He didn’t take his eyes from Stefano. He loved his brother. He was mother, father and big brother all rolled into one. He was the family’s measure of what it was to be a shadow rider, a Ferraro, someone to be respected. Killing other riders, especially young, untrained riders when they needed them so desperately, was the worst sin a rider could commit, so much so that it was forbidden and would bring a death sentence down on the perpetrator. Only an Archambault rider could bring justice to another shadow rider.

“Ricco,” Emmanuelle whispered, her voice filled with a mixture of horror and compassion.

He didn’t look at her. He kept his eyes on Stefano, waiting for judgment, waiting for condemnation. He should have known better.

“You wouldn’t have done so without a good reason, Ricco,” he said. “What happened to Akiko and her family?”

Ricco shook his head. There was no way to put himself in a good light. He couldn’t spin it or leave out details. “There was a tournament that afternoon and Akiko defeated Nao Yamamoto. He was seventeen and considered the fastest of the shadow riders coming up in Japan. His family was extremely proud of him. According to everyone, he brought them great honor. But he was a terrible human being. He bullied everyone, including the boys who followed him. He had his own little gang. His buddies were seventeen and sixteen. If anyone ever slighted any of them, or in any way made them look bad, they would ride the shadows, go visit them and beat the holy hell out of them. They bragged to the rest of us that they visited girls they liked and did whatever they wanted.”

“Oh my God,” Emmanuelle said. “I hope you reported them.”

“Several of us did the day before the attack took place, but the elders said it was merely boys bragging. That it wasn’t the truth. We knew differently because we heard the truth when they were bragging. Nao and his pack beat the shit out of two of the other riders who reported them, and I was waiting for them when they came for me. All in all, I didn’t do too bad against the four of them, and if I’m being strictly honest, Nao was hurting when he went into that tournament.”

“Wait a minute,” Stefano said. “I want you to be very clear on this. You reported what you’d overheard about these boys using their abilities to harm girls and beat up other riders and the council dismissed it as untrue?”

Ricco nodded. “Women aren’t treated nearly the same there as they are here. We know we need them for the riders to survive, but there, they are less than a man. Outsiders are treated the same. The council was comprised of the fathers of these boys. Had it come out that such a thing was going on, their entire families would have been dishonored. They’re very traditional and old-school.”

“Honor among riders is traditional,” Taviano said, “or at least I always thought it was.”

“If all the families were dishonored, and their sons were banned from riding, stripped of their abilities, the families would be left with nothing. I can’t explain just how dire the consequences for them would be there. No one would acknowledge them or have anything to do with them. Cousins, anyone outside the riders would demand their last name be changed —” He broke off as it occurred to him that Mariko’s last name couldn’t have been the name she was born with.

Giovanni had to be thinking along the same lines as he was. “Did any of these boys have siblings? A sister? Could your woman be related to one of them?”

Ricco tried to remember. As far as he knew, none of them had sisters. Or brothers for that matter. He shook his head. “That’s why the way they treated Akiko really got to me. It didn’t make sense when they needed female riders and there was one right there, not related, and they treated her like dirt. I didn’t understand them at all, other than the fact that Nao was on a power trip. He kept bragging that even the Yakuza would fear him.”

“So this Nao went into the tournament already injured from the previous night when he and his little gang jumped you.” Stefano redirected him, wanting to keep him on track.

He nodded. “Akiko defeated him by such a margin there was no way the judges could pretend it was a tie or that she had in any way fouled. The trophy was given to her, and Nao was shamed. His father was furious with him and humiliated him right there in front of all of us. Even his own friends laughed at him. I knew he would try to retaliate.”

He ducked his head for a long moment. He had to confess to Stefano. There was no way around it. He looked directly at his brother. “I had been so disgusted with the way they treated me that I’d stopped working so hard. I knew no matter what I did, it wouldn’t be recognized. It was only later I realized recognition didn’t matter. Training did. But I had become what they said. I didn’t have discipline.”

He knew that was shocking to his brothers and sister. He trained night and day. No one could ever turn him around in the shadows. He could find any place – anytime, anywhere. He was fast and he was vicious when he needed to be. He shook his head and held up his hand when his brothers would have protested.

“I was a hothead, worse than I am now. I thought I was proving a point, but instead, I got a lot of people killed.”

“How?” Stefano asked, his voice nonjudgmental. Waiting for the evidence of his brother’s crime.

“I went to a class on hojojutsu-tying prisoners that evening. Two riders overheard Nao and his friends conspiring to go after Akiko, and they told me before I went to class, asking my advice on what to do. I advised them to go to the council again. I thought it was taken care of – until I got home and found the boys gone. I knew they were going after her. I’d never been to Akiko’s home. None of us had. I didn’t have the exact address. I had to find it. I thought I’d get there and warn her father, but I got turned around. I ended up on the wrong side of town and had to backtrack. If I’d been studying like I should have, I would have gotten there first and I could have stopped them. Akiko would still be alive.”

There was silence, and he stalked over to the bar and poured himself another drink. He needed it, and he couldn’t quite make himself look at his brother. He didn’t want to see the disappointment he knew would be in his eyes. They’d been raised by Stefano to always give their best. Stefano would never have shirked learning. Not for one moment. It didn’t matter how much Ricco trained, all the extra hours, the skills he had now, none of it made up for his getting lost in Tokyo that day.

The riders were sent to Tokyo because it was Japan’s largest city, or more properly, prefecture. It was very confusing to the young riders, easy enough to get turned around, but they were expected to learn directions and be able to move freely from one end to the other quickly.

“That’s bullshit, Ricco,” Taviano burst out. “Complete and utter bullshit. No one could possibly blame you for that girl’s death. What the hell? You were fourteen.”