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“She won’t want to see me,” he tells me in the ensuing quiet.
“Why? Because you handled all this business for her? She knew who you were and took you to her bed, Kiyoshi, even knowing the worst of it with our mother.”
“She safe worded me. Out of bed. She felt it was the only way to get me to leave her alone. A hard stop. I have no other recourse but to respect her wishes.” He lets out an exasperated, no defeated sigh. It’s over. Just like Tay-chan and me.
“I need to visit home and see how Kana is doing under Flower’s guidance.”
“And take up with your mistresses again?” I say with deliberation quirking an amused brow at him. “Word of advice big brother, that shit won’t work. Once they have wormed their way under your armor there is no way to get the chink out.” It sounds like an omen to my own ears. Only it’s more for me than him. He’s never caused her harm. I did that and more the first night I took her. And fuck it I’d do that shit again. The only thing saving her ass is the so-called guardian who’s now decided she’s also his to protect. Motherfucker.
“I heard that,” Heslithers through on a whisper.
Good, bitch.
Sighing ripping my hand through my hair then looking out the window, I tell him, “You think you’re obsessed now? Wait until time passes and you can’t see a clear way back. It’ll make you do some unforgivable things. Things you can never come back from. And you’ll be so crazed by the very sight of her you’ll never want her out of your sight.”
“What the fuck did you do?” Turning a hard gaze on me our gazes catch.
“Too much, not enough.” He shrugs looking out the window. “She did the breaking this time.”
“What happened, Hisashi?” Never before have I sensed true sadness in him. He has me worried.
“Later, just think about what I said.”
Eventually, I ask, “Why didn’t you tell me the truth about Taylor’s leaving Sophia?”
“You mean when I found you a broken husk of the man I knew a year and a half after I sent you home to be cared for?” He looks at me with horror playing behind his eyes.
“You didn’t even know your own fucking name, Hi. We almost lost you. Mother was beside herself when we found you.”
“Tay-chan swears the only thing she signed was the affidavit signing over the power of attorney back to the family which she said was under duress” — My heart stops when he nods.
“Hai, mother was determined to have her arrested for fraud. And father—” He scrubs his face, then looks at me with sorrow in his eyes.
I go cold waiting as the words wash over me.
“Father had — contingencies in place in case he passed away so you would be cared for. Unfortunately, he didn’t do enough research about the old school facilities he chose.”
“How did her signature get on the papers?” I demand through clenched teeth. Hearing that the man I respected more than anyone living betrayed me.
“Maybe he saw how close you were getting. Maybe he had spies checking on you and saw you get married and had them drawn up. It wouldn’t surprise me. He probably anticipated mother’s actions.”
His head falls on the headrest exhaustion eating away at him.
I exhale a shaky breath not trusting myself to speak.
“I can’t believe he knew what they’d do.” He fists his hand rather than touching me. I’d probably break his hand. I feel my monster, my protector, my guardian seething.
He roars in my mind. He howls, he claws.
The anguish I can’t feel but watch with cool resolve.
Never again.
“Hai,” I manage to get out.
Nodding more to reassure him than anything else, I speed us back to the small town we once hated but now feels a little like home. To watch over the one person who’s suffered more than me over this entire situation.
Pullingup two blocks away from the bungalow Taylor’s living in, I skirt around the neatly manicured yards carefully avoiding the ones who keep their dogs outside.
