Page 26 of Who Said Mobsters Were Scary?
I frown at him and open my mouth to argue, but he lifts his hand.
“Please have a read through before you give me your answer. I’ve left my phone number inside.” Dipping his chin in a nod of respect, he flashes me a quick, polite smile. “Have a great evening and I hope to hear from you soon, regardless of what your answer is.”
Just like that, Aran leaves as if he didn’t just ambush us in the middle of the night at a graveyard.
“Jesus Christ, Leo. You weren’t kidding. These peoplestinkof trouble.” Naomi jogs over to the grave and snatches the envelope, then tosses it to me. “But you should totally read it. I’m dying to know what they are offering.”
Chapter 14
Naomi turns her flashlighton as we sit on the bench near a small memorial statue. The envelope is on the heavier side, telling me that the contract inside probably comes with one million clauses and asterisks. Considering the likelihood of the Akiyama Group being a yakuza organization, it makes sense.
“Dude, this is in Japanese,” she scoffs as I open the luxuriously bound paper. “Oh wait, it says the English version starts on page eight.”
I flip to the half mark of the contract and begin reading. It starts with the usual stuff you’d expect in a contract, listing the employer info, working hours and responsibilities.
“Yo, this is like a fulltime gig. They want you accompanying the guyanywherehe goes,” she comments, pointing at the section explaining the job arrangement. “The Akiyama Group will do its best not to interfere with the employee’s status as an exchange student or his studies, however, he might be required to attend business trips andother such events. In those cases, the Group will make the necessary arrangements for any absences incurred. Upon request, sessions covering missed material and homework assistance can be organized.”
I snort. They seriously have a clause to ensure I don’t get in trouble with the college because of bad grades? That’s some next level stuff.
The contract carries on outlining my responsibilities as a bodyguard. Those are standard for the most part, including access to training infrastructure, a firing range, a swimming pool and various martial arts classes. The compensation package is impressive as well.
“Damn. They are giving you food allowance, private health insurance and a personal vehicle on top of…” Naomi trails off, squirming at the document. “Holy shit! 300 000 US dollars?”
I blink at the sum written on the page, my heart banging.300 000 dollars a year?I don’t think I’ve made so much money in my entire life so far. And I’m lucky if I make a tenth of that in a year.
My mouth is suddenly dry. This is crazy. It also confirms my suspicions, because there is no way they’d be offering this kind of money if the Akiyama Group was a regular law-abiding organization.
Doing a quick search, I look them up. They deal with security and casinos mainly, with some of the subsidiaries working in the hotel and restaurant sectors. They also have a charity foundation. Nothing comes up about criminal or illegal activities, but then again, it wouldn’t be hard to keep such endeavors out of the public eye given the kind of profit they must be turning.
“They are the real deal, Leo,” Naomi says as we focus back on the contract. “Whatever this is, you don’t want toget dragged into it. There’s gotta be something fishy if they are paying so much money…”
I take a deep breath. I agree with her. My gut feeling told me to stay away from Chai and this proves how right that call is. I should contact Aran and tell him I’m not interested, no matter how tempting the contract’s conditions are.
Picking up the business card that was in the envelope so I can get this over with, I pause. This amount of money is life-changing for someone like me. I don’t know if it will be enough, but if I save up most of it, I’ll have a hell of a lot easier time figuring out how to deal with my problem back in the US. I’m not naïve to think it can resolve it, not by a long shot, but having a head start beats trying to come up with a plan all on my own.
Working anything online is out of the question, at least the kind of stuff that requires my ID or face. Streaming, gaming and the rest of the lucrative social media ventures simply aren’t an option either unless I want to make myself an easy target. Getting work here… is also complicated, and not just because of the language barrier. The college that sponsored my visa had a stipulation that no exchange student is to undertake any paid work during our time here.
“Yo, Leo,” Naomi says, bumping her shoulder into mine and knocking me out of my thoughts. “What’s this thing about your ex, Cindy, and… the job you two used to do? Flip the page, it continues there—”
My chest suddenly goes tight. Panic floods me. I don’t let her finish saying whatever she was about to say. I snatch the contract from her and shove it in the envelope.
“It’s nothing,” I clip.
She gives me the side eye. “It sure as hell doesn’t seem like nothing.”
I haven’t told anyone about this. No one but Cindy, me and the guys we were working for should even know.So why is it in the contract?I clutch the envelope to my chest. I was too distracted so I didn’t read what was written past the salary, but if it has to do with Cindy, it can’t be anything good.
Or anything I want to discuss with Naomi. Not yet anyway.
“It’s nothing,” I repeat more sternly. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”
Naomi huffs, flailing her arms in a placating manner. “Gee, sorry. Didn’t mean to overstep.”
I don’t want to lie to my first friend in forever, and I feel bad, but I really don’t want to think about this right now. Everything has been going so well here, minus my Chai problem, and I’d like to keep it that way for as long as I can. Sometimes, it even feels like I don’t have any problems to worry about. I know it’s just me fooling myself, but it’s kind of hard not to when my biggest concern this past week has been learning my first kanji and getting laid.
“Sorry,” I mutter as she stands up. “For snapping. It’s just… I really don’t wanna talk about it right now. Can you give me some time?”
“Sure, man.” She shrugs. “But when you want to, I’m happy to lend an ear.”
