The Love Of Money - S02 E158

Story 2 months ago

The Love Of Money - S02 E158

Read Story: SEASON 2 EPISODE 158

Entertaining offers—even ones I might not like—might be the best move. I’d already agreed with Helen and Psalter that I shouldn’t give in to Tanaka, but if giving up his kid and a little more got such a dangerous man off my back, then it could be worth it.

“If I make a deal, can you give me any sort of guarantee that your dad will leave me alone?”

She gave me an apologetic look. “I’m afraid I can’t.”

“Then why are we even here?” I asked, feeling the urge to toss my drink across the room. I enjoyed going out for sushi with a bunch of gorgeous women as much as the next guy, but a lot of effort had gone into making this happen, and I had hoped it would prove more useful than this.

“Because I’m appealing to you—as someone who means you no harm, and has done you no wrong… I’m asking you to please consider trusting that I know best how to handle my father. You’re not the only one trying to survive him, Mr. Upton.”

I eyed her over my drink, trying to decide whether I was being played.

“But, she continued, “only if you give me the proper tools to work with.”

Tools—the operative word. It was plural.

“You mean both of them,” I said. “Ryo and Carla.”

The waitress was hovering nearby, forcing us to pause our conversation to order food. Eventually, she left after taking Helen’s request.

Sachiko focused on Helen. “I’m sorry. I didn’t introduce myself.”

“It’s okay,” Helen said, giving the younger woman an ingratiating smile. “Helen VanCamp. I’m Mr. Upton’s attorney.”

“As in Yunger, VanCamp, and Price?” Sachiko asked, referring to my lawyers.

“Yes!” Helen said, clearly pleased that Sachiko knew of the firm. “I’m the VanCamp on the building.”

“I thought they were all men.”

“A small change in leadership,” Helen said, quickly glancing at me. There was a mixture of heat and gratitude in her look, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that was for my benefit, or Sachiko’s.

The young Japanese woman seemed pleasantly impressed. She glanced at Erin.

“Ah… Erin Malik,” she said smoothly, stirring her straw. “Director of Executive Affairs.”

I almost did a double-take on that one. That was the first time I’d heard that title! And affairs… was that supposed to be a double entendre?

Sachiko glanced back and forth between my two companions, studying them just long enough for things to begin to get slightly uncomfortable… as if she were making an observation. Then she said, “Nice to meet you both.”

Then she turned her attention back to me. “Yes. I’m talking about both of them. Ryo and Carla. My brother is my priority, but I have the strongest chance to convince my father if I have them both.”

“I can’t do that.”

She arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow at me. “Why not?”

“You know what Hiro’s going to do to Carla, don’t you?”

“Well,” Sachiko said, leaning forward to put her elbows on the table and place a delicate, pointed chin on her clasped hands. “Father will probably have her killed.”

“And you don’t have an issue with that?”

“It’s a trolley problem—Carla versus you and everyone you love.”

Well, that was bleak. I didn’t know what to say.

Sachiko stared at me without blinking or saying a word for roughly ten seconds before finally replying, “Why do you care?”

Wow… this really was Hiro Tanaka’s daughter. Carla wasn’t precisely the sort to be overly motherly, but she was Sachiko’s stepmother. Surely, she felt something!

“You’re telling me that you don’t care what happens to her at all?” I asked, finding it hard to believe. She just seemed more human than her brother and father.

Sachiko tilted her head to the side, reminding me a little of a bird of prey. “I care exactly enough to do what has to be done. That’s how you survive a man like my father. The math is simple. You can continue this feud and doom all of us to a lot of suffering, or you can hand over two people who mean nothing to you and let me work on him. I won’t promise you anything except that I will do everything in my power to ensure this stupid war ends. So, let me ask again… why do you care what happens to Carla?”

Because no matter how annoying and manipulative Carla was, she didn’t deserve to die. Especially at the hands of her own husband. I imagined Hiro strangling her to death with a belt or something while those two burly bodyguards held her down. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I handed her over to that fate.

I was about to say as much when another thought struck me.

Carla did just try to blackmail me into dating her in exchange for help with Hiro. What if instead of dealing with that, I actually did give her back in exchange for getting Tanaka off my case? That would certainly make things nice and tidy.

But on the other hand, could I trust this absolute stranger to keep up her end of the deal when she couldn’t even promise me success? Was it worth even considering becoming a monster for an outcome that wasn’t one hundred percent sure to work?

No… even if it was a sure thing, I wasn’t a monster.

“I care because I promised I’d protect her.” I held up one finger. “Because, despite everything, I try to keep my word.”

Two fingers. “And yeah, she’s a pain in the ass, but I hate your dad more.”

Then I lifted a third. “And because she’s a human being. One who doesn’t deserve to die because her husband made a bad business deal.”

Sachiko smirked. “And I suppose it has nothing to do with how good she is in bed?”

“Well, she’s got to be a sight better than your dad,” I quipped.

The girl wrinkled her nose at that. “I did not need that image!”

I pressed on. “Are you aware of how much of a pain in the ass your family has been?”

“My father has—”

“Probably lied,” I said. “Sachiko, I don’t care what Hiro says, I never conspired to turn your mom against him.”

“She’s not my mother,” Sachiko said.

I ignored her. “Carla was looking for a way out of your dad’s control, and I was the unlucky target. I’d barely said more than six words to her before that day!”

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest. “So, yeah… I’m kind of pissed at Carla. She was trying to get out of a bad marriage that could have killed her. That doesn’t make her a bad person. It makes her a survivor.”

“Also, we did get… intimate, but it was after your dad declared war on us, and I did it more out of anger than because I was interested in Carla. In fact, I have no interest in Carla. I’d hand her over to you guys and be done with her if I didn’t think my conscience would scream at me.”

“And don’t get me started on Ryo. That little piss stain shot me out of the sky with a rocket. Now that I have both of them, I seem to have a lot of leverage on Hiro. So why should I throw away my only leverage on the chance that you can sweet-talk your tyrant dad into playing nice?”

Something akin to weariness passed Sachiko’s face—something that had no place on a woman in her early twenties.

“Mr. Upton,” she said, composing herself. “You’ve seen the wildfires in California, right? I’m trying to prevent what is currently a housefire from turning into something like that.”

“Hey,” I raised my hands placatingly, “I would love for you to put out this fire, but I’m not going to hand over the one thing keeping me safe. I saw what happened to Desai, and Hiro liked him… I think.”

“My father had nothing to do with that,” Sachiko said.

Her conviction almost had me. “How do you know?”

“He told me.”

I studied her for a long moment and couldn’t pick up on any dishonesty. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for me. I’d been burned by Hiro before and it almost cost me my life. “He’s lying.”

She sighed. “Is there anything I can do to convince you that handing over my brother and Carla are in your best interest?”

“Maybe,” I said.

“Please… tell me.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, and then had to stop myself from smiling, remembering the weekend I’d just had with Natalie. She was already starting to influence me.

“I want information,” I said.

“On my father?”

“On your family. I just want to know who I’m dealing with. Everything I hear about your dad makes him sound like the boogie man, and I know almost nothing about you.”

Sachiko’s eyes flickered briefly around the room; it looked more like she was taking a moment to think more than anything suspicious.

“In exchange for what?”

“We can’t just enjoy a good conversation over mediocre sushi?” I asked.

“This isn’t a date,” she protested.

“And I’m not asking for a kiss. I just want to know a little more about the family that’s been trying to kill me.” I glanced at Erin. “Jesus, it’s like pulling teeth to get the smallest bit of info.”

Sachiko side-eyed me. “You have to understand—in my world, nothing is free.”

I wondered how true that was for her. Sachiko had probably never questioned where her next meal would come from, or whether the roof over her head would hold. Whether the cost was money or leverage, I doubted she and I were even dealing in the same currency. We were taught different definitions of value.

Not that I had a whole lot of room to talk. I remember my mom cooking cabbage and peas many nights when I was really young, but most of my life had been spent in the upper middle class since Henry and my mom got married.

Yet I’d struggled in college. Shauna and Henry Upton believed in catching us when we fell, but they didn’t believe in spoiling us. I’d eaten my share of ramen… and not the good kind.

I would have bet dollars to pocket lint that Sachiko was about to eat one of the cheapest meals she’d ever had, while I considered this fine dining.

“How about I buy you dinner then? Will that earn me some conversation?”

Sachiko looked like she was fighting the smallest of smiles.