Without her crossbow, Ayumi decided to take a more direct approach to deal with Akira. She stretched out her long legs to kick at the shorter woman. Her dark eyes held a vicious and vengeful look that betrayed evil intentions.

Akira stepped back and wielded her whip with expertise. She snapped it at the attacking woman repeatedly, unwilling to give Ayumi even a small chance to touch her. She did not know if it was her imagination, but Ayumi seemed to be targeting her abdomen.

​​

This narrow-minded approach to fighting made Ayumi unable to show much power in the altercation, giving Akira a chance to use her whip to its full capacity.

People often underestimated the power of Akira's whip in a fight. While it was painful when it came in contact with skin, the pain was never debilitating at first. It would only leave a feeling of heat after it was disengaged.

As a result, most people would not notice the true effects of the whip until it was too late. Akira had practised using whips for countless hours before she mastered a technique to maximise internal damage.

Therefore, when Ayumi continued attacking her with vehemence, she did not change her slow and gentle pace of attack. She delivered lash after lash to her hands, legs and back.

After about five minutes, Ayumi started to feel bone-deep pain from the places where Akira had hit her. The realisation made her frown. The hits of the whip did not seem so painful. She could not understand the current aching.

Her feet became unstable, making it impossible for her to stand up properly. The weight of her body made her damaged legs even more painful. She leaned against the wall to prevent a collapse to the ground.

When Akira noticed that her target was weak, she approached her and kicked her to the ground. She felt satisfied as the tall woman fell to the ground. The hateful expression on her face made Akira kick her a few more times.

"Fancy seeing you here." Akira finally said while still holding her whip.

"If you can be here, why can't I be here?" Ayumi asked while lying on the ground, unable to move.

Akira snapped her whip, and it landed right next to Ayumi's face. "You are right. What I would like to know is why you are following me."

Ayumi looked away from Akira and refused to speak. She did not think that the other woman could do anything if she did not answer her question.

Akira laughed. "It is alright if you refuse to answer my questions. Of course, I will only continue using my whip to let out my frustration. I should let you know that you probably will not be able to walk for a few weeks if I deliver one more lash."

Ayumi's face darkened. "Do you think you can scare me?"

Akira snapped her whip and it landed on the shins of Ayumi's legs. "Now, tell me, why were you following me. I have some time to kill, and you are not in a position to fight back anymore. Think carefully before you speak."

Ayumi groaned out with pain. "Do you think I have time to follow you around? I am looking for Kaito. I only saw you by coincidence. I thought you were up to something nefarious."

"Is that so? You decided to attack me just because you saw me by coincidence?" Akira asked coldly. "You could have injured and even killed me. I hate to think what would happen if you were really targeting me."

Ayumi supported herself on her injured arms and managed to sit up against the wall of the early. She looked at Akira with hate and disgust. Every time she saw the other woman, Ayumi would feel like her entire existence was meant to annoy her.

"I wish I had managed to kill you. If it were not for you, Kaito would not be missing. Since he met you, his life has been a disaster." Ayumi spat out. "He used to be a renowned assassin that led the Shadow Brotherhood and gained recognition from the world."

"What did he get after he hooked up with you? He became the material of a cheap tabloid site. He lost the respect of his subordinates. Not to mention that he gave up on the Shadow Brotherhood he built using blood and tears."

Akira pursed her lips as she listened to Ayumi. "Do Kaito's choices have anything to do with you? Whether he decides to be an assassin or not is not your business. From what I hear, you have control of the Shadow Brotherhood now. Be satisfied and move on."

Ayumi felt ashamed at the statement. The way Akira phrased it looked like Kaito was giving her something that he did not want anymore. Actually, she had suspected as much when he officially handed over all the operations of the Shadow Brotherhood to her.

She noticed that he withdrew his closest subordinates from the official roster of the group. He said that those few people were his personal acolytes. He recruited them as his assistants, so they could not remain in the Shadow Brotherhood without him.

Additionally, he said that since she did not want to work alongside him anymore, it would not do to launder money through Shuriken Logistics. He advised her to establish a new setup for handling the finances before cutting off all the flimsy links between the two businesses.

He did not make other moves. He handed over the Shadow Brotherhood in his entirety to her. Even though it looked outwardly like he was still a part of it, only she knew that Kaito had separated himself from the assassin group.

Unfortunately, she had not realised that this matter until it was too late.

She had chosen to run Shadow Brotherhood because she believed that Kaito would not be able to stay away from the underworld. She thought that once he was done playing with Akira, he would return to his former life.

But she had just realised that he did not intend to return to the Shadow Brotherhood. He had cleaned out himself and his close associates from the group, leaving everything in her power. She should have been happy at having the most powerful assassin group, but all she felt was empty.

And when she saw the news that Akira could be pregnant, she felt cold. She was completely sure that Kaito would not return to Shadow Brotherhood. That night, she drank alone in her house until she fell into a stupor. She wanted to give up on Kaito.

But then, she heard through the rumour mill that Kaito had gone missing. And it was possible that he was captured by someone with evil intentions. The news revitalised her. If she could bring him back, he would understand her power and devotion to him.

Who knew she would see Akira when she finally managed to get a lead?

She felt angry. She should have discovered this place far ahead of Akira, but Kaito's subordinates were hard to find. And when she identified one of them after using countless resources, they refused to tell her anything about the night Kaito went missing.

She looked at Akira with uncontrollable anger and hatred.

"If you keep looking at me like that, my whip might land on your face." Akira smiled with subtle darkness.