Kenzo Book 2

KENZO

“Why have you dismissed Grayson?” Vinx asks Kenzo, who is on the other side of his desk in his office.

“I need to help Rebecca, not that he showed up. I guess we aren’t compatible anymore.”

Kenzo moves pieces of paper across the table. Picking up a pile, he places it inside a black briefcase, and Vinx slams his hand down on the desk. Kenzo raises his head slowly, glaring at him.

“He left! Just got up and left the organization? Are you joking with me, or has he really just said I’m not doing this anymore?” Vinx lights a cigarette, taking a book from the bookshelf.

Kenzo nods his head, sighing.

“I told him to fuck off.”

“Yes and he didn’t have to listen to you. He can’t do that. He signed a fucking contract for life. I need you to look after the organization, Kenzo. What you did was out of order.

“You got up and left your men out there on their own with no leader. One hundred, that’s how many we lost yesterday. We are losing men each day to those bastards.

“They need you to be there with them because you know what the fuck you are doing. If I step foot in the Bahamas, I am dead! You know they want me.”

“They know what to do. As for Grayson, he did have to leave. I am the one running this fucking business not you, so I can do what I want to do, and those men will listen,” Kenzo states.

Vinx’s lip twitches. Slamming a purple book down onto the table, he raises his fist to Kenzo who smirks.

“Rebecca can look after herself!” Vinx yells, trying to start an argument, and Kenzo shakes his head, frustrated.

“No. She needs me.” Kenzo holds his hand up, and Vinx growls, fisting his hands as he leans back in his black leather seat.

“How old is Rebecca?” Vinx asks. Kenzo sighs and shrugs his shoulders, picking up a pen. Scribbling his signature, he smacks the pen down onto the desk.

“Wouldn’t you love to know?” Kenzo says calmly.

Vinx allows the smoke from his cigar to drift around the room. Kenzo narrows his eyes. His body is tense as he stands up.

“Switch with Harry,” Vinx demands, and Kenzo shakes his head.

“Nope.” Kenzo picks up the briefcase and walks to the door. He left Rebecca in the hallway with a new makeup gift set he surprised her with. She was made up when she opened the pink bag.

Kenzo knew that it would keep her occupied while he got the case ready for Dante. It will be Dante’s last job for a month.

Kenzo and Rebecca have to attend a party that Dante is having at his home on the weekend. He is celebrating a baby that he will have no contact with. The mother is the biggest bitch in the city.

A one-night stand that went wrong. Still, his family is ecstatic and so is Kenzo. Rebecca doesn’t know yet.

Dante is a year younger than Kenzo. Twenty-four. Kenzo is twenty-five. Dante is practically his brother.

He would do anything for him, but Vinx, who follows him out of the office, wants nothing more than to wrap his hands around his throat.

Kenzo wants to smile and watch Vinx’s body become lifeless just as Vinx does with Dante. The image in his head will never leave Kenzo.

Finding out that Vinx was having sex with Dante’s mother hurt him more than he wanted it to. He knows his own mother deserved what Vinx did. Still, that doesn’t mean it was okay.

Dante and Kenzo were together when Vinx was caught cheating. Dante put an end to their little affair, and Vinx has disliked him for it ever since.

Vinx stands behind Kenzo as he locks the door. Vinx snarls at Rebecca, and Kenzo hears him.

Twisting around, Kenzo smacks him across the face with the briefcase, and Vinx stumbles backward before he falls to the floor. The briefcase is filled with money and papers.

A gun sits inside it, and behind the black exterior lies a thick layer of metal. It’s as hard as a brick.

Walking to Vinx, Kenzo points down at him. “Leave her alone.” Vinx rubs his cheek. A bruise is appearing on his cheek. Purple. Vinx knows he can’t beat Kenzo.

He also knows not to touch him because he needs Kenzo more than Kenzo needs him. If Kenzo wanted to, then he could drop him, and Vinx wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.

Still, Kenzo needs Vinx’s signature to swap the organization over to him, so he will deal with him until the papers change hands.

Walking over to Rebecca, Kenzo takes her hand and yanks her up to her feet. She struggles to hold the makeup set in her right hand as he drags her with him by her wrist.

She didn’t expect it, so she doesn’t have any words to say to him. Pressing the button on the elevator, Kenzo turns and watches as Vinx picks his cigar up off the floor.

The elevator pings, and Kenzo pulls Rebecca inside as the doors close over. Standing opposite Rebecca, Kenzo narrows his eyes at Vinx.

“Thinking back to our conversation earlier. You said you feel lonely and I’m not there for you.”

Rebecca looks over at Kenzo, nodding her head. He turns around and walks toward her until her back touches the metal wall.

“Do you think many other women like what happens in their day-to-day lives? Their partners can go out and work for over fourteen hours a day, but it’s all a part of life. They don’t get an option.

“Some men and women have to look after kids, do the school run, cook dinner for their partners, go shopping for a month’s supply of food, attend appointments alone, and you have all of that covered.

“You don’t have to do anything. Listen. I need to carry on working. I can’t leave the workload to Harry. That wouldn’t be fair to him, and yes, I have money, but I get that by working long, tiring hours.

“Billionaires don’t make all of that money by sitting around on their asses all day, they work hard for it. Granted, I will be able to do that in the end, but for now, I’m the underboss.”

Pressing the button for the elevator, Kenzo crosses his arms, and Rebecca looks up at him through sad eyes.

“Rebecca, I need to work. I don’t want to leave you alone, but sometimes I need to.

“I don’t take you with me because I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if you were to run the wrong way into the area where there’re bullets being fired and get yourself killed.

“You weren’t brought up in my lifestyle, which is why I need to keep you out of harm’s way. I can’t train you at the moment because I simply don’t have the time to do so.

“My friend’s sister was kidnapped last week. I don’t want that to happen to you. I’m not ready to introduce you to the illegal side of my life. You are far too young and have your entire life ahead of you.

“If that means missing sex for a couple of weeks, then that’s what I’m willing to do. As for your boredom. What do you love to do or wish to try?” Rebecca shrugs her shoulders, and Kenzo sighs.

“Clear resin,” she mumbles. Her voice is laced with sadness.

“Clear what now?” Kenzo turns his head to the side, confusion present in his features.

He thinks about his garden of dead roses. Could she possibly take that up and decorate her part of the garden at the same time?

He doesn’t know if she would be willing to do that, and the roses may not live to see another bottle for his fragrance range. Oh, how he misses that scent.

“I can make jewelry.” Rebecca gives Kenzo a fake smile, and Kenzo nods his head.

“Ten thousand is your limit. Get what you need.” He knows she doesn’t have an interest in jewelry, but he’s not up for arguing with her or forcing the truth out of her mouth.

He will simply have this conversation with her again another day.

REBECCA

Rebecca doesn’t need ten thousand. Beads only cost one dollar, but her imagination runs wild, and she imagines ten thousand bags of them sitting on the dining room table.

Still, that’s not good enough for her, which makes her frown. She doesn’t want the beads, she wants to spend time with Kenzo.

KENZO

He’s starting to lose it. He has helped Rebecca get out of her depressive episode this past week, and now he needs to get back to work.

Harry is struggling to keep his men in line, and Dante cannot keep the organization together from Prentonville. Kenzo is losing men, his army is practically nonexistent.

No matter what direction Harry sends the men into the Bahamas, they are being killed by a sniper who sits off somewhere in the distance.

Kiln is taking him down, and Kenzo cannot sit back and allow that to happen.

Kenzo is getting himself ready to take over the organization, but he needs to prove that he can be a good leader.

Vinx has thrown test after test at him, and he has come out the other side standing taller than ever before, but this time around, the situation is completely different.

He’s not leading by example if he is sitting behind his desk planning funerals, sending letters out to the families of the deceased, and receiving phone calls that tell him another man has been taken down.

That’s not good enough from any outsider’s perspective or his own.

Rebecca will have to deal with it, or she will find him lying inside his own casket soon.

Kenzo whacks his hand to the left side of her head startling her. She needs to be told and Kenzo doesn’t care how she takes it.

“Quit whining! I’m trying to do everything I can here. I cannot and I will not apologize to you for being who I am, Rebecca.

“We are in this lifestyle together, and we need to work together to make it work, end of story. I have to suck it up and deal with it. The same goes for you.

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself and try to relax and have some fun. Eat tubs of ice cream, rent a movie, paint the fucking walls pink, or fucking go shopping, I don’t care what you do, just be patient.

“There are many women who would love to take your spot! They have bills to pay, children to feed, and errands to run. What do you have to do?

“Fuck all, so suck it up and make yourself comfortable because I cannot be your babysitter. I would have placed myself in the category of being a daddy dom, but I’m not. I am a sadist, Rebecca.

“It helps me relieve stress, and at this present moment, you are making my head split into two. I don’t want to hand you a massive fucking punishment, but I’m getting so fucking close to doing so.”

Rebecca shakes her head and turns away from Kenzo.

“Such a fucking brat,” Kenzo mumbles, and Rebecca raises her eyebrows, turning to stare at him.

“What?” Kenzo shouts, and Rebecca holds her hand up.

“I’m not talking to you.” She turns away from him, and Kenzo crosses his arms.

“Don’t then. See if I care,” Kenzo tells her, and she gives him the silent treatment.