The Yakuza’s Mute Bride novel Chapter 79

Chapter 79

Chapter 79

His hand caught my arm again before I could take more than two steps.

The sudden force made me stumble, a sharp sound tearing from my throat before I could stop it as my body was yanked backward and I collided against his chest.

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The impact knocked the air from my lungs, and for a split second all I could feel was the solid heat of him, the unmistakable familiarity of his body that my heart still recognized even if his mind did not.

“Are those money not enough for you?” he asked coldly.

The words sliced through me.

I tried to push him away, panic and humiliation flooding my veins at once, but his grip tightened instead, fingers digging into my arms with a strength that reminded me exactly who he was.

Before I could speak, before I could lift my phone, before I could gather even a fraction of my dignity-His mouth crashed down onto mine.

Rough.

Demanding.

Nothing like the kisses I remembered.

Nothing like the tenderness he once offered me with reverence and restraint, as though my lips were something precious. This kiss was possession without permission, hunger without care, heat stripped of intimacy.

I froze for half a heartbeat.

Then something traitorous inside me broke.

Because I missed him.

Because my body remembered what my heart had lost.

Because for just a moment, I wanted to believe that this meant he remembered something, anything, even if he could not

name it.

My hands rose instinctively, fingers clutching his coat as I returned the kiss, breath shaking, heart pounding violently against my ribs. The taste of him flooded my senses, familiar and devastating, and my knees nearly buckled under the weight of longing I had tried so hard to bury.

For one fragile second, I let it happen.

Then reality struck.

This was not love.

This was not him.

This was a man wearing Tadashi Masayoshi’s face but none of his soul.

I pulled my head back sharply, breaking the contact as my breath came in ragged gasps. My lips burned, swollen and tingling, and I raised trembling fingers to touch them in disbelief.

The way he had kissed me was wrong.

12:59 Mon, Jan 12

Chapter 79

Hungry without affection.

Possessive without care.

He watched me closely, eyes dark and calculating, and then a smirk curved his mouth.

“Well,” he said mockingly, “I never thought you would be such a good kisser.”

My stomach twisted.

“I suppose that was why the old me fell for it,” he continued, his tone lazy and cruel, eyes dragging over me in a way that made my skin crawl. “I wonder…”

He leaned closer.

“What does it feel like to have sex with you?”

The words struck like a slap.

No.

Worse than a slap.

He said it like I was an object.

Like a service.

Like something disposable.

Before I could think, before fear could stop me, before my body could betray me again-

My hand moved.

The sound echoed sharply through the cold air.

SLAP.

Gasps erupted from behind him.

I felt the sting radiate through my palm, my fingers trembling as they lowered slowly back to my side. His head had turned slightly from the impact, but he did not move otherwise.

He just stared at me.

Shock flickered across his face for the briefest second, as though the idea that I would ever raise my hand against him had never once crossed his mind.

Neither had I.

But I would not let him reduce me to this.

I pulled my phone from my pocket with shaking hands and typed furiously, my vision blurring with unshed tears.

“I will leave,” the phone spoke clearly. “Just like you want. So do not stop me.”

For a moment, he did not react.

Then his grip loosened.

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Chapter 79

That was all I needed.

I turned and ran.

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I did not care where my feet took me as long as it was away from him, away from the humiliation, away from the man who could forget loving me and still dare to hurt me with my own memories.

My chest burned as I ran, breath tearing from my throat in broken gasps.

Then-A car screeched to a stop in front of me.

The door flew

“Naomi!”

Yukito…

open.

He was out of the car in an instant, crossing the distance with long strides, his face pale with concern as he reached for me.

“Are you okay?” he asked urgently, his hands hovering, unsure where he was allowed to touch.

Before I could answer-A voice cut through the air like a blade.

“So,” Tadashi said coolly, stepping closer, his eyes fixed on Yukito, “from me to Yukito now?”

My blood turned to ice.

What?

Tadashi’s lips curved into something dark, something taunting, his gaze flicking briefly to me as though daring me to deny it.

Yukito straightened immediately, his expression hardening as he looked up at Tadashi.

“Are you insane, Tadashi-sama?” he snapped. “I would never dare to-”

“Yet here you are,” Tadashi interrupted sharply, eyes narrowing. “Holding her

Why was he doing this?

Why was he acting like this?

Was it not enough that he humiliated me?

Rejected me?

Reduced me to something purchasable?

Yukito let out a sharp, humorless scoff. “You are acting like you are jealous,” he said flatly.

My head snapped toward Yukito in shock.

Had he lost his mind?

Tadashi took a step forward, anger flashing across his face as he grabbed my elbow again, pulling me slightly toward him.

“You are challenging me, Yukito?” he hissed.

Everything was happening too fast.

12:59 Mon, Jan

Chapter 79

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I was trapped between two men I cared about, one who no longer knew how to love me and one who was daring to stand against his leader for my sake.

Yukito shook his head slowly, his gaze steady.

“I am protecting an amazing woman you discarded foolishly,” he replied calmly. “Now tell me-if you do not want her, why

act like you do?”

do

you

Silence fell heavy and suffocating.

I stood between them, heart pounding, hands clenched at my sides, not knowing whether to scream, cry, or run again.

Why was Tadashi doing this?

Why did it hurt so much more now than when he told me to leave?

And worst of all-Why did his eyes still burn when he looked at me, as though something deep inside him refused to let me go, even if his memory had already erased me?

I did not have the answer.

But I knew one thing with painful clarity.

This was far from over.

田

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