BLOOD MONEY || bts mafia au

twenty two.

Six years ago.

Satisfaction curled the edges of Yoongi's mouth - a rare sight if Jungkook ever saw one - as he fingered through the freshly pressed stack of bills folded into his hands, flipping through the slips of paper, the avarice in his gaze growing with every new number he could add to his count.

Today's haul had been their best yet. The drugs Jungkook had managed to slip from the evidence room in the police station after they'd busted the biggest drug lord on the other side of town brought them more money than would ever fit in their little safe tucked into the warehouse wall.

"You know what we can do with all this money?" Yoongi asked, lifting the stack. For the first time that Jungkook could remember in the last two months, there was emotion glowing behind his eyes. "We can finally upgrade our system to meet our level. This is everything we've been working towards - a real shot at running things around here."

Jungkook didn't say anything.

He didn't tell him that, in the last two years they'd been running this operation, it had never been his dream to rule the streets. That had always been Yoongi's.

He didn't tell him that the real reason he'd ever been in that gambling den in the first place was because he was looking for an easy way to make a couple hundred dollars in a night.

He didn't tell him about the monster that lived in his house, slashing gashes open all across his body only to purr at how sweet the taste of his blood was.

He couldn't live like this anymore. He had to get away. Start a new life far away from the endless nightmare that encircled him, choking the life from him inch by inch with every freedom it stole until he was nothing left but the shadow of the boy he once had been. He knew that if he stayed for a minute longer, he would lose the power to.

And he wanted so much more in this life.

"Jungkook?" Yoongi said, leaning forward to get the younger's attention. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Yeah, I just-"

Before Jungkook could finish his sentence, he felt a cloth being pressed to his mouth, the sickly sweet smell of chemicals hitting him before he could even think to hold his breath. He couldn't even give a muffled cry of protest before the world collapsed around him.

• • •

The first thing Yoongi noticed when he came to was the thick ropes wrapped around his wrists and ankles, binding him to a chair he didn't remember choosing to sit in.

The next was the gun against his head.

"Ah, good," a cool voice said from his side. "You're awake."

A wave of fear surged toward Yoongi's head, threatening to drag him deep into its watery coffin, but he refused to let it crash around him. He had finally gotten his first big break. There was no way he was going to be shaken so easily. He was stronger than that. He had to be stronger than that.

He had to protect Jungkook.

Oh god.

Jungkook-

Forgetting all about the gun resting by his skull, Yoongi desperately whirled around, both hoping and dreading finding his best friend beside him. Before his eyes could focus on the contents of the dark room, he felt the butt of the gun slamming into his temple, sending a starburst of pain exploding through his head.

"Did I say you could move?" the icy voice demanded, now laced with the undercurrent of a growl. The owner slowly shifted into the weak glow filtering down from the only source of light, the flickering bulb swaying unsteadily from the ceiling. Through the blood seeping from his temple to drip down the side of his face, Yoongi could barely make out the maniacal gleam in the man's eyes before a strong hand shot out and grabbed his jaw, forcing him to meet the eyes of his captor.