Page 20

RAVEN

I brushed the water off my hair and looked around the café. It was fairly empty, having opened recently. I walked to the front and ordered a matcha and a crepe. Then I took a seat in a corner by the windows, watching the rain fall down as I took out my phone.

I needed to get in touch with Sydney, and then I needed to have my driver pick me up here and take me back to Kaito’s.

I dialed my sister’s number. It only rang once before she answered.

“Oh my God, what happened last night?” Sydney’s voice was full of concern. “Touma came back late last night from the hospital. What happened to his match?”

“One thing at a time, Sydney. Is Touma all right?” I asked.

Guilt filled me. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about Touma. I should’ve reached out to him last night.

“His knee is fractured. He can’t fight for a while,” she said.

Dammit. I had been afraid it was pretty bad. But he would recover, so that was the important thing.

“I can’t believe he’s hurt. It was Kaito. He’d paid another man to have his fighter to injure him before the match. But don’t worry; I found a Hero to save the day,” I said as I thought about AJ last night and how sexy he had been, fighting in the ring and toying with Kaito’s fighter.

“And?” Sydney asked, impatient, as usual.

“And he won,” I said, but before I could get the rest out, Sydney’s scream of triumph made me jerk my phone away from my ear. “Calm down, sister. I have to tell you something else.”

I waited for her to collect herself and thanked the server for my drink and food.

“Kaito did not follow through on the agreement. He decided since the fight wasn’t with my original fighter that was agreed on, the match was void.

He wouldn’t give me the deed for our home.

The agreement has gone back to the original terms. I will give you the deed once I am married to him.

” I took a sip of my tea, hoping it would settle my stomach at the very thought of being with Kaito forever.

Sydney said nothing for a minute. I pulled the phone away to make sure we hadn’t disconnected.

“Sister, we should leave this place. All three of us. I hate the thought of you being with him.”

I paused. I’d thought about it so many times, simply taking my sisters and running away from it all. But there was no escape. Kaito would hunt us down and most likely kill my sisters in front of me for my actions. It was a risk I couldn’t take.

“It’s not an option. Besides, it’s my job as the oldest sister to take care of things. You focus on the dojo and making sure Regan is fine and happy. I’ll keep Kaito at bay. I need to let you go, but I’ll check in soon. I love you,” I said as I paid for my bill.

“Love you too, sis. Goodbye.”

With that, we ended the call, and I sent a short message to my driver with my location to pick me up. I knew I couldn’t show back up in the same clothes I had worn last night, so I quickly went across the street to a boutique and bought a new top, changing into it at the store.

I stood outside under the awning as my driver approached. I flagged him down and got inside the back seat of the car. It was the driver Kaito had given me, so there was no point in telling him where to go. He already knew I was expected back.

The rain only got harder the closer we got to the estate, mirroring my mood, which got gloomier as the morning went on.

I wasn’t surprised when we didn’t go to my home on his property and instead drove straight up to the main house. The car came to a stop and my driver exited the vehicle, walking over to my door and opening it for me.

“Mr. Yamazaki is expecting you, Miss Kobayashi,” he said as he gestured to the house’s front doors.

No doubt he wanted to berate me for the fight last night.

I nodded and exited the car, walking up the steps to the guards standing outside the home.

Guards escorted me through the home to his office. And once I was inside, Kaito spoke without even looking over at me.

“You may leave us.” He waved at the guards and they left. “Raven, come here.”

His tone was weirdly normal, as if he were unbothered by the events that had happened last night.

I carefully walked over to the front of his desk.

“Enjoy your tea this morning, darling ?” Kaito asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

I stilled at the edge of his desk, my eyes snapping to his, fear creeping in. How did he know I had been at the teahouse instead of my family estate? There was no way, unless …

Realization set in as he finally turned his attention away from his computer monitor and looked in my direction.

“I’m only going to ask you this once. How long have you been fucking your new fighter behind my back?”

He knew.

The look in his eyes. The way he’d sent everyone away. His fury was overflowing. There could be only one reason. He’d found out about AJ and me and that we were more than just business partners in the fight circuit.

“Sit down. We are going to have a conversation, Raven,” Kaito said as he narrowed his eyes and gestured to the chair right across from his desk.

I took a seat on the stiff leather. There was nothing comfortable about this chair, like it had been built to keep your body from relaxing.

“There is no point in trying to deny it. After the match last night, where you looked like more than simple acquaintances with the man who fought in Touma’s place, I had you followed.

You can understand my wanting to make sure my bride made it home safe and sound.

But much to my surprise, I was told not only did you not get picked up by your driver, instead getting into some strange car, but you also allowed him to drive you down to some crappy warehouse in the shipping docks. ”

My heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vise grip. I kept my eyes locked on Kaito’s. His face twisted into a menacing smile as he kept talking.

“As if that wasn’t enough, you went inside with him. You would be surprised at how easy it is for my men to break into a building without security, undetected.”

He reached into his pocket and slid a phone across the desk.

“Watch it,” he demanded.

I slowly reached over and grabbed it, seeing a video waiting to be played.

It was a dark screen, but as soon as I pressed the button, I instantly felt sick to my stomach.

With the volume fully up, I could hear my and AJ’s moans as we made love.

I watched in horror as the phone lowered to the floor, where there was just a big enough gap for the camera to see inside the room.

Our heads were out of frame, but there was no mistaking my back tattoo as I rode him, facing away from the camera.

“At first, I didn’t want to believe that you—the meek woman that you are—would be brazen enough to do something like this. But the back tattoo leaves no doubts. So, tell me, is his cum still dripping out of you, whore?” he sneered.

I dropped the phone back onto the desk. The video had stopped not long after my body was shown. But I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of answering that question. I sat there in total silence, looking straight at him. Not allowing my gaze to waver.

“Not that I needed any more confirmation after they secured that video, but they still stuck around until the morning. Where they saw you two against the car he drove and you basically climbing down his throat as the two of you made out in broad daylight.” He grabbed the phone and placed it back inside his pocket.

His smirk grew, flashing his teeth at me.

“Raven, do you want to know something fascinating about your name?”

Kaito’s voice was so calm and level; it was unsettling every fiber of my being as I sat in the chair across from him.

Suddenly, his large desk felt so small, like the space was closing in on us, forcing me to be closer to him as I swallowed.

“What about my name?” I asked, my heart pounding as every muscle in my body bunched tightly inside me.

“A group of ravens is called the most peculiar thing. An unkindness . Much like what your betrayal is to me. You sit in my home, as my fiancée, my soon-to-be wife. And yet, I find out that you have been sleeping around like a whore one could buy for the night. Do you know what people would say if they found out about this? They would call me a fool. Do you think I am a fool, Raven?” He stood up, placing his hands on his desk and looking down at them.

“Depends,” I whispered to myself.

“What was that?” His voice was deeper, dangerous-sounding.

“No, Kaito,” I said loudly.

He laughed, and I clenched my hands together to keep from digging my nails into the chair’s armrest.

He walked around his desk and came to a stop in front of me. I kept my eyes straight ahead, refusing to meet his gaze. Of course, that didn’t work for him. He grabbed the chair on either side of me and leaned down, his mouth by my ear.

“You aren’t a real raven. You are as timid and small as a crow. And you are soon going to share something else in common with them. Do you want to know what a group of crows is called, my stupid whore of a fiancée?” he said at a rapid pace next to me.

I didn’t reply, knowing he would simply tell me what he wanted to say anyway.

“A murder .”

I reacted instantly. This wasn’t just a reprimand this time. No, he didn’t plan on letting me leave this room alive.

I shoved against him, but his grip was strong, and the struggle tipped the chair. He let me fall sideways, and I rolled away from the chair onto my stomach, panic filling my mind as I desperately tried to get up.

His laughter filled the room as I felt his hands wrap around one of my legs and yank backward. I twisted onto my back and watched as he dragged me to the back of his office behind his desk.

I kicked at him— hard . It connected with his knee, and he swore as his grip loosened, barely enough for me to free myself. I moved backward and pushed myself to my feet. Not waiting around, I ran toward the doors. I threw myself at them, twisting the knobs, but they wouldn’t budge.

Locked from the outside.

There was no use in screaming for help. No one in this home would betray him for me. I was on my own. If I wanted to leave here alive, I would have to do it by killing Kaito. Even then, the chance that any of his men would allow me to leave after killing their boss was slim.

“You’re not going to get away. I’ve put up with your obstinance for so long, but now I’m done. Your other sister will make a much more willing bride than you. Time to clip your wings forever, Little Bird.”

I looked around the room as Kaito walked over to a bookshelf, opening up a drawer and pulling out a knife.

“You’ll touch my family over my dead body,” I snapped at him as I prepared to fight.

I didn’t know if Kaito had any real fighting experience, so I needed to proceed with caution. But I wasn’t going to let him touch me again if I could help it.

“That’s the plan.”

With that, he lunged at me, swinging the knife.

I dodged, but he twisted the blade and swung backward, catching my thigh cleanly.

I swore. I aimed to distance myself from Kaito as much as possible, but the cut was deeper than I’d thought, and blood was flowing down the side of my leg onto the floor by the time I got a few feet away.

“What? You didn’t think I would fight you one-on-one if I was only a man who sat behind a desk all day, did you? Contrary to what you might think, I do most of my dirty work in person. Watching the life leave someone’s eyes is a euphoric feeling unlike any other.”

He stepped toward me, and with each one, I stepped backward, until I backed into a shelf with a decent-sized vase on it. I reached behind me and gripped it as he moved in, biding my time.

“I think watching you slip away will almost be as pleasurable as when I watched your father’s eyes dim as he was hanging in front of me, pleading for me to spare his daughters.

Funny how life comes full circle … especially when it ends the same way.

Like father, like daughter. Neither of you knew when to give up and bow down to the better man. ”

I froze.

There is no way. Father killed himself. He left a note. It was his handwriting.

“You’re a liar,” I said, my hand loosening around the vase. “My father committed suicide.”

My heart plummeted as I tried to deny his words in my heart. But as much as I didn’t want to believe him, if he really had murdered my father and my father hadn’t chosen to leave us, then he had robbed me of more than I’d thought. And I couldn’t let him get away with this.

Kaito sneered, “If you want to call two of my men hoisting him up into the rafters after I allowed him to write a little note to his children a suicide, then, yes, I suppose he did. But if you want to accept reality, I can tell you how he begged for his life. I heard his cries as I tightened the rope around his neck, and I watched him struggle against it as his windpipe collapsed.”

I grabbed the vase with a renewed vengeance and swung.

The sound of it shattering against the side of Kaito’s head was mixed with his shout of pain and the noise of metal clattering onto the ground as he dropped his knife.

I shoved him and ran past as he stumbled from the blow, holding where I had hit him.

Where is it?!

My blood was pounding as I searched frantically for the knife. Just as I saw a glimmer of the blade sticking out from under his desk and my heart leaped with hope, I felt a searing pain in the side of my shoulder where it met my neck.

Warmth pooled down my body, and a floating sensation began to take over as I reached my hand up and touched the place where pain began to spring from. When I dragged it back, seeing it covered in blood, I glanced down.

A shard of the vase had been jammed into my body, and from the amount of blood, it had hit something vital.

I fell to my knees as I heard footsteps begin to walk around me.

“You bitch. You will look at me as you fucking die,” Kaito said as he crouched down and gripped my chin. “Don’t worry; I’ve already got a plan on how to get rid of the man you were with. It’s fitting. Too bad you won’t be here to see it.”

The world was becoming fuzzy. His voice grew muffled. Soon, I couldn’t hear anything but the sound of my heart beating, and it was getting slower by the second.

I closed my eyes, picturing my sisters’ faces.

I’m so sorry, Sydney, Regan. I tried ... I meant to keep you both safe, and I failed. Please forgive me, sisters. Look out for each other better than I did for the both of you.

I thought he might have slapped me, but I kept my eyes closed as I fell sideways. The floor didn’t feel cold now.

Another face appeared before me.

AJ, I whispered in my mind.

I reached out for him, and he turned, smiling at me with his dumb, cocky smirk.

Thank you. For giving me one small glimpse of what it means to be loved.

And then, with one final beat, everything faded into darkness.