Fire: Book 4 of the Mythical Beings Soulmate Series (Taehyung X Reader)

Chapter 8: "But I would like to take you on a date."

Y/N POV:

Sitting down on the chair in my office, I couldn't stop the sting of tears that burned my eyes. The evidence was indisputable. The man we had all trusted, one of our own, one of our brothers, had been responsible for the fire at the pier, had been responsible for the destruction of private property and something that could have turned out a lot worse than it actually. We had been lucky with the boat. When we had arrived at the yard later that evening, Angelo and me had discovered several cans of fuel on board the boat. If the fire hadn't been caught in time, the explosion would have been seen halfway across the city.

Part of me wondered if that was what Antonio had wanted. To see the fruit of his labor. After investigating fires for the last few years and really taking a closer look at arsonists, I had learned they normally like to stay close, to see the damage they had caused. It was something that arsonists couldn't control. There was a part of them that craved the destruction.

As I thought about Antonio, I tried to picture the two different people that he had turned out to be. One was the sweet guy who had stayed close to my side after the death of his brother and the other was this ruthless person who was trying to give us all a run for our money, someone who was clearly trying to cause chaos in the city he had claimed to love. And honestly? I couldn't decide who scared me more. It was unnerving to admit that it probably wasn't the latter.

"Y/N? You alright?" I looked up to see Elena standing at the doorway, two steaming cups in hand. I should have been surprised that she was still here, but the other part of me knew she would be, knew she wouldn't leave me behind, leave me here to wallow in anger and pity over what Antonio had done. I went to speak, but Elena shook her head. "No. Tell me the truth, not the lame crap you've been telling everyone else."

"Honestly?" I shook my head. "No. I'm not okay. I'm hurt that Antonio would do something like this, that he would sink so far, hate us all so much that he would do something like this. And I'm fucking pissed." Swiping a hand over my desk, I knocked all the photos that were scattered across it, everything falling to the ground in a heap. The tears that I had been trying to hold back slid down my cheeks, leaving a salty trail of hurt, one that felt like it was destroying me from the inside out.

Elena rushed over to me, her eyes filled with concern, with sympathy. Sitting on the arm of my chair, she wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in close to her, letting her comfort wash over me. "Oh sweetie. It's going to be all right. We're going to figure it out. We're going to figure out everything that's going on. Please. Please trust me."

Letting her comfort me, I turned, sobbing into her side, my tears soaking her dark blue hoodie. I couldn't stop the feelings of betrayal that threatened to take over, feelings that I had never expected to feel and definitely not from Antonio. After a moment, I sat up and wiped the tears from my face. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to become a mess like that."

Elena smiled at me, a sad one that said she understood exactly how I was feeling, one that said she was on my side. "It's alright. Don't ever apologize for needing someone, for needing me to comfort you. You're my best friend and I will always be here for you. Always."

Nodding my head, I grabbed a tissue off the desk and blew my nose, making Elena laugh at the loud honking sound. "Thank you. I appreciate that."

Trying to distract me with horror stories of her cousin, Selene, Elena sat with me for a few more minutes. I knew she was really trying to keep my mind off of everything that was happening and I valued that more than I could say. After a moment, she gestured towards the photos in front of me. "What's... what are you going to do about him?"