Straightening his tie, Madara shut the door to his office and turned to face the men in the room. Izuna and Sasuke both wore sober expressions. “Now we need to talk about this new bounty.” “I told you what I knew the other day. I don’t have any updates.” Sasuke said flatly. “Still, it is concerning how close they’re getting if they can pinpoint the region Addie is currently residing in.” He leaned against the front of his desk folding his arms. “The two of you are going to do some traveling.” Izuna nodded. “Laying some false trails will bide us some time to come up with a better plan.” “Good. You’ll go to India and Sasuke will go to Turkey.” Izuna grimaced. “India? You know I can’t go to India, not after the incident with that lady and her husband.” Madara sent him a warning glare. “As long as you keep it in your pants and avoid Mumbai you’ll be fine.” He was not in the mood for his brother’s whining. Sakura had taken Addie to a local clinic to get her stitches removed so he could go
“What do you mean the castle’s closed?” Adelaide demanded, staring up at the behemoth gate in front of her. Madara pointed to a sign mounted on a wooden post with a cartoon figure of a man in a hard hat bowing apologetically. “The snowstorm brought down a tree through a portion of the castle roof last night. So, its closed for repairs.” Adelaide squinted at the kanji suspiciously but of course couldn’t read it. “Yeah, well that’s our luck isn’t it? Trudge all the way through the snow and the place isn’t even open.” She sighed, shaking her head. “I guess we’ll have to figure out something else to do.” “We can visit the local temple. It’s not as famous a historical location as Tanzaku Castle but the grounds are said to be lovely even this time of year.” Madara also figured a few prayers would not be amiss either. A city worker shoved snow past them on the sidewalk, pushing it into a pile to be collected by a plow waiting on the street. Hugging her arms around her waist, Adelaide cocked
Adelaide could feel Madara’s stare boring into the back of her head like a drill. He’d been watching her for a long time now and it wasn’t because he feared someone would knife her in the kitchen. Curiosity took hold. She peered over her shoulder, her hands stilling over the mixing bowl. “What’s up?” She was preparing breakfast to thank him for his help getting her the job at the vet clinic. A small gesture of gratitude but a genuine one for the man who’d risked his life for her twice now. Adelaide had realized how wrong she was about Madara. He wasn’t in it for the money. People don’t usually risk taking a bullet if they don’t care. Adelaide promised herself to stop giving him such a hard time…. if he didn’t act like an asshole. Then all bets were off. Perched on a stool at the counter, Madara tapped the edge of his spoon against his coffee mug thoughtfully. “I was thinking…want to get away from the city for the weekend?” The suggestion struck her as a little odd. It made her