Chapter 36 Jailbird
Chapter 36 Jailbird
The doctors had given me six months to recover. I made it back before the fourth month was even up—healed enough, at least, for a sentence.
At the hearing, I was hit with a barrage of charges: assault, disturbing the peace, and even attempted rape.
I spat toward the bench. "What, are you under that bastard Yoon's power as well?"
It didn't take much to get me removed. Now, I was bound again. Muzzled. Leashed. The police had to physically drag me out of the courtroom because I was ready to tear apart anyone who came near me.
Later, my parents came to my temporary cell, offering pathetic words of consolation. “We managed to get the lightest sentence available,” they said. “We also kept them from trying you as an adult. You're going back to a Class Two institution—the same one you were in before.”
They spoke like it was a victory. I didn't care.
The bus arrived with my heavy escort in tow. It was the same place, but it looked bigger now—more walls, more security.
The instructors were waiting at intake. Two buff guard dogs received me, both gripping batons.
"You're gonna need a bigger weapon," I scoffed.
"Where's the chief?" I barked, already salivating. The moment I saw her, I was ready to take her down right there on the floor.
But those assholes didn't answer me.
I was pushed inside just like last time. More paperwork bullshit. Idiots. Once that was done, they took off my muzzle, left my hand restraints on, and shoved me straight into the common room. My feet were free to walk, and I could feel my eyes glowing as I looked around at the fresh meat.
It didn't take long for them to regret it.
Now, the heavy leather muzzle was back, clamped securely over the lower half of my face with the straps biting deep into my cheeks. What did they expect me to use as a weapon if my hands were tied? My brief return to the general population of this baby prison had already given them their answer.
Idiots, I thought, testing the tension on my bindings. I told them not to put me in gen pop. Are they really that stupid? They seriously still don't know who I am.
I tried to spit out the lingering metallic taste of iron, but it just caught against the leather guard. I could still feel a tiny shred of that guy's flesh stuck between my teeth.
I looked around the room. The setup was disgustingly familiar.
They’d moved me right back into my old "home room," scrubbing the floors clean, plastering over the gouges and scratches I’d left in the walls last time, and flooding the space with harsh, clinical light. It was like they genuinely believed a fresh coat of paint could erase what I had turned into inside this cell. It looked almost civilized now. Fucking hilarious.
This whole situation was absolute bullshit. I had been inches away from ending that worm when his backup ran me over with the car. Now, they’d dragged me right back into the cage. Once I get out of here, I’m carving your dick off and making her watch while I burn it to ash.
Their mocking faces appeared briefly before me, hovering in the blinding light.
And you, Alice... my mind whispered, a cold, poisonous promise settling in my chest. You’re going to beg me for a quick death. I’m going to take my sweet time making you feel the utmost, agonizing pain you could ever imagine.
I thrashed against the heavy canvas straps until the friction flared white-hot across my wrists and shoulders.
Good, I told myself. Remember the pain. Let it feed you. It keeps you sharp. Never trust. Never forgive. Never go soft.
The exhaustion of the struggle had just started to pull at my eyelids when the heavy deadbolt on the cell door clicked.
I snapped awake. The door swung open. She was here.
“And here I thought you would have transferred out or changed jobs by now,” I glanced through the straps of the muzzle, “since you didn’t show yourself when I arrived. You haven’t even come by to greet me after all this time.”
Chief Sweet Ass stood in the doorway, her arms folded tightly across her chest, staring down at me with that same frozen, unbothered ice-queen glare I remembered so well.
“I told you I never wanted to see you here again, Taiyou Iryoku,” she said, her voice low and deadly.
A slow, manic grin stretched my lips. “I just couldn’t stay away from you, beautiful.” I dragged my tongue across the gaps in the leather, licking the air like a dog in heat. “That sweet ass has been calling my name. Seeing your coldness hasn’t changed one bit. Bet I could fix that sour fucking attitude in ten minutes flat.”
She didn’t move an inch. She just looked at me like I was something she’d scrape off her heel.
I laughed, a low, ragged rasp. “Come on, Chief. Don’t you wanna find out what this mouth can do when it’s not muzzled? I’ll have you screaming my name instead of barking orders.”
She stepped closer. The deliberate click of her heels on the floor echoed like a countdown.
“Do you really want to end up like this?” Her voice had lost its icy edge, but not its crushing weight. “What about your parents? What about your future? Don’t you want something to actually be happy about for once?”
“Right now..." I practically spat the words through the leather guard, drool and venom dripping down my chin. "...breaking every damn thing and killing every cunt who ever hurt or crossed me... is what I still live for.” My grin split even wider. “And yeah—fucking any hot piece of ass I see. No more passing on premium meat like the stupid, weak kid I used to be. Nobody leads me. Nobody owns me. Not anymore.”
I locked bloodshot eyes with her. “And right now… you’re right here. The only woman good enough for kilometers. Ehehehe…”
She didn’t flinch. She didn't even blink. “What would your brother Kota think if he saw you like this?”
Kota…
The name hit me like a sledgehammer to the chest.
My vision tunneled black for a split second. A sudden, scalding heat burned at the corners of my eyes, and I blinked the tears away like they were acid. “Don’t you fucking dare talk about him,” I snarled, baring my teeth so hard my jaw popped. “You don’t know shit about him!”
She stepped straight up to the edge of the bed, closing the remaining distance until I could smell her—something clean and sharp, heavy with feminine pheromones, like cold steel and roses. Her hand rose without hesitation. Her fingers calmly worked the heavy iron buckle behind my head.
The muzzle fell away.
I stared up at her, my chest heaving, teeth bared like fangs. Do it, I dared her silently. Touch me. Try anything. I was ready to snap forward and sink my teeth into whatever she offered—throat, tit, it didn’t matter.
But she just looked at me. Calm. Unshakably steady.
“Anger, rage, revenge… they don’t just destroy your enemies. They destroy you, and the people who love you.” Her voice dropped an octave, a heavy, quiet melancholy settling over her features. “Believe me. I know exactly what it feels like to lose someone, boy—to feel suffocated, to feel like you don't have a way out. All the pain, all the white-hot anger… but I chose to burn it away and live. Even if it hurts, to live for their memory.”
She paused, her eyes boring into mine. “Tell me, tomorrow or years from now—what will remain of you? What will be left of your body… or your soul? Will you remain incarcerated? Will anyone even remember you existed?”
“To hell with that petty bullshit!” I snapped, straining against the straps. “You know what that kind of thinking gave me? Nothing but pain! Everybody took advantage of me. The girls I loved all betrayed me. My enemies beat the shit out of me. They destroyed my life—I have nothing left! I don’t care about anything anymore. Nothing matters!”
She just stared at me, the brief softness in her expression hardening into something cold. Then her tone shifted—still deadly serious, but now edged with something dark, almost playful. “Want to make a bet?”
“What?”