“What is it, dear?” Mrs. Lee spoke as she stepped inside her husband’s study.

“I got a message from Taeri. She’s requesting something.” He said with uncertainty.

“What? Is this because you haven’t released her car yet?” She sighed before sitting down.

“No, no, not that.”

“Then, what?”

“She said she doesn’t want Taeyong oppa to get married yet.” Mr. Lee spoke, his wife paused.

“Taeri? But why?”

“She says she hasn’t even met Minah properly and now we’re rushing the engagement.” His smile appeared.

“Aigoo, our little girl has always been protective of her brothers.” Mrs. Lee smiled to herself.

“I spoke to Taeyong about it, he told that he was okay with it and that we should just listen to her.”

“You know Taeyong, whatever Taeri wants, he will always give in.” Mrs. Lee chuckled.

“Well, I guess it’s not so bad to postpone for a few weeks, there’s been a lot of tension lately.”

“Lucas!” Her scream was followed by a loud thud.

They all went still, Jaehyun swallowed and looked up, there was Taeri.

“Hyung!” He called out in panic, a hooded figure had a grip on a bleeding Taeri, he could see blood dripping from the cut on her elbow.

Taeyong reached them, he halted as soon as he saw his sister, Lucas paused, his fists curled tightly.

Taeri was wincing in pain as the male tied her wrists together, Lucas saw the bruise on her neck.

“Let her go.” Taeyong snapped, Lucas could feel the tension coming from the older male, he looked down and saw Jaehyun silently climbing up the steps.

“You think you’re so smart,” The hooded figure spoke, he yanked Taeri back, causing her to fall.

Lucas tensed, he could see Taeri turning her head towards the door.

“Openly starting a war on us, how blind.”

“This is our area. You should be following our rules.” Taeyong snapped at him, the male laughed.

“You’re not the strongest group now, you don’t frighten us.” The male mused back, then he took out a small knife from his jean pocket.

“Your sister’s really pretty, wouldn’t it be a waste if I destroy this face of hers?” He hummed as he brought the knife close to Taeri’s face.

“Not before we destroy you first.” Lucas snapped, he lunged towards the male and pushed him down, he flinched as the knife dug onto his shoulder but he tackled the male to the floor.

“Taeri!” Jaehyun rushed to the girl just as Taeyong helped Lucas pin the man down, he took off his hood and paused.

“You’re one of Gilbae’s men.” Taeyong stated, Taeri paused, she glanced behind her just as Jaehuyn pulled her up.

Her eyes widened as she recognized him, the one Changbin met up with nights ago.

“Ya, are you okay?” Taeyong spoke, he pushed Lucas away from the male and paused as he saw blood on his palm.

“Hyung, the knife!” Jaehyun called out, Taeri’s eyes went to the knife on Lucas’s shoulder.

“I—I’m fine. Just…get her out of here.” Lucas started to stand, Taeyong helped him up.

“Johnny’s on his way back, they lost the vehicles.” Taeyong announced, he took off his earpiece, his eyes went to Taeri.

“Lucas, that’s a lot of blood.” Taeri spoke, he shook his head at her.

“You two should go home. Jaehyun-ah, drive her.” Taeyong spoke, Jaehyun nodded, she started to pull Taeri, but the girl didn’t budge.

“Taeri,” Taeyong sighed.

“H—He’s bleeding, oppa. Is that door really important right now?” She stuttered, Taeyong paused, remembering how much his sister hated seeing blood.

Lucas sighed, knowing the girl would never move.

“Fine, you..you can drive us home.” Lucas walked towards her, Taeri felt his weight press against her side. Taeyong gave him a small nod, Jaehyun let go of Taeri and kicked the door down.

“The hyungs can take care of whatever’s behind that door, let’s just go, Tee.” Lucas flinched as he spoke, Taeri looked up to meet his gaze.

“I’m fine, princess.” He spoke again as he pressed his forehead against hers.

“You didn’t really need to do that.” She said before pulling away from him, Lucas let out a short pained laugh and just wrapped one arm around her shoulder.

“Let’s get moving, I doubt you can carry me down these steps.” He said to her as they approached the stairs.

“We have a doctor on call, Taeri. Stop worrying.” He said to her as they went down, Taeri just exhaled and continued to help him with the steps.

“He would have hurt you if I didn’t step in.”

“You leapt over, Lucas.” She pointed out, Lucas smiled and winked at her.

“Mafia boys are such a pain to deal with.”

“They took the bait,” Jisung announced, Changbin smiled and leaned back on his seat.

“And Taeri?” Chan looked up from his laptop.

“She also came with them, I don’t know why they keep on bringing her.”

“What?” Chan put his device away.

“Hey, if we also get her, we get the payment.” Changbin chuckled, Chan glared at him.

“Unfortunately, she slipped right through our fingers.” Jisung reported.

“We didn’t talk about this.” Chan faced Changbin, Minho exhaled and looked away.

“Hyung, this was part of the deal, we get Taeri noona and we~”

“You want to kill her? For what? Money?” Chan snapped, Changbin shook his head.

“You said you knew what you were doing. Look at you now,” Changbin spoke, Bangchan bit his lip.

“I only want to bring down her brothers, I never said I’d hurt her.”

“What to do, she has to get hurt so that her brothers will kneel down.” Changbin replied.

“Hyung, I thought you already let her go. We…can’t let this happen again, we’ve lost enough.” Jisung spoke.

“Listen to them, Taeri is trouble for us. Get rid of her as soon as possible.” Minho spoke before leaving the room.

Taeri crossed her arms and watched as the doctor tended to Lucas’s wounds, she could feel a tingling pain down her elbow but she ignored it.

The doctor had sedated Lucas as he stitched up the wound on his shoulder.

“That person,” She murmured, her thoughts going back to the male from earlier.

“There’s a connection there somewhere.” She said quietly before approaching the bed.

“How is he, doctor?”

“The wound isn’t deep, so he’s safe. Just keep him hydrated, agasshi. Would you like me to clean your wound?” He asked as he stood up.

“It’s okay, thank you for coming.”

The doctor patted her hand before leaving the room, Taeri bit her lip and looked at Lucas, occasionally he would flinch as he tried to shift to his left.

“Its all starting to make sense now. They want to bring us down by using me.” She said as she sat down beside him, Lucas groaned and his face crumpled.

Her fists curled on her lap as she noticed the bloodstains on the bed sheet.

“I’m going to have to up my game then.” She said as she reached for Lucas’s bangs and pushed it away from his forehead.

“Get well soon, Wong.” She whispered before squeezing his hand lightly.

“It looks like I really have to play mafia princess now.”

Taeri smirked before standing up and leaving the room.

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