The Yakuza’s Mute Bride novel Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Ugh…

Pain shot through the back of my head, sharp and unrelenting, like fire crawling through my skull.

My eyelids fluttered open against a dim, flickering light, and the world around me swam in shadow and haze

Everything felt unreal-cold, damp, and heavy – the air thick with the metallic tang of blood and some chemical sharp enough to make my nose sting.

I tried to lift my hands.

What…

Nothing.

My wrists burned, pulled tight and raw. Rope. My hands were bound behind me, biting into my skin with every weak

movement.

Panic rose like ice in my chest.

Oh God… What is this?

Where am I?

–

A voice smooth, deliberate, dripping with confidence – cut through the haze.

“Are you awake?”

A voice….

Who?

I blinked rapidly, trying to focus.

Shapes emerged from the shadows, and my heart stuttered.

Her…

She was there, standing just a few feet away. Polished heels clicking softly against the concrete floor, her posture immaculate, her face carved in calculated amusement.

No… Reiko Yamasaki?

Why?

Her presence pressed down on me, heavy as lead, and a faint, cold floral scent reached me, cloying and overpowering She smiled-wide, sharp, cruel- and the sight made my stomach churn.

Reiko? Why she doing this?

I thought she’s Tadashi lover.

I whispered, hoarse and trembling, “Why?”

Her eyes widened in mock surprise, then she burst into laughter, sharp and ringing in the small, enclosed space.

m

O

<

10:42 Tue, Jan 6

Chapter 26

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She clapped her hands once, twice, delighting in the sound. “Oh God. So… you can talk after all,” she said in mockingly tone. “I wondered if you’d ever use that little disgusting voice of yours.”

I tried to move my head, but the throbbing pain made it nearly impossible.

My hair was damp and matted with blood from the blow I hadn’t even processed yet.

A warm trickle ran down my cheek and neck.

Every pulse of my heartbeat sent stabbing pain through my temples.

“Why?” I whispered again, my voice cracking. Because I can’t imagine the reason behind her action right now.

The laughter stopped.

Suddenly, her amusement vanished, replaced with something darker a sharp, venomous glint in her eyes.

—

She stepped closer, her perfume wrapping around me like a vice.

“What you saw in the video,” she said slowly, deliberately, “was your lover killing my family.”

What?!

Her words froze me, each syllable hammering into my mind.

My lover…?

Tadashi…?

I shook my head weakly, trying to deny it, trying to make sense. “No… that’s not-”

But she ignored me.

Her voice dropped lower, sharper, almost a hiss now. “Masayoshi Tadashi,” she spat, “slaughtered my father. My brother. Every last man who carried the Yamaguchi name. And you… you sit beside him,/smiling, as if you have no blood on your hands.”

Her words burned through me.

I felt bile rise in my throat.

The name Yamaguchi resonated somewhere deep in my memory-whispers from Hokkaido, stories I had only half-heard. Sworn enemies of the Masayoshi clan.

Oh god… She’s Reiko Yamaguchi. She’s from Yamaguchi clan.

How could I be so stupid?

How could I forget that important information about her?!

I had fallen right into her trap. Trusting, naive, unaware.

Stupid… Naomi. You’re so.. so stupid.

Reiko’s lips curved into another laugh, that awful, terrible sound that made the hair on my arms stand on end. “Ah, it seems you just remembered who I am,” she said, amusement dancing in her tone. “Good. I’d hate to waste time on someone too dim to understand.”

Then her hand shot out

–

fast, precise.

10:43 Tue, Jan 6 j

Chapter 26

SMACK!

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The sharp crack of her palm against my cheek made stars explode behind my eyes. My head snapped violently to the side. Pain seared along my jaw, mingling with the pounding ache in my skull. Blood trickled into my mouth, metallic and warm.

Oh God, that hurts!

I gasped, half from shock, half from the sting of humiliation.

She leaned in, her face inches from mine now.

The amusement had vanished completely. In its place was a cold, focused hatred. Her eyes were dark, dangerous – the kind of gaze that made the skin crawl.

–

“Why you say? Because I want to see,” she whispered, low and cruel on my ear, “if it’s true what they say that you are Tadashi Masayoshi’s weakness.”

Her words lingered in the room like smoke, twisting the air around me.

I felt my chest tighten.

My wrists throbbed from the ropes; my cheek burned where her hand had struck. Every nerve screamed.

And yet, despite the pain, the first thought that pierced the haze was:

Ai… Yukito… where are you?

My vision blurred again as the room swayed around me.

Tadashi…

Please.

Help me…

The shadows seemed to creep closer, swallowing the edges of the room.

Reiko’s perfume and the metallic tang of blood filled my senses, her laughter and soft voice echoing over the ringing in my

ears.

Every detail – the ropes cutting into my skin, the ache behind my eyes, the taste of blood in my mouth, the oppressive smell of damp concrete – pressed against me like a cage.

And in that cage, I realized, with horrifying clarity, just how alone I was,

“Cio, Tomo!” she shouted, her voice echoing off the concrete walls like a warning bell. The sound made my chest tighten and my stomach coil.

Within seconds, two men emerged from the shadows behind a half-open door. Their faces were expressionless, but their eyes were sharp, alert, ready to obey without hesitation. The air between us felt suddenly smaller, heavier, as if it were closing in.

“Where’s the phone?” she demanded, each word sharp and commanding. “I need to send this woman’s video to someone.”

She turned toward me then, slowly, deliberately, and I felt the weight of her gaze press against my skin. Her smile was not warm or friendly – it was cruel, almost feral, like she was savoring the thought of what she intended to do.

My throat went dry.

10:43 Tue, Jan 6 j•

Chapter 26

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Every nerve in my body screamed for me to run, but the ropes held me firmly in place, and the panic twisting inside me left my limbs trembling and useless.

I swallowed hard, my eyes locked on her, trying to read any hint of hesitation. But there was none. Only that dark, calculating gleam – the kind of expression that promised suffering and made my chest pound in fear.

The two men quickly moved to obey, their footsteps silent on the concrete floor. The sound of metal being manipulated – a phone being passed, screens flicking – seemed impossibly loud in the tense quiet of the room.

And all the while, she kept looking at me, that evil smile lingering like a shadow I couldn’t escape, imagining my fear, my helplessness, as if it were a play she was starring in – and I was merely a prop.

I shivered, pressing back against the chair, trying to make myself smaller, trying to disappear but the was trapped, exposed, and entirely at her mercy.

ropes

didn’t care. I

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