The side of her head throbbed, and Mari shifted her head to the side, wincing at the pain. Tentatively, she opened her eyes, expecting to be blinded by a harsh light, but instead, nothing but darkness surrounded her. A single bulb floated from above by a thin wire, the light flickering on and off several times before it stilled. When the light settled, she could make out her surroundings, her heart pounding in her chest when she saw nothing but gray walls.

Mari tried to move, only to realize that she was bound to a chair with ropes nearly crushing her chest. Her hands were tied behind her back, her ankles roped on the feet of the chair. Her surroundings swayed from side to side at her sudden movement.

The tapping of nails against a screen and the popping of a bubblegum broke her from her panicked trance. Mari’s breath staggered when she felt the hairs at the back of her head stand at the oncoming footsteps, followed by the scraping of a chair. The room smelled oddly of the sour stench of fish plus seawater, and Mari scrunched her nose at the smell.

“You’re finally awake,” purred a voice. Mari froze in her seat, watching with wide eyes as Tana plopped down in front of her, a smirk on her face. Her cheeks rested against the palm of her hands, eyeing Mari with a sadistic glint in her eyes. She had changed from her usual lavish clothing to combat pants and a black tank top, revealing the fresh cut she had and smaller scars that you could only get from fighting. Mari gulped, unable to stop her hands from shaking. “Sleep well, princess?”

“T-Tana.”

“It’s Evelyn, actually. My Mummy dearest named me,” Tana, or Evelyn, pouted disappointedly; although Mari could tell she didn’t mean it. “Shame I never met her.”

“Where am I?”

“Well, we were supposed to catch a ship and go back to base in Costa Rica where we locked you up, but Dad called. He said he changed his mind and we’re staying in Japan,” she tilted her head to the side, the sinister grin on her face widening at Mari’s baffled expression. “I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he kills you.”

“Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?”

Tana scoffed, “If you ask me, it’s simple. I never liked you, and I hate your family even further. But if you’re going to ask my Dad or your brother, then that’s another thing.”

Her words caught Mari off guard, and she reeled her head back in surprise. “My brother? What does Kyo have to do with this?”

“Oh, you really don’t remember do you?” A laugh rumbled from her chest, head tilted back as the sound echoed against the room. Her laughter could only be described as wicked, matching her dark gaze when she turned back to Mari, still struggling to speak between her laughter. “Well, don’t worry, sweetheart, I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough, but I suggest you get some more rest because when Dad comes, oh, that’s gonna be a different story.”

Mari her lips at the threat. She could feel perspiration forming in her hairline already, but she didn’t think anything would help her now, so she stayed still despite the panic beginning to throb at the back of her head. “How long have I been out?”

“You’re oddly calm for someone who’s been abducted,” Tana noticed, “Then again, it’s not like this is your first time, right?” She stood up, patting Mari on the head playfully which made her scowl. “Rest some more sweetheart, while you still have the privilege of it. And to answer your question, you’ve been out for a week. The entire police department is going crazy looking for you.”

“You’ll regret this,” Mari growled back with clenched teeth in an attempt to conceal her fear.

Tana didn’t seem fazed.

“Oh, honey, if there’s anyone where who’ll regret anything, it’ll be your Father.”

***

“Wake her.”

“She’ll wake up soon.”

“Why is she sleeping so damn much?”

“Put yourself in her shoes. Why don’t you see for yourself?” There was the sound of footsteps sloshing after the familiar voice of the man who spoke groaned, then a body collided against the wall. From Mari’s knocked out and half conscious state (she vaguely remembered Tana drugging her again), she couldn’t exactly pinpoint what was going on. Her eyes still felt too heavy for her to properly open them, and the sounds mixing all around her crackled through her ears.

“Dad should’ve killed you long ago,” hissed a voice that sounded exactly like Tana’s, “You were never on our side.”

“Shut up, Evelyn. If it wasn’t for me, Mari would’ve never been brought back to us.”

“You don’t think I know what you did that day, huh?” she scoffed, and then something scuffled in the background. Tana let go of Kyle’s collars that she’d clenched, glaring at her cousin who only looked back at her with dead, non-expressive eyes. “You’re lucky I kept my mouth shut all these years.”

“I don’t owe you anything,” he retorted back, trying his best to push his anger down when Mari stirred awake.

The first thing she saw was that Tana had her hair up in box braids, her cheek freshly cut with blood oozing from it. She didn’t seem to mind the wound that much, fists balled beside her hips. In front of her, pressed against the wall, was no other than her brother with a busted lip, a small pocket knife sheathed in his hands. Like Tana, they both wore a fitting black top, paired with combat pants and boots.

“Kyo?” Mari gasped, her gaze shifting and unaware of the tension between the two of them. At the sound of her voice, their heads snapped towards her; anger coursing through Tana’s veins while her brother stilled. Mari fought against the ropes, exerting all effort to at least try to reach out to her brother. “Kyo, you need to leave, these people—”

Mari was cut off by Tana’s glare, “I’ll leave you to it then.”

She watched as the woman walked away, cursing to herself while wiping a palm on her bloody cut. When she disappeared in the darkness, Mari wriggled from her chair, inching closer to her brother. She didn’t understand why he wasn’t moving. “Kyo, listen to me, we’re not safe, you need to get out now!”

Her shouting snapped him out of his trance.

“Mari, hey, calm down,” he said, his hand cupping her jaw as he was in front of her in seconds. Upon seeing his face; the familiar slope of his nose, the thin lips that always spoke sweet promises to her – Mari surprised even herself when she realized she was seeing the exact same person, yet she didn’t feel soothed at all. Even his hand felt chilling on her skin. Instinctively, she pulled away from his touch, chest tightening with each ragged breath. “Calm down, I’m here for you, okay? Just take deep breaths.”

“Wh—you’re not making sense. What are you doing? You need to go! They’re keeping me here and they might hurt you too!”

“Mari,” he whispered, her name falling off in a broken voice from his lips. “It’s alright.”

She shook her head, Kyo blurring in front of her when tears fell. She eventually stopped trying to untie herself when the material only buried itself deeper into her skin until she grimaced, feeling the rope bite into the other layers of her skin. “Kyo, I don’t understand.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” he wiped his thumb over a teardrop, tilting her head so that she’d look him in the eye. “I just need you to trust me, alright? There’s something I need to tell you, You’re going to hate me for it but I don’t want to lie to you,” He waited until Mari calmed down, which took a minute or two. She didn’t stop trembling after that, but she’d formed a rhythm that helped her stabilize it for a while. Relief flooded in his face, and he crouched down in front of her, his hands rubbing against Mari’s scraped knees.

She looked down at the wound, wondering where she got it. She’d probably been thrown to the ground right after she’d been abducted.

Kyo tapped her knee to catch her attention. “I need to tell you everything. So will you please listen to me?”

“Always, Kyo. Always.”

“Mari…” he paused, looking away from her. She watched as he pocketed his knife. The voice at the back of her head screamed at her to tell him to cut the ropes so they could run away together, but Kyo had gone pale, and she was at a loss of what to do. “Tana…she’s my cousin.”

“What?” Her voice was so faint and broken, even she couldn’t recognize it.

“Tana was never an editor. Her real name is Evelyn and we grew up together. A few years ago, Uncle sent her to South Korea to make her way inside of Yeonghwa. We’d placed comms all over your Father’s office, activating it every now and then so he wouldn’t notice he was being listened to. When we found out they planned on marrying you to the Park heir, Tana moved to Seoul to become one of the people he trusted. It was the fastest way we could establish our base without being noticed.”

“I-I don’t get it,” Mari flushed, blinking rapidly to fight back at the tears at his implication. None of it made sense. If Tana wasn’t who she was and she’d always been involved in Mari’s abduction as a child, then…

“I’m sorry, Mari, but you need to understand—”

“Why?” she breathed out in defeat, her whole form utterly shaking. The thought that her brother – one of the people she trusted the most – had actually been behind her abductions rattled her to the core. Her breaths shortened once again, but this time not out of worry. Not even anger. No, she felt hurt, so much that she felt like if he skinned her alive it wouldn’t even be compared as to what he said now. The silence that followed in the room stunned her, especially when Kyo glanced down at his lap with guilt.

Her heart felt like it tore to pieces. It actually hurt to the point her chest throbbed, and searing pain at her toes then around the beating organ inside her ribcage, squeezing it until she burst.

“How could you do that to me? I trusted you! You are my brother!”

“Mari, please listen.”

“Don’t touch me,” she spat out. With widened eyes, Kyo retracted his hands back to himself. “I trusted you. You ruined my life!”

“I didn’t mean to!” he snapped back, successfully silencing Mari at his outburst. She could tell he’d been doing his best to remain calm, but now the veins on his neck grew prominent as he stood up, completely red in the face. Kyo ran his hands through his hair, “I didn’t have a choice, okay? You have no idea what I’ve been through! You don’t know the slightest thing about me because I was never there for you, just like how you were never there for me. Our Father abandoned me, Mari. He decided I wasn’t worth living long before I was born. He never wanted me, and you’ll never understand that because he loved you. Your parents loved you, cared for you, gave you the perfect childhood any child had the right to have—”

“The childhood that you took away from me!”

“It was a life I never had!” he bellowed, his voice echoing and bouncing off of the walls. “You wouldn’t understand a single thing! I had no choice, okay? I never even met my Mother!”

“What does that have to do with me?”

Nothing made sense. Absolutely nothing made sense and Mari felt the pressure of a headache forming already.

“Don’t you get it? Our Father is an evil man. He killed my Mom right after I was born because he didn’t want to marry her! I don’t know how I ended up in my Uncle, but if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be where I am now. Father never accepted me as his child, okay? Uncle James and Evelyn is all I have. He raised me as his own, took care of me, and he only asked for one simple thing – and that was to avenge his sister’s death, my mother’s death.”

Silence followed after that. Kyo, or rather Kyle, stood with one hand on his hip, the other massaging the tension in his head. His chest heaved up and down as he breathed in irregular patterns, sweat falling from the tip of his nose.

Mari could only watch him with tears still streaming down her cheeks, lips quivering as her brother broke in front of her. She couldn’t even figure out whether she still wanted to call him her brother when he betrayed her. What the most was that she while she felt hurt, she wasn’t angry. A part of her still wanted to wrap her arms around him and seek his comfort and warmth, like how he did when they were younger.

But it’s all a lie, her mind whispered back, Your brother never considered you family.

“Such a sweet moment,” crooned a voice. Both Kyo and Mari looked up to see a middle aged man leaning against the doorway, the white turtleneck underneath his plaid coat covered with blood. Mari paled at the sight, visibly swallowing when he walked closer to them. Kyo obediently stepped to the side.

“Oh, don’t look so surprised, Mariko. We spent six years together. I might as well be as close as a friend, huh?” he laughed to himself, the smile on his face disappearing when Mari’s brows drew together in confusion. He suddenly scowled, leaning down to run a rough thumb at the side of her jaw. “What, you don’t remember me?” he cooed, brushing his lips against her ear; the action making her shudder. “I’m the man who took care of you, sweetheart.”

“Don’t touch me!”

“Ah, yes, of course. Because you’re the precious heiress of that Fujiwara Haru, aren’t you?” he sarcastically rolled his eyes, stepping away from her right after that, much to Mari’s relief. Still, his presence alone unnerved her, along with the fact that Kyo silently took his coat when the man took it off. “Oh, how he adored you. To think he went as far as this just to keep you safe. There’s one thing I don’t understand though,” he gestured for Kyo to come closer. Her brother shifted his weight from his feet for a moment, eyes ducking back and forth between the two of them before finally walking next to him. Once Kyo was close, the older man wrapped one arm around Kyo’s shoulder, a frown deep in his face. “If he couldn’t accept my nephew, then what makes you so special? Is it because you were his legal child? Is it because your Mother was rich, too? What is it, I wonder…”

“You’re a psychopath,” Mari snarled.

“Oh no, honey,” his eyes widened, a hand falling on top of his heart as if he’d been offended. Then, a wicked grin painted his features, his eyes almost glowing in the darkness. “It’s your Father who’s a psychopath. You should know – he was diagnosed shortly after your birth,” he tilted his head to the side, “In fact, your Mother knew all about it. Why do you think dear Mummy stayed away from him?” When Mari didn’t answer, he pushed Kyo to the side, lunging at Mari. Mari was about to scream, but he kept her jaw locked shut with him gripping her face.

Mari cried harder.

“It was to keep you safe. But they couldn’t protect you, huh? Your precious brother still took you away under my orders. It was actually hilarious to see how easily you trusted him. You had no idea how much he resented you, did you?”

“You’re lying!”

“Was I?” he challenged, looking back at Kyo who clenched his jaw. “Am I lying, Kyle?”

“No, Uncle.”

The satisfaction on the man’s face made her sick to her stomach.

“See, he hates you. In fact, the mere sight of you repulses him.”

“You’re going to jail,” she managed through gritted teeth, “Once I get out of here—”

“If you get out of here,” he wagged a finger at her, “Don’t be too confident, Mari. Your marriage, your title, your power – they all proved useless against me. Nothing will save you now. Not even your Father or your bodyguards,” His forehead wrinkled in thought. Mari didn’t like the way he narrowed his eyes at her one bit, the look on his face close as if he’d read her mind. “Not even that precious lover of yours. It’s Baekhyun, right?”

The mere mention of his name had her snarling, flinging her body across him so hard she nearly fell on the ground had it not been for Kyo tipping the chair back.

“Don’t you dare hurt him!”

“Oh, but honey, if he comes, then I’d be left with no choice but to put a bullet in his head,” he chuckled. Mari exhaled through her nose, nostrils flared and her nails digging into her own skin. If only there weren’t ropes binding her, she’d have clawed at his face already.

“I can hear the cogs in your head thinking,” he noted, tipping his head back with a finger tapping his lips. “Come on, Mari. You’re a smart woman. Let’s negotiate.”

She pursed her lips. She doubted any form of negotiation from this man would do anything at all; especially when there was no guarantee he’d keep to his word. But the nagging fact that he’d blatantly stated he’d kill Baekhyun if his terms weren’t followed ate away at her. She had to think, and she had to think fast if she wanted to save the both of them. Unless, of course, the odds wouldn’t be in their favor of only one of them could make it out of here alive, then there was no doubt.

She would choose to save Baekhyun.

“What do you want?”

“I want my sister back.”

“You said she was dead!”

“And if she’s not?” he leered, “I still want to see her. I want to know where your bastard of a father took my sister,” He pushed Mari away from him, sending her chair going at least a foot back before flashing her his gun. “And if by forty-eight hours, I still don’t know where she is, then I’ll do the same thing he did to my sister.”

“I’m not scared of you.”

If he looked surprised by her statement, he did well at concealing it. He stashed his gun back to his holster with a smirk, “You’ve become brave. Back then, you quivered whenever I opened the door,” At the mention of it, images burned in the back of her mind. It hit her now that this man was the one who tortured her for years and left her to starve. But because of his sick, twisted mind, he also wanted to keep her alive; simply because death would be too much of a blessing for someone like her.

Mari tore her gaze away from his prying eyes. It was getting harder by each minute to control herself and keep up her brave bravado, even if it seemed impossible by now. She wasn’t back there, though the rustic stench of blood and clinking of chains, surrounded in nothing but darkness began to haunt her again.

“You remember, huh? The silver cage. Yeah, I had a lot of fun with that. If it wasn’t for your Father continuously paying me ransom to keep you alive, my company wouldn’t have gotten this far,” he snickered to himself, “Clearly, he’s not as smart as he thinks.”

Mari frowned. “If my Father paid you to keep me alive, why couldn’t he find me?”

“That’s because the accounts were off-shore. He couldn’t track me,” he explained with pride laced in his voice. “Your Father may be dominant in business, but once you know how to weave your way around technology