Page 28 of Emperor of Havoc

Kolya. Fucking. Ishida.

My…fascinationwith Katarina is no accident. She’s his blood, his pride, his perfect little heir. I want to see how badly she’ll break before he does too. How far I’ll have to push before Kolya Ishida falls to his knees and begs.

Kenzo sighs heavily. “How…set in stone is this?”

“When you barge into a guy's dinner party, insult his guests, drop a beer cooler full of his dismembered enemy on the table, and ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage, and he saysyes?” I spread my arms. “I don’t know, Kenzo. How likely is a do-over in that scenario?”

He shakes his head, shoving his fingers through his hair. “You made this bed?—”

“Which I fully intend to sleep in. Will you chill out?”

“Fine,” he mutters. “Marry the daughter of the man we’re in a Cold War with. Just don’t come crying to me when she guts you in your sleep.”

The thought of Katarina holding a knife to my throat sparks something wicked in my chest. “I’d like to see her try,” I grin.

Kenzo mutters something in Japanese, but I can’t really hear him. I lean back in my chair as the rest of them start talking tensely about “what I’ve done”.

Me, I let my thoughts drift. To earlier today. To a few nights before.

To Katarina, and the hunger for her throbbing inside me.

My future wife…

Soon, I’ll know the truth about what happened to Akira. When I do, I’ll rub Kolya’s fucking face in it.

…AfterI decapitate him, that is.

One step at a time. One move closer to victory.

The engine’s already running. There’s no stopping it now.

8

KATARINA

Hospitals are too quiet.It makes every sound sharper, every breath heavier.

I sit in the hard plastic chair in the waiting room, my foot tapping nervously on the white tile floor as the fluorescent lights buzz overhead. Nina sits beside me, pretending to scroll on her phone, though I know she’s as on edge as I am.

Ryu stands near the wall, hands behind his back, his expression as stoic as ever, though the tension in his jaw gives him away.

Two hours ago, Papa collapsed in the kitchen, writhing in what looked like immeasurable pain, which is obviously when we rushed him to the hospital. He’s sedated now: they say it was most likely the tumor on his spine pinching an especially sensitive nerve or putting pressure on the spinal cord.

I hate seeing my father like this: mortal, fallible,human. Kolya Ishida should not be lying in a hospital bed, pumped full of painkillers because of a tumor eating away at his spine. He’s supposed to be an indestructible force of nature that no man would dare challenge.

But… Here we are.

“The doctors said he's stabilized, Kat,” Nina murmurs, as if reading my thoughts. Her voice is soft, but I can hear the thread of reassurance in it, trying to calm me down. I don’t respond. I can’t. My mind is too jumbled, filled with what-ifs and maybes. I just stare at the clock on the wall, watching the seconds tick by like drops of water dripping from a leaky faucet.

Ryu clears his throat, breaking the silence. “Kolya-sama is in good hands here, Katarina,” he says, his deep voice steady and deliberate.

I nod numbly, staring at a spot on the pristine white floor.

Ryu coughs delicately. “You still have the engagement party to attend tonight,” he says.

The words land like a punch to the gut and I whip my head up to glare at him. As if my father’s life dangling by a thread isn’t enough, this evening I have to pretend to celebrate my impending marriage to a man who…who…

I don’t even know how to finish that thought, and it seems to be an ongoing issue. Takeshi Mori is a psychopath. The enemy. He’s also the man who chased me, pinned me down and whispered things that ignited a darkness inside me I can’t explain.

---