The Yakuza’s Mute Bride novel Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

I didn’t know how long I had been held captive in that place.

Time had dissolved into pain.

There were no days or nights, just the smell of rust and alcohol, and her voice

“Wake up.. Wake up.. Wake up!!”

“AARRGGGHHH!”

Not again.

My scream ripped from somewhere deep in my chest.

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–

Reiko’s voice cold, measured, cruel.

I tried to twist away, but my body wouldn’t move. The liquid fire spread over my skin again. Alcohol. She was pouring alcohol over me. Over my wounds. My body arched off the table in agony.

“Stay awake,” Reiko’s voice commanded, sharp as a blade.

“Please… stop…” My voice was a rasp, my throat raw.

She laughed — a small, satisfied sound — then pressed her fingers against one of my open cuts.

White exploded behind my eyelids.

I passed out.

Then pain dragged me back again. Again and again, like a cruel tide.

When I finally stopped fighting – when even screaming took too much strength I heard it.

“Reiko-san! They’re here! They’re here!”

The voice was shrill, frantic. Japanese words tangled together, words I barely understood anymore.

Reiko froze.

“What?! How?!”

Her tone was different now fear laced with fury.

Something was wrong.

“Tracer…” she hissed, then SMACK! her hand struck my face.

The world tilted.

—

“Did you have a tracker on you?!”

My mind swam. Tracker? What tracker?

All I could do was tremble,

—

–

“Hurry! We have no time for her now. We’ll come back!”

Boots scraped, metal clanged.

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Chapter 28

“Damn it! Move! Let’s go!”

Their footsteps rushed away.

Are they leaving?

For a heartbeat, I dared to hope.

Reiko’s voice came closer – almost a whisper beside my ear.

“Just wait, Naomi. I’ll be back for you.”

Then silence.

For the first time in forever, I heard something other than my own heartbeat.

Then- BANG! BANG!

Gunshots.

Loud. Close.

I flinched violently, heart hammering.

No… no, not again…

“Hurry! She’s here!”

More shouting. More footsteps.

I whimpered, pressing my forehead against the cold surface beneath me.

Please don’t hurt me.

No more.

The door burst open. A rush of air.

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Someone gasped – a raw, broken sound – and then hands, warm and trembling, lifted me from that cursed bench.

“Don’t…” My voice broke. “Don’t touch me… it hurts…”

“Oh my God… Naomi…” The voice – deep, pained, shaking- “Naomi, open your eyes. Forgive me… forgive me…”

That voice.

It couldn’t be.

“Tadashi-sama! Reiko has escaped!” another voice shouted from somewhere behind.

The man holding me tensed, then carefully, desperately, gathered me closer.

Tadashi…? The name fluttered weakly in my mind.

Could it be him?

I could feel he was trembling-

–

the man who used to stand so tall, unshakable.

Ugh… “It hurt.. no..” I try to push him away because wherever he touch hurts so much

10:43 Tue, Jan 6

Chapter 28

Now, I could hear the tremor in his breathing.

“Shh…” His lips brushed my temple. “Forgive me. Oh God, forgive me, my Naomi”

He undid the ropes that bound my wrists. The rough fibers scraped my raw skin as they fell away, I sobbed softly, numb hands twitching.

“It hurts…” I whispered, barely aware of my own words.

“I know. I know…”

I tried to see him, but my eyelids were too heavy.

The darkness came back, slow and thick and merciful.

And before it swallowed me, I heard his voice again -no longer soft.

Cold. Deadly.

“Hunt them all. No mercy.”

His tone made me shiver even as I drifted away.

“Don’t hurt me… please… no more…” I murmured one last time before the pain pulled me under.

*****

Beep… beep… beep…

The sound was faint at first – rhythmic, persistent.

It wasn’t screaming. It wasn’t laughter.

It wasn’t pain.

I groaned softly.

Ugh… My body felt heavy, pinned down.

The air smelled sharp – sterile, clean, unfamiliar.

Light pressed against my eyelids. White. Blinding.

Slowly, I opened my eyes.

Ceiling lights.

A monitor beeping beside me.

White walls. A faint hum of machines.

A hospital…?

I blinked, disoriented. My throat was dry, my lips cracked.

When I tried to move, pain sliced through my limbs like electricity.

“Ah-!” I gasped and fell back onto the bed.

10:43 Tue, Jan 6

Chapter 28

My body was wrapped in bandages. My arms, my stomach – bruises blooming beneath the fabric.

How I end in here?

Then I felt it warmth. A hand holding mine. Firm, steady, trembling slightly.

–

I turned my head, slowly, terrified of what I might see.

And then those eyes.

–

Dark brown. Intense. Framed by exhaustion and grief.

Is that….

“T-Ta… Tadashi?” I whispered, unsure if I was still dreaming.

He leaned forward, his face inches from mine. His eyes glistened – not the sharp gaze I remembered, but something softer, broken.

“It’s me,” he said, voice rough. “You’re safe now, Naomi.”

Safe…

The word felt foreign.

I blinked, tears spilling down my temples. “You…. you found me?” My voice cracked, barely a whisper but seeing him nod telling me he could hear me.

He nodded slowly, his thumb brushing against the back of my hand. “We tracked them the moment Ai telling me you’re gone. I thought-” His voice faltered, jaw tightening. “I thought I was too late.”

My chest constricted.

The memory of Reiko’s laugh, of fire on my skin, flashed behind my eyelids.

“Reiko…” I whispered.

His eyes darkened. “She escaped.”

Silence hung between us. The beeping filled it.

“I’ll find her,” he said quietly. “I swear it.”

I wanted to tell him no

—

to stop. To not go after her. But all I could do was stare at him, too tired, too broken.

–

Tadashi reached up, brushing a stray strand of hair from my forehead. His touch was gentle so gentle it made me tremble.

“You don’t have to be afraid anymore,” he whispered.

But I still was.

Because even though I was lying in a white room with sunlight spilling through the curtains, part of me was still there — in that cold room, with Reiko’s voice echoing in my head.

And I didn’t know if I’d ever truly wake up from it

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