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I bought this woman. I own this woman. She is meant to obey me, and she knows she’s done the opposite. My word is motherfucking law, and she knows this. I want to string her up in my dungeon and show her what real punishment is, but I know I’ll never get out of here for that.
All I can manage is a few low words. “Why didn’t you leave me, Mina?”
She doesn’t even look at me. Her eyes are trained on Matsumoto and the gun he has trained on me. I expect fear in her gaze. I expect her to start begging or pleading, to revert back to the terrified woman I first met. I know she’s been different since Japan, but surely not this different.
There’s no fear or begging, just a simmering white hot heat emanating off her. A murderous rage. I know that look. I’ve had that look.
And yet. She has no weapons. She has no way to act out this rage. She isn’t physically strong enough. She has no training in any martial art. As far as I know she’s never even trained with the weapons she clearly doesn’t have.
I know she didn’t just decide to dress this way. Matsumoto ordered her to dress this way, no doubt so he could clearly see she had no guns on her.
What happens next, happens in slow motion. The slowness of what I see makes me fear for her. Matsumoto is watching me, gun on me, the slide is racked, he’s ready to fire, and I can only assume he’s going with his shoot me, then fuck her while I bleed out, plan. It enrages me, but I’m more helpless than she is right now and that’s not saying much.
Except, that she isn’t helpless. I watch her hand go behind her to the back of the corset to pull out a knife.
Time speeds up from this moment, as though someone is fast forwarding through a movie to get to the good part. I catch the glint of metal as she hurls it through the air at Matsumoto, his attention still on me, the gun fires, but goes wide. Then comes the ricochet.
The stupid motherfucker is using a .22. It’s a great gun for close range assassination. But this isn’t a classic close-range assassination.
“Cover, Mina!” It’s the only words I can think to say as I hunch in on myself, as though I could stop the bullet if it decides to bounce off the walls and into me. But she’s too furious to think about that.
The knife hits Matsumoto in the shoulder, surprising him, and causing him to drop the gun. At the same time, the bouncing bullet decides to land in his chest, stopped by his bullet-proof vest. He howls in both pain and surprise from the unexpected knife before rounding on Mina.
“You Bitch, I’ll enjoy making you pay for that. Maybe I’ll just put you in the other chains and…”
But before he can finish his threat, Mina rips the sides of the corset apart, and I realize she’s altered the garment to hide my throwing stars. She storms toward him, throwing the metal stars, no doubt knowing that without training, she’s got to be close range to hit her mark. One embeds deep into his thigh, another into his upper arm. He curses, but before he can lunge for her, she’s got his gun.
All of a sudden his rage turns to fear. It’s always like this with the biggest bullies. They’re so tough while they have the upper hand, but the second they don’t anymore, they’re ready to plead and beg. I’m not sure if he’s yet ready for that with Mina, but he’s in pain from the stars and the knife. He’s losing blood. He’s almost there. Almost to the sweet point of coming apart and begging.
She holds the gun way more steady than I would expect, and it’s in this moment I’m grateful she went dark and hard like me. I’m grateful her emotions got muted like mine. Because it’s the only thing protecting her. Otherwise, the adrenaline would be fucking her up right now. Her hand would be shaking too hard to aim the gun. She never would have gotten those stars in the target.
“You’re not going to use that,” Matsumoto says, now entering the bargaining stage.
“I’m giving you one chance to live,” she says, her voice steady and dead calm. That’s my girl. “Chain yourself to the wall, tell me where the key to the shackles is, and Brian and I will just leave. You leave the country, and we’ll let you live.”
That is absolutely not happening. She can’t make promises for me. But she shoots me a hard glare, and I don’t dare open my mouth to say it. I don’t think she’s being truthful with him anyway, but he doesn’t know that. It’s not as though she’s under any obligation to be honorable with the man who wishes to murder me and take her captive.
Matsumoto—obviously believing that despite her star and knife throwing of moments before, she doesn’t have the heart to kill someone—starts to move in the direction of the shackles.
Then it’s like some revelation hits him, something he forgot.
“Atsushi!” he shouts.
“Don’t bother,” she says. “I already killed your guard. If you don’t want to be next, I suggest you chain yourself to the wall.”
Matsumoto laughs a hysterical, maniacal laugh, like a man who has truly lost his mind. At no moment is an animal more dangerous than this. His reflexes are slowed from the blood he’s losing, but he tries to lunge for her anyway.
Without blinking, Mina puts a bullet in his knee. “NOW, motherfucker!”
He screams. “Okay, okay…. I… okay…” as he hobbles over to the wall, locking himself into the chains.
As soon as he’s chained, Mina looks like she’s about to leave us both, but instead, she opens the door, aims the gun, and fires down at something on the ground.
I raise an eyebrow when she returns. I can finally breathe properly again. She’s got this well in hand, and now I can just enjoy the glorious show. She has never been more attractive to me than she is now. As much as I’ve relished being her protector, doing one good thing for one person, it’s nothing compared to watching her rise like a phoenix from the ashes.
“I had to kill the guard,” she says to me. “I seduced him and put a needle in his throat, but I think you mentioned that drug only lasts about an hour.”
Who is this woman? I’m sure I’m gaping at her like a goldfish.
