29

Ruin waits for no one.

Takeshi

They had her.

Khalani.

Kanes.

His reason.

When Khalani was carried away from him, a blanket of shadows covered Takeshi’s vision, his fury igniting to levels few had ever lived to witness.

The electric pain tearing through his body felt like molten wires clenching around his spine. Even then, it took the highest voltage possible to knock him unconscious and keep Takeshi from murdering every last Dealer beneath the surface.

When Takeshi finally awakened, both his hands were chained around a metal bar in the open cavern.

A Dealer kept a close eye on him, barking orders for him to stay seated with his legs stretched out. The guard’s hand coiled tight around his gun, holding it for dear life.

As if that would save him.

The second Takeshi was free of these chains, he’d sprint to the black building and eviscerate any guard in his path.

In another part of his mind, he mused over various torture techniques.

The Dealers would merely die for their involvement. But Dr. Strauss would receive a special version of hell so painful that bathing in fire would be considered a respite.

His gaze flickered again to the building where she was taken, and he discreetly tugged on the chains, searching for a weak point. His shoulders strained tight, but the pain was inconsequential.

All that mattered to him was taken away.

Before Khalani, Takeshi had resigned himself to a life without love. His unspent torment, regret, and fury were channeled into locking criminals behind bars each dark night.

But then, a lonely girl, whose head barely reached his chest, walked into prison.

At first, he dismissed her as an insignificant nuisance, no different from the countless other prisoners in Braderhelm.

The fragile figure before him seemed ready to shatter under the weight of a single breath, and he doubted that she’d survive one week in Braderhelm Prison.

But when Khalani wasn’t looking, his attention unconsciously drifted to her. There was something in her expression that caught him off guard.

Maybe it was the loneliness in her gaze. The tension that never left her shoulders. Or her na?ve, kind heart that stood out amid a sea of criminals, making him continuously resist the urge to shake her.

What he didn’t realize was that a fierce tenacity lived within that small frame. Despite the constant fights, hardships, and challenges she faced, Khalani conquered each one with a resilience that rivaled the most violent criminals.

When she asked him to train her, Takeshi’s muscles locked up, and he fought the urge to throw away the keys to her cell for even suggesting such a terrible idea.

For her. For him.

With the way his mind kept straying to her, he didn’t trust himself to be that close without steel bars separating them.

But a dangerous part of him longed to see just how far he could push her, yearning to find her breaking point.

So, he agreed.

With each training session, the pull toward her became harder to resist. The tight shorts hugging her legs were a test of focus. The exhilaration in her eyes when she conquered a task challenged his own resolve. He pushed Khalani like he pushed himself, to the ultimate limits.

Suddenly, Takeshi found a new purpose in prison.

Khalani Kanes was it.

He never told her this, but the trainings with her were the highlight of his day, his year. In a world so shrouded in darkness, she was a flicker of light that grew brighter with each passing day.

For the first time, he closed his eyes at night and looked forward to waking up.

But when he saw Khalani on the ground during Guard Barron’s attack, a rage like no other coursed through his quaking limbs.

Someone dared hurt her. The prisoner who brought him peace. The broken girl who had her entire world swept away but kept fighting to be a better version of herself.

Takeshi completely lost it and killed Guard Barron without a single ounce of regret.

When he lifted Khalani into his arms, she fit perfectly against his chest. Takeshi gazed down at her, and as certain as the oncoming night, an unspoken vow resonating deep within him.

No one would harm her and live.

He carried Khalani to his room, uncaring of the rules or consequences. All that mattered was laying in his bed. In pain.

Despite this, she was the one trying to calm him down, still thinking about others over herself. His lungs ached to scream at her, but his lips begged to brush against her smooth skin, to extinguish any traces of pain.

Takeshi’s control was at its most fragile point when she lay next to him in bed and his finger grazed hers. His hand twitched, wanting to thread itself into hers.

No, he wanted to do so much more.

But she fell asleep, exhaling softness, while he inhaled her peace.

When Takeshi woke, he stared into her lovely, sleeping face, and a strange sensation clutched his chest. It injected straight into his heart, compelling Takeshi to reach out.

To tell her the truth…but he pulled back.

Reality crashed into him, like a steel door slamming shut in his face.

Nothing would change their positions. She was still a prisoner, and he was the Captain who locked her bars shut. No reality existed where they could be together. Such fantasies were delusional.

So, he pushed her away.

And every day it clawed his skin from the inside out.

His mind kept screaming, urging him to reach out, to make everything right, to return to the way they used to be. By the slimmest thread of control, Takeshi kept his distance, reminding himself that it was for her benefit.

When she beat Dana in the pit, he didn’t merely feel proud—he was always proud of her—but when she finally realized her own strength, it was like the sun burst through the underground and shined down upon her.

Khalani was always beautiful, even covered in dirt and grime, but witnessing her determination and relentless spirit made his heart stir, something it hadn’t done in years.

She cast a spell on him, drawing him further in with each passing day, and Takeshi was helpless to ask to train her again.

Just one last time, he told himself.

That would be it.

But then she opened her soul to him, and no force beneath the surface could’ve stopped him from kissing her.

There once was a cliff in Apollo that Takeshi used to dive from as a kid. It wasn’t very tall, but all the local kids would stuff mattresses under the drop zone and leap off, one after the other.

His mother only saw him do it once before she ran over, grabbed his arm, and pulled him back inside, yelling at him for scaring her half to death. But in that one moment of free-fall, he was weightless, and nothing mattered in the world but the air flowing over his body.

That’s what kissing Khalani felt like.

He wanted to dive into her skin and memorize every freckle, bump, and imperfection—everything that made Khalani uniquely her—because every square inch was a masterpiece.

In the casino, he was incredibly close to knocking Raziel unconscious, wrecking their mission, and taking her away so no one else could lay their eyes on her in that fucking dress.

Raziel reminded Takeshi to play his part correctly.

But he wasn’t pretending.

Every touch and moment with her made him hyperaware of his body.

Nothing else took up space in his mind. Nothing else mattered.

And that was the problem.

Takeshi wasn’t talkative or affectionate. He preferred to spend his time studying everyone else for weaknesses.

He never spoke of the eerie sensation inside him. The discomforting need for destruction that’d been present ever since he graduated from training in Genesis.

Takeshi hid those volatile thoughts well. But that side of him had grown in intensity ever since he tore off the Governor’s head.

But when Takeshi was with her, he wanted to be the opposite.

He yearned to give her, the beautiful girl who dwelled in the dark, the same peace she’d selflessly given him.

Khalani accepted Takeshi for who he was, not who she wanted him to be.

So, he was done.

Done denying her. Done fighting this inexplicable pull between them.

His eyes closed as the right word finally surfaced. Love.

He loved her.

Loved her with every ounce of his being.

Loved her like the stars love the night sky.

And once freedom was theirs, he’d spend every moment proving it.

The Dealer continued to watch him with tense eyes as Takeshi discreetly pulled on the chains.

When the prisoners finished their morning shift, they entered the cavern for food. The head Dealer strode over, his pale hand resting on the butt of his rifle, the stars on his black uniform gleaming under the harsh, white light.

“You finally calmed down, or do we need to shock you again?”

Takeshi gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to spit in the guard’s direction. But he held tightly to his thin control, thinking of only one person.

“You won’t have any problems from me.” Lies. They would face plenty of problems from him soon enough, but he needed to bide his time and wait for the perfect opportunity.

“Good.” The Dealer stepped forward and unlocked Takeshi’s chains.

He stood, stretching his tight shoulders and caught Jack’s sharp eye across the cavern.

Jack inclined his head, a signal.

Tingles spread across Takeshi’s body as he walked over, constantly swiveling his head toward the black building.

The logical part of him kept repeating the same reminder. As much as he wanted, he couldn’t just go barreling across the cavern and breaking down the door. The Dealers would simply shock him again.

But who knew what horrors they were inflicting on her right now?

How scared she must be.

“Hey.” Ryder snapped his fingers as he sat with them. “I know what you’re thinking, but you have a better chance of saving her once the Aces arrive.”

“And when is that exactly?” he seethed.

Jack took a deep breath and massaged the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know.”

The bowl of food they gave him nearly cracked in his hands.

“Tell me what we’re supposed to do again when your group arrives?” Elise asked, her whole body tense. She kept glancing at the black building too, the worry for Khalani evident in her eyes.

She could live.

“I’ve already informed some of the other prisoners here that I trust. Once the Aces arrive, most of the Dealers will head for the main tunnel. That should leave only a few guards keeping an eye on the prisoners, and they can’t shock everyone at once. That’s when we attack. We overwhelm them, deactivate the cuffs, grab their weapons, and help the Aces fight,” Jack stated, his voice strengthening with each word.

“What about the ones who can’t fight?” Elise’s gaze locked on her strange father, who kept muttering over his ring.

“They should stay the hell out of our way.” Ryder cracked his knuckles as he eyed the guards.

Takeshi sat calmly, but his mind was anything but. He scanned each Dealer, studying their vulnerabilities, looking for any way to exploit them in the most painful way possible. Ungodly pressure raced up his spine as his focus centered on the building across the cavern.

Takeshi used to believe that not kissing Khalani was the ultimate test of patience. Laughable. He’d go a thousand lifetimes without touching her if it meant she’d be free of torment.

“What’s important is that we all rush the guards at the same time,” Jack continued. “If we don’t get this right, we all d—”

A low rumble echoed throughout the cavern.

Everyone whipped their heads toward the tunnel on the opposite side of the camp. The only exit out of the prison.

An empty mine cart raced past the guards on the bumpy metal tracks and stopped in the center of the cavern.

The Dealers brandished their guns, their confused expressions turning lethal. A few brave guards slowly approached the cart, the lines in their forehead deepening.

Takeshi stood with the rest of the prisoners. Everyone arched their necks, trying to get a better look. Jack nodded to him, and he quietly shifted toward the remaining guards while their attention was riveted on the cart.

“What is it?” The head Dealer yelled as one of the larger guards peaked inside. Everyone held their breath as he reached inside and grabbed an oversized teddy bear.

“It’s just a stuffed toy,” he shouted back, holding it up.

The Dealer immediately went rigid, raising his hand in slow motion. “WAIT—”

BOOM.

The teddy bear exploded.

The man holding it disintegrated into pink mist.

The force of the blast threw Takeshi back against the stone wall. His ears sang a high-pitched tune and dust filled the air.

Takeshi tasted blood in his mouth and grunted as he slowly got to his feet. He rubbed his ringing ears, disoriented as horrifying screams amplified around him.

As the dust began to clear, his eyes raced across the multiple prisoners and the Dealers unconscious on the ground. Ryder was helping a stumbling Jack to his feet.

Takeshi’s chest tightened when he saw Elise shaking her father on the ground. His leg and arm were bent at an awkward angle, clearly broken, as he mumbled into Elise’s ear, trying to lift his hand toward her. Tears streamed down her chalky face as she tried to get him to move.

Takeshi turned away. He knew a mortal wound when he saw one.

“It’s the rebels!” the head Dealer yelled, blood running from his head down his pale cheek.

Through the dusty cavern, more than a dozen men appeared, revolvers in hand. Takeshi recognized Spade in front, leading the charge. He’d traded his crisp suit for black leather pants and a black cape. He shouted orders to his men as they charged ahead.

The head Dealer lifted his gun shakily and fired at them. The Aces ducked for cover behind various rocks, returning fire.

Despite the bomb, the Dealers still outnumbered the Aces and rushed forward, continuing to shoot.

Takeshi twisted his head as Jack limped toward him.

“Now.” Jack gritted his teeth and nodded to a couple of other male prisoners who crept behind an unsuspecting guard and choked him from behind.

Takeshi didn’t waste another second. He found the nearest Dealer rising to his feet. Without hesitation or remorse, he rushed him. Takeshi punched the guard twice in the stomach, wrapped his arms around his head, and swiftly broke his neck. The man’s body fell to the ground in a forgotten, lifeless heap.

It all happened in a matter of seconds.

A nearby guard turned at the sound and his mouth popped open.

With unsteady hands, he lifted his gun, but Takeshi was faster. He pulled a blade from the dead man’s belt and threw it across the space. The dagger embedded into the Dealer’s shoulder, throwing off his aim.

That was enough time for Takeshi to charge the guard, slamming him to the ground. He straddled him and punched the wide-eyed Dealer in the face.

Takeshi wanted to continue the onslaught, but unfortunately, he didn’t have time for that.

He pulled the pistol from the man’s pocket, wrestling his mouth open. Takeshi shoved the barrel between his lips and pulled the trigger.

Blood splattered across Takeshi’s murderous face. He wanted to bathe in it, that need for violence inside him growing stronger.

He reached into the guard’s back pocket and pulled out a touchpad. It had facial recognition, and luckily, only the back of the guard’s head was unrecognizable.

After some searching, Takeshi found the option to deactivate his shock cuff. He immediately pulled the bands off his wrists, throwing them against the wall, the satisfying clang echoing back to him.

Takeshi swiveled his head to Jack and Ryder, who were in the middle of removing their cuffs.

A cacophony of screams and gunfire surrounded them as the Aces continued to fire their weapons at the Dealers, providing the distraction they needed.

“Go!” Jack yelled. “We’ll take care of the rest. Go save her.”

He didn’t need to be told twice.

Takeshi grabbed the handgun and removed the knife from the dead man’s shoulder.

Takeshi sprinted along the back wall, away from the gunfire. He tightened his grip on the weapons as he prepared to draw blood.

He ran faster than he’d ever had in his life, his focus locked intently on the black building.

And death rode behind him like a pair of wings.