1.1 | The Yakuza Bride

Chapter 11

When Leon heard the muffled whoosh of water from the bathroom, he immediately dropped his book and leant across the bed to pounce on her phone.

The wallpaper for her lock screen was of her holding a fat and fluffy white cat. So she liked cats, hmm? He preferred dogs. But their choice in animals was the least of his concerns as a keypad for her password appeared as well.

He typed in the last four digits of her handphone number, but it was incorrect. 2 More Tries flashed at the bottom of the screen.

Just four numbers, he thought. What set of four numbers were relevant to her? The possibility was endless. Her birthdate? Osuke's birthdate? Some secret numbers that only she knew?

An idea popped in his head. He tried 4 – 2 – 6 – 2 and the lock screen disappeared. How predictable. It was almost like taking candy from a child. She needed a better password.

He switched on the Bluetooth on her phone and immediately got to work. From his own device, he sent her an application that would track her location and every text message and call she made. Every time contact was made with someone, a notification would be sent to the same application on his laptop. It would embed itself among the numerous existing files in her phone and the only sign of its existence would be the slight increase in data usage.

This was a tool that had come in useful many times when they wanted certain people to be found but couldn't directly access them. He realised he should have done this earlier instead of setting Mickey's team on her. This way, he could keep track of her movements without receiving blow by blow details on every single thing she did.

He was sure Mickey had been supplying him with all those random bits of information as some form of vengeance. Why did he need to know where she shopped, for instance? Already, he knew how many cafes she had been to this week, how many macarons she had eaten, how many times she had been to a certain bakery.

She sure loved pastries.

The download bar at the top of the screen crawled along like a snail. He let out a lengthy exhale. He absolutely did not want to be caught with her phone in his hand especially since he was still in the process of cultivating her trust.

How ironic, that he wanted her to trust him and yet here he was, doing the exact opposite.

'Come on,' he murmured urgently under his breath.

The bar surged ahead and 'Download Complete' showed up. He switched off the Bluetooth, rubbed her phone with his sweatshirt, then replaced it on the dresser.

~

She had arranged to meet some friends for lunch. He knew all that from the messages that streamed in on his laptop that morning. He could hear her muttering to herself as she stripped off her bathrobe – did she not think he could see her from his side of the bed? – and as she picked out a dress.

He turned away automatically with a sigh.

She appeared from their walk-in wardrobe a few moments later in a cream-coloured dress with patterns of sparrows all over it and a black collar at her neck. As she sat at her dresser, she dabbed some balm on her lips followed by a pink gloss, and pursed her mouth in the mirror.

Those lips. He needed to stop thinking about how blissful she looked when she was kissing that boy.

Then his face twisted into one of alarm when she retrieved a black band from a drawer with a knife attached to it, and strapped it to her thigh. Did she always leave the house with that? He never knew.

'Do you always do that?' he asked casually.

'The streets are never safe,' she said with a smile.