Emperor of Havoc: Chapter 32

The room is dark, a heavy, velvety blackness wrapping around me. For a moment, panic surges in my chest. Then my breath releases as the disorienting fog of sleep gives way to memory.

I’m in bed.

I’m safe.

My heart still thuds erratically as I calm myself, remembering that I’m back home in bed, not in that hellish hole in Chiba.

Except…I’m alone. I wasn’t before.

I fell asleep in Takeshi’s arms earlier.

My bottom lip retreats between my teeth. But as my hand slides over to his side of the bed, I smile.

The sheets are warm, and still smell like him—raw and masculine. I press my hand to the empty spot beside me, trying to reassure myself that he must have gotten up to use the bathroom or something.

I exhale, rolling my eyes at myself for panicking.

Still, my body refuses to relax. I wrap my arms around myself, trying to hold it together as the memories of the earlier nightmare claw their way to the surface.

The cold, metallic room. The smell of motor oil and blood. The chains biting into my skin. Sergey’s mocking voice. Rodion’s hands.

Then—Takeshi.

I replay the moment the door crashed in and he roared my name like a storm ripping into the room. I remember the way he tore through them all, his presence overwhelming, terrifying, and protective all at once.

He killed them all without hesitation, an uncaged feral beast. And then instantly, that fury and violence turned to calm protectiveness as his arms went around me, shielding me from it all.

I recall the way he carried me out of that hellish room, past Rodion’s lifeless—and headless—body. Then Sergey’s.

Ryu is in the hospital now: they say he’ll be okay. Nina is shaken, but unhurt. Since I’ve got Tak, I’ve made sure Furrcules is spending the night in her room, which I think might help her sleep. My father is awake from his surgery, groggy but already asking questions. We talked on the phone earlier. Tomorrow I’ll visit him, and we’ll plan the utter and complete destruction of whatever remains of the Vorobev Bratva.

I sigh, trying to shake off the lingering panic. My gaze drifts across the room, and I realize the bathroom light is off.

Where is he?

I slide out of bed, wrapping myself in the duvet as I pad to the bathroom. It’s empty. I open the bedroom door and glance into the hallway, my pulse quickening.

The house is eerily quiet as I walk through my wing, my bare feet brushing over the cold floors. Finally I spot him in the living room—a dark silhouette against the neon glow of Tokyo beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. His broad shoulders are stiff, his head bent.

He’s on the phone.

I start to step inside, but the quiet tension in his posture and the low growl of his voice stop me, prickling over my skin, warning me to stay silent.

I linger in the shadows, watching, listening.

“The plan was always the same,” he says, his voice low and rough. “Use her to get inside the Ishida-kai.”

It feels like I just got punched in the face—the words a physical blow, stealing the air from my lungs. My hands tremble, clutching the duvet tighter around me as I stand frozen in place.

“I wanted revenge, Hana,” he continues, his tone filled with a venom I’ve never heard in him before. “It was Kolya who killed Akira. I used her to get close to him.”

The room tilts. My legs barely hold me up. My heart shatters, breaking into a million jagged pieces as his words sink in.

Use her.

Get inside the Ishida-kai.

Revenge.

My breathing quickens and my chest tightens, the beginnings of a sob trying to claw its way up my throat.

“It was him,” he growls, his voice sharp as his katana blade. “He has to pay for what he did to Akira.”

I can’t listen anymore.

I take an unsteady step back. Then another. My foot brushes the edge of a table, the slight noise making me freeze.

Takeshi’s head tilts, his body tensing slightly, sensing something.

I don’t wait to see if he turns around. I spin and bolt back toward the bedroom, my heart hammering so loudly in my chest I can barely hear my own footsteps.

I have to get out of here.

The thought repeats in my mind on a loop, drowning out everything else. He’s been using me. All his protectiveness, the way he made me feel safe…

It’s all a lie, wrapped up in silk.

I reach the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind me as I collapse against it. My breath comes in ragged gasps as my vision blurs with tears.

How the fuck could I have been so stupid? He’s the enemy. He’s always been the enemy.

And I let him in: inside this house, this empire.

…Inside me: heart, body and soul.

I press my hand to my chest, as if I can physically hold the broken pieces together. My mind spins: was any of it real? The way he held me? Looked at me?

My stomach churns, bile rising in my throat as his words echo in my head: Use her to get inside the Ishida-kai.

I have to get the fuck out of here.

I throw some clothes on with trembling hands. My body feels cold, a chill seeping into my bones that no amount of layers will fix.

I grab a bag, hurriedly shoving a few essentials inside, my mind screaming at me to move faster. Every second feels like an eternity, and I half-expect the door to burst open at any moment and for Takeshi to be standing there.

It doesn’t.

I throw the bag over my shoulder and glance at the bed one last time. The duvet is balled up on it, a silent reminder of the warmth and the safety I thought he gave me.

A sob bubbles behind my lips as I turn and run, the walls closing in on me as I move quickly through the halls. My feet are silent on the floor, my body tense as I listen for any sign of him.

For a second, I almost go to the guards that I know are posted all over the house. But then I realize with a horrible jarring sensation that I don’t actually know who I can trust now. Takeshi’s been here for weeks, smiling, making friends…

Forming alliances.

I have no idea if “my men” are even “mine” anymore.

Maybe they’re his now.

I double back through the house. For a second, I pause, my heart beating faster when I spy Nina reading in the library, with Furrcules curled up beside her. I almost go to her, to tell her about the poison inside our house.

Except just then, one of the guards—a younger guy named Nagao—walks into the room. He nods at her, and they start to talk.

My blood runs cold. I know I’ve seen Nagao hanging out with Takeshi before—shooting the shit, cracking jokes.

Nina will have to wait.

I slip quietly into the kitchen. At the back of the pantry, there’s a shelf that swings out, leading to an old, waist-high metal door in the wall to receive firewood deliveries back in the day.

Historically, this is how I’ve snuck out of this house. Tonight, I’m using it again.

The old metal whines in protest, but I get it open it anyway, hoisting myself through and into the night.

Use her to get inside the Ishida-kai.

Tears blur my vision as turn away from the house. I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t have a plan.

But I can’t stay here.

I can’t stay with him.

I keep low, avoiding the patrols as I hug the shadows. I move quickly, skimming along the hedges until I get to the end of the house. I wait, watching a guard patrol cross the grounds before I make a break for it, bolting past the koi pond and rock garden until I get to the wall. At the far end, there’s small locked metal gate. But I use the key I’ve kept hidden for years under a nearby rock to get through that.

Outside, Tokyo rises around me as I bolt down the street behind our estate, then zigzag into an alley. At the end of that I turn again, moving in the direction of a café that usually has taxis out front.

When I get there, I’ll text Nina and fill her in. Then I’ll go to the hospital. The men there will absolutely be loyal to my father. And⁠—

“Marianna.”

My heart lurches into my throat at the sound of the voice.

What the…?

Slowly, I turn.

My eyes go wide.

“You…” I sign slowly. “How⁠—”

An acrid mist sprays in my face. The figure in front of me blurs as my vision rolls.

Wait—

But the darkness doesn’t listen. It just closes in around me.