SUBMERGED IN YOU (AMBW Romance)

Deal

Hideo..

Cool and composed was the name of my game but right now I never felt as out control and irrational. I often prided myself in being surgical and having a meltdown was something I rarely did.

I don't know what is was about Alina, that made me feel so irrational and reactive. My first instinct after she walked out on me was to follow her, but I knew that would just make things worse. I was sure I was the last person she wanted to see right now, me and that asshole ex boyfriend of hers.

I didn't think twice about defending her from him and I would have broken his hands and nose for that. I had to wonder if he had laid his hands on her like that, in the past. And that was just something which didn't sit well with me. I didn't condone hitting women, even ones like Sora whom I absolutely loathed.

During our relationship, Sora used to have her meltdowns and hysterics over one thing or another, being the spoiled brat she was. She would throw things at me or even try to slap me but I never for once raised my hand against her. It was the one time I wanted to shoot her, for almost getting me killed, that I held her at gunpoint. Alina might not have been who I thought she was, but that didn't mean I would just stand by and watch her being roughed up.

Now, I didn't know why I was upset anymore, that Alina had tried to run game on me the night we met or that man humiliating her? While I ruminated on my thoughts the door to her office opened, at first I thought she had returned but that didn't seem like her style.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" the man who entered asked me. He looked like he was in his 40s and he had middle eastern features. I could see the bulge in his pocket, indicating that he carried a gun.
"Sit down" I said to him, barely paying attention to him, or the glowering stare he was giving me
"This is my office!" he hissed. He must be the owner.
"And I'm telling you to sit down" why did people have to be so dramatic?
"I'm giving you 10 seconds to get out or you'll have to deal with me. You don't want me to mess up that face, pretty boy" he jeered at me.
"You don't want to be my enemy. Why don't you sit down so you can listen to what I have to say". He must have heard something in my tone, because he did a double take on me and I could see him deliberating
"I'm Hideo Kaneshiro and you are?"  I gestured my hand at him. His eyes suddenly widened when he realized the implications of what that meant.
"Ziad" he then took a seat opposite me.

"I need you to fire Alina" I told him
"Excuse me ?" he definitely wasn't expecting that, he probably thought I was here to extort him. That was an old school yakuza signature, blackmail and extortion.
"Tell her you don't need her services anymore and give her a severance package" I explained.
"I don't understand. Were you displeased by her service or management?" he mumbled
"She doesn't belong here" I simply said. I didn't have to ask to know that this restaurant was a front for something else that was probably illegal or dangerous.
"She's a great employee, she's good with the clients and she's the manager. She also does the books here. You can understand how that kind of loss would affect me" he wasn't thinking about losing Alina, he didn't give a shit about her. He was thinking about the money he would lose. I had to wonder how she lived, surrounded by such people.
"My family has taken an interest in Alina, that means she falls under my protection now. You do see that, don't you?" I had to put that one out there, it was both a threat and warning.
"You will be well compensated for your loss and I will provide the severance package. Do we have a deal?"
"I have no problem with that. But Alina, she's connected to some very dangerous people and it would be within their interests that she remain here" I could see him torn up between just taking the money or having to answer to someone.
"Why don't you leave that to me". I stood up, I was done with this meeting.
"My people will be in touch with you soon. I need this done today" I told him.
"Pleasure doing business with you Mr Kaneshiro. If there's anything else you need, don't hesitate to get in touch" he grinned. I didn't need anything from him, other than to shoot him.
"Oh and Ziad. If you ever threaten me like that again..." I left the sentence hanging, but he got the meaning anyway.

If Alina thought she could escape me she had another thing coming. I knew what I was doing was starting to border on creepy but I could live with it, for now.

Next thing I put a call to my brother
"Ani, what are you doing in downtown? " was the first thing he asked me when he answered. He had gambling parlors and clubs in this place and I had no doubt once I was spotted here, word got around to him.
"Business. I have Kenji" Kenji was my second best security man. The first was Masahiro, he just wasn't my brother but my head of security too . He would die for me just like I would die for him, although he didn't like me telling him that. He would say, if I had to die for him then it meant that he had failed at his job. It was one of the reasons he was so torn up about the Sora issue. I had killed my uncle and Sora's father, but Masahiro had wiped out all their security and affiliations in a vengeance fuelled rage. His reputation among our organization was the stuff legends were made of.
"What do you need?" he asked. Besides being good at combat, Masahiro could find anyone, especially those who didn't want to be found, which is why I was calling him.
"I need you to look into an Alina Havyarimana" I told him. There was a pause
"Is she that girl you were with at haha-chan's gala?" Damn, he missed nothing.
"Get back to me as soon as you can" I hung up on him. I didn't want the twenty one questions and the jokes that would follow them.

Unlike me, who had spend the better part of my adult life trying to avoid my grandfather. Masahiro had learnt at the old man's feet and he admired him. I understood the hero worship, Masa was someone who had grown up in a position of being powerless as a child, my grandfather was the antidote to that.

He was my place holder while I went abroad to get a fancy degree and be a beer chugging frat boy. I always felt guilty about that, he deserved to have the same experiences people our age should have and not skip a part of it. I'm sure when my mother adopted him, this wasn't the plan she had for him.

My grandfather however had seen a weapon to be molded and sharpened in Masahiro and he bid his time like a snake that waits to strike. He came swooping down with his demon wings and quickly turned Masahiro's anger and grief at losing my mother into a tool. That was something else I felt guilty about , I should've done a better job at protecting him. I had let him down.

I had tried to immerse myself fully into the life, almost quiting school, so I could be with him and better protect him, but the great Keniji Kaneshiro had carted me back abroad and informed me that he had plans for me and like a crossroad demon he would collect when it was time.

By the time of my grandfather's death, Masa was more like the man in charge of everything. After his death the mantle was thrust upon me with no resentment on his part. In fact I realized this was the very reason my grandfather had kept him close, because he knew I would need someone to help me navigate the murky waters after he was gone. I realized we were all chess pieces on his board and I had been his checkmate piece. He had played the long con on me.