Web of secrets (2)

Prologue

I sit down on the bed, causing it to bounce a little from the impact. My body aches, it yearns to be wrapped up in a blanket like a burrito, but I can't; Adam left me alone with Anderson and the silence was very awkward. You could usually hear the argument between Anderson and me from a mile away, but his gaze was fixated on the neatly-trimmed emerald green grass that lay on the other side of the glass doors. I study him; from the way, his thumb was gently moving back and forth along his index finger, to the downward movement of his throat as he swallowed his nerves. I was convinced this guy was the terminator- minus the Arnold Schwarzenegger accent,  but here he is, his face contorting to display emotion.

"I made a promise to your father that I would protect you and I've failed," He finally speaks

My eyebrows pushed together at the mention of my father. "What,"

Anderson lets out a sigh as he runs his hands down his face, "I know this is going to be hard to believe-

"Not just hard to believe, I don't believe-" he nods his head in understanding, "-In what world would my father have business with an FBI agent, you of all people,"

A brief silence fell upon us before he replied, "The same world he wanted to protect you from," 

"Listen, I don't have the energy to deal with whatever BS this is," The headache that had formed earlier on was still lingering around my temples and this conversation was amplifying it.

Despite its warm energy beckoning me to get lost in the fluffiness of the pillows, I rise up from the bed. As I begin to move past Anderson, he reaches forward in an attempt to grab my wrist but with my reflexes, he fails. His hand stops mid-air when I jerk back. An outsider to our situation would think I was being rude but if a man who has rejected you since the moment you met suddenly thaws his heart, you would be vigilant too.

Retracting his hand back to his side, he stands up. "Okay then don't deal with it, just listen," 

With my arms folded, I turn my head away from his eyes and look at the door that Adam exited from. Anderson walks over to the window that he was staring out of and puts his hands behind his back. My heart was telling me to leave and deal with it another day, but my mind was curious, wanting to know how our lives got tangled together. Rolling my eyes at my inner conflict, I put my hands into the pockets of my trousers and reluctantly make my way to stand next to him. 

The air in his lungs quietly escapes through his nose and he begins to speak. "Two years before Arran passed away, I made contact with him to make a deal. We had some incriminating evidence on him so I told him I would get him immunity if he gave us intel on some of the players he had dealings with. He refused."

"Not surprised." I sigh. "If he got caught, not even the government could protect us"

Anderson let out a sigh of his own. "And unfortunately he did,"

I snap my head to look at Anderson. "You just said he refused," 

"Yes... but then a year later he contacted me, saying that things have changed"

My hand was buried deep into the pocket of my trousers; staring out at the lawn in thought, my fingers grasp at the velvet box.  "I got engaged," 

"He finally wanted to live a normal life, not having to fear for the lives of his future grandchildren,"

My eyes focus on the faint reflection on the glass, the woman that stood before me was clear. Every smudge of dirt, every smear of blood, every tear that escaped and left behind a redness in my eyes; they all represented my stupidity, the missteps... my failures.

I scoff. "Some future," 

"Hey," Anderson turns to me. "It would have happened if somebody didn't tip Inca off on his location,"

"Inca?... What- no. She was there already-"

"Yasmin," faint wrinkles appear between Anderson's eyebrows as he gives me a quizzical look. "what do you know about what happened?" 

"Erm." I take in a breath. "My parents went to close a deal with Inca...There was a police raid and- and they got caught in the crossfire,"

"Hmph," Anderson scoffs in response

After a few moments of silence, I was about to ask him what was going on in his head but instead, he let out a string of chuckles.

"Months." he turns his body to me, then back to the window. "Years of interrogation."

Pinching the bridge of his nose he chuckles again.

"Okay." I put my hand on his shoulder to snap him out of this Joker-like moment of insanity. "was there a joke that I missed?"

"Yeah if you count me," He turns around and sits on the edge of the bed with a huff. 

Usually, I would have made some kind of snide comment like 'Aren't you always a joke' but this was definitely not the time, nor the right atmosphere. Instead, I stay silent and wait for him to explain further.

"Your parents weren't meeting Inca, they were meeting with Hiro," He finally says.

"Yakuza Hiro?!" I question

"Yes,"

Confusion took over me but it was quickly replaced by anger and this time, it was for the Noshimuri descendent that stood outside the door of the room. As if Anderson could read the irrational thoughts that were going through my mind, he spoke some more before I had the chance to do anything I would regret,

"Yasmin, they weren't responsible for what happened"

"How can you know for sure?"

"Well... besides the truce your father and Hiro Noshimuri built, he was going to give Hiro control of The Family," Anderson says

"He was stepping down?!" I almost shout, the anger within me disappearing as fast as it appeared.

"Yes, and we both know someone who couldn't have been happy about that,"

At first, I didn't know who Anderson was talking about and when it clicked, a let out a small chuckle of my own. "The only one who benefitted the most out of all this," 

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Aaaannndd we're back!

~ Can't believe its been 4 months since I first started writing this series! And that the first book is at 4.2K reads. You guys are crazily amazing and I love you for it ❤❤

~ So how have you guys been, I hope everyone is doing okay and not too stressed out by the world. Hopefully, these books are some sort of comfort and escape but my DMs are always open if anyone just wants to talk ❤

~ Also I will be updating weekly, every Friday. This gives me time to read through what I've written (I'm back at Uni at the moment so I need to fit it around my schedule) but also I figure this could give you something to look forward to! 

I'll see you guys next Friday! Stay safe!