The Yakuza’s Mute Bride novel Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Not long after Tadashi left to deal with the police, I heard it

a voice I hadn’t heard in years.

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Rough. Familiar. Cruel in a way only family could be.

“WHERE IS SHE?!” The sound tore through the corridor like a blade. “WHERE IS THAT WOMAN NAMED NAOMP?!”

The door slammed open before anyone could stop him.

Ljerked upright, my heart lurching painfully against the bandages.

Two guardsmen

– men from the Masayoshi clan – tried to restrain him, their large frames blocking most of the doorway. But the man forced his way through, red-faced, unsteady from anger.

That man was my father.

George Hunter.

Of course it would be him.

I hadn’t seen him in two years Matthew’s real relationship.

–

not since I came back to London and decided to tell the truth about Katrina’s and

My first thought wasn’t anger or relief.

It was disbelief.

How did he even know I was here?

The room froze.

The guards looked at me for instruction – waiting, tense. Apparently, they already knew who he was. They didn’t act violently, though I could tell by the way their hands hovered near their coats that they wanted to.

—

Before I could write or speak, another voice broke through the chaos low, cold, familiar.

“Do you know where you are?”

Tadashi.

He walked in with terrifying calm, hands in his pockets, his dark eyes taking in the scene with quiet calculation. He looked nothing like the man who had kissed my forehead minutes ago – he looked like the other Tadashi, the one who made men bow and confess with a glance.

“Why are you making a scene,” he continued, voice smooth as glass, “in your sick daughter’s room?”

1

He stepped closer to my bed – protective, unyielding and for a moment, he was between me and my father like a wall. The distance between them felt like a fuse waiting to burn.

–

Ai and Yukito appeared seconds later, drawn by the noise. Both stopped when they saw my father and his mistake.

Even dressed in black suits and plain shirts, there was no mistaking who they were. Their stillness was too sharp, their eyes too alert, tattoos just visible above their cuffs. They weren’t men used to being questioned.

For the first time in my life, I saw my father hesitate.

The arrogance in his shoulders faltered. His eyes darted from Tadashi to the guards, to Yukito’s quiet stare – the kind that

Chapter 34

could make a man reconsider every word he’d ever spoken.

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“Sorry,” my father said finally, voice forced into something that sounded like politeness. “I was just worried when I heard she

was sick.”

A lie so clumsy it almost hurt to hear.

Tadashi’s gaze didn’t soften. “Naomi…”

My father frowned. “What?”

“Her name,” Tadashi said evenly, “is Naomi. Not ‘she. Not ‘her.”

The room went very still.

My father’s brow furrowed, confusion flickering behind irritation. “And who are you?”

The air seemed to change temperature.

Even Ai stiffened. Yukito’s eyes flicked up, sharp with warning.

No one in the room breathed for a second.

Because in the world Tadashi came from, tone mattered. And my father had just used the wrong one.

“Father-” My voice broke on the first syllable, raw and torn from disuse. Pain shot through my throat, and I winced, clutching at my neck.

Tadashi was beside me in an instant, his composure cracking just enough for concern to slip through.

He grabbed a glass of water, guided it to my hands with care that felt almost unreal, and tilted it toward my lips.

“Slowly,” he murmured.

The water was cool. It burned as it slid down, but I swallowed anyway.

My father stood frozen, watching. His expression was something between disgust and disbelief- the way he used to look at me before.

Tadashi set the glass down on the table beside me, the gesture deliberate.

Then he turned.

“Go,” he said quietly.

It wasn’t a shout, wasn’t even loud – but the command rolled through the room like thunder.

Every guard bowed instantly and backed out.

Yukito inclined his head. Ai gave me one last look – half worry, half trust – before following.

The door clicked shut.

Only three of us remained.

Tadashi straightened, facing my father fully.

“I am Tadashi Masayoshi,” he said coldly, extending a hand.

10:45 Tue, Jan 6

Chapter 34

—

For a long moment, my father just stared at it at the hand, at the name as if he were trying to remember where he’d

heard it before.

Then, hesitantly, he took it. “George Hunter.”

The handshake lasted exactly one second. Tadashi let go first.

“Tell me, Mr. Hunter,” Tadashi said, voice polite but edged with steel, “what makes you so angry that you storm into a hospital and shout like a lunatic? Don’t you want to ask about your daughter’s condition first?”

My father cleared his throat and walked to the window — a nervous tic he’d never grown out of. He kept his back to us when he spoke.

“Last night, the police contacted me,” he began, his tone careful. “Said my daughter was in danger. Kidnapped. I

immediately called her boyfriend

watching television. Perfectly fine.”

told him what the police said, told him to check she was safe. He found her at home.

He turned, his eyes cold. “So I came here, embarrassed. I thought there’d been some mistake.”

I felt the words like a punch.

Katrina.

He was talking about my sister.

The one he’d chosen to love.

The one who still wore the name Hunter without shame.

I swallowed hard, reached for my notepad, and scribbled quickly: ‘He probably thought it was Katrina-my sister, who had been kidnapped. He’s upset that the police contacted him about me instead of her.”

Tadashi read the line, his expression unreadable.

Then he looked back at my father.

“I apologize for the confusion,” he said evenly. “The police must have used outdated records. It seems your country doesn’t yet know that Naomi Hunter is no longer under the protection of the Hunter family.”

My father froze. “What did you just say?”

Even I looked up, startled.

What was he talking about?

Tadashi’s gaze flicked to me – calm, steady, utterly certain. “I will take care of the paperwork,” he said. “From now on, Naomi Hunter will fall under Masayoshi protection.”

The air in my chest vanished.

I blinked, sure I’d misheard him.

What?

My pen slipped from my fingers and hit the blanket,

My father stared between us, his face paling as the meaning sank in. “Excuse me? Are you saying—?”

“Yes,” Tadashi interrupted. His tone was pure ice now. “She will no longer carry your family’s responsibility. Or your

10:45 Tue,

Chapter 34

neglect.”

My father’s jaw tightened. “You can’t just decide that-”

“I already have.”

Tadashi’s voice didn’t rise, but the power in it made even my father take a step back.

“This is England,” my father snapped. “You can’t-”

“You’d be surprised,” Tadashi said softly. “Money crosses borders faster than law.”

For a second, no one spoke.

The silence pulsed between them – an invisible line drawn in blood and pride.

–

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My father looked at me – truly looked at me for the first time in years. “Is this what you want?” he demanded. “To belong to them? To people who-” He doesn’t know how to describe them and just looks disgusted.

“Stop,” I whispered, my voice breaking again. The single word came out hoarse and raw, but it silenced them both.

–

I met Tadashi’s gaze. He was calm, but behind that calm was something fierce, unyielding something that terrified and protected Ime all at once.

And I knew, without him saying it, that this wasn’t about ownership.

It was about protection.

About a man who had already lost too much – and was willing to claim me before the world could hurt me again.

But still, part of me trembled.

Because the man who once swore he’d never love me enough to ruin me was now ready to destroy everything just to keep

And I didn’t know whether to thank him- or to be afraid.

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