Just Business

[Adrian Kane]

Adrian | Yuta

Now Adrian looked properly, Yasmine looked rough. She wore the same clothes she’d been in last he saw her. Dirt smudged her hands, sweat lines ran down her throat, and her hair and makeup were worn. Even the infamous purse was damaged. Her smile was dangerous, though, leering back at him with an accusation Adrian was ignorant to understand. He’d not known what happened to her; he expected her to meet him at the champagne bar and hadn't heard from her since. 

His gaze passed to Yuta next, seated out of Yasmine’s reach, but wary and watchful. Adrian easily had forty pounds on the older man, but he was not so stupid to think Yuta to be harmless nor himself completely safe.

Yuta’s accent was muted, his English perfect, but his voice was grim. “Mister Kane. You know this woman?”

Adrian sighed, “Yasmine Amengual?”

Yuta’s lips were a thin line with the affirmation. “The late wife of Zacarías Amengual, the head of the El Tiburón cartel, whose untimely death left a large debt unpaid to me.”

Adrian could only imagine, but his expression was blank. “Maybe you can hawk that bag of hers and get some of your money back.” Yuta didn’t find the joke funny.

“She claims she’s been working with you, Mister Kane. You must understand how this appears.” Yuta’s eyes held Adrian’s like one gripped the flat edge of a knife, ready to throw it.

It was then that the limousine began to move. Adrian glanced out the shaded window, contemplating their destination. Yuta believed him to be colluding with Yasmine behind the Yakuza’s back, or so Yasmine must have alleged upon her capture. Their deal had nothing to do with the Yakuza’s clubs, nor any of the illicit dealings that were underwriting their opening, but he understood that’s not how it looked to the proud man across from him. And the Amenguals and the Edenokōji-gumi were known to have been working together, at least until the cartel fell apart.

Did they know about the prototype?

He searched Yasmine’s face for hints of an answer, before his gaze fell to the bag at her side. Was it within the Birkin this whole time?

“We met once. She wants me to help her kill the man that killed her family.” He decided the truth was the best road forward. Yasmine glared, but it seemed she had learned the hard way to speak only when spoken to. Yuta glanced at her, reading into the same.

“In exchange for what? You’re no murderer, Mister Kane. Are you?”

Adrian felt his expression flatten dangerously. Whatever he was, it was none of Yuta Hayashi’s goddamn business.

Suddenly, he grabbed her bag and upturned the contents on the floor. Wallet, makeup, money. There was no oculus protoype, and the sugary smile returned to her lips in victory.

“She promised me something, something she clearly has hidden away.” Smart girl.

Yuta leaned forward, arms on his knees, eyes shining with demand. “And that is?”

Adrian considered his options. He did not want to lose this device, but neither was he willing to risk his life to protect it. However, he never intended on handing Jay over to her, head notwithstanding, since the man was his best chance at learning how to use this god-forsaken power.

But if he explained what it was now, to Yuta, he knew it was as good as gone. It was then that the limo rolled to a stop, having pulled into the shade of an old warehouse. The doors were opened and Yuta climbed out. Yasmine followed. Adrian emerged last.

The Yakuza man that confronted him at the construction site rounded on Yasmine, suddenly dragging her, kicking and yelling, several paces away, and tossed her to her knees. Yuta produced a pistol, which he studied in his hands a moment before approaching Adrian, who was otherwise silent and still.

“If you’re not working with her, you will have no problem with this.” He said, and offered him the gun. “There’s only one shot. Do not get any ideas.” And in that moment, the second Yakuza retrieved a gun and aimed it at Adrian. Protection, he assumed, for his master.

Adrian checked his surroundings one last time. There was unlikely to be any recording if he did it, but neither could he risk blackmail in perpetuity. Then he glared at the top of Yasmine’s head. Well fuck me, he thought, and scrubbed his chin.

In one smooth motion, he took the gun and immediately fired it straight overhead. The sound of it rang painfully in their ears as he returned it to its owner.
“Give me until sunrise to find out where she hid it.”

Yuta thought a moment, and opted to accept the deal. They shook on it, and Yasmine was taken away. 

Just before the limo rolled away, he knocked on the window. When it opened, he leaned down to say one last thing. “Give her a comfortable bed. She needs her rest.” His eyes, empty as they were gray, glanced at her face, frightened for the first time since he met her, and Yuta nodded.

Adrian was left alone to call for a car.