She wearily pinched the bridge of her nose.
Although some respectfully called Okada Wakako the queen of Westbrook.
There was more than a little flattery in that title.
The Tiger Claws Gang's reach did not extend across all of Westbrook.
It was limited to Japantown in Westbrook.
Places like Charter Hill and North Oak belonged to the middle class and the wealthy.
No matter how arrogant and overbearing the Tiger Claws Gang was, they would never dare swagger around those neighborhoods.
Besides, Wakako was not the power behind the entire Tiger Claws Gang.
Several of her husbands had been heads of the Tiger Claws Gang's Night City branch.
And all nine of her sons were senior officers in the gang, each leading a group named after his own surname.
But the Tiger Claws Gang, like the city's other gangs and Japan's other yakuza organizations, consisted of countless factions.
Her nine sons only controlled roughly half of the Tiger Claws Gang's Night City branch.
Not all of it.
And those nine sons sometimes fought among themselves. They were hardly united.
So Okada Wakako knew exactly how much influence she had.
She knew who had been responsible for what happened at the Shinto Shrine.
Wakako had never wanted to provoke Rogue.
But what left
her helpless was that her youngest son, whom she doted on most, had fallen for the female mercenary who had screwed Rogue over.
He was utterly infatuated with her.
He would even rather sever his relationship with Wakako than leave Ken.
Wakako had originally planned to make that female mercenary disappear from this world herself.
What she had not expected was for Rogue to strike first.
Yes.
While her sons were still speculating whether it had been the Vortex Gang or Militech.
She already knew it had to