what kind of mess my life is right now. I am trying to see a man who almost killed me while my parents are heartbroken looking for me.
“What are these documents?” I sit back down picking up the papers.
“Hisashi made you the executer of his estate. This power of attorney gives us, his family temporary power of attorney if you go back to the States. You will be well compensated for all you have been through.”
I hesitate, not wanting to give up on him. “I don’t need any compensation. If he wanted me to be the one in charge, there has to be a reason,” I say, looking at the tall figure looming over me like judge, jury, and executioner.
He sighs his face not lessening in its hardness one iota. “My brother would be ashamed if you were not taken care of. It would cause him no small amount of shame if we abandoned you. Would you have this, Taylor?” Heat infuses my face at the thought of my proud husband facing more pain because of me. Shaking my head, I listen as he continues dropping more devastating news.
“He was out of his mind with grief and in the midst of a mental collapse when he signed everything over to you. My mother is threatening to have you arrested for fraud because of this. She will win, Taylor. She has many friends.” He rubs his forehead like he’s finding all of this so tedious. “She is moving to have your visa rescinded as we speak. It is only my promise to meet with you that is staying her hand.”
For the first time I really look at him seeing the dark circles under his eyes. He’s lost his father and his brother for the time being. The thoughts of my fellowship have long since fled my mind. I missed too many assignments being locked away as I have. But my visa? I could be expelled from the country, jailed, hidden in a black site.
“What’s his diagnosis?” I ask.
His expression hardens. “He’s never been officially diagnosed.”
I cant my head looking at him. “But you have an idea.”
“My father did. He worked very hard with Hisashi for many years to teach him how to be around people. He was doing well.” He breaks off not meeting my eyes. It’s obvious his loyalty to Hisashi won’t allow him to say more.
“Then he met me,” I fill in the blanks.
“The moment he met you he felt alive in a way he never had before. He told me you made him feel things. He’d never felt things before you, Taylor-chan. He started to think he didn’t need anything other than you.” Dismay gives over to despair. There is no accusation in his words but it’s obvious that he feels as if I had the opposite effect on Hisashi. I was not good for him. I was very bad for him. My love for him almost killed us both. The responsibility I feel that moment is crushing. I just wanted to love him. Never hurt him.
Crushing hurt and disappointment lance through me digging harder than the jute rope of over a week ago.
“I promised him —” I shake my head what does it matter. Would he even remember my promise? He was probably out of his mind with delusion and grief.
Taking the paper I sign on the line with the X by Responsible Party ignoring the tears splattering on the page.
Chapter
Seven
Hisashi ~ Present Day
Up close she’s magnificent.I don’t let it change my course. The vengeance my pretty little bitch deserves will be meted out with the same precision that I create algorithms that have made Takeda the most powerful conglomerate in the world. My extreme — some would call obsessive focus has allowed me to pioneer tech to modernize farming to rid the world of famine to inclusive AI that has made the use of tech more available to those in under-serviced communities. Not everything I’ve done touches on altruism. No, I’ve helped my family create a monopoly that in chip making using alloys instead of raw minerals.
Our lab made cobalt will make blood tech obsolete in a year. Then all major tech companies who don’t want the blood of children on their hands will have no choice but to use ours. My cousin, softened by his wife’s Flower’s heart, called mepersonally to solve this problem with the incentive that this was the last thing he’d require in order to free my mother and sister from his imprisonment. He even said I could hold the patent. I have no doubt it was Flower’s way of being fair. Akchiro, like all CEOs, wanted to keep the patents created by scientists and computer scientists owned by the company. I could see the way his mouth twisted in derision at the idea. It was obvious it hadn’t been shaped by him, but his diminutive, beautiful little wife. That she is a relative through marriage to the woman I married is not lost on me. There’s something about all of the Love women that has the ability to ensnare men.
Stepping inside the room, I close the door listening for the click, not relaxing until I hear the beep that lets me know only my retina scan will unlock it. How she manages to sleep so soundly is beyond me. She should be up cowering in the corner. The memories I’ve been able to recover of those last days, say she should be climbing the fucking walls.
