Page 124 of Emperor of Havoc

What.

The.

Actual.

FUCK.

Everything twists inside me. The world around me shimmers and bends, like it’s not real.

Itcan’tbe real.

“Marianna…” my uncle says quietly, his face lined, older than I remember, twisting in anguish as he looks at me.

All the air leaves my lungs.

Jin Ishida locked himself away from the world over a decade ago. He doesn’t leave his apartment.

Doesn’t kidnap people.

Doesn’t think hisown nieceis his dead sister-in-law. “We’re in my grandfather’s house,” he murmurs, gesturing around the room. “Kolya hated this house, just like he hated Grandpa. But I didn’t. I always liked it here.” His voice drops. “We’ll live here now, Marianna. Together. They’ll never find us.”

My mind races as he speaks, his words devolving into delusional ramblings. I need to escape, but brute force won’t work. He’s taller, stronger, and clearly deranged.

“You’ve been gone so long,” he says suddenly, his voice filled with sadness. “But you’re here now. That’s all that matters.”

He steps closer. Every instinct screams at me to bolt, but I stay where I am, steeling myself.

If he thinks I’m my mother, he doesn’t think I could pose a threat.

That’smy advantage.

His gloved hand lifts, brushing a stray strand of hair from my face. I flinch, and his head tips.

“Everything will be perfect now, you'll see.”

He reaches for my hand.

And that’s when I make my move.

My years of martial arts training kick in as I lunge forward, grab his arm, push past him, and then use the momentum of my body dropping to the ground to fling him over my shoulder.

He crashes to the ground with a guttural roar. My bare feet are already pounding on the floor as I bolt for the door.

He calls after me but I ignore him, adrenaline pushing me forward. I wrench the door open and sprint into the hallway, my heart pounding like a war drum.

“Marianna!” Behind me, his footsteps thunder after me, heavy and relentless.

I run blindly through the old house, my lungs burning with the effort. I spot a flight of stairs and take them down two at a time. I ignore the cold wood biting into my feet. My only thoughts are of escape.

Escape, or die. Or—something worse.

I bolt across a marble foyer, then burst through a creaky set of double doors into the yard. The air is cold and sharp, night cloaking everything in shadow with a nearly full moon wrapping everything in a ghostly white shroud.

Ahead of me is the overgrown garden, and past that the towering hedge wall, which now that I'm closer I see has a single “doorway” in the middle of it.

That’s my escape.

I sprint toward it, desperation urging me forward. The hedge swallows me up as I enter, the branches clawing at my skin. It’s not until I’ve gone a few steps and am faced with a t-junction that I realize just how wrong I was.

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