Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 104141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
But, the rules didn't apply here.
I fisted my hands at my side.
This world wasn't the world I had grown up in. It wasn't the newsroom or the streets of Brooklyn or any place where the law eventually showed up and the bad people eventually faced something.
This world ran on blood, consequence, and who moved first.
Kiko had understood that from the day she walked onto this island. She had been measuring me the whole time and she had read me correctly—that American bitch won't pull the trigger on a pregnant woman.
She had been right.
Kill or be killed.
I rolled my shoulders back and let the rage settle into something colder—vengeance.
Never again.
That was the vow to myself.
Never again would I hesitate over a snake because it had a belly full of eggs. Never again would I tell the men around me to wait before killing someone just because they were a woman. Never again would I trade other people's lives for my own comfort with the word kill.
If I ever saw Kiko's ass again, I would do what I kept telling Kenji not to.
And the next enemy after her.
And the next one.
And the next.
I wasn’t a killer, but I could become one to protect all the people I loved.
I turned to Yoichi.
He’d been watching me.
“Where is Kiko now?”
The line of his jaw twitched. “I’m not sure.”
“Please, find her for me.”
“We’re supposed to leave this island.”
“Reo didn’t text you that.”
“Kenji told you on the phone.”
“And you heard?”
“Yes.”
“You have good ears.”
“You have a good phone.” Yoichi’s eyes narrowed for less than a second. The shift was tiny. And for the briefest instant, I saw concern move beneath his composure before discipline buried it again.
Then he was simply Yoichi once more—calm posture, steady breathing, body angled protectively between me and the elevator doors.
But now I could see the machinery underneath him.
The omissions.
The carefully measured answers.
The way he gave away only what he intended people to have.
A strange chill crept over me. “You’re hiding something.”
“Probably.” The line of his jaw twitched again. “But do you think I’m too dangerous for you?”
“No. I think you are loyal and will protect me, but I do think you’re hiding something.”
“We all have secrets.”
The elevator stopped and the doors opened.
“Let’s go.” Yoichi led the way. His phone buzzed. He pulled it out and read the screen.
We all have secrets. . .what secrets do you have, Yoichi?
I followed.
The mansion had turned intense. Reo must have delivered the evacuation message to the island by now. Radios crackled nonstop with overlapping voices, locations, and orders. Two large men rolled heavy crates stamped with Dragon symbols down the hallway.
On my left, a young guard—barely twenty-five years old—vomited into a trash can before wiping his mouth and grabbing his rifle again.
Fuck.
Servants rushed through the hallways carrying armfuls of folded clothes, medical kits, and boxes of food.
The air itself felt charged now, electrified by fear and preparation.
A silver tray crashed by the stairs. The woman who had been holding it, bowed, and apologized.
Boots thundered across marble floors overhead.
My men had their guns out now. A few jumped in front while the rest remained behind me.
Even sadder, every person moving through the mansion carried the same expression—the terrible understanding that by sunrise many of them might be dead.
I got to Yoichi’s side. “I should have a gun.”
“So you can shoot Kiko in the head?”
“No. I’m going to choke that bitch until she stops breathing and those twins pop out her dirty vagina.” I shook my head. “I want the gun to shoot people just in case Kenji’s father gets here before I can leave.”
A wicked smile spread across his face. “I heard the Tiger has claws, but now I can finally see them.”
“Yep. I have sharp ones.” I slashed the air with my fingers. “Do you have an extra gun?”
“Let’s get you to your destination first and then we’ll give you a gun from one of the guards.”
“Sounds good.”
“Do you know how to shoot a gun?”
“No.”
He laughed. “Well, perhaps a lesson is in order.”
“Perhaps.”
“Hopefully, the Dragon doesn’t get pissed about these lessons.”
“He’ll be fine.”
At the end of the hall, a terrified maid clutched a tiny dog against her chest while being escorted toward the evacuation route.
Men in black tactical gear moved furniture aside to barricade the side entrances.
Fucking Kiko.
We got outside and the noise hit me before the sight did. Helicopter blades chopped the air somewhere to the north. A boat horn blared low and long across the water. Men barked orders in Japanese over each other. A woman screamed a name I couldn't catch. A radio somewhere blasted a voice in fast clipped sentences.
Boots pounded.
Dozens of boots.
Crates slammed into truck beds.
A child cried somewhere I couldn't see.
The island had its own heartbeat now and the heartbeat was panic.
I took in all the chaos around me.
The sun had died while the moon arrived.