Kai rejoined us as I was dishing out pasta onto white plates.
“She arrived at the precinct this morning,” he said without preamble, setting the phone on the table and dropping heavily into a chair. “Since then, she hasn’t returned home or shown up at the MiraCo office. Her head of security is going to contact the precinct for information on her whereabouts. I’m supposed to call him back in an hour to see what he found out.”
The guys polished off huge portions of spaghetti, and I forced down most of my plate despite a complete lack of appetite. While Ezra and I tidied up, Aaron checked Kai’s arm again. The angry red inflammation around the wound had worsened. We dosed him with another vitality potion from the first aid kit, hoping to boost his immune system, then I made him lie across the sofa and relax as much as he could.
At exactly one hour, he asked for the phone. I heaved off the chair in front of the TV and crossed to the table. As my fingers closed around the device, a buzzing vibration shook it.
“Ah!” I yelped. Afraid it might stop ringing before I could get it over to Kai, I flipped it open and hit the speaker button. “Hello?”
“Kaisuke Yamada?” an unfamiliar male voice inquired.
Kai’s jaw tightened, and I knew why—he was supposed to call Makiko’s security guy back, not the other way around. As Kai sat up, I rushed the phone over and held it in front of him so he wouldn’t have to jostle his injured arm.
“Kaisuke here. To whom am I speaking?”
“Yamada-dono,” the man replied in a muted Japanese accent. “I’m a member of the Miura household and work with Miura Futoshi-dono.”
“Has Miura-dono returned to the country?” Kai asked. “Makiko didn’t mention it.”
“He is still on health leave. However, he has been informed that his daughter was taken into MPD custody. The agents claim to have evidence that she is protecting the demon mage in Vancouver, as well as shielding you from justice.”
Aaron sucked in a breath.
“If a guild master is arrested for a capital crime,” the nameless man continued, his words terse and rapid, “the MPD can investigate any and all facets of their guild, with or without cause for suspicion. They’ve begun an examination of MiraCo’s business dealings.”
“I see,” Kai murmured.
“If the MPD proceeds with this investigation, they’ll uncover … transactions that are intrinsically tied to the Yamada family. Exposing MiraCo’s discreet dealings will expose the Yamada family as well, and the family cannot allow that to happen.”
“Do you mean—”
The man on the phone cleared his throat quietly. “Miura-dono can’t ask you himself, but he begs you to save his daughter.”
A pulse of silence.
“Save Makiko?” I blurted. “From what?”
“The family is going to have her killed,” Kai replied flatly. “They’ll make it look like an accident or a health-related death, but even if it triggers an investigation, the MPD can’t legally continue to examine MiraCo.”
My knees weakened. Ezra stepped behind me, his steadying hands on my waist.
“The decision has been made,” the caller said. “There is no time left. Yamada-dono, if there is anything you can do, the Miura family would be greatly in your debt.”
Kai stared at the phone, his eyes eerily dark against his pallid skin.
“I …” His throat moved as he swallowed. “I can surrender myself in exchange for Makiko’s release.”
“What?” I shouted.
“Kai—” Aaron began angrily.
He held up a hand. “Mute the phone, please.”
I pressed the button.
“I’m injured,” he said before we could resume shouting. “Without Makiko, there’s no safe way to get me to a healer. And if I don’t do this, Makiko will be killed.”
“But if you do, you’ll be killed in her place!” I yelled, panic constricting my throat.
“I’m not a GM. Holding me doesn’t give the MPD any special privileges to investigate my guild. My family won’t have any reason to kill me, and once Makiko is out of MPD custody, she can protect me.”
Aaron stepped to his friend’s side. “But we need you.”
Kai closed his eyes. “No, you don’t, Aaron. You can protect Ezra and Tori without me.” Eyes opening, he smirked. “At least for a little while.”
Aaron swore.
Slipping past me, Ezra tugged the phone from my hand and held it out to Kai. “Do what you need to do. We’ll manage the rest.”
Kai took the phone, pressed a couple buttons, and lifted it to his ear. “Tell them I’m on my way to the precinct.” He listened for a moment, then ended the call.
Aaron swore again, his hands balled into fists.
Kai passed the phone back to me. “Wait for darkness, then leave. This place isn’t safe.”
“Where will we go?” I whispered. The city outside these flimsy walls had never been more terrifying. “What about the safe place Makiko was talking about?”
“She can’t help us anymore. Once they release her, the MPD will dog her every move. You need to find Robin and Amalia. Without them, it doesn’t matter where you hide.”
Denial spun in my head, insisting this couldn’t happen. We needed to be together. That’s how it worked. We accomplished things together, and we struggled and failed when we were apart. It would take all of us to survive this. Kai belonged with us.
Only moments later, he was pulling on his jacket, his wounded arm held stiffly. And only moments after that, he embraced Aaron, then Ezra.
My brain was still howling its refusal to accept this when he wrapped his good arm around me. I clamped myself against him.
“Kai,” I choked.
“Take care of Ezra,” he murmured. “Get that demon out of him, and I’ll be back before you know it.”
“You don’t owe Makiko anything. You don’t have to do this for her.”
He squeezed me gently, then stepped back. “I owe her a lot more than I ever realized. I can’t let her die because of me.”
I knew that. Kai wasn’t the type of person who’d let someone die when he
