The Yakuza’s Mute Bride novel Chapter 41

Chapter 41

(Go to Naomi’s Point of View)**

Lately, I have been forcing myself to walk more. To stand straighter. To take each painful step as if it were a promise to the part of me that refuses to stay broken.

The doctors call it therapy but I call it survival.

My legs still tremble sometimes, but I push forward until my lungs sting and my vision softens at the edges. I want to get better. I want to stop feeling like a fragile thing that needs to be carried everywhere.

Yet… no matter how much I try, I can feel it the tension in the air around me.

–

I could feel like everyone was worried that they’re hiding something and everyone thinks I am too delicate to notice.

I hate it… I may not speak, but I am not a child. I am not stupid. Silence does not make me unaware.

After finishing another round of walking drills, I collapse onto the nearest chair in the hallway, letting my muscles pulse in aching waves. Sweat cools on my temple. My chest rises and falls in uneven breaths.

That is when I hear voices – faint, hushed, drifting from the other side of the hall.

Ai’s and Yukito’s voices make me freeze.

“The cops are getting impatient,” Yukito murmurs.

Ai scoffs under her breath. “I saw them too.”

The words are quiet, but deliberate. Heavy enough to make my ribs tighten.

What are they talking about? What police? Impatient about what?

I lean forward, ready to reveal myself, to sign that I am here- but Ai speaks again, and her words root me in place.

“I am just… worried about Naomi and Tadashi-sama.”

My breath catches.

Worried… about us?

Yukito exhales sharply. “She does not know the life of the Yakuza. Not truly. So-”

Yakuza… The word slices the air cleanly, landing directly in my chest.

I have always known, in a distant way, that Tadashi belonged to a powerful syndicate. But the reality of it… the danger… the bloodlines… the enemies…. I have never fully grasped it.

Ai’s reply is softer. “Tadashi will protect her. Do you not trust him?”

I almost dropped the water bottle in my hands.

Protect me?

Why would I need protection… unless-

“That is the problem,” Yukito murmurs, voice lower now. “He will protect her. He will sacrifice anything for her if he must.”

12:47 Mon, Jan 12

Chapter 41

I feel the world tilt. My vision trembles.

Sacrifice?

Ai inhales, long and slow. “You are worried Naomi will slow him down. That she will make him vulnerable.”

The hallway seems to shrink around me as my heart slams against my ribs like it is trying to escape.

Slow him down?

Me?

–

I stare at my hands- the same hands that trembled when I tried to feed myself after waking up. The hands that shook when Tadashi touched my wrist for the first time in the hospital. The hands that still cannot stop trembling now.

I am a burden… I have always been a burden.

My family threw me away because of it. My father let me go because I was inconvenient. Katrina destroyed my voice because I was a threat only when silent.

Why had I forgotten that?

Why had I allowed myself to believe that Tadashi – a man born from steel, discipline, and shadows – could carry someone as fragile as me without consequence?

Their footsteps move farther away down the hall, their conversation fading into distant murmurs.

But I cannot move.

I cannot breathe.

I remain seated on the bench beside the therapy door, hands curled into fists against my knees, staring at the empty corridor.

Am I right to be here?

Am I right to stay beside him?

Am I worthy of the man I love… or am I only another weight around his throat?

The silence around me becomes heavier, almost suffocating, and for the first time in a very long while, I feel genuinely afraid of the thoughts forming in my own mind.

“Miss Hunter?”

The voice startles me and almost makes me jump.

I turn my head slowly and see a man in a dark police coat standing a few steps away. His face softens when he notices my surprise, and he approaches with careful, practiced politeness.

He offers a gentle smile before lowering himself onto the chair beside me. “I am Detective Alridge from the Metropolitan Police. I am relieved to have found you here alone. May I speak with you for a moment?”

His presence feels both official and intrusive.

I know the police have been circling this hospital, asking questions about the incident. I know they have attempted to see me before. But Tadashi has always resolved everything, smoothing every diflicult corner, shielding me from every concern.

So why is this detective here now?

12:47 Mon, Jan 12

Chapter 41

Why approach me when I am alone and already drowning in my own thoughts?

ovo wher

I take my phone from my pocket, my fingers trembling only slightly, and type carefully. The device speaks for me in its soft artificial tone: “Yes. What may I help you with, Detective?”

For a brief second he looks startled by the electronic voice, but he quickly regains his composure and smiles again, this time with a touch of sympathy.

“How are you feeling? Are you recovering well?”

I nod politely. My expression remains gentle, the way I have learned to present myself in uncomfortable situations.

His next question, however, makes my posture stiffen.

“I want to know if you are truly safe.”

I blink at him, confused.

He hesitates, as though searching for the right phrasing, then continues quietly, “The individuals you are staying with… the Japanese men… they are connected to the Yakuza.”

The word strikes my chest like a heavy weight. Although I have known in theory what Tadashi’s world contains, hearing it spoken aloud by an outsider feels entirely different. It feels real. Sharp. Accusatory.

I rush to type my reply: “Why would you believe I am not safe?”

He leans closer, lowering his voice so only I can hear him.

His expression shifts into something sympathetic, something protective, something that suggests he already knows the answer he wants.

“Because,” he says quietly, “if you need help, I can remove you from them right now. I can take you somewhere safe. I can protect you.”

The hallway seems to tilt. My pulse thunders in my ears.

Is this what Yukito and Ai feared?

Is this why they whispered with such tension?

The police believe Tadashi is dangerous because of me.

They assume I am a victim he is holding.

They assume I need rescuing.

And if the police continue to insist on this narrative, then I truly will become a burden that drags Tadashi into danger he does not deserve.

My breath becomes unsteady as a realization slams into me.

People already think the worst of him. They judge him for the world he was born into and my presence only intensifies their suspicion.

Their whispered fears return to haunt me:

Naomi does not know the life of the Yakuza.

Tadashi will protect her, no matter the cost.

12:47 Mon, Jan 12 TG.

Chapter 41

She will slow him down.

She will make him vulnerable.

My hands grow cold.

–

62

#56 vouch

I have always been a burden to my family, to my father, to my sister who destroyed my voice, to anyone who ever tried to shelter me.

And now I might become a burden to the man I love more than anything. A hazard. A weakness. Something he must defend, even if it costs him everything.

I stare at Detective Alridge, unable to respond, unable to breathe evenly, unable to escape the truth forming inside my chest.

Perhaps I should never have stayed that I should never have let him come near me.

Perhaps… loving him is the most dangerous decision I could ever make for both of us.

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12:47 Mon, Jan 12 TOG