Ryder let out another groan as he took yet another hit, the metallic taste of blood lingering in his mouth as his body hurled forward in pain. This wasn't his first time taking a beating since he's fucked up before in the past, but this time was different. After getting escorted out of the banquet last night, he knew there would be consequences... he just wondered if he would make it out alive.
Odessa's eyes narrowed as she stared at the two men who helped Ryder straighten back up before the third man threw another punch, this time aiming for the younger man's abdomen. As Ryder fell to his knees, the man stepped forward to grab onto his drenched hair, a slight crack resonating through the room as Ryder's head came in contact with his punisher's knee.
"Enough," Odessa called. Ryder let out a small whimper of relief, feeling his body fall onto the cold floor of the room as his arms were released. He was pretty sure his nose was broken as he felt the blood trickle down his face. He could hear the clicking of her heels, his body tensing as his boss approached him. He hissed when he felt the sting in his scalp, Odessa's nails digging into his skin as she pulled his head up, forcing him to face her.
"Do you realized how badly you've fucked up this time?" she uttered, her voice dangerously low.
"It was Bangtan," he wheezed out. "I was going to handle it-"
"But you didn't, did you?" she interrupted. "Instead you cause a fucking scene and got yourself kicked out. My orders were clear, we would follow the rules of the evening and keep the peace for now... but you decided to take matters into your own hands." She tsked as she looked down at him, the clear disdain evident on her face. "There are severe consequences for incompetence and sheer stupidity," she continued, roughly letting go of his hair before she stood up, the sound of her heels resonating in the room as she walked away from him, not even sparing him a glance. "Finish him," she commanded.
The panic coursed through him as the men approached him, Ryder's heart pounding in his cage as he felt his body getting pulled back up. He was stammering, words incoherent as his wide eyes stared at the barrel of a gun.
"W-Wait! Pl-please! J-just fucking wait!" he screamed. His brain was all over the place, bits and pieces of memories flashing before him: how he got into this whole mess in the first place, his first fuck up when he shot the wrong person...everything. Memories of Charlie were the only pleasant ones he could recollect, like a warm light amidst the morbid darkness his job entailed ever since the day he sold his soul to Ganghan. He couldn't deny the slight pang in his chest as her laugh resonated through his mind, his eyes closing as he waited for his unfortunate fate. As he started to recall the first night they met, Ryder took a few seconds to piece everything together before the realization set in.
He could feel the cool metal of the gun being pressed against his head. "Wait!" he called out again, "I know where they live! I know where they live!"
The man standing before him chuckled, shaking his head at the pathetic attempt to stall while Odessa halted her steps, turning back to stare at Ryder.
"Fall back," she demanded, slow steps leading her to stand in front of Ryder as she tried to read the expression on his bruised face. She could see that he was scared, sadistically enjoyed the fact that he was terrified... but she could also see the glimmer of confidence in his eyes. "Where who lives?"
"Bangtan," he breathed out. It felt like it was ages ago, but Ryder didn't forget the night when he first met Charlie... long before she joined Ganghan. He had never told anyone about it, but the first night they met was at some random club he frequented, when Charlie took him back to her place. She left quite the impression since she was nothing like his past conquests, and he was quite intrigued since she was the only woman he's been with who knew how to take control.
Odessa continued to glare at the young man, skeptical of this new information. "And how did you acquire this information?" she asked.
"Let's just say I have connections," he replied, smirking as he realized he had her attention. "I promise you I can give you Bangtan on a silver platter, you just have to make sure I stay alive."
Odessa considered the offer. She wanted nothing more than to get rid of Ryder, but right now he had a vital piece of information that she really needed. In order to be able to expand her empire and achieve her goals, she had to eliminate the competition, and Bangtan was the biggest thorn in her fucking side when it came to that. Last night was all the proof she needed, since she was sure after learning about their presence that they had to have been amongst the bidders who got ahold of her girls.
"If you're wrong about this, I'll kill you myself," she promised, ordering the men to let him loose while she pulled out her phone, immediately pulling up Geunsoo's contact. "Call a meeting, we've got work to do and we've got to move fast."
~☾~
Taehyung groaned as he trudged down the stairs, tiredly rubbing his eyes as a yawn escaped his lips.
"Look who finally decided to get up," Jin teased, even though he himself had woken up only ten minutes prior, the cup of coffee in his hands still scorching hot as he leaned against the kitchen counter.
Yoongi glanced up from his spot at the table, nodding as Taehyung greeted everyone.
"What time is it?" he rasped, moving slowly as he grabbed a bowl before pouring himself some cereal, occupying the seat next to a quiet Jungkook.
"Almost two in the afternoon," Namjoon mumbled, eyes still focused on the papers in front of him while Hoseok was also going through another pile from last night's bids.
The atmosphere was slightly tense, the rustling of papers and clinking of metal the only sounds resonating throughout the room. No one spoke, each member lost in his own thoughts.
Jungkook kept glancing up at Yoongi and Namjoon, jaw clenched as he recalled the events from last night. Namjoon had a long talk with him when they got back to the base after getting kicked out from the auction. The discussion didn't go well, some heated words exchanged between them before Jungkook disappeared into Charlie's room for the rest of the night.
Namjoon happened to glance up, eyes momentarily locked with Jungkook's as he let out a small sigh. He went back to focusing on the papers, but the words blurred together as he thought about their argument from last night. His stomach clenched, the guilt settling in as he kept thinking about how he had failed him, how he had failed as both Jungkook's mentor and Charlie's. He recalled his conversation with Jin last night as well, and how Jin disclosed his observations from last night. It's all my fault, I was supposed to protect them.
His attention was pulled from his miserable thoughts when Hoseok called his name, asking a question about one of the transactions from last night as Namjoon leaned over to take a closer look.
Yoongi glanced up as he heard their voices, observing Namjoon's tense demeanor while he tried his best to help Hoseok. After getting back home with the remaining members last night, Yoongi had pulled Namjoon aside to reconvene while dismissing the others to get some rest. Namjoon informed Yoongi about Jin's suspicions that Charlie had been drugged, which explained her strange behavior and her new affiliation with Ganghan. His eyes then shifted to the youngest member, who was glaring daggers at him. Someone needs to tell him.
"Alright, I'm heading out," Jimin stated, adjusting the collar on his button-up as he stepped foot into the kitchen. He noticed Taehyung's presence, greeting him before glancing up as Yoongi called his name.
"How are they doing?" the leader inquired.
"The girls are good, a bit shaken up but Cherry said they're taking good care of them. She's been working with the other girls all morning to try and get in touch with families, so I'm going to see if there's anything they need or anything we can do to help speed the process along," he replied.
Yoongi nodded in agreement in affirmation, "Take Jungkook with you." He prepared for the outburst as he stood and headed to the coffee pot to fill up his mug.
"Is that an order?" Jungkook bit back, trying to get under Yoongi's skin and the leader knew that.
"Yes"
Jungkook stood up quickly, pushing the table slightly as his chair flew back as well. There was silence in the kitchen from the other members and averted gazes except for Yoongi, who watched the youngest member carefully. As soon as he left the kitchen, Jimin approached Yoongi, but before he could speak, the elder held up his hand.
"I know but I need him to get out for a bit while I talk with Jin and Hobi and last night. Thank you"
Jimin didn't respond, but simply nodded his head in understanding and quickly left to catch up with Jungkook.
Yoongi straighted his shoulder and turned towards everyone else. "So, we have theories?"
"Mhmm" Jin tried to finish what was in his mouth quickly before finishing. "The mark I saw on Charlie's neck was similar to the one I saw on that lackey we brought in awhile ago....the one who couldn't remember things. I think Ganghan is creating some sort of memory loss drug."
The mood in the kitsch instantly changed as silence hung in the air for what felt like hours. If Charlie couldn't even remember them, how were they supposed to get her back.
"That still leaves an even bigger question." Namjoon spoke up and all eyes were on him. "Why her?"
The silence fell once more as the members tried to gather any theories or thoughts as to why Ganghan would want Charlie and even parade her around in front of them, convinced that she wouldn't return to them.
The tension broke with the sound of someone knocking at the front door.
Hearing the knock at the front door, Jin got up and walked to answer, figuring it was one of the girls from the club stopping by once more. However, as he opened the door, he nearly dropped the coffee cup in his hand at sight.
"Charlie?" He said with confusion.
The members in the kitchen all stood up as they heard her name, slowly walking over to see if they heard Jin right.
Charlie smirked and in one swift movement, pulled the gun from her back holster and pointed it right at Jin's chest.
"Morning boys."
Yoongi was about to say something when he heard a small crash behind him. This was a set up and no time to get out. He could see Jin, Namjoon, Hoseok, and Taehyung at least and knew that both Jungkook and Jimin had to be far enough away now not to hear this., They had trained for something like this, but hoped it never happened...guess you can only hope for so long.
"Places!" He yelled to indicate that they were under attack and Yoongi lunged for a nearby cupboard, opening it and pulling out the small 22 they kept there. Hoseok grabbed the pistol strapped to the underside of the table and turned to the back door. Taehyung ran upstairs as fast as he could to his cave to figure out a way out and see where everyone was.
Charlie hadn't pulled the trigger which gave Jin some indication that she was still in there. "Sorry" he said before grabbing her hand on the gun, moving out of firing range and twisting her arm, disarming her. His elbow met her nose with a crack. He had mere moments while her eyes filled with tears, blocking her vision so that he could get away. He knew he could easily knock her out, take her down, but he couldn't....he couldn't hurt her.
The backdoor was kicked open and bullets started flying through their home. Charlie held her nose and tried to wipe the tears away from her eyes but when she could finally see, Jin was gone and she couldn't see anyone from Bangtan. Ryder moved in behind her and pointed towards the stairs.
"Up the stairs and to the left is where their security room is. Go!"
She lingered, wondering how he knew where the room was. In fact, how did he even know where they lived. She couldn't remember much but knew that the location of their opponent had eluded them for so long.
"Charlie!" Ryder shouted and handed her another gun, seeing her now unarmed and she bolted upstairs.
She kept her head down as she weaved through flying bullets. There was a faint haze filling the room as drywall was impacted and filled the air. The banister to the stairwell was starting to be splintered as she scurried past someone from Ganghan and up the stairs. It was much more quiet upstairs but the pain in her head had her wincing once more. She knew this place, and remembered that stain on the carpet just outside the bathroom. Her eyes drifted to a room far down the hall wanting to go towards it but she remembered her task and turned left. Her legs moved her into a room and to a closet as she heard someone's husky voice.
"We've been compromised! I repeat...Ganghan is here. Get to location 2!" Taehyung shouted as his fingers moved quickly over the keys, backing things up to a thumbdrive and quickly deleting everything.
Charlie opened the door and watched as Taehyung spun around, hands immediately in the air. He was scared, she could see that in his eyes, and she knew she should pull the trigger but she couldn't. She flinched in pain again as she saw not the dark-haired boy in front of her, but blue instead.
"Char-" He started.
"Shut up!" She screamed back and could hear voices coming from his headphones but couldn't make them out. Her eyes drifted to the bag of lollipops on the desk....
Charlie glanced over at Taehyung, looking down at his bag of suckers as she recalled how excited he got when he saw it at the store. "You're such a kid," she commented, giggling as he glared at her, a sucker already in his mouth.
"Make fun all you want, I know the only reason why you're picking on me is because you want one, and you're lucky I'm nice enough to share," he replied, offering her a blue sucker while she glanced down at it, smiling before taking it. She quickly unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth.
She groaned in pain, lowering her gun slightly.
"I can get you help," Taehyung said, trying to plead with her. Jungkook and Jimin were yelling in his ear, trying to gauge the situation but his focus was only on Charlie.
Her eyes met his and she knew that there was so much more to all this than what she was being told. Frantic voices started to fill the halls outside and she knew she needed to act fast.
"I need something, anything!" She held out a hand to him, hoping he understood and he did. He grabbed a USB and pushed it into her hand but held tight to her.
"Get out of there Charlotte."
He knew her full name, her real name, and her eyes went wide. The voices got louder and she was frightened that they would either kill the man in front of her or worse....take him back to her mom. She held up the butt of her gun and looked at him with an apologetic expression. He nodded and shut his eyes tight, ready. Charlie quickly brought the butt of the gun down to his head just enough to knock him out. Her arm reached for him as she tried her best to lower him to the ground and then quickly stepped out of the small room and closed the door. She met Ryder in the hallway and blocked his way into the room.
"You find anything?" He asked looking behind her to an empty room. Charlie held out her hand to show the USB and he smiled back at her. "Run into anyone?" She quickly shook her head and pocketed the drive.
More voices were heard downstairs as the sound of something exploding rang through their ears. Ryder grabbed Charlie's hand and led them to a nearby window where they quickly escaped the house and ran to the rendezvous point. In their van, a member of Ganghan that Charlie had only seen in passing was leaning against the wall of the vehicle, clutching her shoulder in pain, Charlie looked to everyone there, wondering if anyone was going to help but no one was. She sighed in frustration and moved closer to the injured member.
"Nasty wound you got there" She chuckled, trying to keep it light.
"Ya, hurts like a bitch" the woman chuckled with her and then grimaced in pain.
She suddenly has this checklist in her head of things she needed to check and she moved closer to her. A male voice entered her mind, telling her step by step what to do. Check for an exit point, if there is one, good, if not....you got to go digging. Carefully, she moved the injured woman enough to look behind her and see the exit wound. Next, sterilize. Infections can be more dangerous than the actual wound. Her hands moved without a thought as if this was second nature to her and as they arrived at Ganghan, she had nearly patched up the injured woman. Helping her out of the van and to Stitch's med bay, she overheard her fellow members talk about how hard Bangtan fought.
"We surprised them no doubt but those fuckers were still better prepared!"
Her lips curved into a small smile that didn't understand as she handed off the woman to someone.
"Charlie, darling. What did you find?" Her mother's voice always gave her chills.
She took out the thumb drive from her pocket and handed it over. "I don't know what is on it, but I found it in one of the bedrooms."
"Well done." Her eyes moved from her daughter to Ryder. "We can debrief later, I want to see what we got" She held up the drive with a smile and turned on her heels, the sound echoing through the halls.
Ryder put an arm around Charlie pulling her close. His lips met her neck aggressively, not caring that they were in the middle of the hall with several members passing around them. Charlie slowly wiggled from him and held her head.
"Got hit and have a huge headache. I'm going to go relax in my room for a bit."
"You sure?"
"Mhmm" She stepped away from him and quickly towards her room without a glance back.
Once in her room, she made sure to close and lock the door. Her legs carried her back and forth, pacing as she tried to figure out how she knew that dark-haired boy and how he knew her. He was scared but she could tell that he wanted to help her, but why would she need help?
Her head hurt again as she sat down on the edge of her bed. Looking to the carpet, she saw a small corner of a book sticking out from under her mattress. She stood up and pulled the notebook out, flipping through the pages. Descriptions and memories were scattered about, some matching the members she saw in Bangtan. How the fuck did she know so much about the rival gang? She quickly grabbed a sweatshirt and stuck the notebook under her shirt, hiding it as she opened her window and crawled out.
She walked for about 20 minutes before stopping at a small park. It was getting dark and the streetlights were slowly turning on. Reaching for the notebook under her shirt, she flipped through the pages again. Nothing made sense and yet....she knew this book held answers. Her mother nor Ryder would give them to her, but she had thoughts as to who might help and she didn't like it. She didn't realize how easy finding them would get until she heard someone call her name.
"Charlie?"
She turned around and chuckled at the timing. He could kill her, should kill her, and vice versa.
"I have questions."
The man let out a breathy laugh as he stepped closer.
"I have answers."
A/N: I know these updates are slow but we will finish the book! I promise!! So...who do you think showed up to give Charlie the answers she needs?