The Yakuza’s Mute Bride novel Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Inside the moving car, the world felt unreal – a strange, enclosed chamber where the smell of smoke clung to Tadashi’s coat, and the air trembled with leftover echoes from the explosion we had survived only moments ago.

The windows shimmered with reflections of passing streetlights, but none of the calm, familiar rhythmn of London soothed him; the city outside was only a blur, meaningless and distant, while the man beside me vibrated with a rage so potent it felt like the air itself tightened around him.

—

Tadashi sat rigidly in the seat, his grip on me unrelenting. His hand remained wrapped around my waist, fingers digging in just enough to remind himself that I was real, alive, and still breathing. Yet his other hand the one stained with blood not entirely belonging to him was curled into a fist so tight I feared his nails would pierce his palm. Every breath he took was sharp, shallow, and uneven, as though his lungs could not decide whether they needed air or vengeance more urgently.

—

He did not speak. He did not blink. He even did not loosen his grip.

The car sped down the dark streets, leaving behind the wreckage, the flames, the bodies, and the screams, but Tadashi carried the battlefield with him. Rage sat on his shoulders like a living creature, its weight dragging down even the strength of his spine. Fear, a quiet and devastating pulse beneath it, crept through his veins. I could feel it – in the tremor of his thumb against my skin, in the sharp rise and fall of his chest, in the way his gaze remained fixed on nothing as though replaying the attack again and again behind his eyes.

“Tadashi…” I said weakly, pushing me to speak in my broken artificial tone. “I am alive. Please calm your heart.”

–

He looked directly at me and the sight of his eyes made my breath catch. His pupils were wide, dark, and furious, but also filled with a grief so profound it did not seem possible to carry so much emotion in a single human expression.

“You were almost taken from me,” he whispered, his voice low, cracking at the edges like porcelain under strain. “Do you understand what that means? Do you understand what almost happened?”

His voice was not loud. It was not cold but far more terrifying than either.

I lifted my hand, shaking, and placed it on his jaw. His skin was hot, fevered from adrenaline and pain. My thumb brushed a smear of dirt on his cheek, and I signed slowly, deliberately, I whispered:’ I am still here. With you.”

His breathing hitched, his jaw tightening beneath my fingers. For a moment a fragile, flickering moment – his rage softened, not disappearing, but retreating enough that his eyes regained a hint of clarity.

He leaned forward, resting his forehead against mine. His breath ghosted across my lips, warm and uneven.

“I would have burned the entire world,” he said, voice barely a whisper, “if you died in my arms tonight.”

The car jolted over a bump, and pain shot through my leg so sharply I gasped, my fingers tightening against his coat. Tadashi’s gaze snapped downward, instantly alert.

“You are hurt,” he said, the trembling fury rising once more. “Too hurt. I should have seen it. I should have protected you better.”

No… No, he protected me with everything he had even his own body.

–

but it was the

I shook my head slowly, my thumb tracing circles against his wrist. The movement was small, clumsy, weak- only gesture I could offer to show him I was conscious, still aware, still clinging to him despite the agony blossoming through my leg, shoulder, and the throbbing warmth spreading across my temple.

Outside, the mansion gates opened with mechanical precision.

1

a place I had never been, but The car slowed, then swept into the driveway of one of Tadashi’s other London properties whose silhouette rose like a fortress carved from dark stone and unspoken secrets. Lights snapped on as the vehicle

MON

12

O

111

O

Г

12:49 Mon, Jan 12 TOG

Chapter 49

approached, revealing shadows of guards and men rushing forward.

Before I could fully register the movement, the doors were thrown open from both sides. A flood of warm, yellow light spilled into the car and with it, the faces of several Masayoshi members who had been waiting anxiously inside the estate.

–

They froze when they saw me.

Yuka, who had been waiting near the entrance with a small medical bag, dropped it instantly. Her eyes widened in horror. her hands flying to her mouth.

“Naomi-san-!!” she gasped, the words trembling as she rushed forward.

Behind her, two guards stepped closer, their faces draining of color at the sight of Tadashi carrying me in his arms, my skin smeared with blood, my head resting weakly against his chest.

“Tadashi-sama,” one of the men whispered in terror, “She’s-?”

But the words died on his tongue.

Because the sight of Tadashi’s expression – sharp as shattered glass, drenched in fury, grief, and the cold promise of death – stole whatever courage remained in the men around him.

They stepped back automatically, as if instinct warned them that even approaching him too quickly would be dangerous.

The panic in the foyer rose like a tide.

“She is bleeding-get towels!”

“Call the doctor!”

“Prepare the emergency room-now!”

“Hurry, she is losing too much blood-move!”

Multiple voices shouted over one another as the mansion erupted into urgent motion. Feet pounded across the polished floor. Doors slammed. Medical supplies clattered against metal trays.

But Tadashi did not release me.

–

He held me tighter, pulling me closer as if the chaos around us did not matter- as if his arms alone could keep me alive.

“Tadashi…” I whispered, though my voice was barely a sound at all.

My vision blurred. My head throbbed. The pain in my leg pulsed with each beat of my weakening heart.

“Tadashi-sama, please,” Yuka begged as she reached us, carefully placing her hands on my shoulders. “Let me take her. She needs immediate treatment.”

He hesitated… For the first time since the attack, he actually hesitated.

His jaw clenched. His eyes closed tightly, as if wrestling with the horror of letting me leave his arms.

Finally, with unbearable reluctance, he allowed Yuka to guide him toward the prepared medical bed. Only after she assured him my life was not in immediate danger did he lower me onto the sheets – though he still kept one hand gripping mine.

His thumb trembled against my skin.

“Tadashi-sama,” Yuka said softly, “she is safe here. I promise.”

Chapter 49

Safe… The word fell distant.

The room tilted. My pulse fluttered. A coldness seeped into my fingertips.

“Tadashi…” I whispered, though the sound barely left my lips.

He leaned down instantly, brushing my hair aside with trembling fingers.

“What is it, love?” he asked desperately. “What do you need? What can I do?”

“I… am… okay,” I mouthed.

I know it’s a lie… But one he needed.

His hand cupped my cheek, warm and trembling.

“You are not okay,” he rasped. “You are bleeding in too many places. Your voice is gone. You screamed for me even when it hurt you. You-”

His breath broke.

“You terrified me, Naomi.”

I wanted to touch his face again, reassure him, but my hand felt impossibly heavy. My chest tightened, my vision blurred. and a soft buzzing filled my ears. The pain in my leg pulsed in time with my heartbeat each throb slower, weaker.

“Tadashi-sama,” Yuka said urgently, “she is fainting from blood loss.”

Seems like my body could not hold on any longer.

—

The voices around me grew muffled. The lights blurred into soft halos. Tadashi’s face wavered like a reflection on disturbed

water.

“Naomi-!” his voice broke as my eyelids closed against my will.

His grip tightened.

But darkness swallowed me.

“Tadashi-sama-she is fainting from blood loss!” Yuka called urgently.

The medical team rushed around me. Tools snapped open. Gauze was pressed to my wounds. Needles glinted under the lights.

But Tadashi did not look at them. He looked only at me.

He leaned over me, his breath trembling, his voice breaking open in a way I had never heard. “Naomi-open your eyes. Naomi, please… Please look at me. Naomi-!”

Yuka gently pushed him back. “Tadashi-sama, you must give us space to treat her.”

He did not move.

Not until Yuka looked directly into his eyes and said, very calmly, “She will live. But only if you let them do their work.”

Something inside him cracked – silently, invisibly – but deeply enough that even the guards flinched.

Chapter 49

He stepped back… Barely.

Then his expression changed.

The grief in his eyes froze. Hardened. Sharpened.

He straightened slowly, each movement controlled, deliberate – like a blade sliding back into its sheath.

“Tadashi-sama,” one of the guards whispered, “what are your orders?”

Tadashi did not look away from my unconscious form.

His voice, when it came, was terrifying in its coldness. “Bring the cars.”

Yuka startled. “Tadashi-sama-your wounds-”

“They mean nothing.”

“But-”

He cut her off with a single glare, then turned toward the nearest guard.

“Yukito and Ota are still at the scene,” he said. “I will meet them.”

The guard hesitated. “What shall we tell them?”

Tadashi paused.

And then-

“Tell them,” he said, slow and venomous, “that we hunt tonight.”

His hand brushed my hair one last time, fingers trembling, then curled into a fist.

Under his breath

–

too soft for anyone but the room to hear

–

he added: “They touched what is mine.”

In that moment, something dangerous and ancient woke behind his eyes.

He did not limp. He did not falter. He did not look back.

He walked out of the room with the certainty of a man who had only one purpose left in his bones: to find who dared to

and burn their world to ash.

harm me

–

田

AD

Comment

Send gift

No Ads

61

12:49 Mon, Jan 12