Chapter 12 

 

Overall, it had been a long bleak night. 

 

Not that Changwook had any way of knowing what time of day it was as they were trapped underground and neither of them had a watch or cell phone but something just told him that it was morning or near enough. 

 

Neither of them had slept all that much during the night if it had actually been night-time. Yoona had managed to get a few hours or at least what had felt like a few hours. 

 

The main thing that made Changwook think that it was morning was that fifty minutes ago four goons had open the door long enough to set two trays of food on the floor beside the door. 

 

The moment Changwook had heard the door being unbolted, Changwook had sprung to his feet, Yoona following an instant later and he had step in front of Yoona, planting himself protectively between her and the door but the door had been open for less than thirty seconds, only long enough to leave them the food they had brought. 

 

At first, neither Yoona nor himself had moved towards the tray, neither of them was really that interested in the food. There was something about the prospect of it being their last meal that stole their appetite. Besides, anything could have been put in the food delivered to them by their enemy, drugs, poison, anything. 

 

Although Changwook doubted very much that Sejoon would waste his time poisoning the food when there was nothing stopping him from just walking right in and putting a bullet in them. 

 

Drugging, on the other hand, was something else entirely. From drugs that would render them unconscious to drugs that would make them frisky, there was no telling what a man like Sejoon, as out of his mind as he was, would do. 

 

They were the unwilling captives of a madman; even eating the food they were given was a risk. 

 

A risk they would eventually have to take. They needed to eat. Changwook needed to keep his strength up to fight and Yoona needed to eat to stay strong. He wouldn't let her despair cause her to do herself harm. 

 

It was that last thought that eventually made Changwook retrieve the tray from the floor where they had been left. He had retaken his seat beside Yoona on the floor, sitting beside her but without touching her, he didn't know if she even wanted anyone's touch right now so he plays it safe. He was there for her but he had also given her the space she needed right now. Seated beside her once again, Changwook turns his attention back to the food. He didn't trust Sejoon or any of his goons even an inch. He had tasted everything on one tray first, taking only small bites of each thing and had waited a full twenty minutes. 

 

With nothing that had tasted funny and no apparent side effects, Changwook had then slid the tray closer to Yoona and done what he could to encourage Yoona to eat something. 

 

The food was nothing special or luxurious, just cold sandwiches, two oranges and two bottles of water, plastic bottles so not to give them a weapon but it was food for their empty stomachs. 

 

It wasn't easy. Yoona had shown no sign of life since their conversation had died down after he had told her that he would die for her. Since then Yoona had been leaning against the wall, staring almost unblinkingly at the floor and hadn't moved or spoken since. 

 

Despite how hungry Yoona had to have been, he knew because he was the same, it had taken Changwook a good half an hour to get her to eat just half of her sandwich and swallow a couple of mouthfuls of water. 

 

He had given up after that, knowing that Yoona was so out of it right now that it was unlikely that she even knew he was there. She was trapped in her own thoughts and it was clear that she wasn't going to snap out of it anytime soon. 

 

Yoona was trapped in her own personal hell and Changwook knew that she needed time to work through it on her own. 

 

Changwook had never felt more miserable or useless in his life. Yoona was going through so much and even though he was right there beside her there was absolutely nothing he could do to help her. 

 

Whatever had come over her hours before that had allowed her to have a real conversation with him seem to have well and truly pass. No doubt she was now completely wrapped up in her thoughts about what her immediate future now held that it was all sinking in, no doubt the bed with the manacles attached feature prominently in her gloomy thoughts. 

 

It broke his heart to see his Yoona like this. She looks so defeated. It was something Changwook was so unaccustomed to seeing in her. Yoona was the strongest woman he had ever known and as stubborn as the ocean. It felt so wrong seeing her like that but he couldn't blame her for losing hope. She didn't know about the one card he had left up his sleeve, his weapon still hidden beneath the bed, he hadn't gone near it since he had hidden it there and he couldn't tell her. The cell was no doubt bug, the risk that he would be overheard was just too great to chance it. 

 

Protecting Yoona was his highest priority. 

 

Then with that clear in mind and knowing he had to keep his strength up, Changwook had eaten his meal and down his water. At least food and water wouldn't be a problem it seems. Sejoon needed Yoona to be strong and healthy so the food would most certainly keep coming and there was a tap in the bathroom that provided plenty of suitable drinking water. 

 

With the both of them fed, Changwook sighs heavily and settled back against the wall, closing his eyes but not allowing himself to relax enough that he risk falling asleep. He hadn't slept in two days but he didn't care. He couldn't sleep at least until tonight. If anything was going to happen, it would most likely happen during the day. Now that they had been there a couple of days, long enough for things to settle just a little, they should be left alone during the night. 

 

That would be when Changwook would finally be able to get some sleep. 

 

Although sleep deprivation wasn't new to Changwook. He had endured it before and he could and would endure it again. He wasn't trained like the men in the special forces, nowhere near it but he had trained himself to deal with many things and situations, including sleep deprivation. It was one of his many survival techniques that had not only help keep him alive but had made him the best at what he did. 

 

Besides, as uncomfortable as he was, with his body so stiff and aching, staying awake wasn't really that much of a problem but if he was stiff and uncomfortable then so was Yoona. That bothered him more than his own discomfort. So much so that several times during the night, Changwook had considered the idea of moving Yoona to the bed so that she will be more comfortable but then he will look up at the said bed and see the restraints lying there like dead silver snakes and had decided against it. 

 

Again and again and again. Part of what had stopped him each and every time was that until he knew what Yoona's mental state was like, Changwook wasn't going to risk inflicting further harm to her already fragile mind. 

 

Even the strongest and most resilient of minds had its breaking point. 

 

Maybe when Yoona had regained some more of her inner strength and will he might be able to convince her to use a pillow from the bed, maybe even allow him to fold the coverings beneath her in a make-shift bed. 

 

Maybe. 

 

The metallic clicks and thuds of the lock and bolt abruptly releasing was the only warning Changwook had before the door flew open and just as quickly, Changwook was on his feet, automatically once again placing himself between Yoona, who was still on the floor at his feet and the men who swiftly file into their cell. 

 

Two goons enter first, followed closely by Sejoon and Kai and then two more goons, the same goons who had brought them food only a short while ago. 

 

The first thing Changwook realize was that Sejoon was well and truly bright red in the face eyes blazing murderously piss off. Pure rage was flaring in his eyes with all the heat and intensity of a forest fire that had been raging unchecked for days and his face was so red and his expression so twisted that Changwook almost took a step back. 

 

Alarm, dread, and fear swell in him, twirling together like shirts in a washing machine. Changwook knew this man. He had spent his entire career learning everything he could about this man so he could one day bring him down and one thing Changwook knew for sure about this man was that he considers himself highly intelligent and control but when Sejoon did became enraged, people die. 

 

Violently and not always quickly. 

 

That Changwook had seen with his own eyes as a young boy. 

 

Changwook fought to keep an expressionless mask, even while knowing his eyes were blazing with a deadly warning. 

 

Before Changwook could do or say anything, Sejoon had zero his furious gaze in on Yoona who was still sitting on the floor behind him. 

 

"Where are they?!" Sejoon demanded, roaring at the top of his voice. 

 

In the small enclosed space, his words resonated around them like they were trapped inside of a giant bell. 

 

Changwook heard Yoona give a startled gasp, shock out of her stupor by her dad's uncontrol burning rage. 

 

Instinctively Changwook protectively shifted his body slightly to one side so that Yoona was more fully behind him as if he could use his body to shield her from Sejoon's fury. 

 

In Sejoon's enrage state he was capable of anything, even unintentionally severely harming or even killing her. 

 

Changwook's entire body tense, his stance subtly changing into a more battle ready stance, ready to do whatever it took to keep Yoona safe and unharmed but he wasn't going to act first. He wasn't going to risk setting Sejoon off. He wasn't just a pretty face and a born warrior, he was smart and he knew it, his mind was his greatest and most deadly weapon. He had only act defensively, premature offensive action, unless necessary, could very well cost the both of them very dearly. 

 

In other words, Changwook wasn't going to leap before looking. Impulsive reactions would only escalate the situation unnecessarily. 

 

While Changwook's body was ready for battle, his mind works overtime to try to figure out what had set Sejoon off and what he wanted, what he meant by 'where are they'. 

 

Where was what? They didn't have anything. 

 

Unless of course, Sejoon had somehow found out about his weapon but that didn't make any sense. If that were the case, wouldn't Sejoon be demanding the weapon from him even if he didn't know where Changwook had hidden it? 

 

Although under the bed wasn't exactly an uncommon hiding place. 

 

What had set Sejoon off into a rage? 

 

While Changwook took his defensive position in front of her, poised for action, Yoona found herself rather unimpressed by her dad's rage but still it had been enough to rouse her from her troubled mind. She felt like she had been doused by cold water as she was wrench back into reality by her dad's half-crazed outburst. 

 

For what could have been hours or even most of the night, Yoona had lost track of both time and her surroundings, all else outside of her mind fading away until she had been aware of nothing else but her thoughts. She had a vague memory of Changwook insisting that she eat something and she had, Yoona was sure of it but for the life of her she couldn't remember what it was that she had eaten. 

 

She had been so lost in her thoughts, fears and worst nightmare come to life that there had been no room for anything else in her consciousness. 

 

Maybe she had fallen asleep, she didn't and couldn't know if she had. She may very well have been and just haven't been aware of it. 

 

That was how misery and self-loathing work. They consume your mind and body until there was nothing else. 

 

Although, her conversation with Changwook had been a brief reprieve. She could remember those precious minutes vividly but then the silence had returned and Yoona had removed herself from Changwook's embrace. 

 

Now, an unknown amount of time later, it was like she had just woken up from a nightmare that she hadn't been able to wake up from for the longest time. She was disorientated and confuse and had no idea what her dad was talking about but what she did know was herself. She was never going to cower before her dad. She had done many things in the last few days that she had sworn she will never do. She had begged him, she had cried in front of him, she had been so very close to surrendering to him and giving him what he craved in hopes that Changwook might live but by god she was never going to cower before him. 

 

Yoona surge to her feet, her own anger ignited within her and with it reigniting her inner strength and will. 

 

Honestly, it felt like she had just woken up after being trapped in a coma for so long and just like that her anger flooded her like liquid fire, bulldozing right over her common sense and self-preservation instincts. 

 

Yoona steps out from behind Changwook to face her dad, standing beside her lover rather than cowering behind him. 

 

"Where are they?!" Her dad roar at her again, but still Yoona had no idea what he was talking about, what he wanted. 

 

"What?!" Yoona snaps back harshly. If he was going to roar and scream at her, the very least he could do was let her know what he was screaming at her about. 

 

How could she give him anything when she didn't even know what it was that he wanted or what had him so enrage? 

 

What could she possibly have done in the last day or so? She had spent most of that time sitting on the floor lock in his sick erted prison. 

 

Impossibly, her one word made an even greater rage surge in his wide bulging wildly-enflame eyes as Sejoon bare his clench teeth. 

 

Too late Yoona saw her dad's hands twitch as he stalks quickly towards her but even as she did she realize the significance of the gesture. 

 

The moment Sejoon was within reach of her, he let his hand fly, his palm connecting sharply with the side of her face, slapping her across the face so hard that pain explodes in her head and she was sent flying backward, knock completely off her feet. 

 

Yoona half-landed on her back on the bottom corner of the bed where she remains for a single moment before she slid clumsily off the side. With nothing to grasp a hold of in time, Yoona landed awkwardly on the floor, her hand instinctively moving to cover the inflame stinging side of her face. 

 

With her senses momentarily scramble, Yoona remains where she was while she fought to regain her senses. 

 

Changwook watches Sejoon as he stalks up to Yoona and had instantly known his intent but he wasn't fast enough to act, to stop him from striking Yoona across the face, sending her flying back onto the bed. 

 

Changwook saw red. He hadn't expected Sejoon to actually strike her just for asking her dad what it was that he wanted. It was a testament to the fact that the man had truly lost his mind but Changwook didn't care about Sejoon's state of mind. Every inch of his being, every cell of his body, violently demanded that Sejoon pay in blood and pain for daring to strike Yoona but Changwook wasn't who he was for nothing. His self-control had been stretched to the very limit in the space of a moment but still, Changwook held himself in place, fighting to keep his control of both himself and his temper. 

 

If he attacks Sejoon, they might very well put a bullet in him and he couldn't protect Yoona if he was dead but at the same time, Changwook wasn't about to stand by and watch Yoona be beaten. 

 

How this all went would depend entirely on Sejoon. 

 

Taking only a moment to assure himself that Yoona was ok, her eyes were open and clear, although blazing with her own temper and she was already getting to her feet, her hand still held to the side of her face, beneath which her cheek had already started to turn an angry red where her dad's blow had landed, Changwook once again step between Yoona and her dad, planting himself protectively in front of her. 

 

Instead this time Changwook raise his hands in a non-threatening 'ok you have made your point, now back off' gesture or at least as non-threatening gesture as it was possible of him given who and what he was but Changwook might as well have been invisible for all the attention Sejoon paid him as he continues to glare murderously at Yoona. 

 

Changwook couldn't have that. He needed as much of Sejoon's attention on him as possible so that the next time Sejoon lash out, it would be against him and not Yoona. He could take anything Sejoon dish out, as long as he left Yoona alone. 

 

"What is all this about?" Changwook demanded in a carefully non-threatening voice. He needed answers but he couldn't risk antagonizing Sejoon any further than he already was. The man was right on the edge of both his temper and sanity, "What do you want?" Movement out of the corner of his eye caught Changwook's attention. Kai had moved closer to Sejoon's side, putting Kai closer to him also. There was a look of barely contain gleeful anticipation on Kai's face that Changwook didn't like. 

 

Kai was a sadistic bloodthirsty animal waiting for its chance to strike. 

 

Great. Just great. Kai was taking advantage of Sejoon's crazed state. No doubt Kai wanted a rematch after their fight back in the motel room, in which regardless of the fact that Changwook had been greatly outnumbered, he had still handed Kai his and Kai obviously plan to use this opportunity to get it. 

 

Just like a sulky little child. Had the situation not been so serious Changwook would have gladly delighted in taunting Kai as childishly as he could manage. Maybe something along the lines of sticking his tongue out at Kai even. 

 

Changwook forces his inner child away and dismisses the highly ill-time but tempting idea. He had bigger things to deal with than Kai. 

 

Sejoon had finally torn his raging wide eyes away from his daughter and turn them on Changwook. 

 

"Did you know?!" Sejoon demanded furiously of Changwook, the words hissing at him from between his clench teeth, sending spittle flying but at least that was a downgrade from roaring at them. 

 

"About what?" What could possibly have set Sejoon off like a red flag did a bull? 

 

"The birth control pills that that ungrateful of mine has been taking!" Sejoon his finger out towards Yoona, both the gesture and his words were viscously accusing. 

 

'Oh. .' 

 

It took every acting skill Changwook possess to keep his thoughts from showing on his face and from reacting to Sejoon's accusation in any way as Sejoon was watching his face very closely, obviously intending to read his answer in his reaction. 

 

Changwook wasn't stupid. He immediately knew exactly how Sejoon had known. Since he was demanding they hand over the pills it wasn't because he had found them. 

 

The blood the private nurse had taken after the assassination attempt on Yoona. 

 

Honestly, Changwook hadn't expected Sejoon to do that thoroughly of a workup on Yoona's blood but that mistake was on him and him alone. 

 

It was just one more reason Changwook had to hate himself, not that he needed it. 

 

Behind him, Yoona surges forward, obviously in anger and spoke before Changwook could give a reply to Sejoon's accusation. 

 

A true answer would no doubt be his own death sentence. If he lies and claims that he hadn't known that Yoona was taking birth control pills, Sejoon wouldn't believe him and would most likely shoot him personally for lying to him but if Changwook told the truth he was dead. 

 

If he lies, Sejoon wouldn't believe him anyway and he was dead. 

 

Never in all his professional career had Changwook found himself in a situation that was more aptly suited the phrase 'damn if you do, damn if you don't'. 

 

Maybe that was why Yoona started screaming at her dad, saving Changwook from answering the question that would have no doubt have gotten him killed. 

 

Or maybe Yoona was just finally fed up with her dad and the whole situation that she had been imprisoned in for two years now. 

 

"Your own wife took your daughter and hid her from you for the remainder of her life!" Yoona screams at her dad, each and every word an equally enrage accusation as those he had thrown at her, "What makes you think for even a moment I would let you have mine?!" Sejoon's hands curl into tightly clench fists as color flooded his face, making him appear purple in the face. Incomprehensible sounds that could have been the beginnings of words were escaping from between his teeth that were clenched together so tightly that it had to be painful. 

 

Sejoon's entire body was shaking from the force of his rage that he was visibly struggling to control. 

 

Sejoon made a threatening step towards Yoona, only to find that Changwook had moved directly into his path, once again standing between the two of them even as they continue to scream at each other. 

 

"How long?!" Sejoon demanded, the volume of his voice lower to somewhere near normal but the suppress violence and rage remain present, "How long have you been on them?! How long have you been deceiving me?! Betraying me?!" 

 

Yoona sneers furiously, defiantly, at her dad as if she couldn't believe that he had had the gall to say what he had just said. Temper flare in her eyes like a solar flare and her entire body was shaking from the force of her fury, her delicate hands curl into fists so tight that all color had leached out of them. 

 

"From the beginning!" Yoona roar at him, answering his question with an outright lie and undoubtedly saving Changwook's life by doing so, although Changwook had no idea at all whether Yoona had lie to save him or if she had lie solely to further piss off her dad and rub it in his face that she had outmanoeuvred him yet again. In his own house, right under his nose. Changwook knew for a fact that Yoona hadn't been on birth control of any sort until the FBI had provided it in the guise of vitamins that no one in Sejoon's household had ever look twice at. 

 

Sejoon had been a purplish red before but right before their eyes, Changwook watches him actually turn deep purple, the kind when people were choking. 

 

"Where are they?!" Sejoon hiss, from between his clench teeth, each word separate from the rest. His neck was corded and there was a vein in his forehead that was popping so much that Changwook swore he could actually see it beating as his heart rapidly pump blood through it. It was a warning if there ever was one. Changwook knew that Sejoon was on the verge of doing something violent that wouldn't end well for any of them. 

 

"Yoona, give them to him," Changwook order her, without taking his eyes off of Sejoon, Kai or any of the goons. 

 

The situation had deteriorated too far already in only a matter of seconds and it was currently teetering on a knife's edge. Any little thing could send Sejoon toppling over and it wasn't just his life that Yoona was risking in this pointless standoff with her dad. 

 

It was her own. For Yoona's sake, they had to lose this battle. 

 

Yoona wouldn't be needing the birth control pills anymore anyway. Changwook wasn't going to touch her as long as they were Sejoon's prisoners and he damn sure wasn't going to let anyone else, namely Kai, touch her either. 

 

Changwook would kill each and every one of them first. 

 

Yoona remains silent and in doing so she remains defiant. All the while she doggedly ignores the sharp sting that consumes one whole side of her face. Instead, Yoona focuses all her being on glaring at her dad with as much of her rage and hatred on her face as she dares to show. Even though she was almost enraged beyond control, knowing what would happen to Changwook kept her from losing it completely and letting her dad see what was really there behind her mask. 

 

If her mask slip completely and her dad saw what she really felt towards him and the idea of giving him the grandson he so insanely craved, Yoona had no doubt that Changwook would die for it and she would most likely be pregnant within the month against her will but what Sejoon saw must have been enough to guess because he abruptly took a threatening step towards her regardless of Changwook standing in his way. 

 

Once again Changwook moves to block him, attempting to remain as non-threatening as possible while still remaining protectively between the two of them. 

 

Yoona knew that she had to give Sejoon the birth control pills, they were no good to her now anyway as she had left them behind when they had run but she just couldn't do it the easy way. There were still a few more ways left for her to defy Sejoon and she will take each and every one. She was never going to submit to this monster. 

 

A sudden blur of moment fill her vision and just like that Changwook was gone from in front of her, gone from his protective position between her and Sejoon like he had been snatch right out of thin air. 

 

Perplex, Yoona look around, finding Changwook a moment later. The same moment that she became aware of the strange sounds that hadn't been in the room the moment before. Changwook was on the floor, lock in physical combat with Kai who was attacking Changwook with a dark sadistic expression on his face that twisted his features into something ugly. 

 

The two were rolling across the floor, punches and blows being thrown in the process, meaty male grunts and sounds of effort and the occasional pain-fill grunt coming from them as they continue to lash out at the other, each taking whatever opportunity presented itself to deliver some damage, making their fight awkward and their blows mostly clumsy half-blows. Then Yoona understood what the blur had been. Kai had tackle Changwook, knocking them both to the floor and now the two were going at it, each trying to gain the upper hand but so far neither had been able to do so. 

 

Yoona tore her eyes away from the two struggling on the ground and raise her gaze back to Sejoon's face and what Yoona saw turn her blood to ice and fill her with mind-numbing terror. 

 

Sejoon was so enraged, so furious that he was beyond maddened, possibly even beyond rational thought. His eyes were narrow into tiny slits on his purple face. His breaths were coming out from between clench teeth in loud short puffs. 

 

Changwook was fighting Kai. No doubt in Sejoon's crazed-mind he saw it as Changwook once again defying him. 

 

Sejoon would kill him for defying him yet again. 

 

Behind Sejoon, the goons watch the two wrestling on the floor but made no move towards them, obviously waiting for Sejoon's order. 

 

She had to put a stop to this. She had to get Sejoon, Kai, and the goons out of there so that her dad would have time to calm down. 

 

Yoona had to convince her dad that there was still a chance of him getting what he wanted, "They are in my bathroom." Yoona told her dad, her words quick and desperate, deliver with a plea that not even in his crazed and enrage could he miss it, "In the women's vitamin bottle." 

 

Something flash in Sejoon's eyes, something lethal and Yoona instinctively knew that telling her dad what he wanted to know wasn't enough to appease him in his current state. 

 

"I left them when I left." Yoona chose leftover any other more accurate words like ran or bolted. Her dad was right on the edge, if he was pushed anymore it would end in death, "I haven't taken them since." 

 

Another lie. This one was a big one. She had never stop taking them even on the run, she hadn't had, too. The bag of clothing and necessities that Changwook had given her had included them. The last one she had taken had been the day before they had been caught but Yoona was never going to let her dad know that and right now the lie was the only thing that she could come up with that stood a chance of calming Sejoon's rage enough to save Changwook's life. 

 

There was a desperation in her voice that was unmistakable, a desperation to save Changwook that Yoona hope was enough to mask any trace of the lie in her voice. 

 

On the floor, Changwook continue to struggle and fight with Kai who was currently on top pinning Changwook to the floor who landed a solid blow to Kai's left cheek that made him grunt like a pain Neanderthal and left him momentarily stun, just long enough for Changwook to roll the both of them until he was on top. 

 

Changwook pin Kai to the floor and pull back his tightly clenched fists, the knuckles of which were red and raw, preparing to deliver yet another blow to Kai's face. 

 

Somehow Yoona knew with a startling clarity that if Changwook delivers that blow if he bested Kai again with Sejoon in his current state that it would mean Changwook's life, "Changwook Oppa! No!" Yoona cried out desperately. 

 

At her cry, Changwook's head whirl around, his fist frozen in place in mid-air, his eyes finding hers and just like that, right before her eyes, Changwook was in control of himself again. Yoona watch as all of Changwook's male aggression and violence was gone from his eyes between one blink and the next. 

 

Yoona almost cried in relief when Changwook lowers his fist and rose to his feet, releasing Kai and step away from him. 

 

Yoona took only a moment to marvel at how Changwook had heard her plea in her voice to stop because everything depended on him stepping back and not claiming the victory over Kai, Sejoon's right-hand man. 

 

In three wide strides, Changwook was with her once again. He planted himself in front of her but slightly to the side, making the protective stance just that little bit less confrontational. With a heavy dread weighing her down, Yoona turns back to her dad who in the last few moments seem to have regained some small piece of his self-control. His fury was still blazing in his dark eyes but he was no longer shaking, even his hands had uncurled, no longer fisted but they were not out of danger. Yoona felt it as surely as she felt a flame that was too close to her skin. His gaze was burning a hole in her as he continues to stare at her with fury in his eyes and a dark lethal expression on his face that promise retribution and when he spoke, his voice was low but it was anything but control or compose. The threat in his tone was so thick that it was almost visible, "This is your last warning, Yoona. The next time you cross me the consequences will be devastating." 

 

Her dad's eyes flicker towards Changwook, telling Yoona without words exactly what the consequences would be. 

 

Yoona didn't want to think about how close she had just come to watch Changwook be murder right before her eyes. She had almost lost him and the next time there would be no almost. The next time Changwook's life would be taken and Yoona strongly suspected that Changwook's death was the one thing that she could and would not be able to endure. 

 

With his threat deliver, Sejoon spun on his heel and stalk out of the room, his goons closely in tow. 

 

Kai, who had jerkily gotten himself up from the floor, glare murderous daggers at Changwook with his murderous eyes that were blazing with black fire, "This isn't over." He spat at Changwook right before he stalks to the door and exits the room without looking their way again. 

 

Kai slams the door behind them, a moment later the sound of the bolt sliding into place, locking them in once more was the only thing that penetrated the silence left in his wake. Yoona closes her eyes and took a moment to do nothing but simply breathe in relief. 

 

That had been so close. The terror she had experience in those horrible minutes remain so entirely that Yoona fear that it would never fade, that she will be forced to endure the stomach-churning heart-chilling feeling for a long time yet. 

 

Muffled footsteps alerted Yoona to movement and Yoona open her eyes and turn her head in time to see Changwook disappearing into the bathroom. 

 

The sound of running water came a moment later, lasting eight seconds before it was cut off by the audible sound of the tap being briskly turn off. 

 

Changwook emerges from the bathroom caring a folded white handtowel, darken by the water Yoona could see dripping from it, leaving a trail across the room from the bathroom to where she stood. 

 

Yoona looks up at Changwook, her eyes wide and fearful but she said nothing. 

 

What was there to say? What could words do to diminish the terror and dread that she was consumed by, weighing her down and making her body feel as if it were made of lead and her heart made of ice, pumping chilling ice water through her veins and robbing her of any warmth, robbing her of her ability to even feel warmth. 

 

It seems that Changwook couldn't think of anything to say either because without saying a word he very gently places the folded wet hand towel against her cheek that only minutes ago have been burning with hot pain from the blow she had taken. 

 

Pain exploded from her cheek, consuming the entire side of her face and Yoona made an involuntary sound of pain and flinch away from the cold compress. 

 

Changwook pulls the cloth away from her face just a little and made a soothing sound, his expression one of patience and concern while his eyes were without any emotion. 

 

Yoona knew her love too well to be fooled though. Changwook was using his concern for her to masked what he was really feeling which was what Yoona couldn't even begin to guess. 

 

Was he afraid for his own life? Beneath that concern but calmed mask of his was he as terrified as she was at how close he had come to being killed? Behind that concern but otherwise emotionless mask on his face was he cursing the day he met her? Cursing her for pulling him into this mess? 

 

He had every right to blame her, to hate her. It was all her fault. She had nearly just gotten him violently kill. 

 

Changwook gently raises his other arm and cup the uninjured side of her face in his large hand, holding her head still as he slowly returns the cool washcloth to her other cheek, the pain of which was finally beginning to penetrate her still mostly terror-numb mind. He gently and slowly caresses her cheek with his thumb, moving it back and forth in a slow soothing motion. 

 

Yoona gasp softly in pain but didn't flinch away from the cold washcloth that felt like ice against her inflame cheek. 

 

After a moment, the cold cloth morph from painful and startling cold against her hot flesh to soothing and welcome as the cool water began to soothe the fire that felt like it was burning the entire side of her face. 

 

With nothing else to do, with nowhere else to look, Yoona hesitantly raises her eyes to his, knowing that he had been waiting for her to do so. She had felt his gentle concern gaze on her ever since he had stepped out of the bathroom. 

 

There was no hate, no anger or blame in his eyes. Everything that had been there when Sejoon and Kai had been in the room was gone as if it had never been there and all that was left was his gentle concern and tender love for her. 

 

How could he not hate her or at the very least be angry with her? Instead, here he was applying a cool hand towel to her face to soothe the burning swelling left behind by a brutal blow. 

 

Yoona didn't know how long they stay like that, time seems to lose all meaning. It could have been moments or minutes, she didn't know. She was held spellbound by Changwook's eyes and the almost hypnotic caress on her cheek. 

 

It was a spell that wasn't broken until Changwook slowly lean towards her, his eyes and expression unreadable. 

 

At first, Yoona thought that he meant to kiss her and Yoona raise her chin in acceptance but instead Changwook's lips went to the side of her head where he whispers into her ear so softly that she was only just able to hear him. 

 

"You started this Yoona. Give me the word and I will finish it." 

 

Yoona froze. What else could she do? She immediately knew exactly what he meant when he said he had finished it. 

 

At some point, Changwook had stopped caring about his investigation, the one that would have ended in a courtroom at least. Yoona suspected that Changwook had never intended to let her dad or Kai live long enough to see the inside of a courtroom. 

 

Somewhere along the way, the line between justice and vengeance had become a blur for Changwook. He hid it well but Yoona just knew that Changwook had been left murderous after seeing her get hurt right in front of him by the hands of the man he hated more than anyone else in the entire world. If giving him the word, if she let Changwook have free reign then her dad wouldn't live to see the morning. Kai either. 

 

Somehow Changwook would find a way out of their prison and he would end the two of them and more than likely lose his own life in the process. 

 

That would be the cost. There was almost no question about that. Her dad commanded a small well-paid highly-train army, there was no way that Changwook would survive killing her dad and Kai. 

 

That knowledge was what kept Changwook under control more than anything else because he knew if he fell along with her dad then the protection she was under would dissipate and there was no telling just how gruesome her fate would become. 

 

It pains Yoona's heart that Changwook was willing to give up the revenge, not to mention his very life as well, he had been working towards for most of his life for her, even if she did want revenge against the same man. 

 

As much as Yoona wanted her dad out of her life, ironically it was her dad's protection that was keeping both Changwook and herself alive but soon, real soon, things were going to change. Their situation had become far more tenuous, Sejoon's patience that much more stretch. They couldn't keep drawing this out. They were running out of time but they hadn't yet. Things were going to change, sooner rather than later but even as small as the possibility was, things could always change to their benefit. 

 

There was still hope. As long as they were both alive, there would always be hope. 

 

In the back of her mind, a small voice whisper to her that hope could be a dangerous thing but Yoona ignores it. 

 

Without offering Changwook an answer to his question, Yoona took the dripping wet folded handtowel from Changwook's hand and took his right hand in her own. 

 

Then she turns his hand over so she could see his red raw knuckles that were scrape and even a little bloody in places and she gently places the cool cloth over the damaged flesh, treating his knuckles the same as he had her cheek. 

 

A week pass. A whole seven days but to the two prisoners imprison beneath Sejoon's estate it seems more like a year. 

 

Each of the seven days was exactly the same as the ones before. They ate the three meals that were brought to them daily at the same time every day, those times they didn't exactly know, all they did know was that the time between their meals never alters. They shower separately after their dinner and then they sat back down on the floor, the both of them taking turns to sleep so that at least one of them was awake at all times. 

 

During the long seemingly endless day, Changwook spent at least three hours after breakfast and another two after lunch working out to keep himself fit and in condition. He did push-ups, sit-ups, squats, running on the spot, he even did pull-ups using the top lip of the bathroom door frame. Changwook did all that and anything else he could think of without going anywhere near the bed and then for at least an hour, Changwook force Yoona to join him in order to keep her fit. 

 

During that hour, Changwook wasn't her lover, he was her drill sergeant. He pushes her almost as hard as he pushes himself but Yoona never complains. She did everything he ask of her because she knew when he was pushing her he did it out of worry and love for her and honestly, Yoona was thankful for the one-hour distraction. 

 

Not to mention her body was grateful for it. Living on the floor wasn't that great for one's body and that was what they did. That was all they did. They ate when their meals came, they exercise and shower and then they slept, only to wake up to do the exact same thing all over again. 

 

They barely spoke, except for her one-hour exercise session when Changwook instructed and verbally push her onwards, speaking only when absolutely necessary mainly because anything they said was certainly overheard and also because there was nothing to say. 

 

What could they say to each other that hadn't already been said? What could they say to each other that would change anything about their situation? Their situation was bleak enough, they didn't need and didn't want to talk any more about it. 

 

They didn't want to talk about how time was ticking against them, how each moment could be the last before everything change for the absolute worst. Sejoon would be back and they both knew that something bad was going to happen when he did and there was nothing they could do about it. 

 

So what was there to say that they both didn't already know? And Changwook uses the silence between them to try to come up with a plan, any plan, that would at the very least get Yoona to safety. If she could just make it back to the FBI, she will be safe. 

 

Changwook had worked for his current superior for long enough to know that she would do the right thing by Yoona because she owed him. Changwook had done things undercover, had been willing to take the assignments most other agents were hesitant too, and he had gotten results. 

 

The director of the FBI's deep undercover division would do right by him by protecting Yoona. No matter who Sejoon had in his pocket in the deep undercover director was most definitely not one of them and she was a strong woman who would stand firm against anyone who tried to get their hands on Yoona, even her own superior. 

 

That was what made his boss so great at her job; she had the trust of her agents because she had never left them out to dry, she was loyal to them and in return only ask that they do their jobs. 

 

She was a hard woman who made the hard choices but she was fiercely loyal to her own. 

 

If Yoona escape, the director would look after her. No doubt under the guise of protecting a valuable witness. 

 

Changwook just had to get Yoona out of the cell and off of the estate. The director no doubt had agents discretely watching the estate now that she had lost contact with him. Unfortunately, due to Changwook's own actions, chances were very slim that the director knew either of them were back at Sejoon's estate. 

 

So Changwook couldn't count on any help from the outside so he was on his own. He had to get Yoona out of there. If he could just manage that then Yoona would most likely be snatched up by the FBI agents watching Sejoon's estate the moment she steps foot off the estate. Chances that he himself would be with her were almost non-existent. Changwook knew that he had accepted it. 

 

As long as Yoona escape, any price from him would be worth it but getting Yoona off the estate was no easy thing. Changwook had a weapon. Yoona didn't know about it and he wasn't about to draw any attention to it by going anywhere near it before he was ready to use it. 

 

The only thing was that he didn't know how he could use it. It was one handgun against however many Sejoon and his goons brought with them when they enter. Even with the element of surprised, it would still take some ridiculous miracle to even get the both of them out of the cell, let alone the estate. 

 

So it was a waiting game. Waiting for the metal reinforced door to open and for Sejoon to declare that their time and his patience with them were at an end. 

 

That, no doubt, was what everyone in the estate was waiting for and it wouldn't be too much longer, the both of them knew that. It was like they had their own doomsday clock counting down above their heads, only they couldn't see its face to know how much longer they had and although neither he nor Yoona had said a word on the subject in the last week, the two of them had wordlessly agreed that they wouldn't give Sejoon what he wanted, even though at the very least it just might buy Yoona her freedom of the breeding cell and because of that unspoken agreement, they had both kept a mental and physical distance between them. The first was as obvious and as wide as a cargo ship while the second was mostly a two or three-inch gap between them when they were both seated on the floor in their spot against the wall and they most certainly weren't having which no doubt Sejoon was very well aware of. 

 

So the troubling question that kept plaguing Changwook was why Sejoon had left them alone for so long when they obviously weren't going to give in and give him what he wanted. Maybe Sejoon hope that time and isolation would wear them down? But that didn't make much sense since the two of them hadn't displayed any signs that they were close to cracking. Changwook because he was mentally trained for situations like this and Yoona because she was as stubborn as the tide. 

 

Whatever Sejoon's reasons are, he wouldn't leave them locked up down here forever, especially when they weren't doing anything. 

 

Changwook had to get Yoona out of there. He was slowly driving himself insane struggling to find or think up of a way to do that but even armed what could he do? He was one man, he wasn't Superman. He was skilled but he wasn't superhuman damn it. He couldn't do the impossible. 

 

On the fifth night, while sitting beside him, Yoona had asked in a hushed voice about the FBI, how long it would be before they started searching for the two of them. 

 

It was a desperate hope, one Changwook would have been glad to allow her but he couldn't lie to her. Her trust in him was far too important, especially now. 

 

So Changwook had told Yoona the truth that unless the FBI had cause for a warrant, the FBI can't enter the estate, which they won't get without proof of some wrongdoing or of their illegal imprisonment. 

 

Not to mention the FBI didn't have a clue where they were as the last time the FBI had heard from them, Changwook had been two states away with the intention of putting more between them. If they hadn't run then the FBI would have known that they were back at the estate and after a few days of not seeing him the FBI would have probable cause to come in as they hadn't seen their agent that they last knew was right here but as far as the FBI knew, the two of them might not even be in the country anymore. 

 

They were on their own and until something change or more accurately until Sejoon's patience finally snap once and for all, they were trapped in a hopeless situation. 

 

It was on the eighth day that it finally happens. An hour or so after eating their dinner, they heard the now all-too-familiar sound of the door being unbolted, followed promptly by the door to their cell opening, this time opening slower than they had ever seen it. 

 

Fear and dread had fill Changwook, along with the strange numb calmness that came with the acceptance of the inevitable. 

 

Changwook mentally prepares himself to fight. He knew the most likely outcome of his moment to strike had truly come. He would do everything he could possibly do to try to find Yoona a way out and then he would die. He would die to leave Yoona to face her dad's madness all alone. 

 

Changwook knew what that meant. That was what terrified him the most, not his own death but the heinous fate Yoona would face. 

 

Changwook felt like there was more he should have done, more to save Yoona, more to get her out of there but what could he have done differently that would have changed their fate from this? 

 

The only solace Changwook had was that he knew that Yoona knew that he loves her, knew that he didn't regret taking this undercover assignment or dying for her. Yoona might regret it but he never would. 

 

The door open and by the time Sejoon, Kai and half the dozen goons step into the room, the two of them were in their customary position, Changwook standing protectively in front of Yoona who had put herself in the far corner, her back to the wall. 

 

It was the position the two of them had automatically retreated too every single time the door had open in the last seven days. 

 

A small part of Changwook was actually relieved that it was over. He was going stir crazy and then every other kind of crazy being coop up for a never-ending amount of time. At least now it was over. 

 

Sejoon steps into the cell with all the icy authoritative demeanor of a dictator general, looking their way with barely veil fury in his cold eyes. 

 

Changwook tense, sinking down ever-so-slightly into a more battle-ready stance. 

 

Behind him, Changwook could sense Yoona moving closer to him, not in fear for herself he knew but in fear for him. 

 

Changwook swallows thickly, consoling himself with the knowledge that he was going to die for her. There were nothing and no one else he would rather die for. 

 

Sejoon's eyes narrow on him and Changwook knew that this was it, his time was up. 

 

He was going to die. There was no hope for him but he wouldn't go down without a fight. When Sejoon gives the order Changwook would dive for the gun and if it was the last thing he ever did, he would put a bullet between Sejoon's eyes and if he could manage it, Kai as well. Maybe with their boss dead, the goons would let Yoona go. 

 

It was a dubious hope but at the very least Yoona's fate would be a far less violent one. With Sejoon and Kai dead the goons would either kill her or let her go. 

 

Either way, it would be a far kinder fate. 

 

Sejoon raises his finger, pointing straight at Changwook and turn his head to Kai who stood right beside him, "Take him." 

 

Changwook was so stun that the words out of Sejoon's mouth hadn't been the 'kill him' that he had braced himself for that Changwook was left momentarily stun but the moment Kai and the goons move towards him, Changwook's brain kick into high gear, realizing that Sejoon obviously didn't want to kill him in front of his daughter. Why Changwook didn't know but nonetheless he was grateful. At least Yoona wouldn't be forced to watch him be murder before her eyes as Changwook had been forced to endure the murder of his own parents before his own eyes. 

 

Maybe Sejoon intended to torture him first. If so then so be it. As long as Yoona didn't see it. He could and would take anything that Sejoon dish out as long as Yoona was spared from witnessing it. 

 

Kai and the five goons rush at him but Changwook was already in motion. He drove for the floor, his arms already extended, his hand disappearing under the bed. 

 

His fingers brush the of his weapon right before large strong hands clamp down on his legs and jerk him brutally backward, his elbows were left burning from the carpet burn as a result. 

 

Changwook's hand emerge from beneath the bed. Empty. 

 

Changwook twisted his body, intending to roll onto his back so he was face to face with the goons so he could fight them off long enough to get his hand on his weapon but there were too many of them. Before he could roll onto his back, more strong hard hands descended down on him. Hands grip fistfuls of his brown Arizona long sleeve thermal shirt or close around his arms and shoulders and before he could do anything to free himself, Changwook was wrenched to his feet and two sets of strong hands had a secure hold on both of his arms. Changwook was facing away from the door now, he was looking right into the wide terrified eyes of the woman he loves with all of his heart whom he had failed so epically to protect. Yoona. 

 

One of the goons from her protection detail had a hold of her from behind, holding her by her elbow as she struggles wildly against him. She was struggling like a wildcat but the goon held her firm. 

 

With her smaller size and lesser strength, Yoona didn't stand a chance against the muscle-bound goon that held her back. 

 

The sounds coming out of were those of a wounded dying animal, wordless but hysterically desperate. 

 

Changwook's heart sank. Yoona. His Yoona. His valiant little warrior woman who had the bravery and the inner strength of any man three times her size. She was a kitten with the warrior spirit of a tiger. She was such a gift to the world, she didn't deserve any of this. 

 

She was so wild with her need to help him that she was beyond words but her wide heart-bearing eyes that were quickly filling with tears said it all. 

 

Yoona knew. She knew that this would be the last time she would ever see him and it was killing her, ripping her apart from the inside out. The anguish and terror in her eyes deflated Changwook's own fear. He would have gladly endured what was to come a thousand times over in the deepest pits of hell if that look had never been in Yoona's eyes. 

 

Time seems to move in slow motion. Even though only a few seconds had passed, it felt like an eternity. Only when the goons who held him started dragging him back towards the door did Changwook realize that this might be the last time he will ever see her. 

 

Changwook had only a moment, just a moment but it was enough. 

 

"I love you, Yoona." Changwook whisper, even though he knew that Yoona was beyond hearing him, beyond the ability to comprehend the four simple words right now but she would later and then he was dragged out of the room and he lost sight of her. 

 

That was the exact moment that what little control Changwook had left inside of him snaps. Yoona couldn't see him anymore which meant that she couldn't see anything that would happen to him. 

 

That was all Changwook needed. 

 

With all his might, Changwook fought and struggle against the arms and hands that continue to drag him backward, even knowing he was too greatly outnumbered to stand any chance of success. He lashes out with his legs, trying to catch the goon to his right in the back of the leg with a strike, if landed, would send him buckling to the floor. If he could just get free he had a chance. With the cell door unlock he could get Yoona and they would have a chance to make a run for it but Kai was ready. The bastard sidesteps Changwook's legs and drew back his fist, delivering a brutal blow right into Changwook's face that left him momentary stun senseless. He went limp in the goon's hold as they drag him through the doorway that was situated to the right of the breeding cell door. 

 

They hadn't taken him far. The next room but it was far enough. The breeding cell was soundproof. 

 

Yoona wouldn't hear him scream. 

 

Changwook didn't stop fighting. No matter how hopeless his chances were, he was never going to stop fighting. He continues to struggle and fight against them right up until he was forced down to his knees and the thick heavy manacles were snap close around his wrists that were held in place by four muscle-bound goons. 

 

He was in one of the torture cells, kneeling on the floor over one of the sunken drains in the cold cement floor. His hands were chain together and secure to the floor, the thick chain link through the bars of the fix metal drain. 

 

Changwook stops struggling because he needed to save his strength. He was going to need it in the hours, possibly days to come. He was in a torture room with a drain in the middle of the slight slope floor so that the blood and other body fluids could drain away. 

 

He would stay alive as long as he could, every moment he lives was a moment that he might be able to turn the tables and get Yoona out of there. 

 

Yoona was all that matter. She was all he had and she was now alone. He had sworn that he would never leave her and now because of his foolish mistakes he had made a liar of himself. He should have taken his weapon, taken Yoona and taken his chances. He should have put a bullet between the eyes of the two goons who brought them their breakfast and just run for it. 

 

Changwook looks up, looking at the goons, in turn, saving Kai for last. Sejoon hadn't followed them in yet but Changwook knew he would come. He wouldn't want to miss this or his chance to rub Changwook's failure in his face. 

 

He was at Kai's non-existent mercy but all of his fear was for Yoona. How long would she last without him? She was strong but at the same time, she was so delicate, so gentle, so pure. Yoona was only one wall away but she might as well have been a hundred miles away. His chances of ever laying eyes on her again were slim. 

 

Which was probably a good thing. Once they started on him it would destroy her to see him then. 

 

Sejoon enter. Just like that. He steps into the room like he was about to give a speech before a great crowd that had gathered just for the privilege of hearing him speak. 

 

Honestly, the man reminded him of nothing more than a pompous male peacock, fanning his tail out so that the whole world could see that there was nothing more magnificent than him. Sejoon came to a stop before him, standing between him and the door. The light directly overhead of Changwook cast its dim orange light down over them, bathing Sejoon in something akin to the fires of hell. 

 

Unlike the last time Changwook had seen him a week ago, this time Sejoon was in complete control of both himself and the situation. In fact, Sejoon was downright business-like as if they were there to discuss a merger or something but the expression on Sejoon's face was all wrong for that. Sejoon was looking down at him like someone he had once respected greatly who had let him down, someone who had disappointed him in the worst possible way but of who he was still fairly tolerant of. 

 

"You know, Changwook." Sejoon began from above him, his tone matching his image of the calm perfectly control businessman, "When you first came to work here, I thought all our problems were solved. That you were exactly what we needed to put an end to my daughter's nonsense." 

 

Sejoon might have been playing the calm and control businessman but Changwook had nothing to lose and he was done playing any games, especially Sejoon's. 

 

Changwook had nothing to lose by revealing his true feelings and thoughts of the monster standing over him. 

 

Changwook might have been on his knees but he was never going to cower before or submit to this man. 

 

Changwook raises his head, lifting it almost all the way back until he was able to glare at Sejoon icily, wishing for more than anything in that moment that his hands were free. He really wanted to kill this man, if only so that Yoona would finally be safe from his disgusting obsession. 

 

"You mean you thought you had finally found someone who will knock up your daughter for you?!" Changwook snap venomously, finally able to be straight-up with the man who had murdered his parents and intended to and forcibly impregnate the woman he loves. Kai promptly steps forward and punch him in the face, the blow landing high on his left cheek with a meaty thud. 

 

With a pain grunt Changwook slump to the side until he was forcibly stopped when his chains pull tight, causing lesser pain to shoot up his arms from his wrists. 

 

Changwook shook his head, trying to shake off the stun disorientation caused by the brutal blow to the head. His ears were ringing and the pain was all he knew for several moments. It only took a few seconds; he had been punch much harder by bigger goons. 

 

When Changwook raises his head and looks back up at Sejoon, aware that his face was already beginning to bruise and swell, he saw that Sejoon was still watching him with that disgruntled expression on his face. 

 

It was almost a dismal disappointment. 

 

"But you weren't up to it, were you?" Sejoon shook his head in disappointment. 

 

Darien idly wonders if Sejoon was trying to look like a disappointed father. He was failing miserably but that was what he looks like. Like he was trying to look like a disappointed parent. 

 

"All the time I gave you." Sejoon went on, oblivious to Changwook's amuse skepticism, "And my daughter still isn't pregnant." 

 

Changwook looks Sejoon straight in the eye with a cold menacing grin on his swelling face. He would show no fear in his final moments; he wouldn't give them the satisfaction and besides that, they could do whatever they wanted to him, just as long as they left Yoona alone. 

 

On reflection, Changwook was amazed at how little he was afraid for himself right now even though he was chain to the floor of a room that had been built for blood and pain. He had been on his own for so long with no one really that close to him so that he had never had to worry or fear for anyone else but himself but now that he did, now that he had someone he loves, he found that all his worry and fear wasn't for himself but for her, for Yoona. 

 

As long as Yoona was ok, it felt like it didn't matter that he wasn't. As long as Yoona wasn't being hurt, they couldn't touch him. Oh, they could take his body apart and no doubt they had tried their damnedest but they couldn't touch him. 

 

For the first time in his life, Changwook truly understood exactly what his dad had endured in the violent final moments of his life. Changwook's dad had been the same. That was certainly in Changwook's mind; his dad had begged for the life of his wife, not once for his own. 

 

In that way at least Changwook truly was his father's son. 

 

Changwook didn't know if any of his thoughts show in his eyes, whether or not Sejoon could tell what he was thinking but even if so, what more could Sejoon do to him? 

 

"You might have mess with my birth control." Changwook said, straight to him, thinking of the condoms that had been tamper the first day he had arrived, "But as you well know, you didn't get a chance to mess with hers." 

 

Something very dark and dangerous that was wrapped in twisted madness flash across Sejoon's face. He really didn't like being reminded that he had been outsmarted yet again, "Make no mistake Changwook, Yoona will be pregnant within the month. My patience with you both is at an end. If you are not willing to do the job, I have someone who is willing and let me assure you, he will not be as." He pauses as if searching for the right word, "Gentle with her as you have been." 

 

To his left, Changwook heard Kai snicker with dark anticipation as he almost leisurely moves to stand behind Changwook. 

 

Not even Changwook could believe the cold-bloodedness of this man. There was no line that Sejoon wouldn't cross for his obsession, nothing he wouldn't inflict upon his own daughter, his own blood. 

 

The things Sejoon was threatening towards his own daughter disgusted and sicken Changwook to his very core. Was there no ounce of sanity or conscience in this man at all? "You really would have your own daughter viciously just to get a grandchild?" Changwook did nothing to disguise the disgust and contempt from his voice. 

 

Changwook asks the question even though he already knew the answer. He had known from the very first moment he had seen the breeding cell. It was the very reason why Changwook had taken Yoona and fled from Sejoon, to save Yoona the very fate she was now trapped within. Before Changwook had seen the breeding cell, there had been a part of him, the part of him that remembers how much his own dad had love him, that hadn't believe that Sejoon would actually do that to his own daughter. 

 

How very wrong he had been. 

 

Sejoon gave him that disappointed long-suffering look again, once again the businessman trying to manoeuver things his way, "I gave her every chance to get pregnant on her own but after that little accident with her friends." He raises his hand in a dismissive gesture as though he had committed some very minor faux pas that he couldn't understand why it was any big deal. 

 

Changwook's eyes narrow in dark accusation, "You mean when you murder her friend's in cold blood in front of her?" 

 

Sejoon raises his gaze to Kai who stood behind him and nodded his head once at Kai who a split moment later punch Changwook in the side of the head with his closed fist. 

 

Changwook once again fell sidewards and was once again jerk to a stop by the chains around his wrists. 

 

Pain erupted inside of Changwook's skull again, his senses and wits once again scramble by yet another blow. For a brief moment Changwook couldn't even tell which way was up but gradually his senses and wits realigned themselves and Changwook became fully aware once again, and that included the pain now stubbornly present inside of his head. 

 

He was breathing hard through clench teeth as he fought to breathe through the pain. Kai wasn't pulling his punches. In fact, Changwook strongly suspected that Kai was greatly enjoying himself. He didn't want to cry out, he didn't want to risk Yoona hearing him. He wasn't sure the door to her cell had been close. 

 

He had to keep silent from crying out for as long as possible. At least until he was dead sure that the cell door was closed. 

 

Changwook became aware of the taste of blood and realize that that last blow had caused him to bite his own lips hard enough to draw blood. Blood that was now both slowly leaking from the cut on his top lips, leaking into his mouth and slowly dripping down his chin. 

 

Sejoon looks back down at him with all the casual indifference of a man who hadn't just had him violently struck. 

 

Changwook struggles for a long moment as he fought off the last of the brain-scrambling effects from the blow. He needed all his wits about him right now. The moment Sejoon had wordlessly order Kai to strike him one thing had become very clear to Changwook. 

 

Changwook wasn't there with Sejoon to be torture or question for information. 

 

No, Sejoon wanted something from him and Changwook had the sickening suspicion that he knew exactly what it was that Sejoon had him there to bargain for. 

 

It was most likely the only reason that he was still alive. 

 

If he wasn't there to be torture and kill then he had to get back to Yoona. He had to do whatever it took to get back to her. He couldn't protect her any other way. 

 

"What is it that you want, Sejoon?" Changwook intentionally made his tone sound exhausted and defeated. He shook his head just a little and then rose his gaze to meet Sejoon's. 

 

The moment Changwook had realized that Sejoon was there to bargain, Changwook's mask had slid right back into place. 

 

He had once again had a part to play and he had to play it perfectly, Yoona's fate and his life for the time being depended upon it. 

 

Fortunately for Changwook when it came to Sejoon and his obsession, he was easy to manipulate. 

 

"I want a grandson." Sejoon stated, "It's important that you understand that I won't let anything stand in my way. After my son dies, I was lost but then my daughter was found and I realize that I had a second chance, a chance to leave the empire I have work so hard to build to one of my own bloodlines." 

 

Changwook carefully kept his gaze steady, glaring at the shorter man who was towering over him like some conqueror with all that he was worth, "Yoona is your bloodline. She is your daughter. Does that really mean absolutely nothing to you?" 

 

Sejoon sigh regrettably, "Yoona is too much like her mom. She will never have any interest in anything I have to pass on. It's too late for Yoona to become strong enough to take over the family but a grandson. Now that's a clean slate. A second chance." 

 

Changwook couldn't believe his ears. He had heard all sorts of bull in his life and in his career but what Sejoon was trying to peddle was in a whole other league all on its own. Didn't Sejoon believe that Yoona was strong enough? After everything Sejoon had forced her to endure, just how strong did she need to be? If Yoona were any stronger she wouldn't be human. 

 

Sejoon was either blind or he was downright insane. 

 

All the evidence strongly pointed to the latter. 

 

Changwook put on the face of a man desperately searching his scramble mind for another angle that might get this man to spare his daughter, something that could reach any small piece of empathy left in the man but in the end there was only one thing that Changwook could think of that stood any chance at all of working. 

 

"Your wife spent the last half of her life keeping Yoona hidden from you." Changwook reiterated, carefully putting emphasis on the most vital words, "You have no love for Yoona but I know you have some small ounce of love left for your wife, Yoona's mom. Why else would you have waited two years given how compelling your sick twisted obsession is? Would she have wanted you to do this to your own daughter? To her daughter? The daughter your wife gave so much to protect?" 

 

Sejoon hesitated, frozen in place, still looking down at him and for a moment Changwook swore that he saw something flicker in the man's expression other than anger and impatience, something like pained but then it was gone and the hard mask of a seasoned businessman was back in place, just like that. 

 

"My wife is dead. Just like my son." Sejoon stated in a hard firm emotionless voice, "My wife understood my need to have someone to pass everything onto when I'm gone. Why do you think she left Sangho behind when she left me?" The tiniest bit of emotion began to seep into Sejoon's voice, only just barely detectable, "My wife may not have like what I'm doing but she had at the very least have understood it. Maybe if Yoojin were still alive, she might have talked some sense into Yoona but we will never know, will we?" 

 

By the last sentence, all trace of any positive emotion was gone. His tone and eyes were as hard and cold as ice. Sejoon the businessman had returned in full and Changwook knew that his chance at reaching anything human left inside of the man was gone. 

 

Sejoon spoke using the same voice and tone that Changwook imagine he use in board meetings and such, the very important ones in which Sejoon knew that he was in charge and no one would dare to question him. 

 

"Now, here's how it's going to be. I'm willing to grant you one more week to do what must be done. That's it. Seven days." Sejoon held up seven fingers using two hands, four fingers on one and three on the other as though Changwook was a small child who was only just learning to count, "Shall I give it to you or would it only be a waste of my time? The choice is yours. Do you have the balls to see it through or should I give her to Kai right now? Let me assure you, Kai will not be as...shall we say generous with her as you have been." And there it was. That sickening suspicion that had been growing inside of Changwook's mind had been right. That was the bargain Sejoon had brought him here to make, the deal that would get him exactly what he wanted. 

 

Sejoon wanted him to be the father of his precious grandson and not because Changwook could father the child without Yoona fighting him but because Sejoon no doubt prefer his breeding over Kai's. 

 

Changwook would never let anything happen to Yoona. He had to protect her but what could he do? He could lie to Sejoon right now and protect Yoona for another week at the very most. Or Changwook could agree to Sejoon's bargain. He could seduce Yoona and knock her up or at least try too, pregnancy was an iffy thing. 

 

If he did get Yoona pregnant it would keep her safe for maybe a year and that was if she had a boy but the moment that Yoona was confirmed to be pregnant, he would be dead and there would be no one left to protect her and what if she had a girl? Sejoon would only start all of this all over again with Yoona, only this time Changwook wouldn't be there as a preferable alternative to Kai but what choice did he have? The only other option was to say no to Sejoon right now and Yoona would be by Kai tonight until she was pregnant. 

 

Changwook couldn't let that happen to her. He wishes he had another option but he didn't. What else could he do? He was dead, that was certain. The only difference was what little he could do for Yoona before he met his end. He could protect her for a moment, a week or a year. 

 

There wasn't any choice. The longer Yoona had the more chance she had to one day escape her dad's madness. 

 

Changwook's entire body slump in defeat, his eyes closing and his head bowing in the very image of defeat as if he had just made the decision but he had made it the moment he had realized what Sejoon had really drag him into the torture cell for. 

 

He felt defeated, right down to his core. That was real. All the fight in him were drained away the moment Changwook had understood exactly what it was that he had to do. 

 

To save Yoona Changwook had to betray her in the worst way possible. 

 

His fight had faded but not his determination to save Yoona. That was what kept him going, that was what kept him strong even in the face of defeat. 

 

Changwook knew it was pointless but he had to try, he had to take the slimmest of slim chances that he could make Yoona's future better for her, that he could give her hope. 

 

"Have it your way," Changwook spoke dejectedly. Only after verbally yielding to Sejoon did Changwook open his eyes and raise his head to look at the soulless bastard once again, "But you have to promise that if I get her pregnant, that nothing will happen to her, that once she has the baby, she's free to leave whether it's a boy or girl." 

 

Sejoon hesitated. There had been a part of himself, a small part, that really hadn't expected the persistent young man to give in so easily or so quickly, even though he had known that Changwook would have given in in the end but he hadn't expected him to do so with so little persuasion. 

 

Sejoon considers the deal for a long silent moment. He wanted a boy, needed a boy, a girl serve him nothing but he will tell the fool whatever he wanted to hear to get him to do what he wanted. 

 

It didn't matter, it cost Sejoon nothing to lie to him now, to tell the young man exactly what he wanted to hear as Changwook would be dead in a week and his daughter would hopefully be carrying his grandson. Once his daughter had the kid, she will be easy to control. Sejoon knew that Yoona would never leave a newborn with him. That was why Yoona's mom had stayed so long in what she had referred to as male-dominated hell. 

 

The moment Sejoon had realized that the two were in love, even if Changwook was an FBI agent, Sejoon had known that he had them. 

 

Sejoon places his right hand on his chest over his heart and gave Changwook what he considers to be his most charismatic smile. 

 

"You have my word." 

 

Changwook knew it was a lie but what could he do? It was a risk you took when you made a deal with the devil. 

 

Yoona. 

 

How was he going to tell her that in order to save her he had to knock her up, even though he would be dead the moment she was? 

 

---

 

N/A: Until next time and happy early Thanksgiving everyone. ^^ 
 

- butt3rflyl0v3r ♡