Emperor of Wrath: A Dark Mafia Enemies To Lovers Romance

My ears are ringing as I gradually realize I’m lying on the ground. Dust and grime choke my throat, and when I cough, gray ash wheezes from my cracked lips.

My mouth opens and closes. My vision cuts in and out as my fingertips curl against the gritty ground.

The ringing is all I hear, humming piercingly in my ears.

I cough again, breathing dust and smoke. I claw at the ground, wincing, shoving my knee up in an attempt to get to my feet.

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The world sways, and I tip sideways against the wall. But I catch myself in time, clinging to it as the ringing whines in my ears and my legs wobble.

Kenzo.

A bolt of lightning jarring my heart, I whirl, my eyes scanning the dimness. By some insane miracle, the bulb hanging above is still lit, the shadows dancing crazily over the stone walls as the bulb swings all over the place.

My whole body tenses up as my eyes land on him.

No.

I scream his name, though I can’t hear my own voice over the whining ring in my ears. I stumble toward him, almost falling twice. But I keep moving, staggering closer on unsteady legs before I drop to my knees beside him.

“Kenzo…”

My own voice comes through my ears at last, dull and muffled, sounding far away.

“Kenzo…”

He’s on his back, his clothes singed and covered in rock dust, his eyes closed. Blood oozes wetly from a hole in the side of his chest.

Oh God.

“KENZO!”

When I shout his name again, I wince as the blockage in my ear cracks, the ringing melting into the background and sound filtering back into my senses.

That’s when I hear it.

At first, when I raise my eyes, I’m not sure what I’m looking at. We’re in the tunnel just off the main room where Valon was holding me. And as I stare through the brick archway leading back to it, the floor looks like it’s…moving.

Breathing.

Melting.

There’s no sign of Valon, but before I can even worry about that, the floor suddenly surges and buckles. I gasp, grabbing Kenzo to yank him back. The ground in the main room bulges, and then crumbles entirely. Black liquid surges out of the cracks before the rest of the floor caves in with a crashing splash.

…of water.

Holy fuck.

The rushing sound fills the room, like a dam has given way. Kenzo blinks slowly, his head lolling to the side as he swims in and out of consciousness.

The water level is rising.

“I got you!”

I grab him under the armpits, gritting my teeth as I try to shift his weight. Slowly I drag him away from the main room, tugging him across the floor and down the tunnel in the direction he came.

This has to be the way out. And if it takes every fucking ounce of my strength, I am getting him out.

I barely make it five more feet before I look up, and my heart drops.

The tunnel’s caved in.

No.

I drop Kenzo’s arms and run forward, clawing and yanking at the crumbled brick and rock. After I clear away the initial rubble, my hands scrape against giant, immovable chunks of concrete and metal rebar.

A choked sputter behind me whips my attention around.

“Kenzo!!”

I rush back to him as he struggles to lift his head out of the water, now ankle-deep.

It’s still. Fucking. Rising.

We have to move. Now.

I go to grab him under the arms again. He grunts as his eyes focus a little more on me.

“Annika…”

“Come on!!” I scream, trying to drag him.

His arm muscles flex as he pulls away, shoving one knee underneath himself. His face twists in agony as he drags himself to his feet, turning to let his dark eyes pierce into me.

“You okay?” he grunts, his jaw clenched in pain.

“I’m fine!” I yell over the rushing water as it creeps higher and higher up our calves. I reach down to grab his sword off the ground. “Kenzo⁠—”

“Stairs!” he hisses, nodding his chin at the main room that is quickly filling with water. My eyes follow his, locking on the metal staircase bolted to the wall that climbs up to the second-floor metal walkway.

“Okay!” I scream, wrapping my arm around his waist and draping his over my shoulders. Kenzo groans as he walks, leaning heavily on me as I stoop under his weight. I can feel the warm stickiness of his blood soaking into my shirt.

We’re running out of time.

The water is past our knees as we exit the tunnel back into the circular, double-height room. I take another step forward, but then shriek before I yank us back.

The floor is gone. I almost just stepped into nothingness beneath the inky black water.

Ignoring the pure terror swirling up in me, I grab him tighter, keeping us against the wall as we inch around to the stairs.

The water is up to our waists.

“Can you climb?!”

He glances at me, his face pale as he nods. “For you, I can fucking climb,” he wheezes.

It’s slow going, but we take them one at a time, his arm heavy on my shoulders as he grips the railing with a white-knuckle grip. The water level stays at our knees, rising in time with our ascent.

When we get to the top, we shuffle and stumble our way over to one of the two tunnels leading out, mirroring the floor below us.

“One sec,” he groans, his knees buckling as he clings to the wall.

I stop, gritting my teeth as I help lower him to the floor, sitting up against the brick wall of the tunnel. Kenzo glances down at the hole in his side, his wet clothes soaked red as the blood continues to flow out of it.

I rip open his shirt, trying to ignore his hiss of pain as I open it wide and examine the wound.

Holy fuck, that’s a bullet hole.

Without thinking, I yank my top off, pressing the fabric to his wound.

“Hold this there,” I command, searching desperately for something to tie it with before I realize I can use my belt.

“When did you become a triage medic,” Kenzo chuckles quietly, wincing when he tries to force a smile.

I’m not smiling. He’s losing a lot of blood.

I wrap the belt around the shirt, cinching it tight to keep the cloth in place over the hole. It’s not going to save him, but it might buy us some additional time.

“Annika.”

“Hang on,” I mutter, pulling the belt tighter to make sure it’s in place.

“Annika. The water.”

I turn my head, half-expecting a tsunami to come surging over the lip of the metal walkway. But when I look, I realize the room has gotten a lot quieter.

The water isn’t rising anymore.

I get to my feet and move to the walkway. When I gaze down, the water looks to have leveled off three or four feet below us.

Thank. Fucking. God.

I go back over to Kenzo and kneel next to him. My brow worries as I push his hair out of his pale face, peering into his hooded eyes.

“How do you feel?”

He smirks quietly. “Just peachy, princess.”

I smile wryly, but I can feel my heart clenching as I stroke his face and lean down to kiss him softly.

He…doesn’t look good.

At all.

“Annika…” His eyes close, open, and then close again. His head falls back against the wall. “Annika, where…”

“I’m right here,” I choke, taking his hands in mine and squeezing. I lean down and kiss him again, hating the weakness I feel in his soft lips.

We need to get out of here and get help now.

“Valon…” Kenzo rasps out. “Where…”

“He’s gone⁠—”

“No,” Kenzo groans, shaking his head slowly. “I saw him run.”

Cold, naked dread creeps up my spine.

“What?”

“Before…” His jaw clenches and he grunts in pain. “Before the blast… He kicked that duffel bag away and ran into the tunnel behind him.”

The creeping sensation on my spine intensifies as I glance behind us, half expecting to see the monster lurking right there.

Then I swallow, staring down the dark tunnel into the abyss.

“I’m going to see where this leads⁠—”

“Nowhere,” Kenzo murmurs quietly. His eyes are closed as he slowly rocks his head back and forth against the bricks. “It leads nowhere.”

“I can find a way⁠—”

“It’s a maze, princess,” he whispers quietly. “Mal and I used to explore these old bunkers when we were younger.” His head rolls side to side again. “Up here on this level, there are dozens of tunnels”…his throat bobs…“leading to empty rooms, dead ends, traps…”

His eyes flicker open and then shut again.

His breathing is getting shallower.

My pulse thuds as I glance down the tunnel again.

There’s no way out. At least not through there.

“Well,” I smile weakly, turning to stroke the hair out of his face. “At least the water’s stopped?”

Kenzo’s eyes remain closed. His head drifts side to side again.

“It’s not the water,” he croaks. “It’s the air…”

I shiver. “What about the air?”

“Old chemicals…unexploded ordinances releasing toxic shit for decades…” He swallows again. “Without airflow…” His haggard, pale face swivels to mine and his eyes crack open a slit. “When—when you taste rotten eggs on your tongue,” he mumbles. “That—that’s when our timer starts.”

It’s only then that I realize the air is completely still. Before the blast, down below, you could feel it moving over you faintly, like someone left a door open.

Not anymore.

I turn to look back down the pitch-black tunnel, gaping like a demon’s maw.

There has to be a way out. Or maybe we can escape via the caved-in floor.

Whatever it fucking takes, we are getting the fuck out of here.

“I’m going to find us a way out,” I whisper quietly, leaning in to kiss his cheek.

His hand slips around my wrist, holding me as tightly as he can right now.

“Valon…” he breathes. “He might…”

I reach down and wrap my fingers around the hilt of his sword from where I’ve laid it on the ground next to him. It makes a smooth, metallic sound as I drag it from its sheath.

“I’ll be careful,” I whisper as I kiss his cheek again.

I check the makeshift bandage over his wound. The blood has soaked completely through it. But it does seem to be buying us some time.

We’re going to need it.

Standing, I turn to face the darkness, sword in hand. My heart thuds in my chest as my eyes pierce the gloom. Slowly, I make my way forward, ignoring every terrifying childhood nightmare that comes screaming out to play.

I make it fifteen steps before I come to a brick wall in front of me. The passage turns ninety degrees to the left, so I follow it. When it turns again, I keep going, trying to reach out into the blackness on either side of me to see if there are other doorways or passages.

When I hear the crunch of stone underfoot, my entire body goes rigid and still, my heart climbing into my throat as vicious terror claws up my spine.

I’m not alone.

The crunching sound comes again. I ignore the screams in my head. I hold back the vomit that wants to hurl from my stomach as pure horror engulfs me. Instead, I shrink against the wall next to me. My fingers wrap tight around the hilt of Kenzo’s sword as I try to hold my breath, listening.

A cold, wheezing chuckle floats out from somewhere in the darkness.

It’s alarmingly close.

“Oh, don’t go quiet yet, puppet…”

Oh God…

Valon’s voice floats out of the inky dark, like an evil spirit hanging in the air.

“I know you’re there…”

Keep moving. Don’t get trapped.

I inch forward slowly, crouching with the sword in front of me.

“I wonder…” Valon’s disembodied, ghostly voice rasps in the blackness. “Do you remember how to get back to your dear husband?”

My spine snaps up straight.

“Or will I get to him first. He did seem to be quite out of sorts…”

No.

Whirling, no longer giving a shit about stealth, I rush back the way I came, trying to remember my steps so I don’t get lost in this maze. If I’m going to die in the darkness to poisoned air, I’d rather do it next to the man I⁠—

When it hits me, all the breath leaves my body as it all comes rushing back with a vengeance.

In the terror of the explosion, and Kenzo being shot, and the water, and the climb, and the blood, a small detail slipped my mind.

But I just remembered.

One of my hands flies from the hilt of the sword to my shoulder, where Valon injected me with the poison.

My blood turns to ice.

I start to run, blindly smashing into walls and corners, bouncing off them like a ping-pong ball in the dark before suddenly, there’s a faint glow of light. I round a corner and almost choke when I see Kenzo lying against the wall where I left him.

I rush to him, but just as I get there I scream when a silhouette steps into the archway from the metal walkway just past it. My throat closes around the scream, choking it off as Valon smiles cruelly and raises the gun in his hand.

“Come. Here. Now, puppet,” he hisses, turning slightly. It’s only then that I see the horror-show that is one half his face—the skin blackened and blistered, weeping pus and blood. He’s missing the ear on that side, too.

“Now now,” he growls. “Don’t be frightened.” His head tilts to the side, and suddenly, he’s cocking the gun and jamming it down into Kenzo’s face.

“COME! HERE!”

My breath is shaky as I slowly step toward him, my pulse thrumming.

“The antidote,” I croak. “Valon, give me the⁠—”

“Of course, puppet,” he growls quietly, his lips twisting darkly. “I’ll give you that and the way out.”

His smile widens, and a cold ruthlessness I’m not sure I’ve ever seen in his face before creeps over it.

“But I’m going to fuck you first.”

I flinch as though I’ve been struck. Recoiling, I stare at him in horror as he smiles icily back at me and every horrible memory of him bubbles to the surface.

“Oh, and I don’t mean figuratively,” he growls. “I mean quite literally. Right here, in front of your dear husband.”

He turns to cast a withering look at Kenzo, who’s barely conscious and scarcely breathing against the wall.

“You disgusting pig,” I snarl, brandishing the sword as I move toward him.

“Ah-ah-ah.” Valon shakes his head. He lifts something in his hand, and my heart sinks when I see it.

It’s the little glass bottle of antidote.

The top is off it.

“Stop right there,” Valon grunts, “or this goes into the water.” His lips curl. “Besides,” he smiles, “we both know you’re no killer, puppet.”

My eyes slide to Kenzo, willing him to get better. Wanting him to be miraculously healed so he can get up and stop this.

“Put the sword down,” Valon says quietly. “And come here.”

My eyes stay on Kenzo. He doesn’t have much time. He needs to get out of here, soon.

My face is grim as I turn toward the monster leering at me. “You have a way out?”

“Of course,” he grunts, wincing as he clutches his abdomen, which is soaked with blood. “I don’t want to die here.”

“Then why did you stay?” I spit back. “Why the fuck wouldn’t you just leave⁠—”

“Because, puppet,” Valon leers at me, “I want him to watch. I want your husband to see for himself what a little whore his wife truly is.”

It feels like I’m being stabbed over and over as every horrible thing I’ve spent so many years burying comes rushing to the surface all at once.

“I hate you,” I choke as tears slip down my cheeks.

“I don’t care,” he hisses back. “Get over here. Eyes to the fucking wall.”

“Annika…”

Kenzo groans as his eyes struggle to open.

“Ahhh, you can hear us, Kenzo?” Valon snarls darkly. “Good. Listen, you fucking prick. Listen while your whore wife moans for my dick.”

Kenzo’s arm lurches out blindly, his eyes yanking open as if by sheer will. Pure, unbridled rage explodes across his face as he lunges for Valon.

But he falls short.

I cry out and jump to go to him. But Valon’s gun jammed in my face stops me.

“Face the wall, puppet,” Valon hisses quietly. “Leave the sword, while you’re at it.”

I can’t really process the sheer injustice and unimaginable horror of this moment. I know this is going to break me, but when I turn to look at Kenzo, bleeding profusely as he slumps to the floor, I also know this is the only way to save him.

If it means damning myself to hell, so be it.

If it means killing my spirit, so be it.

If it means my love is disgusted with me and never wants to look at me again…

Tears stream down my cheeks as I grit my teeth.

So. Be. It.

“Fuck you,” I snarl coldly, not even able to look at Valon. I lean the sword hilt against the wall. My feet shuffle slowly, my entire body caving in on itself as I go to where Valon is pointing—the wall across from where Kenzo is slumped.

“Turn around,” Valon breathes.

My eyes squeeze closed as I turn my face to the wall. Instantly he’s on me, shoving me against it as his disgusting hands slide over my hips and body. Every touch feels like the slash of a blade, and I flatten my palms to the brick.

Just go somewhere else.

Shut down.

Let it happen without you knowing…

I dry heave against the wall as Valon paws at me. He grunts, yanking at his belt and zipper with one hand while he tries to shove my pants down with the other.

Suddenly, he screams.

“You FUCKER!” he screeches, dropping his hands from me.

I spin, staring at where Kenzo has just stabbed Valon in the calf with the buckle of my belt, which he’s yanked off his makeshift bandage. Blood is flowing freely down his chest again as his eyes lock with mine and he slumps to the ground.

Valon pulls his gun out of his belt. As I look at the man I love, and then the one I hate, I know one thing with utter certainty.

This is not how Kenzo and I go.

This is not where we die.

Not like this.

Steeling myself, I fling my arm to the side, grab the hilt of Kenzo’s sword, and then whirl, jamming the point down into Valon’s foot. He screams in agony, dropping the gun as he staggers away from Kenzo, the blade sliding out of his shoe with a squelch.

“You bitch!” he squeals, looking at me in horror and fear. “You fucking bitch⁠—”

The blade swings up in a cold, silvery slash.

Valon’s left hand is severed instantly, sent flying into the wall before dropping to the ground. I stare at the stump of his wrist with as much shock as he does.

But then I feel something I’ve never once felt in this monster’s presence.

Powerful.

I feel fucking powerful.

Valon lets out a high, gobbling shriek as he clutches his forearm, staring at the spurting blood in horror.

“That!” I roar, “is for hurting the family it took me so long to find!”

I swing the blade again with a fury I’ve never felt before. This time, I’m ready for the shock as Valon’s other forearm is cleaved in two, his right hand sailing away.

“That is for my husband!” I scream.

Valon’s eyes are wide with terror as he staggers away from me down the tunnel, splattering blood across the walls.

“And this?!” I rush at him, plunging the blade through his chest. Valon’s entire face bulges, spittle and blood frothing from his wide mouth as he chokes violently.

“This is for me, you motherfucker!”

I twist the blade violently, yanking it side to side as blood pours from his chest. I pull the sword out of him, watching without blinking as he falls to his knees and then topples backward into a lifeless heap on the floor.

I drop the sword and run to Kenzo. His body’s still so solid and muscled that it makes it even more surreal that he’s so limp when I struggle to lift him and prop him up against the wall.

“You got him…” he murmurs quietly.

I’m shaking as I grab the belt and tie my blood-soaked shirt back to his wound. At this point, it almost seems useless.

Then my eyes drop to the little glass bottle on the ground with the antidote.

It’s empty.

I swallow back the icy feeling inside of me, ignoring the fact that my vision is swimming a little as I sit and slide in next to Kenzo. I wrap his arm over my shoulder, pulling him close as I take his hand in mine.

“We’ll rest a second,” I mumble quietly. “Then we’ll find a way out.”

“Annika.”

I swallow back the tears as I turn to him. He’s looking down into my eyes with his hooded ones, a lock of dark hair splayed across his face.

“I love you,” he breathes.

“I love you, too.”