His Revenge (SaTzu)

Chapter 1

Five Years Later

The taxi pulled up in front of the Minatozaki Hotels and Towers and the driver switched off the engine and turned to the passenger seated behind him. She was staring out the window with an absent expression on her rather attractive face, not even realizing that they had arrived at their destination.

"We're here love." The cabbie said gently.

Sana started slightly, turning from the window and blinked at him in confusion for a few seconds before her hazel eyes cleared and she flushed. "Sorry, I was thinking about something..." she muttered, digging into her purse for the cab fare. She paid him, gathered the huge stack of shopping in both arms and got out, shutting the door with her foot then hurrying through the drizzling rain into the hotel lobby.

She smiled at the doorman who hurried forward to take the bags from her. "Hello Jarvis." she said, glad to finally be rid of the bags. "Is my mother here yet?"

"Yes Ms. Minatozaki, she's waiting in the open cafe. Shall I take these up to the penthouse?"

Sana thanked him and headed off towards the open center of the hotel. The Minatozaki was an ultramodern edifice of glass and marble rising fifty stories high and was her family's pride and joy. She followed a succession of exquisite walkways and escalators until she came to the open dome right in the heart of the structure that was the open cafe. The hostess nodded towards where Sana's mother sat, next to the marble mini waterfall.

"Hi Mom. Sorry I'm late." She bent and placed a fond kiss on her mother's made up cheeks then flopped into the vacant seat opposite. "Somi insisted on visiting every single shop we passed and time got away from me."

Victoria Minatozaki leveled a fond smile at her daughter. "Hello darling. I just got here myself anyway so no need to apologize. How is Somi?"

Sana was momentarily distracted by a waiter who appeared at her elbow. She ordered an iced tea then turned back to her mother. "Somi is fine...bridal nerves and all that." she grimaced as she recalled the torment of following her cousin from shop to shop, watching her try on a dozen outfits, all the while Somi had kept up an excited chatter, while Sana had listened absently, wishing she could leave and return to the blessed seclusion of her hotel room. Fortunately, the outing had been cut short by a call from Somi's fiance, Jackson asking her to lunch.

"The wedding is next month, isn't it?" Victoria asked, taking a sip of orange juice while studying her daughter, noting the tired circles under her eyes and the tense shoulders. "You look tired darling. Have you been over working yourself again?"

"Mom, you say that every time you see me." Sana said, amused. "And like I keep telling you, I am fine...besides I have been on my feet all morning, so I should look tired anyway."

"There are circles around your eyes and you look like you're about to snap in two, you're that tense." Her mother pursed her lips in disapproval. "I am going to have a word with your father when I get home tonight, see about cutting down the responsibilities at the hotel."

Sana sighed, drumming her fingertips on the table. Sometimes her mother treated her like she was still sixteen rather than a full grown woman of twenty seven.

"I don't need a cut in my responsibilities mum. As it is all I do is oversee the kitchen staff, not much work is it? Look, I promise to take a week off after Somi's wedding, does that make you happy?"

"I suppose it will have to do." Victoria replied. "How is that man of yours anyway...Mark was it?" She watched the flush of anger that suffused Sana's cheeks at the mention of his name. "Uh oh...trouble in paradise?"