the morning. His suit was smooth and unwrinkled. His face was shaven and calm as he faced Violet. She stood there in her rumpled, borrowed scrubs, hair askew, and worry spread across her face.
The two policemen at the door were standing on either side of her. A standoff.
“I demand to see my daughter,” Mori-sama said quietly but firmly, a tone that normally had everyone running to obey.
“Your future son-in-law shot her, so I can guarantee you, we’re not letting anyone in that easily,” I said.
He turned to face me serenely, not at all ruffled by my appearance.
“I am not him. I turned the plane around as soon as I heard. You cannot deny me seeing her as her father. Her blood.”
“As I have her blood on me, I guess that makes me closer to her than anyone right now,” I told him, widening my stance.
He took me in, eyes flickering once they hit the blood I’d been unable to hide on my sleeves even after rolling them up.
A woman in a suit came down the hallway toward us. She was immaculately dressed with not a speck out of place, from her tightly wound hair all the way down to her Prada pumps. She smiled at everyone, a fake, calm-the-fuck-down kind of smile, as she held her pale hand out to Mori-sama.
“Mori-san, it is a great pleasure to see you again, but awful under these circumstances. Had I known it was your daughter, I would have been in touch sooner,” she said.
Of course the hospital staff would know him. Jada and I had been present at the charity gala where her father had presented the hospital with a million-dollar check.
Mori-sama didn’t take her offered hand, and she placed it awkwardly at her side.
“How is she?” he asked.
“My understanding is she will recover fully. The bullet went in and out but required an extensive number of stitches to put everything back together,” she told him.
“I would like to speak with her,” he said.
The administrator’s eyes flicked to mine, and the cops, and then back to Mori-sama. “I think that can be arranged.”
“No,” I said.
“And you are?” she asked.
I took out my badge and showed it to her. “Special Agent Langley. He hasn’t been cleared to see her.”
“As he is her next of kin, and there is nothing on file stating otherwise, I don’t believe you can keep him from seeing her,” the administrator told me.
“I can if her life is still in danger,” I said, my tone indicating I wouldn’t give on this.
“Are you trying to indicate that Mr. Mori-san is somehow involved?” she laughed, misusing the Japanese honorific in a way that made both Mori-sama and I cringe.
“Let him in,” Jada’s voice, cracked and dry, rang out from the room.
We all turned to see Jada’s pale face and dark eyes staring at us. Relief at seeing her awake flooded me. I shook my head, and she just glared back at me, which almost made me smile. She really was going to be okay.
Mori-sama took a step into the room, and I started to follow, but Jada shook her head, wincing at the movement. “No. I want to talk to him alone.”
“Jada,” I warned, all smiles disappearing.
“You can’t fight this battle for me,” she croaked.
Her father didn’t even glance my way as he approached her bed. He was too used to getting what he wanted. What he commanded. I hated that we had nothing on him.
I stood outside the door, body tense, wanting to go in and protect her but also knowing he wouldn’t do anything with all of us standing there watching. Tsuyoshi Mori hadn’t gotten to the head of an international crime syndicate by being stupid or rash. No matter how angry he was with her, he wasn’t going to do anything here. He wouldn’t do anything at all. He would more likely send a silent assassin than do it himself.
Violet’s arms surrounded my waist, and I looked down into her eyes. They were sad. I wasn’t sure if it was for her friend, or me, or all of us.
“I’d be happy―” The administrator started walking into the room, but Mori-sama cut her off with a hand.
“I will speak with my child alone. Thank you for seeing me,” he said calmly to her.
“Oh. Well. Yes, of course. Let me know if you need anything at all.” She backed out of the room, and with one last tentative look in his direction, walked down the hall.