NINE

Akchiro (somewhere in the Arabian Sea on the Takeda Drago Super yacht).

"I have a gift for you." I speak over the phone, finally ending my fast, taking tea for the first time in weeks. A man who cannot keep his family does not deserve sustenance. I have only eaten to keep my strength till I found her and my son.

The clam and burdock soup is one of the first meals we ever shared in my in the penthouse suit I purchase for her when she agreed to be mine exclusively for six months. Though I will miss it and it is one of our favorites, I will tell my chef never to fix it again. I want nothing to remind me of what used to be. That is all over. She threw it away. Drugged me and left me to lie in my own filth for days while she kidnapped our son, hoping to keep him from me forever.

"This gift — where shall I receive it?" The voice over the phone is just as cold and dead as mine. Good. I send the encrypted file, waiting until I hear he's received it.

"Hai. Arigatō, Takeda-sama." Hearing the smooth satisfaction in his voice that only a fellow sadist recognizes. I smile to myself.

The gift will be his atonement for the dishonor his sister paid my family by canceling her recent engagement to my cousin, Kiyoshi.

"Do you want it back?" He asks, bemused. I imagine he's looking over the file.

"It wasn't mine. Do with it what you will," I say dismissively, already bored.

"Hai. It will be my pleasure." Comes the calm reply.

Hanging up, I attend to the matter at hand. I watch the images before me, feeling nothing. No anger. That was spent weeks ago. Dispassionately, I depress a button to the yacht's physician. "Is it done?"

There is a blanket pause. She looks up at the screen, nodding grimly. "Hai, Takeda-sama." She bows in deference. "I have given her something for the pain. When she awakens, she will be disoriented, experiencing soreness from the anesthesia, cramping, bleeding. Would you like for me or the nurse to attend her until she awakens?"

"Ie." The ‘no' rips from my lips with cool precision. She doesn't deserve comfort. I watched the way my son cried and begged her for me while she lied to his face, giving him lame excuses why he couldn't see me. She's lucky to be alive at the moment. I want to choke the fuck out of her so badly, it makes my dick hard. I was seconds away from doing it.

"I want a full workup on Asa reported back to me." I give her the clipped instructions.

"At once." Watching her give instructions to the three nurses, then leaving with one while the other two are left to clean, sterilize and set the room to rights.

They move her to the massive king-size bed. She whimpers while they adjust the covers. After taking her vitals again, they dim the lights, leaving her alone to rest.

Despite my intentions, I watch her while she sleeps. Minutes tick on to hours and still I watch her sleep fitfully. Compassion is nothing. I feel nothing. Watching as she frets locked in the throes of the anesthetic. All I can think is, good. She deserves every fucking nightmare she is having until she wakes up to the one she now lives.

I will give her no quarter. I will show her not one ounce of mercy. That she'd take my son, steal him away out of the country where he's loved and protected, to be a house-guest at the mercy of strangers he's never seen. To see him handled and held by others all is anathema to me. Flower knows this. Knows she has dishonored not only me and herself but our son.

Everything I have ever done and will do is for my love of my family. Her actions have proven not only is she unworthy to be my wife. She is unfit to be Asa's mother.

She shoots up in the bed as if she has hears my words, though we are separated by hundreds of feet with me keeping to the business suite on the other side of the yacht where the family and leisure suites are housed. She pulls the top cover and duvet back, stumbling from the bed. Blood smears her garments and the bed.

She takes in her surroundings, her eyes wide with fear worrying her bottom lip like she used to in New York, in a way, I haven't and hoped to never see again once we got past all the early trauma in our relationship. Now, I can only think again, good.

She slowly maneuvers around the room, familiarizing herself again with the layout. We don't use this vessel much. It's mainly used for corporate events.

Pain stretches across her face. She holds her tummy. I assume she's having cramps. Good. Her little lying ass.

All this time, she fucking knew I wanted another baby. I wanted to grow our family, and she lied to me. She had an IUD. I don't know for how long.

The line buzzes. I already know who it is.

"Takeda-sama." The doctor's cool tones fill the line.

"See that she is bathed and have her sheets changed."

Within seconds, two nurses rush into her suite and carry her into the shower to wash the remains of the procedure from her body. While they are doing that, the yacht staff come in, strip the bed, setting the room to rights.

Once they return her to the room. They settle her in bed with pillow propped high so she can sit comfortably.

"May I ask, where is my husband? Where is my son?" She gives them her sweetest smile. Like she didn't have a motherfucker looking for her the world over.

"Lady Takeda." I roll my eyes at the honorific they give her. She is no longer deserving of that title. "Please rest."

"What happened to me?" Gaze racing between the two women, her voice breaks. "What did he have them do to me?" I see them wavering.

"Gomen-nasai" They bow repeatedly, apologizing, leaving the room.

Moments later, food is brought in. The clam and burdock soup is served. She barely touches it. Everything else is pushed around her plate. Finally, she slumps back in defeat. She turns over, facing away from the tv which has one of the hidden cameras I'm using to watch her. Engaging the other camera in the portrait on the wall beside the bed, I see tears running ceaselessly down her face, dampening the pillow, she rests her head. A dark spot grows from her tears as she cries silently.

"I know you are watching me." I barely catch it. If I wasn't listening so intently, I would've missed the low hushed words.

I don't say anything. Waiting, knowing a tantrum is about to ensue. They are so rare, but she when she has them they are epic.

"What next, Akchiro? Is it my turn to be your prisoner for years? Locked up for some stupid ass petty vengeance? But you can't even face me? Little ol' me? You're such a fucking coward."

I'm up and out of my chair, opening the door to my office suite.

"Takeda-sama." The doctor bows deeply. I pull the door closed behind me and wave for her to walk along the corridor with me.

"My son?" I don't bother looking to see if she follows.

"Ahem, sir. Wouldn't you prefer to have this information given in private? Though this vessel belongs to you, some wouldn't hesitate to divulge this information." She hurries to keep up with my stride.

"If they were so stupid to break their NDAs, then they deserve the death that follows. Now if you please." I don't bother to keep the annoyance from my tone.

"He is in excellent health, no longer term damage done by the trauma he endured. He should be right on track once he's back into the family routine."

"Arigatō, doctor." I continue walking, leaving her in the corridor.

"Oh," I turn and thankfully she is still there. She bows, then waits for my question.

"How long?" She puzzles the question for a moment before her eyes flood with awareness.

"Ideally, I would suggest a month after more tests." My gaze narrows hearing this.

"However, a week should do it if there are no complications." I regard her for a long moment, wondering if she will be a problem. She's been a private physician on call to the wealthy elite for over a decade. I'm sure she has seen worse, but maybe she's bought into all the positive press, always following my treacherous wife.

"Is there a problem, Doctor?" Asking in smooth a tone. One, if my brothers were to hear it, would say clearly indicates your limited time on this planet.

Already shaking her head, she whispers. "Ie, Takeda-sama."

I turn from her, making a note to have her replaced as soon as we near a port close enough to have her safely take the helicopter.

Her whimpers are soft when I enter. Darkness shrouds the room. I see her shoulders stiffen the closer I approach the bed. I walk around to the side she's facing. She's curled in a fetal position.

I sit right where her bowed legs bend to make the half-moon shape. It's purposeful. I want my body right where she clutches her empty belly. I almost smile, feeling the way her hands clutch there so hard they tremble. She thinks I have taken something precious from her. It would be no less than the deceitful little bitch deserves if I had taken everything from her. I still might.

"I know you're not holding yourself like that because you think I had our child aborted because you know it is an impossibility. You knew it was an impossibility every time you allowed me to take you, knowing you had an IUD. You had me begging for a baby when you knew you cut that avenue off." I let my words sink in, fuming in the silence.

"How long, Flower?"

More fucking silence. Rage rips through me and it takes everything thing to hold it back.

"Since my first check-up after Asa." Bitter resignation sounds like ash on her lips.

My head snaps around. I regard her with what must look like horror. She rears back like she thinks I'm about to hit her.

I'm quicker. I have always been so much more quicker than her. Before she can scramble back, I snatch her under me, straddling her body with my legs on either side of her. She struggles. Good. Let her fight. Finally, after tense moments of biting, scratching, heaving, with me doing nothing, but holding her in a tight grip, she tires herself out. She settles. Stills. Silent tears stream down her face. I feel nothing but rage. No compassion. No mercy. Nothing but hot smoldering rage and now lust as I inhale her precious vanilla-rose scent.

The moment I take in the fragrance, I curse myself. I should have told the staff to only stock unscented items. I am so drawn to this scent. My dick hardens to a painful degree.

"Silence and fucking tears. Why?" I sneer down at her turned away face. "Who's the coward now?" I grab her shoulders before I can stop myself from shaking her. "You did this. You did this. You did this," I roar in her face.

I make myself let her go, rearing from the bed, punching the wall beside the bed, upturning the carefully arranged art and sculptures she and the interior designer chose for this suite.

By the time I'm done, the room is in shambles and she's sitting there, her eyes wide with fear. Not even when I found out she kept the loss of our first baby from me did I react like this. I did, only not where she could see. I didn't want to scare her. I never wanted to show her this side of my dragons. I wanted to protect her from my darkness. I thought if I kept her close, I could keep my obsession leashed. Now, by her own actions, she has freed them.

Even as I heave before her, having exorcised those demons or rather given them free rein, I feel a sense of freedom.

She looks at me in all my dark glory, like she knew it all along.

"Are you scared of me now?" I taunt her, taking my hair out of the knot that's mostly come unraveled, allowing it to fall in a curtain around me.

Normally, this means we are about to make love. I see her eyes flash before she smothers the look.

With a slow shake of her head, she says clearly, "No. I knew this was in you the whole time. I know what you are capable of. That's why—" She looks away, and more tears spill down her cheeks. She wipes them then looks at the glistening tips of her fingers before folding her arms and tucking them under her breasts like she can't stand showing vulnerability to me now, like I will use it. Which is exactly what I intend to do. Use it and her soft heart for my own ends.

"Finish what you were saying, coward." Her eyes flash with defiance at the cruel words I throw back at her.

"That's why I got the IUD," she says firmly, looking at me hard then almost crumbling before dragging her gaze away. "N-Not at first. I just didn't want to get pregnant again right away. I just wanted us to be a family. Learn the ropes of motherhood. I was so scared. You remember how scared I was. How not having my mom here affected me…" she trails off looking at nothing then everything, her eyes snagging on all the destruction.

"Then," she takes a deep breath. "You revealed more and more of yourself. The real you — not the one you pretended to be. I saw glimpses of the monster. For some reason, it didn't bother me. Your coldness, the way you take pleasure in pain. You're a sadist." She nods, like she's had this conversation with herself and maybe even her therapist and has come to terms with it. "So, I love a sadist, but I didn't want to raise more of them. I know you want more kids, but I don't feel I can counter your influence having babies back-to-back, so I wanted to wait. Then I saw what you did to Kana, who is little more than a child. I don't want to see my kids doing that to people."

"Don't worry, you won't," I sneer down at her. I see hope spark in her eyes, like her words have made me see the light. Fuck no.

"You won't ever see your kids doing that. While you were unconscious, I had your copper IUD removed."

Her eyes round when I confirm her suspicions. I can't stop the smile kicking up on one side. I like this.

"In a week, once you've stopped cramping and bleeding, I'm going to take my time punishing you, making you my willing little subslut. Then I'm going to fuck another baby into you. Once you are pregnant, you will be kept safe until you produce another heir. Rinse and repeat and repeat." My smile grows watching her horror. She twists the covers, and twists and twist, rage, fear, pain and sorrow all play across her features.

"Then what happens?" Her voice is tight.

"What happens to people who cross me, Flower?" My words are hard, snapping like a whip.

She jumps, flinching. "They die."

"Hai, they die," I say in a low, awful voice I don't recognize. This is what she has made me. "If you are a good little cumslut, I may let you live and let you suck my dick from time to time, but you will never see my kids again. Never have my face like you have done twice now."

I walk over to her and plant a dry kiss on her overly warm forehead.

She's too stunned to speak as I leave.