Emperor of Havoc: Chapter 15

The sunlight streaming through the window is too bright and clean for how filthy I feel.

I stand under the pounding spray of the shower, letting the scalding water wash away everything—the venom, the tension, the memory of his hands on my skin and his voice in my ear.

The water is far too hot, but I don’t turn it down. The burn keeps me grounded, focused. Steam fills the room, wrapping me in a haze that does nothing to clear the whirling thoughts in my head.

Last night was…a mess. But it’s one I can’t stop replaying.

As soon as the venom wore off and I could move again, around two in the morning, I hobbled to the bathroom, to this very shower. I scrubbed my skin until it was raw, trying to wash away the unwelcome heat that Takeshi left in his wake.

Until my body betrayed me, that is, and instead of rubbing myself clean of him, I rubbed my clit raw, shame flooding every movement, even though the need was unbearable.

Now, in the harsh light of day, I’m back in the shower, scrubbing again, as if I can undo what happened and the way I responded to him.

When the water finally turns cold I step out, wrapping a towel around my body. My reflection in the mirror is blurred by steam, but there’s no hiding the faint flush in my cheeks or the shadows under my eyes.

My gaze drifts lower, to the scar across my abdomen. The pale, jagged line has faded with time, but it’ll never completely go away. My fingers brush over it lightly, the memory slicing into me with surgical precision.

Their family name was Chibari, and they were a powerful Yakuza clan that once rivaled my family for power and in influence.

Today, you won’t find a single mention of their name or a shred of proof of their once far-reaching power. It’s like they’ve been erased from existence.

Because they have been.

That would be my father’s doing.

I was nine when Nakamoto Chibari sent his men to kidnap me from the park where I was playing. They slaughtered my nanny and guards, took me hostage, and kept me in a completely dark, cold, wet basement for almost a week, trying to destroy my father.

The dark was suffocating, an endless void that swallowed my screams and left me a shattered wreck. Then came the day I thought they’d found me, when I heard the commotion upstairs and Ryu’s voice shouting.

My father and his men were here to rescue me!

That’s when Nakamoto’s men panicked. They grabbed me, shoved me into the back of a car, and tried to flee.

They didn’t get far.

In the attempted escape from the Ishida-kai men, my kidnappers’ car smashed through a guardrail and off a cliff. All I remember is the deafening cacophony of metal and screams, and then the silence.

When I woke up, I was broken, both physically and emotionally. Metal shrapnel had torn through me, destroying one ovary and leaving the other severely damaged.

The doctors said I’d never have children. At nine, I didn’t fully grasp what that meant.

I’ve heard the saying “what does not kill you makes you stronger” about a million times since then. No. What doesn’t kill you doesn’t make you stronger. It makes you harder. More Scarred and walled off.

Different than you were before.

Okay, maybe that’s a kind of strength, but… It’s a lonely one.

I shake off the memory, wrapping the towel tighter around myself. I reach for the small pill case on the counter, popping a single birth control pill onto my palm and swallowing it dry.

Obviously, I don’t take these to not get pregnant. Even if I physically could, unless my name has changed to Mary and I’m suddenly in a manger in Bethlehem, I’m pretty sure getting pregnant without ever having had sex is an impossibility.

But they do help with regulating my cycle. So I take them.

The pill’s bitter aftertaste lingers on my tongue as I turn away from the mirror resolutely. Dwelling on the past won’t change anything. Right now, I need to focus on the present.

This marriage to Takeshi was supposed to end the feud between the Ishida-kai and the Mori-kai and give me the leverage I need to lead as a woman in a patriarchal world.

But… What the fuck is in it for Takeshi?

That’s the part I still don’t get. What does he himself gain? Peace is beneficial to both families, of course. But Takeshi doesn’t strike me as the type to value peace for peace’s own sake. There’s something else driving him that I can’t see yet.

And until I figure out what it is, I can’t trust him.

Later, I’m sitting across from Ryu in one of the smaller conference rooms, the door closed to ensure privacy. His expression is grim as ever, but there’s a flicker of curiosity in his eyes as he looks at me.

“You have reason to distrust him,” he observes bluntly.

I don’t respond immediately, fingers drumming on the table. Ryu’s right, of course. I don’t trust Takeshi. But voicing that feels like admitting defeat and giving him an edge he doesn’t need.

Ryu smiles grimly. “Good. Neither do I.” His brow furrows. “Do you think he was behind the poisoning at the wedding?” he asks after a moment.

Guilt twists in my stomach.

“I don’t know,” I sign. “Although he’s certainly capable of something like that.”

It’s the least shitty answer. It sort of shifts blame away from the Vorobev Bratva. I’m also not explicitly pointing fingers at Takeshi.

All because I’m an asshole and a coward and can’t bring myself to admit to Papa or Ryu that I’m the one who poisoned a cup of sake at my own fucking wedding ceremony to…what…play a prank on the groom?

Yeah, sure. Just hand me the keys to the kingdom with zero concerns, father.

“But he did drink it, too,” I add.

Ryu nods quietly, thinking.

“Keep your eyes and ears open, Ryu. If you see or hear anything that points to him…”

He smiles grimly, drawing a line across his neck with his finger.

“I’ll happily address the problem,” he says bluntly.

I smile weakly at him. “Thank you,” I sign.

We exchange a few more words about logistics and security, but my mind is elsewhere, turning over the question: what does Takeshi get out of this?

That’s where the mystery is, and where my distrust lies. No way he agreed to this union out of the goodness of his heart.

After Ryu and I part company, I find Nina in the kitchen, picking at a plate of fruit while idly scrolling her phone, Furrcules pawing at a tennis ball at her feet. She looks up as I enter, her expression brightening.

“Hey!” she beams. “Looks like you’re back on your feet just fine.”

I grab a cup of coffee and slide into a chair across from her. I grin when Furrcules shoves his fuzzy face against my knees, nuzzling me and purring loudly as I reach down to scratch under his chin.

“Pretty much,” I sign. “Still a little unsteady, but I’ll get there.”

“Well, you’ve achieved every girl’s dream of a wedding nobody will ever forget. So there’s that?”

I roll my eyes.

We sit together, sipping our coffees for another minute before the weight of it all finally comes crushing down on me.

Goddammit.

“I…have to tell you something,” I gesture glumly.

Nina smirks. “Is this the part where you admit to poisoning the sake yourself?”

My eyes widen and my mouth falls open.

“You knew?!” I sign animatedly.

She giggles. “Kat, this might come as a shock, but after eleven years, I kinda know you better than you know yourself—or close to it.”

I bury my face in my hands.

Nina snickers. “Plus, I was right there. I heard Takeshi say ‘I hope you know your doses’, which confused the hell out of me until everything that happened next.” She arches a brow at me. “Pufferfish venom, hmm? Did someone discover a poetic streak?”

“What the fuck am I going to do?” I sign at her, exhaling. “Papa’s going to start a war with Sergey over this if he thinks it’s him.”

“Radical idea, but maybe tell the truth?”

I shoot her a look. “Would you tell Kolya Ishida that you’d sown chaos and disorder at your own wedding when now is the worst time for either of those things?”

“Fair,” Nina says with a grimace. She sighs. “Look, I’ll try to lean on your dad. Maybe make some…subtle suggestions.”

“Could you?”

Nina’s been sort of acting like a personal assistant to Papa for the last few months, which puts her in a unique position to get in his ear about something like this in a way I’m, ironically, too close to him for.

“I’ll try,” she shrugs. “For what it’s worth I talked with him this morning, and he’s already doubting it was Sergey. Not his style, I guess.”

Thank God.

My phone buzzes in the pocket of my white linen pants. I pull it out and instantly feel my face flush when I read the text.

I will the heat away from my cheeks as I angrily hammer out a reply.

Traitorous heat pools between my thighs as I shift in my seat.

Why the fuck does him talking to me like this turn me on? I mean, seriously self, get help.

Across from me, Nina stands up, glancing at her phone. “The boss calls,” she says dryly. “Meaning your dad, if that wasn’t clear.”

“Good luck,” I sign back, grinning, as she slips from the kitchen. Then I glance back at my phone, scowling at Takeshi’s messages.

A shiver runs down my spine, part nerves, part anticipation. I remember my talk with Ryu this morning, establishing more…precautions when it comes to Takeshi and Ishida-kai inner circle business.

As in, he doesn’t get to be privy to things just because we’re married now.

I type back quickly, fingers steady despite the flutter in my chest.

His reply is almost instant.

The next message takes longer to come through, but when it does, it sends my heartrate skyrocketing.

I stare at the screen. The room feels smaller, the air heavier, as though his presence has seeped through the phone itself.

Before I can respond, Nina barges into the kitchen, her face pale.

“Kat!” she screams. I drop my phone to the table and spring to my feet in a panic. “It’s your dad.”