Chapter 352: Predators
Jinzo shut the door behind him, slowly turning the key in the lock, savoring every little mechanical click like it was music to his ears.
Aiko backed away, her heels hitting the foot of the bed, her heart pounding so hard she could almost hear it in her own ears.
"Well well," Jinzo said, finally turning to face her, a smile stretching slowly across his face. "Is it fox season already?"
"Get out," Aiko said, her voice shaking despite every effort to keep it steady. "Get out of here right now."
"Or what?" He took a step toward her, slow, almost casual, hands in his pockets, like there was no rush in the world. "You gonna call your knight in shining armor?"
Aiko didn’t answer, her eyes sweeping the room fast, looking for a way out, anything, the window, too high up, probably locked anyway; the door, shut; no other exit in sight.
"I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long," Jinzo went on, taking another step, his smile widening. "You know that? Ever since that night that bastard Nash stole my spot, my team... Jaz." He nearly spat the name out. "You all loved the show, didn’t you? My girl insulting me while that asshole fucked her right in front of me. That was fun, wasn’t it? And now look at you. Little redhead tsundere, everybody’s favorite idol, all alone, in a room, with me. I’m gonna take my time tonight. I’ve waited way too long to rush this."
"I belong to Nash," Aiko spat, backing away another step, slowly circling around the bed to keep some distance between them. "And nobody else. Especially not some coward like you."
Jinzo’s smile flickered for half a second.
"Coward," he repeated softly. "Funny you’d say that." He kept advancing, circling the other side of the bed, forcing her to keep retreating. "Because tonight, I’m the one calling the shots. Not Nash. Not Hector. Me."
"You’re so pathetic it’s honestly sad," Aiko said, trying to keep her voice steady despite the panic clawing at her throat. "You know exactly what you’re doing right now, right? You’re just taking advantage of Nash being busy elsewhere to come play tough guy. And you’re gonna piss yourself the second he finds out what you tried."
"Shut up."
"It’s true and you know it," she pressed, buying time, every second mattering more than anything else now. "Look at you, you’re so desperate you gotta stalk a girl in a room just to feel powerful for two minutes. You think you’re doing something important? You’re so scared of Nash you’d never actually face him for real. That’s why you came here, where he can’t see you right away."
Jinzo stopped dead, his jaw clenching.
"You wanna play it that way," he said, his voice suddenly lower, more dangerous. "Fine. Let’s play."
He suddenly lunged, not really trying to grab her, but fast enough to catch her off guard, forcing her to dodge with a scream, scrambling around the small armchair by the window.
"Where you gonna run, huh?" he sneered, slowing back down, going back to his slow, cruel little game. "Nowhere to go. This room’s locked. Nobody’s coming to help you. I’m gonna mess up that face and we’ll see if he still likes your new look."
Back in their room, Nash froze for a split second, his blood running cold instantly. Then he shot up, his chair tipping over behind him with a crash.
"Nash?" Rei sat up too, alarmed. "What’s—"
"Jinzo’s with her," he said, already crossing the room.
He threw the door open, stepping into the hallway without a glance back, Rei rushing after him, her heels clicking frantically against the floor as she tried to keep up with his pace.
"Nash, wait—" she shouted, but he was already far ahead, his long, powerful strides carrying him at a speed she absolutely couldn’t match in those cursed shoes.
In the control room, Monique shot up out of her seat the second she saw Nash bolt out of his room on the screen, her fan dropping from her hand.
"He’s moving," she said. "He’s moving, something’s wrong."
She rushed to the main console, slamming her hand down on a big red button.
"Security, this is control room," she barked into the mic, her voice echoing through the whole system. "I’ve got an unauthorized male moving through the east corridor, heading toward room—"
Saya felt her blood run cold.
*If security intercepts Nash before he reaches Aiko, it’s over.*
She knew what Nash had done for her, and she, she’d spent months betraying him, letting him down, choosing Roam over him. This was the first time, the very first time, she actually had a real chance to do something that mattered, something good, something that might, just a little bit, fix what she’d broken.
Her body moved before her brain finished catching up.
She grabbed the wine bottle off the small table beside her and smashed it against Monique’s skull with a deafening crack, glass exploding in every direction, red wine spraying everywhere.
Monique let out a sharp scream and dropped instantly, her body hitting the edge of the desk before sliding heavily to the floor.
Dead silence took over the room.
Saya stood there, the broken neck of the bottle still in her hand, blood and wine dripping down her fingers, her chest heaving fast, too fast, her breathing coming out ragged and sharp.
Harlan stared at her, mouth hanging open, unable to say a word, his eyes jumping from Monique’s body to Saya, over and over, like he couldn’t put together what he’d just seen.
The bottle slipped from Saya’s shaking fingers, shattering on the floor with one last crash of glass.
Outside, in the hallway, Monique’s scream had already done its job, the sound of rushing footsteps echoed closer, several voices shouting orders, all converging straight toward the control room.
Nash kept running, hallways blurring past him, ignoring the few staff members who pressed themselves flat against the walls seeing him coming, too shocked by his speed and the look on his face to even think about stopping him.
In his earpiece, the sounds kept coming — Jinzo’s voice, closer now, more threatening, and Aiko’s, breathless, terrified, but still fighting.
"Don’t come near me," he heard her scream. "I swear, don’t you come any closer, or I’ll—"
"Or you’ll what," Jinzo answered, a laugh in his voice. "Look at you. Nowhere left to go."
Nash pushed harder, every second stretching out like an unbearable eternity.
In the control room, the door burst open violently, several armed security agents storming in, sweeping the room with their guns raised.
They froze at the scene in front of them: Monique unconscious on the floor in a pool of wine and blood, Saya trembling and pale, her hands stained red, Harlan frozen against the wall, his face drained of all color.
"What happened here," the security chief barked, his gun aimed straight at Saya.
Harlan stayed silent for one beat too long, his mind racing, calculating, weighing his options, before something cold and calculating settled into his eyes.
"She attacked Madame Delabite!" he blurted out suddenly, pointing a shaking finger at Saya. "I saw her do it, she grabbed the bottle and hit her, no reason at all, completely insane—"
"What— you bastard!" Saya spun toward him.
"Grab her," the chief ordered, without a second’s hesitation.
Two agents rushed her. Saya fought back instantly, an elbow flying out on its own, catching one of them square in the jaw before a third grabbed her from behind, an arm locking around her throat.
"Get off me!" she screamed, twisting every which way, her feet lashing out at anything within reach.
One of the agents slammed her forward hard, her face hitting the edge of the console before they pinned her arm behind her back, twisting it higher than necessary. She screamed, a sound of pure pain this time, before the rage took back over.
"Fuck all of you!" she spat, her cheek crushed against the cold metal of the console, a thin line of blood already trickling from her split lip. "You hear me? All of you!"
"Shut it," one agent growled, pressing down harder on her arm.
That only made her scream louder.
"Bastards, every single one of you!" She arched her back, trying to break free, only earning another, more painful twist of her arm. "You don’t even know what you’re protecting, do you! Bunch of dogs!"
A knee slammed into her back to hold her down while a second agent tied her wrists, pulling them far tighter than they needed to. She kept struggling, uselessly, her whole body straining against the hold, a growl of rage tearing out of her with every failed attempt.
That’s when she saw him, out of the corner of her eye, through the blur of pain and rage, Harlan, slipping toward the door, taking advantage of every eye being on her instead of him.
"You bastard!" she screamed, twisting violently to try and face him, earning a sharp blow to the back of her neck for it. "You piece of garbage, you fucking coward, you think you’re just gonna walk away from this?!"
Harlan didn’t even turn around, picking up his pace, disappearing through the half-open door.
"Get back here!" she spat, her voice cracking, as they hauled her up by the arms, her legs nearly dragging across the floor. "I hope you die, Harlan! I hope he finds you and rips your—"
"She done screaming yet?" one agent asked, annoyed.
"Gag her if you have to," the chief replied, not even sparing her a glance.
They dragged her out of the room, Saya still spitting curses until her voice broke down into a hoarse, exhausted growl, blood slowly drying along her chin.
Meanwhile, things had reached a breaking point for Aiko. She was backed against the far wall, no way out left, her arms raised in front of her in a useless defensive gesture, her chest heaving fast, her eyes shining with tears she refused to let fall.
"Alright," Jinzo said, finally stopping, his smile stretching slowly wider, savoring every second of this moment. "I think we’ve played enough."
"Fuck you," Aiko repeated, her voice breaking on the words.
"Oh, if you insist, lol. I’ll be sure to fuck you in the ass too," he said simply, taking another step, closing the distance between them even further. "You know what I’ve wanted since the start. Since that night I watched Nash take Jaz. Tonight, it’s my turn to take something."
He reached both hands out toward her, slowly, like he wanted to stretch out every second of it.
That’s when a violent crash shook the door behind him.
Jinzo froze, his hands stopping mid-air. Aiko’s head snapped up, her heart leaping in her chest.
A second impact followed, harder this time, the door frame cracking under the blow, wood splitting slowly along the lock.
"What the—" Jinzo started, turning halfway around.
A third impact. The door visibly buckled, a chunk of wood breaking off and hitting the floor.
Jinzo stepped back, his confidence cracking all at once, his eyes wide and locked on the door as it kept giving way, blow after blow, the metal of the lock screeching, about to give out completely.
A fourth impact, even more violent than the ones before it.
The door blew partially inward, wood tearing apart, the hinges ripped clean out of the frame in a deafening crash.
And through the cloud of dust and splintered wood still settling, Nash’s fist appeared first, still clenched, knuckles split and bleeding, followed immediately by the rest of him.