“She’s a Tanaka. Even if Marie wasn’t your mother, Ryuu, by your own admission, Daiki is your father. That makes Mariko your half sister.”

“A whore? Osamu said she would sleep with you, and she has.” Ryuu raised his gaze to his sister’s face. “Haven’t you?”

It was the small distraction Ricco waited for. He slid across the entryway, slamming the ball of his foot into Ryuu’s right thigh, his full body weight behind the kick. Ryuu went down hard and Ricco was on him. He couldn’t just kill Ryuu, not with Mariko watching, and that gave Ryuu a huge advantage. He hit him hard in the pit of his stomach and Ryuu jackknifed his body, drawing up his knees and slamming his feet into Ricco’s chest, knocking him back.

Ryuu leapt to his feet, limping now but coming at Ricco, pressing him hard. Ricco feigned falling back a step or two and then went to the right, kicking the leg again, this time a solid round kick, targeting the exact same spot. Ryuu’s face paled a little, but he kept moving, switching to a left-handed stance to better protect his leg.

“Stop. Ryuu, stop,” Mariko pleaded. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Ryuu snapped, never taking his eyes from Ricco. “You don’t talk to me. You’re dead to me. You always have been. You’re nothing but a little whore like your mother.”

“Ryuu, you don’t mean that.”

Ricco winced at the pleading in her voice. He hated this for her. He knew there was no taking back all those years of Osamu whispering to Ryuu, turning him into her instrument of revenge. He had wanted to be loved, and Osamu loved him as long as he did exactly what she said.

“I despise you.” Ryuu spat on the floor. “She took you in and even allowed you to become a rider, but you were never grateful. You were just like your mother, always flirting with Dai until she had to send him away. When he pleaded to come home, she relented, but there you were, trying to lure him to your bed.”

“I didn’t,” Mariko denied.

Ricco heard the tears now. His woman was crying. Her heart breaking. He feinted a punch, forcing Ryuu to turn his body just enough. He landed another solid kick.

Ryuu’s gaze went desperately around the entryway, seeking a shadow. His right leg had to be numb, a dead leg. Ricco had many of those during early training years before he’d learned to protect his legs. Ryuu had been taught to ride the shadows and he definitely had trained in hand-to-hand combat, martial arts and street fighting, but he didn’t have the years of training and experience that Ricco did.

Ricco circled him, keeping him away from the shadows, forcing him to drag his right leg around to keep Ricco in sight at all times.

“She lied to you,” Mariko said. “She lied, Ryuu, about everything.”

“I told you not to talk to me,” Ryuu said, his voice low and vicious. He kept his attention seemingly centered on Ricco, moving awkwardly forward with a series of punches. At the last moment, he flung himself to the side, right at Mariko.

There was a large shadow directly behind her. Mariko stood her ground, and Ryuu slammed into her hard. He punched her twice in the mouth.

“Keep your filthy mouth shut,” he spat at her as he rolled, coming up on his feet triumphantly right at the front of the tube.

She staggered back under the assault, but didn’t lose her footing. She reached out a hand to her brother. “Ryuu.” Just his name whispered.

He looked back at her.

Mariko cried out. “Don’t.”

The last was said to Sacha Archambault. He emerged from the shadow directly behind Ryuu and caught his head in both hands.

“Justice is served,” Sacha said as he wrenched hard.

There was an audible crack. Mariko screamed and went to her knees. Sacha dropped the body and looked at Ricco.

“I’m sorry she was here,” he said softly.

Ricco nodded and went to her, wrapping his arms around her, forcing her to her feet. They had to get out of there and leave the cleanup to the people in charge. They were riders. They dispensed justice.

“It’s over, farfallina mia. Let’s go home.” What else was there to say? Now he had to find a way to keep her with him.

CHAPTER TWENTY

“I

t’s been a month,” Mariko said softly. She’d filled her days with making Ricco’s house her home. He’d told her to change anything she wanted and she took him at his word. The International Council had decreed that the families pay restitution to her and Ricco. Hers was an enormous sum, one she could barely deal with. She’d turned the headache of all that money to Ricco’s financial people.

She made her way through the house to the Japanese garden. It had become her favorite place since her brother’s death. There was no reason to go back to Japan, although she would always love her country. She couldn’t bear going there when there was no one to go to. She crossed the bridge over the koi pond, pausing to watch the fish swimming lazily. She found peace in watching them, naming them, studying the variety of koi and trying to identify them.

Ricco had been more than good to her – always patient – never asking anything of her. They shared the same bed and he hadn’t touched her until she’d turned to him. He was gentle with her, loving, never going wild, and she often sensed the restraint in him but hadn’t had the energy to tell him she wanted his wild. Or his Shibari. She’d heard him several times in the workout room, hitting the heavy bag, and she hadn’t gone to him. She should have.

“Mariko?”

Emmanuelle’s voice made her smile. She looked up and both Emmanuelle and Francesca were walking toward her. She stopped at the entrance to the elaborate tea house that Ricco had built in his garden. It was traditional style and very beautiful. She loved it and spent quite a bit of time there meditating. Emmanuelle and Francesca came every day to see her and knew to find her in the tea house.

She flashed a genuine smile, the first she’d felt in a month. “I’m glad you’ve come,” she greeted. “I’ll make us tea. There are things that need to be said.”

Emmanuelle and Francesca exchanged a worried frown. “Things that need to be said?” Francesca echoed. “Do you need us to get Ricco? Are you all right?”

“Finally. I’m finally all right.” Mariko stepped into the tea house and looked around it. There was peace and serenity in this building. “Ricco told me he’d built this place of meditation hoping someday to find a woman who would enjoy it with him. I know I’m that woman. I was born to be that woman.” She said it with absolute confidence.

Francesca and Emmanuelle looked relieved. They followed her into the building and sank down onto the comfortable low chairs across from her. The sound of the waterfall traveling downhill over the rocks to fall into the pool soothed her. She looked at their faces. She had come to love them in the last month. They’d been as patient as Ricco with her. Neither pushed, but they let her know they were there.