Emperor of Havoc: Chapter 40

The car rolls to a stop outside the sprawling, decaying mansion just outside Tokyo. The house’s silhouette looms spectrally against the dark sky.

The air is heavy with damp earth and the stench of rotting vegetation. I step out, my feet crunching against the gravel as I glance up at the gloomy, crumbling, European-style home.

Ivy snakes up the stone walls, shutters hang loose. The structure itself seems to sag under the weight of time.

“What is this place?” I growl as I turn to Kolya.

He doesn’t look at me as he answers, his gaze remaining fixed on the mansion.

“This was my grandfather’s house.” His tone is clipped, the muttered words laced with disdain. “He built it to escape the chaos of the city.”

I’ve heard what happened later. How a young Kolya, forged in hardship in brutal Northeastern Russia, returned to Japan after the death of his parents. How Kolya killed his grandfather—the man who banished his mother for falling in love with a foreigner—and reclaimed the empire that was his birthright.

I frown as I study the building. “Why keep it standing all these years, though? Why not just tear it down?”

Kolya’s lips curl into a humorless smile. “Destruction is too quick. Too merciful. I want it to rot. To crumble, piece by piece. I want to spend decades watching it collapse into nothing.” He turns to me, eyes cold. “That is my true revenge.”

The chill prickling up my spine has nothing to do with the night air. “You really think they’re here?”

“Yes. Jin loved this house. He…admired our grandfather in ways I never understood. If he’s not in his apartment, this is where he’d go.”

We should wait for backup. But the thought of Katarina in Jin’s hands makes the idea of delaying unbearable. Kolya’s driver, Mitsugi, steps forward, his hand resting on his sidearm. Kolya nods to him, then to me.

“Ready?” he asks, his voice steady despite the tension radiating off him.

I draw my gun and check the chamber. “Let’s go.”

The three of us slowly approach the front door. As we get closer, I stop abruptly and hold up a hand.

Something’s wrong.

The front door is wide open.I glance at Kolya. Just then, a voice roars from the shadows behind us, deep, rasping, and filled with madness.

“Marianna!”

The three of us whirl, guns lifted. My pulse spikes and Kolya’s expression hardens as he turns in the direction of the voice.

“Through there,” I murmur, nodding to an opening in the hedge. The faint rustle of leaves carries on the wind, almost lost in the stillness. Kolya nods grimly.

“Be warned,” he mutters. “This isn’t just a hedge. It’s an old garden maze.” His jaw grinds. “My grandfather had this whole place built to mimic a sprawling chateau in France.”

Fuck.

Picking our way through a dark, overgrown maze looking for the crazy motherfucker who thinks Kat is his old crush and in all likelihood kidnapped her sounds like a terrible idea.

But right now, I’d crawl over broken glass and through hellfire to save her.

The maze rises before us, dark and foreboding. The towering walls twist and writhe above us in the dim moonlight. My gut churns as we step inside: almost immediately the path splits, forcing a decision. Just then, Jin’s voice roars out from the night around us.

‘Marianna!’ he calls again. ‘Don’t run, my love! We can be together now!’

Rage sinks into me when I hear him call her that.

My love.

It makes me want to kill. At the same time, it sparks something akin to hope within me.

He said “don’t run”. I turn and glance back through the maze entrance across the stone driveway, to where the front door of the house is standing wide open.

Kolya and I exchange a look.

“She got away from him,” he growls quietly.

I nod grimly. Yeah, that’s what it looks like. But that means she’s in a fucking maze, running through the dark from a fucking psychopath.

Kolya starts to step forward. But then he grimaces, raw agony rippling over his features. The pain from his surgery is slowing him down, even if he’ll never admit it.

“You shouldn’t even be walking around,” I growl. “Your stitches⁠—”

“This is my daughter,” Kolya snaps, his eyes blazing. “If you think I’ll sit by like an invalid, you’re a fucking idiot.”

I nod, looking at the maze. “Fair enough. Are there any other exits?”

“No,” Kolya shakes his head. “Not that I can remember.”

“Good.” I glance at him. “Stay here and guard the entrance. If either of them tries to get out, you’ll see them first.”

Kolya hesitates, then nods decisively. “Be careful.”

Without another word, Mitsugi and I head into the maze. I go left, he turns right.

The darkness is overwhelming, moonlight barely filtering through the dense foliage of the overgrown shrubbery above. My grip tightens on my gun, my senses on high alert. Every step forward feels like I’m walking deeper into an ethereal darkness, the narrow paths twisting unpredictably, the hedges pressing closer .

“Marianna!” Jin’s voice echoes again, distant, unhinged. “Come back!”

The madness in his tone makes me pick up the pace, adrenaline surging as I round each bewildering corner. The maze is disorienting, the paths winding and endless, twisting at odd, random angles. My pulse roars in my ears, every shadow setting my nerves on edge.

My heart leaps into my throat when a gunshot shatters the silence, followed by another. Then a third, together with a grunt of pain. I break into a run, my breath ragged as I navigate the labyrinth, my sense of direction completely gone. I dodge left and right, trying to home in on the source.

When I finally burst into a small clearing, the sight stops me cold. Mitsugi lies spread-eagled on the ground, blood pooling beneath him. His lifeless eyes stare up at the sky, his face frozen in an expression of shock.

“Takeshi!” Kolya roars from the distance, his voice filled with urgency.

“It’s Mitsugi!” I yell back, my voice raw. Crouching by the body, I check for a pulse I know I won’t find. The body is still warm, but he’s gone, his neck sliced clean across and a stab wound through his chest.

There’s a faint rustle behind me. I spin, gun raised, just as a blade splits the air. I throw myself to the side, the weapon slicing through the empty space where I’d just been standing. A figure lunges at me and I fire, the gunshot deafening. The shadow recoils, darting into the darkness of the maze.

“Fuck!” I hiss, pushing to my feet and bolting after him.

My legs burn as I sprint after him, my breath uneven. The narrow paths twist and turn, stray branches from the hedges clawing at me as I move. I round a corner, my eyes scanning wildly.

He’s gone.

The silence closes in again, oppressive and smothering.

I have to find her before that maniac does.

…And something tells me I’m running out of time.