Emperor of Havoc: Chapter 39

I sit on the edge of the sheet-covered couch, my arms wrapped around me in an attempt to shield me from the terror clawing at my chest.

The room I’m imprisoned in still reeks. But at least I’m alone now. The man in the oni mask left a while ago, telling me in his rough voice he’d be back with “presents” for me.

I hug my knees tighter to my chest, shuddering.

The past hours—days?—blur together in a confused haze. The living room feels like is a tomb, frozen in time. Cobwebs drape the corners. Outside, through the grimy windows, I can make out a tall, menacing hedge beyond the overgrown garden, a dark green wall further boxing me into this prison.

I’ve been trying to keep it together and focus on staying calm, but the fear inside me is a living, breathing thing, and Takeshi’s face keeps flashing through my mind.

His words.

That fucking phone call.

The betrayal slices into me afresh every time I think of it, but, weirdly, alongside the heartbreak is the unshakable need for him to find me and prove me wrong.

Please. Tell me I was crazy. Tell me I heard incorrectly.

Even if that’s a lie.

The click of the lock snaps me to attention. My heart lurches and I jerk around, my muscles tensing. The door creaks open, and the masked man steps in.

“Marianna,” he murmurs in that raspy voice that sounds like it hasn’t been used for years.

Why does he keep calling me that?

He doesn’t approach. He watches me like I’m fragile and could break or bolt at any second. I lift my hands, signing sharply and frantically.

“What do you want from me?”

It’s futile. I quickly realized the last time he was here that he doesn’t understand sign language. Just like last time, he doesn’t respond to my question. His head tilts slightly, his features hidden behind that grotesque mask.

“Your voice will return, Marianna,” he says gently, almost reassuringly. “You’ve just forgotten how to use it. I almost forgot how to use mine for a long time, too.”

It hits me.

He thinks I’m my mother.

This man isn’t just insane. He’s delusional.

“But all that matters now, my love,” he murmurs, “is that I rescued you from that monster.”

My stomach knots.

“That person you had to pretend was your husband.”

I just stare at him.

“Here,” he continues, reaching into his pocket. He pulls out a phone and walks toward me, holding it out like a peace offering. I shy away and he slows his movements, putting the phone on a side table before retreating back across the room. “Just look, my love. Even Kolya knows he’s no good.”

I hesitate before walking over and picking up the phone with trembling fingers. I tap the play button on the still image on the screen, and a grainy video begins to run.

My chest tightens.

The video shows Papa standing in front of Takeshi, who’s shirtless, chained to a chair, and writhing in agony. The red-hot iron in my father’s hand glows menacingly as he presses it to Takeshi’s side. The roar of pain that tears from Takeshi’s throat rips at me like a knife to the chest, making me physically recoil.

The video starts to play again on a loop, but I lower the phone from my gaze, nausea writhing inside me.

I might hate him right now for using and betraying me. But that still doesn’t mean I can watch him in pain like this, helpless to stop it.

“You see, my love?” the masked man growls. “He is a bad man. And Kolya will deal with him.”

I say nothing. But when I glance back at the phone, my thumb accidentally swipes the screen. It flicks to another video, this one with the thumbnail image suggesting it was shot right after the one I just watched.

“WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?” Papa roars loudly on-screen.

“I love her,” Takeshi hurls back, the words so pure and true that it breaks my heart.

Papa jabs the iron to his side again, making me flinch, my hand flying to my mouth.

“What are you watching?” the masked man across the room suddenly growls, realizing that the video has switched. “Stop that!” he blurts roughly. “Not that one!”

I can’t look away. Takeshi writhes in pain on the screen as my father tortures him. But through it all, his voice rings out loud and clear.

“I’m in love with her!” Takeshi roars, his voice raw. “I’m fucking in love with her, you motherfucker!”

“Put that down, Marianna!” the masked man bellows.

I keep watching.

“Why did you worm your way into my home?” Papa hisses. “And do not lie to me!”

“Answers,” Takeshi spits out. “I wanted answers. And vengeance. Not against Katarina. Against you.”

“Why would you seek vengeance against me?” Papa hurls back.

“Because you killed Akira Ohno.”

I jolt abruptly as the masked man violently rips the phone from my hands. It clatters to the ground and I stagger back, my wide, terrified gaze wrenching to his.

He takes a menacing step toward me, chest heaving, making me back away until I hit the bookshelves behind me. For a moment, I think he might lash out. But then suddenly he stops, his hand trembling slightly.

“No. No,” he chokes. “Marianna, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

My throat works, fear coursing through my veins as he tips his head to the side.

“It’s just… You shouldn’t listen to his lies anymore. We have each other now. You’re free.”

He lifts his hands to the mask.

“See?”

The mask pulls away, and my blood turns to ice.

What.

The.

Actual.

FUCK.

Everything twists inside me. The world around me shimmers and bends, like it’s not real.

It can’t be real.

“Marianna…” my uncle says quietly, his face lined, older than I remember, twisting in anguish as he looks at me.

All the air leaves my lungs.

Jin Ishida locked himself away from the world over a decade ago. He doesn’t leave his apartment.

Doesn’t kidnap people.

Doesn’t think his own niece is his dead sister-in-law. “We’re in my grandfather’s house,” he murmurs, gesturing around the room. “Kolya hated this house, just like he hated Grandpa. But I didn’t. I always liked it here.” His voice drops. “We’ll live here now, Marianna. Together. They’ll never find us.”

My mind races as he speaks, his words devolving into delusional ramblings. I need to escape, but brute force won’t work. He’s taller, stronger, and clearly deranged.

“You’ve been gone so long,” he says suddenly, his voice filled with sadness. “But you’re here now. That’s all that matters.”

He steps closer. Every instinct screams at me to bolt, but I stay where I am, steeling myself.

If he thinks I’m my mother, he doesn’t think I could pose a threat.

That’s my advantage.

His gloved hand lifts, brushing a stray strand of hair from my face. I flinch, and his head tips.

“Everything will be perfect now, you’ll see.”

He reaches for my hand.

And that’s when I make my move.

My years of martial arts training kick in as I lunge forward, grab his arm, push past him, and then use the momentum of my body dropping to the ground to fling him over my shoulder.

He crashes to the ground with a guttural roar. My bare feet are already pounding on the floor as I bolt for the door.

He calls after me but I ignore him, adrenaline pushing me forward. I wrench the door open and sprint into the hallway, my heart pounding like a war drum.

“Marianna!” Behind me, his footsteps thunder after me, heavy and relentless.

I run blindly through the old house, my lungs burning with the effort. I spot a flight of stairs and take them down two at a time. I ignore the cold wood biting into my feet. My only thoughts are of escape.

Escape, or die. Or—something worse.

I bolt across a marble foyer, then burst through a creaky set of double doors into the yard. The air is cold and sharp, night cloaking everything in shadow with a nearly full moon wrapping everything in a ghostly white shroud.

Ahead of me is the overgrown garden, and past that the towering hedge wall, which now that I’m closer I see has a single “doorway” in the middle of it.

That’s my escape.

I sprint toward it, desperation urging me forward. The hedge swallows me up as I enter, the branches clawing at my skin. It’s not until I’ve gone a few steps and am faced with a t-junction that I realize just how wrong I was.

This isn’t a passage leading me to freedom.

It’s a fucking maze.

Panic grips me as I look left, then right, my heart pounding.

“You can’t run from me, Marianna!” Jin bellows. “We’re meant to be together!”

I whirl, naked fear clawing up my throat as I hear him right behind me. He follows me through the entrance, his eyes locked on me.

Well, not going that way.

I spin, and without thinking, I bolt to my right.

Blindly.

Heedlessly.

If I want to live, I have to run.

I sprint down one length of the maze before hooking right and bolting down that passageway. The hedges are thick and gnarled, and they tower over me, easily three times my height.

Gasping, I crash out of the passageway and into a moonlit clearing. There’s an empty stone fountain with a cherub on a Greek column in the middle of it, covered with a dead, gnarled rose bush.

My heart pounds in my chest as I stop to catch my breath for a second. My skin throbs. Adrenaline screams through my veins.

“Marianna!”

His voice is far too close for comfort.

I have to keep going.

Run.