1.1 | The Yakuza Bride

Chapter 5

'What happened?'

He stared straight at the two men who stood at attention before him. His expression was a calm mask as he waited for Donat and Fedor to speak. They were both in the security team, in charge of ensuring that drop-off locations were safe for those doing exchanges.

Both bore marks from the recent escapade; a purple bruise was blooming on Donat's cheek and Fedor spotted a cut on his lip. Leon's Head of Security, Mickey, stood by his desk with his arms crossed, regarding his own men with an anxious stare.

'We were watching Lav from the other side of the street.' Donat paused, then shot Fedor a glance. 'It was sudden. The exchange was over, the other guy left first, then there was a car coming down the road.'

'We thought the car was just passing by,' Fedor went on with his eyes cast down to his feet. 'But it stopped at the exchange location.'

'They got out of the car,' Donat added. 'Lav ran, and they chased him. When we got to him, he was on the ground. There was blood all over. They turned on us and we tried to fight them. Fedor pulled out his gun and shot one of them but he didn't die.'

A deep sigh left him as he brought a hand to his temple. Each exchange location had been carefully selected for its privacy, and the escape routes his men could take when threatened. The presence of enemies in the exchange zone signalled either a breach of security within the bratva, or lack of careful planning on the security team's part. He hoped and wished it was the latter.

'Who are they?' he asked.

'Yakuza,' Donat admitted sullenly.

'Kei-Shiragata?' The interest was apparent in his tone.

'Well, it's likely,' Fedor muttered unwillingly, 'but we aren't sure.'

The Yazumi's were about to enter into a contract with the Federov's in two weeks, and it was death for any who defied it. It appeared that they could not gather their own people to side with them; not even the presence of the family's patriarch could convince those under Yazumi Ichiro, it seemed.

This was bad news for all of them, for the contract was to last a year, and he didn't think a fight with the Kei-Shiragata's New York faction would be good for business.

The atmosphere within the vory v zakone at his impending marriage to an enemy was accommodating at best. After getting over their surprise, most of his father's old Captains – who were now his Captain's – had pledged their allegiance to him and promised to abide by the contract. But it seemed the split in the Yazumi's men was causing more trouble than the contract could salve.

'Go and look into it,' he ordered Donat and Fedor. 'But quietly. I don't want trouble before the wedding.'

~

'Leon.' Val entered his office with his phone in one hand. 'Your father's on the line.'

With an impatient quirk to his lips, he took the proffered device and placed it at his ear.

'Otets?'

'It's Ichiro's men, I bet,' Stanislav Federov said immediately.

'So you know what happened?' he questioned with faint exasperation in his tone. The incident had occurred just two hours ago, and word had spread so quickly.

'I have eyes and ears everywhere,' came his simple reply.

'I can take care of this,' Leon assured him.

'Good,' he expressed firmly. 'Make sure you do. Hold it to Yazumi Kojuro or his son while they're still in New York. They have to make Ichiro play along.'