Bloodbound: The Alliance
Chapter 116 - 118

Chapter 116: Chapter 118

I shrug, articulating the motion with the set of my shoulders. "I have no idea."

"Think," he implores.

"I really don’t know. He’s never given me anything meaningful other than gifts of jewelry and dresses. If he did stash something significant, it’s without my knowledge. I promise you."

He assesses my eyes as if to confirm the truth for himself. Content, he looks away thoughtfully.

"Clearly, Haru knows something about it. Can’t you ask him more about his own theories?"

"Haru is dead," he says plainly and without effect, "and Botan was the one who killed him."

My steps stutter and I fumble into him as his grip tightens, playing off the stumble as he hoists me into the air, spinning us around gracefully. A swell in my gut churns everything sickly. When he lets me back on the ground, I keep pressed against him because he’s the only reason why I’m standing vertically right now.

"I thought... he was also like a father to him," I say dazedly.

"Which I imagine made it that more painful for him, I guess," Akio says reluctantly, like he’s unsure. "But Botan didn’t hesitate. He was out of his mind when he found out Haru was behind the attack on the wedding. He used the Italians, who then tipped off the Russians, but Haru set it all in motion just to get rid of you."

I muster the will to dart my head back to grab his gaze with my misty eyes.

"Botan was ready to die for what he did—for you," he says with steel in his voice. "I thought they would kill him, but they didn’t. Haru chose to be the faceless overlord and Botan was the general his soldiers looked to. Because of it, their allegiance already belonged to Botan."

My eyes flutter erratically as I realised I had gone too long without blinking.

"So... what does that mean?"

"Botan will lead," he states simply. "He will be our Oyabun. There will be a whole ceremony with the heads of the Yakuza clans that will officially swear themselves to him. And they will—many of them already respect Botan and those that don’t fear him."

My eyes narrow at him with bubbling alarm. "How does this concern me?"

Akio frees a breath of dry humour, amused but aggravated all the same. "You don’t get it. Haru kept Botan in check, now that he has claimed full power. An entire global organisational structure that answers to him, powerful figures in foreign governments and allied with syndicates as ruthless as our own. I know my cousin is a good man, but your absence devolved him to the savage state he was, when he was first under Haru. Haru never made him a monster, he simply encouraged him to be an ever bigger one. There’s no telling what he will be capable of."

I sunder eye contact and my eyes stray to my brothers over Akio’s shoulder.

"And what do you want me to do? Be the angel on his shoulder?"

"Be his soul," he harmonizes. "Without you, the world will suffer."

My nerves bristle when I watch the Vacheron brothers make an approach to my own. Silas jerks away immediately, but Luciano holds me back to give them ear. They don’t have to say much because Landen simply points over to me and I can feel it like a stab to my stomach.

"I think it’s time for you to go."

I don’t know if it’s my abruptness or the fear that floods my voice. Akio casts an undaunted look behind him before he faces me with a tantalised smile.

"When you’re ready to talk. Call Kelsey and talk to her about him. Admit what we both know to be true. Botan wasn’t the only one pained by the separation"

He nods his farewell, releasing me to spill into the crowd. Shortly, my brother’s flank me, necks craning as they try searching for Akio.

"The man that was with you. Who was he?" Luciano demands.

"I don’t know."

"Avara," Silas reproaches with a warning.

"What are you going to do? Break my other wrist?"

Silas winces, and it hurts me like a rebounding blow.

I sigh heavily, looking away with an irritated headshake. "Look, all he said was that he admired one of my charity programs and was willing to donate a hefty sum. I don’t know who he is other than the fact that he’s a potential donor."

Luciano yields a stiff nod, then he sneaks a glance at me, almost meekly. "We should talk."

"Please," Silas adds eagerly.

Memories still stewing in resentment, I turn away from them wordlessly. And despite being in public, they don’t let it go as they stay in the shallow of shadow. I spot Judge Peterson, who I haven’t seen since my father’s inaugural dinner party that feels like—a lifetime ago. I veer off my path to greet him, using him as a buffer as I lay a polite hand on his shoulder. I thought my notoriety would poison me against many of the affluent, but he welcomes me with a grandpa-like smile and hug.

"Avara, how good it is to see you."

I glance over at my brothers and they recede involuntarily.

***

I bang on Simon’s hotel room.

He whips the door open and walks away, instantly knowing it’s me. I close the door behind me as he rubs the sleep from his eyes. His hair free and framing his face with a frizz as he ploughs through it with his hand so it laps over his head to unburden his eyes.

"I wish I could say this is a pleasant surprise," he says, groping a wall until he eventually switches on the lights in the lounge. "But it’s neither."

"Haru is dead."

The shock sobers him up fast as he gawks at me with a parted mouth.

"And you probably won’t hear about it because Botan usurped him."

Simon quirks his brow in swift understanding. "Makes sense, Botan was the one running things any way. As far as anyone is concerned, it’s business as usual. That’s the problem of having another man be the face of your operations."

"Not just any man," I say frantically, wringing out my hands, liberating the swarm of nerves I bottled up and wound shut during the gala. "Botan was like a son to him and he killed him—quite easily, it seems."

"How do you know all this?" Simon’s eyes prick me with an accusation. "Did he make contact with you? Are you seeing him again?"

"His own right-hand man came to me," I clarify to set the record straight. "But that’s not why I’m here. He mentioned that Haru said something in passing before he died. That my father was not only protecting me, but something I carry."

I can see the calculations flitting behind his eyes.

"He could’ve stashed something incriminating on me somehow?" I speculate, throwing my hands in the air exasperatedly. "Under my bed or something."

"Where anyone could gain access to?"

Akio made the same point.

"There are plenty of times where your house is left unattended and unguarded. Just like when you were all at the Vacheron estate. Your father is many things, but he isn’t predictable. If he stowed away something so imperative. He wouldn’t just go hiding it in a closet or even a vault somewhere." He let the ideas bounce in his head until something sticks.

"Carry... something I carry," I repeat pensively. "Could it be something metaphorical instead of literal? Maybe something like... my blood." And it feels like my limbs begin to fill with lead as my body suddenly feels too heavy. "When I was at Colton’s house. He has an underground study and in there I found an album. Pictures of my mother and him when they were young."

Simon stares back at me, partly perplexed. "I believe that he’s twisted, but not sick—at least, I hope not. If he harbored knowledge that you might be a secret love child. I want to believe that he wouldn’t arrange for you to marry one of your half-brothers. Even if he was the keeping-the-bloodline-pure type. That’s hardly reason enough for Haru to care about some telenovela level drama."

Bile burns my throat, incinerating the words before they can even it make it to my mouth.

"Maybe," he drawls, his eyes darting all over the place in deep thought. "Something you carry... maybe he... put something in you."