The Yakuza’s Mute Bride novel Chapter 68

Chapter 68

Chapter 68

Morning arrived without ceremony.

61

There was no thunder, no omen written into the pale sky above London, no warning carried by the quiet light that slipped through the curtains. The world continued in its ordinary rhythm, indifferent to the weight pressing against my chest as though something vital were being slowly drawn away.

Tadashi stood near the window, already dressed.

The black coat fit him perfectly, tailored with precision, severe in its elegance. It was the uniform of a man returning to duty, a shield worn not for protection but for inevitability.

I sat on the edge of the bed, wrapped in his coat, the fabric still warm and scented faintly with him. My throat felt tight. though not from pain this time, but from the sheer volume of words trapped behind silence.

He turned when he sensed my gaze.

For a long moment, he did not move. He simply looked at me, as if imprinting my presence into his memory with the urgency of someone who feared memory might be all that remained.

“You should stay here,” he said quietly, though there was no command in his voice. “Your body needs rest.”

I shook my head slowly and reached for the phone.

‘I want to go with you.’

His jaw tightened as he crouched in front of me, taking my hands in his.

“Okay, but you cannot leave the car,” he said carefully. “You cannot strain yourself. You cannot-”

I met his gaze, steady and unyielding.

‘I will stay inside the car,’ I wrote. ‘But I will not stay behind.

Something shifted in his expression, subtle yet unmistakable. He exhaled, long and controlled, as if surrendering to a truth he already knew.

“Very well,” he said finally. “But you will listen to every instruction I give you,

I nodded.

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to my forehead, lingering as though memorizing the sensation.

“I need to know you watched me leave,” he murmured.

The drive to the Airport, the convoy moved in disciplined silence.

Two vehicles led the way, two followed behind, and the city passed beyond the tinted windows like a distant film reel. Inside the car, time felt suspended, thick and heavy, as though the space between breaths had lengthened.

Tadashi sat beside me, his hand resting firmly on my knee. His phone vibrated more than once, but he did not glance at it.

I leaned my head lightly against his shoulder, absorbing the steady rhythm of his breathing.

For those moments, neither of us pretended this was anything other than farewell.

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Chapter 68

The airport appeared sooner than I wished.

Security was already in place, personnel moving with rehearsed precision, their efficiency unable to conceal the tension beneath it.

The car came to a stop.

Tadashi turned toward me.

“You stay inside,” he said softly. “The doors remain locked.”

I nodded.

He cupped my face with careful hands, as though even touch required restraint.

“I will return, Naomi.” he whispered. “Wait for me, yeah?”

I could not answer.

Instead, I pressed my forehead against his, closed my eyes, and let the promise settle into me like an anchor.

He kissed me slowly, deliberately, and then he stepped away.

Through the glass, I watched him walk toward the aircraft, his posture unwavering, his steps measured and certain.

He did not look back.

Not because he lacked the desire, but because leaders never do.

The engines roared.

The aircraft lifted into the sky.

And he was gone.

The return drive felt longer, heavier.

Ai sat beside me with her hands folded tightly in her lap. Yuka stared out the window, expression unreadable. Yukito spoke quietly into his phone, his voice low and controlled.

No one spoke Tadashi’s name.

As if saying it aloud might fracture something already fragile.

By the time we reached the mansion, calm had settled over me, thin but resolute.

He had left.

And he would come back.

That certainty was enough.

1

IN JAPAN (FROM THIRD PERSON POV)**

The plane descended beneath a sky heavy with gray clouds

12:55 Mon, Jan 12

Chapter 68

Kyoto waited below, ancient and unforgiving, its beauty steeped in tradition and blood.

The landing was smooth.

The cabin lights flickered briefly.

Tadashi stood as soon as the signal allowed, his presence commanding attention without effort. Ota followed closely behind, alert and scanning every angle with instinct honed by years of survival.

The aircraft door opened. “Let’t go, Ota”

The stairs lowered.

Tadashi Masayoshi stepped onto Japanese soil.

The sound of the rifle cracked through the air.

BANG!!!!

The first bullet struck his side. What….

He did not cry out.

BANG..!!!!!

The second shot hit his shoulder, forcing his body to twist violently.

“TADASHI-SAMA.!!!!” Ota shouted.

Guards reacted too late.

BANG!!!!!

The third shot followed immediately, aimed higher, precisely and fatally.

Ota moved without hesitation.

The bullet grazed through his forehead instead.

Blood stained the stairs.

Chaos erupted as gunfire answered from below, men shouting, bodies falling.

Tadashi collapsed to one knee, his hand pressed tightly against his side as dark red soaked into the black fabric of his coat.

Ota fell beside him and they fell down on the ground, bleeding hard.

Sirens pierced the air.

Hands dragged Tadashi backward, away from the open sky, away from the blood pooling beneath him.

As darkness closed in, his final thought was not of pain, nor of anger.

It was his Naomi.

Naomi who sat by the window when traffic moved steadily below.

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Chapter 68

Life continued….

She pressed her palm gently against her throat, feeling the slow, steady rhythm of the pulse thinking about his man, Tadashi who had landed by now.

A faint smile touched her lips.

‘Be safe,’ she thought.

She did not know that blood was staining concrete on the other side of the world.

She did not know that a promise had been tested by gunfire.

And no one in London knew.

No one know about the blood of Tadashi spread in the Airport of the other side of the world, not Ai, not Yuka, not Yukito.

And not even her.

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12:55 Mon, Jan 12 TG.