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I know the world’s been spinning for weeks around Annika’s forced marriage to Kenzo to broker a fragile peace between Bratva and Yakuza. But underneath that, dragging us both down like the deadliest of weights, has been the mess we created the night Anni and I stupidly stole that Lamborghini.
Agreeing to take that job for Ulkan was a monumentally bad decision. It put our relationship with Kir in jeopardy and broke every promise we made to him about staying out of petty shit like that.
Worse, it got us back on Valon Leka’s radar, after Annika had escaped him all those years ago.
But now, all that tension and weight are finally lifting.
It’s been days—six, to be exact—since Annika flew to Kyoto. It’s been just as long since I spoke with Mal.
Not that I’m counting.
Not one call or text to let me know he was done with me, and our unholy arrangement was over. Well, I don’t know if itisover. But I feel like there is—or at leastshould be—some sort of implied expiration date given that he’s dropped off the face of the Earth.
But that all gets brushed aside with what happened earlier today. The moment my phone lit up with a desperate, terrified call from Annika, I knew something had gone terribly wrong. I could hear it in her panicked, terrified voice.
Ulkan followed her to Kyoto. He used Valon as bait to draw Kenzo and Takeshi to a luxurious house in the Kamigyo Ward. That was where Ulkan ambushed them, took Kenzo, and all hell broke loose.
It turns out Kenzo wasn’t the prize Ulkan was hunting.
He wanted Annika.
When she called me in a panic after Kenzo was taken, I hacked into the Kyoto municipal CCTV system and tracked the license plate of Ulkan’s car to where he was holding Kenzo.
And now, it’s over.
Ulkan Gacaferi is dead.
I slump back further in my chair, feeling the weight of that truth sink into my bones. My body feels drained, exhausted. It’s like someonefinallyhit the pause button on the chaos that’s been my life, and now the adrenaline is draining out of me, leaving nothing but fatigue and a cold wash of relief.
For days—weeks—I’ve been walking around with a gnawing fear that something awful was lurking around the corner. Every time I closed my eyes, I could feel it, looming.
I don’t know if that’s because my like-a-sister best friend was half a world away from me for the first time in pretty much ever, or because Mal pulled the rug out from under me.
Maybe both.
AndmaybeI’d prefer not to look too hard into that because I’m worried what I might find.
Whatever. It’s over now.
Before I can really let that sink in, Annika speaks again. Her voice shakes a little this time, like she’s finally letting herself breathe, too.
“There’s something else, Frey.”
I stiffen, wondering if that’s hope I hear in her voice.
“She clears her throat. “Valon’s dead, too.”
I freeze, my pulse spiking again.
“W-what?” I stammer.
“He got away from Ulkan’s place after they took Kenzo. He wasreallycut up, Frey. The police just called: they found his body in a ditch across the street from that house.”
It takes a moment for the words to register, but when they do, the relief that crashes over me is overwhelming, a tidal wave that knocks me off my feet. I sink back into the chair, my heart pounding, my hands trembling.
Valon Leka, the monster who kept Annika and I in little gilded cages while he abused her—the man who almost broke her—is fuckingdead.
It’s over.
