Protection for Hire Read online

  Tessa laughed. “I don’t know kung fu. I do mixed martial arts.”

  “Mixed martial arts? You certainly don’t look very Asian.”

  Charles was ready to sink into the ground. Then again, there weren’t that many Asians in Louisiana, so maybe she was indulging in curiosity.

  Tessa took it in stride. “I’m only half Asian. I’m half Japanese.”

  “Oh, that’s right, what with your uncle and all. What was your father? German?”

  “English, Scottish, and a little Italian.” There was a slight tightening around her mouth as she talked about her father’s ethnicities.

  Charles knew Wayne Lancaster had left the family when she was ten, but he had never thought about how that might have affected her. He’d been focused only on what she’d done after he left — becoming more deeply involved in her uncle’s business, hanging out with her cousin Ichiro and other yakuza.

  “You’re certainly a pot of gumbo,” Mama said with a warm smile.

  And Charles witnessed Tessa unfolding like a flower to the sunlight under his mama’s smile. Lots of people melted under Mama’s charm, but he never thought someone like Tessa would respond to her that way.

  “So I hear your uncle is Teruo Ota, the yakuza mob boss,” Mama said with bright, inquisitive eyes. “What was it like, working for him? What kinds of things did you do for him?”

  Good gravy, because Mama was so transparent about her own life, she assumed everyone else would be too. Tessa had stiffened in shock, and a red haze of embarrassment was rising from her neck.

  “Mama, I’m sure Tessa doesn’t want to answer that.” Charles reached out to take his mama’s hand from where it still clasped Tessa’s, and his fingers brushed Tessa’s.

  He didn’t feel any jolt of electricity or bolt of lightning, but boy did his head spin for a second like a perfectly thrown football.

  “Charles, that’s very presumptuous of you,” Mama protested. She pulled her hand away from him, breaking his contact with Tessa’s fingers too, and he dropped his arms to his sides. The spinning sensation faded away.

  “I didn’t mean to be,” he said, “but Mama, I’m pretty sure Tessa doesn’t want to get in trouble with her uncle by telling you things she shouldn’t.”

  Tessa gave him a look full of gratitude, and that spinning started again with his head. Must be an inner ear infection or something.

  “Oh.” Mama’s blue eyes grew wide. “I didn’t realize that. I’m so sorry, darling.” She raised a hand to touch Tessa’s cheek.

  Tessa froze at his mother’s touch, but for some reason, it reminded him of when he and Eddie had been fishing at a stream and a fawn had stumbled out of the woods only a few feet away from them. They hadn’t breathed, hadn’t moved a muscle, their eyes riveted to the soft golden body, the slender feet picking their way through the rocks, the delicate muzzle bending to drink.

  Then Mama’s hand fell away — the fawn nimbly leaped back into the thick trees — and the moment was gone.

  Elizabeth had gathered Daniel from the playground and now stood nearby waiting to greet her godmother. Mama opened her arms wide to enfold both of them. “Elizabeth, you’ve grown so beautiful! And this is your little boy?”

  There was an awkward minute of silence between him and Tessa. He wasn’t about to apologize for his mama — he loved her exactly how she was, and he’d give his life to protect her. But she was … Mama.

  He had opened his mouth to say something inane when Tessa suddenly stiffened. To Charles’s eyes, she seemed to grow taller and wider even as she stood there, glaring at a truly decrepit Toyota Corolla that had entered the parking lot.

  No, she wasn’t looking at the Corolla, she was looking at the sleek Lexus that followed behind it. A tall, handsome Asian man sat behind the wheel, wearing expensive sunglasses.

  And suddenly he realized who it was. One of the yakuza.

  He went on high alert. Why were they here? Had Tessa called them to come? Was she still working for her uncle despite her newfound faith?

  And did Charles have to do anything to make sure his mama would be okay?

  He didn’t realize his hands had bunched into fists until Tessa laid gentle fingers on his wrist.

  “It’s okay,” she said in a low, tense voice. “I’ll take care of them. Stay here with your mother and Elizabeth.” Her eyes turned to him then, amber chips in a fierce, determined face. “I won’t let them come near,” she promised. Then she hurried to meet them.

  He realized he believed her, he trusted her words, spoken with stone-hard resolution. He wasn’t sure why he trusted her, but he did.

  He approached Mama and Elizabeth and said in a low voice, “Why don’t you two go to the playground?”

  Elizabeth saw the tall Asian man, wearing a very moderncut business suit, getting out of the car, and she grabbed Daniel, who’d been about to dart away. “It was just supposed to be Itchy.”

  “What?”

  “It was only supposed to be her cousin Ichiro who came. He’s letting Tessa borrow his car. I don’t know who that other man is.”

  That’s why Tessa had been so surprised, and so wary.

  “Will Tessa be all right?” Mama asked. “He’s terribly mean looking, don’t you think?”

  He looked like a Japanese version of the Terminator, except in a very classy suit. Ichiro had gotten out of the Corolla and he was just as Charles remembered from the files he’d looked at seven years ago — short and stocky, with deceptively sleepy eyes. He wasn’t known for high intelligence, but he had a mean streak that made people fear him. Today, he dressed in hip, flashy slacks and a fashionable shirt rather than the heavy leather jackets he used to wear.

  Tessa wasn’t comfortable or casual with the two men. Her shoulders were thrust back and her chin up, but there was tension knotted across her upper back. She spoke to the one in the suit, and it was obvious Ichiro deferred to him as well.

  “Don’t leave her alone with them,” Mama told Charles.

  “I’m sure she can take care of herself.” But he didn’t like how they outnumbered her. Tessa was tall for a woman, yet next to the two men, she looked petite and fragile.

  “Stay here,” he told them.

  His car was idling at the entrance to the park green, so he went to park the car in the lot. The two men had parked on the other end of the parking lot, near the fountain, which was turned off for the winter, but the lot curved around the fountain with more stalls on the other side, although they were partially hidden by the stand of trees ringing the fountain. Charles found a stall there and parked the Audi.

  At that moment, a couple of teenagers in low, muscle cars entered the parking lot, their music blaring from open windows, and Tessa and the two men moved closer to the fountain.

  Charles could hear every word as it carried over the smooth concrete to his parking spot on the other side of the fountain, but sitting in his car, he was partially hidden from their view by a redwood tree.

  “I had to talk to Jun,” the tall man was saying, “to assure him we weren’t trying to set up competition against him.”

  “Jun knows who I am,” Tessa said. “I don’t understand why he’d think I was trying to move into his territory.”

  “He’s paranoid,” Ichiro said with a shrug. “He’s been dealing drugs for longer than most because he’s paranoid.”

  “Kenta, how did you find out I was in that neighborhood to begin with?” Tessa asked. Her voice wasn’t belligerent, but it wasn’t just idly curious either.

  Kenta — Charles remembered the name. One of Teruo’s captains.

  “The house you were looking at a few days ago is next door to a woman who plays Mahjong with Jun’s aunt,” Kenta said. “She talked to the aunt, the aunt talked to Jun, Jun went to Mits, Mits came straight to me.”

  Mits — Kenta’s younger brother, if Charles remembered correctly, and another of Teruo Ota’s men.

  “Why were you looking at a house?” Kenta asked. “And in that neighbor
hood?”

  “I’m looking for a new safe house for my client.”

  Where Elizabeth was now wasn’t safe enough. Why hadn’t Tessa told Charles that?

  “Your uncle could have found you something,” Kenta said.

  Tessa shook her head and looked away. “He offered but I said no. I want to keep Elizabeth away from all that.”

  She had refused her uncle’s help? For Elizabeth’s sake?

  “Are you suddenly too good for us?” Ichiro demanded.

  Tessa gave him a hard look. She had absolutely no deference to her cousin, in contrast to her politer tone with Kenta. “She’s been through a lot and I don’t want my connections to cause problems for her. She’s got enough.”

  “You’re turning your back on your family?” Ichiro said doggedly.

  “I went to jail for my family,” she snapped. “Don’t you dare accuse me again.”

  “It looks to me like you’re choosing her over us now.” Ichiro craned his neck to look at Elizabeth, who was still with Mama near the playground.

  The two women were watching Tessa, but when Elizabeth saw Ichiro looking at them, she pulled Daniel closer to her.

  “Then again,” Ichiro said in a different voice, “I would probably want to spend time with her …”

  In a blink, Tessa had shoved her forearm into Ichiro’s neck and backed him against the fountain’s edge. He sat down hard and teetered over the empty basin.

  “You stay away from her,” Tessa said in a voice as calm and sharp as a sword blade. “Believe me, prison didn’t make me softer.”

  Ichiro glared at her but fear creased the edges of his eyes.

  Kenta laid a firm hand against Tessa’s shoulder, and she released Ichiro immediately. He grabbed the edge of the fountain to get his balance and sat there pouting.

  Charles wasn’t sure what to think. This was a side of Tessa that he hadn’t seen before. He’d known about her ruthless abilities, but had never witnessed them until now.

  Now he knew why most men didn’t want to cross her.

  Tessa and Kenta moved a few feet away from the fountain. “Keep him away from my client,” Tessa said. “She and her boy are under my protection, and they’re my responsibility now. I take that very seriously.”

  He nodded. “I understand.” He touched her arm in a gesture that seemed more intimate than just casual acquaintances. “Ichiro’s just angry because it seems like you’re distancing yourself from us.”

  “I am.” She raised her chin to look him square in the eye. “I explained this to you in my letter, Kenta.”

  He looked away.

  “I became a Christian. This is not my lifestyle anymore.”

  “It’s hard to understand,” he said. “You’re turning your back on so much. And … you’re turning your back on me.”

  Charles went still. He’d never considered Tessa had any type of romantic relationship with any of her uncle’s men, but it would make sense that Teruo would only give his niece to someone he trusted.

  And yet Tessa had chosen God over this wealthy, powerful man. Over her uncle too. An uncomfortable twisting in his gut made him fidget in his seat. These weren’t the actions of a woman only playing at being Christian.

  As she looked at Kenta, there was pain and regret on her face. She opened her mouth, hesitated. Then said, “I wouldn’t willingly hurt you if this didn’t mean a great deal to me. This changed me, Kenta.”

  “You are changed,” he said in a neutral voice.

  Her eyes fell, her mouth tightened. “I’m sorry.” Charles saw her mouth move more than he heard her.

  There were several long seconds as they stood there in silence.

  “Let me help you,” Kenta said. “I can help you find another safe house.”

  Tessa grew very still. Her eyes were heavy as the temptation weighed on her. But then she slowly shook her head. “I appreciate the offer, but I can’t. This doesn’t involve you. It shouldn’t involve you.”

  Kenta looked over her head in the direction of the playground. “Are you trying to protect me too?”

  A small smile peeked from the corner of her mouth. “Maybe. But it’s mostly for Elizabeth’s sake. She doesn’t know anything about this world, Kenta.”

  “That’s probably for the best.” He reached into his pocket and drew out his car keys. “I shouldn’t have surprised you today. I told Ichiro not to tell you I was coming, but I didn’t realize you were with your client.”

  “I would never be unhappy to see you,” she said, but her tone was a bit automatic. Charles had seen her anger when Kenta had driven into the parking lot behind Ichiro.

  Kenta reached out then, and the tips of his fingers touched the edge of her jaw, the corner of her mouth.

  For a brief moment, her eyes closed, she turned her cheek toward his hand …

  Then she pulled her face away and faced him with head high, expression serene. “Thank you for speaking to Jun about me. I’m sorry for causing you any inconvenience or embarrassment.”

  His hand fell away quickly, almost as if he hadn’t touched her at all. “It was no trouble,” he said. He hesitated a moment, then said softly, “If you ever need help, please call me.”

  Tiny muscles in her face tightened, as if she were trying to hold back from saying something. “Thank you.”

  He strode away, and Ichiro hastened to catch up with him.

  “Itchy!” she called after her cousin. “Keys.”

  He reached in his jacket pocket and tossed them to her with a bit more force than necessary, then followed Kenta and got into the Lexus.

  Tessa strode back to the playground.

  Charles stayed where he was until Kenta left the parking lot, and then he got out to join the others at the playground.

  Tessa’s eyes widened as she saw him. He could tell it was on her lips to ask where he had been, but he could also tell that a part of her didn’t want to know, and she closed her mouth and went back to listening to his mama.

  “Charles, Elizabeth was just telling me how Tessa is looking for another safe place for them to stay until you can get her husband to stop harassing her. Why don’t they stay at your house?”

  “My house?” Charles choked.

  “Your house?” Tessa choked.

  Mama looked at the two of them as if they were both Dumb and Dumber. “Why not? Elizabeth is my goddaughter and her family has always been close to my mama’s family, so it is our honor and duty to help protect her.”

  Mama’s wording was a bit melodramatic, but it was exactly what she would feel duty-bound to do for any of her godchildren. Charles had a fleeting uncomfortable thought about what his coworkers might think when they found out that his pretty young client was staying at his house, even though his mama was there with them and the young woman in question was his mama’s goddaughter. It was definitely allowed for an attorney to house a client, but it might raise eyebrows if they found out the extent to which he was getting personally involved with his client.

  “Plus Charles’s house has plenty of room and it’s in a gated community,” Mama continued. “Heath will eventually know Charles is Elizabeth’s lawyer, if he doesn’t already. And Charles has a panic room.”

  Tessa’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “You do?”

  He’d forgotten about it. It was more of a glorified storage room right now. “It came with the house when I bought it.”

  “I think it’s a wonderful thing to have, what with all your big clients,” Mama said. “Who knows if any of them might hold grudges if you lost a case?”

  Let’s hope it never came to that. “I’d have to make sure it still works.”

  “Oh, it does,” Mama said. “I tried it out yesterday.”

  A knot suddenly twisted in his neck. “Mama, it calls the police department when it’s activated.”

  “Well, how was I supposed to know that? But the officers were very nice. I promised them I wouldn’t do it again unless it was a real emergency.”

  “I th
ink that’s a wonderful idea,” Elizabeth said. “I’d feel ever so much safer with a panic room.”

  “But Mrs. Britton —” Tessa started.

  “Vivian, darling.”

  “Vivian, it might put you in danger. I told Elizabeth that I’m not sure what Heath is really up to.”

  “Oh, Elizabeth told me about that. And she told me how you’ve been so vigilant in trying to find a place you can defend so you can take care of her. Well, since Elizabeth trusts you, I trust you to keep me and Elizabeth and Daniel safe, and I trust my son, here” — she threaded her arm through his — “to quickly get Elizabeth’s money back for her.”

  And that was that, in Mama’s mind.

  “So Tessa, you come look at Charles’s house and see if you like it.”

  Tessa opened her mouth, glanced sideways at Charles, then said, “Sure, Mrs. Brit — er, Vivian. Why don’t I talk to Charles and arrange things?”

  They moved a few yards away while Mama played with Daniel on the playground slide.

  “I’m sorry,” Tessa said. “If this isn’t what you want, I completely understand.”

  Her sensitivity in speaking to him seemed so at odds with how she’d manhandled her cousin only a few minutes ago. Who was the real Tessa — the beautiful woman looking up at him with her green-flecked eyes, or the tough fighter who’d been able to subdue a man fifty pounds heavier than herself?

  And yet, he realized he was even considering this because he’d seen how she carried herself — how she’d be able to defend Elizabeth, Daniel, and his mama.

  “Do you think you could keep them all safe?” he asked her.

  She met him with openness and honesty. “I’d do my absolute best. The question is, is my best good enough for you?”

  The real question was, could he trust her, with her background, in his house and protecting his mama? And she knew that was the real question too.

  Seven years ago, he’d seen reports of the assaults and murders Ichiro was suspected of. She’d been close to Ichiro, although Charles knew that with the intricacies of the yakuza, because she was female, she wasn’t officially part of her uncle’s group. However, she did things for her uncle and she had a fearsome reputation on the streets.