The Crown | myg

fourteen

The trunk reopens and Taehyung is hovering above me with something in his hands. He leans over and holds it out to me, nudging that I take it from him. It's a bandana.

"Blindfold yourself," he demands, his eyebrows creasing into an almost fake look of anger.

I sigh and obey as I cover my eyes with the fabric, completely cutting off my vision from the outside world.

Taehyung wraps his arms around me again and picks me up, once again throwing me over his shoulder. I can tell he's not as strong as he's trying to let off because both times he has thrown me over his shoulder he has let out an angry grunt of defeat.

After a few agonizingly long moments with Taehyung struggling to carry me to our destination, I'm finally placed back onto the ground and told to remove of the blindfold. Without a single second of hesitation, I take the bandana off of my eyes and am met face to face with Taehyung's stupid face. The stupid face of someone who probably kidnapped me for a stupid reason.

The moment I turn away from him, I don't have time to take in my surroundings completely before I am already bubbling with anger.

"Seojoon," I growl, my arms crossing over my chest in a form of anger. "Did you think kidnapping me was really the way to get me back here?"

"Hyuntae, you're one of our most valuable employees," Seojoon responds as he sits at the opposite end of the table I'm standing at. "You were very hard to track down once you quit those few years ago."

"Let's quit the bullshit," I growl, my voice raising slightly. "Why did you get a piercer to kidnap me? What do you want from me?"

"You see, Namjoon, Taehyung and Yoongi are all who they say they are," he pauses. "To a point."

I shrug my shoulders to get him to continue.

"They are the secretary, tattoo artist, and piercer that you know, but they're not just that," he crosses his legs and leans his weight onto one side of his body. "They were recruited by me not too long after you left. They were allowed to keep their business as long as they answered to me when I needed them and they didn't tell anyone who they really were."

I stare at him blankly, the only way I have learned to force him to continue talking when he's trying to pause for dramatic effect.

Seojoon leans forward and rests his arms on the table, his hands clasping together.

"When we got wind that you had a bakery, we bought out the vacant building next to yours and told them to set up shop and spy on you," he smirks smugly. "Once we were able to get confirmation on who you were - proof that it was actually you - we got Taehyung to bring you here. Now, here we are."

I turn around to Taehyung and raise my eyebrows. "Was the date ever real?"

He looks down, avoiding eye contact, his fingers fumbling with each other. "I told you, I know someone who likes you. I couldn't do that to him."

"Seojoon," I say as I turn away from my kidnapper and back to my ex-boss. "You tell me why you thought it was a brilliant idea to have this weak piercer come and kidnap me and bring me back to you."

"New recruits are weak, old ones aren't as good as they used to be," he sighs and rubs his temples. "I promised myself I would never do this unless I was completely desperate. We need you to come back, Hyuntae."

"You know I just can't leave my bakery," I respond. "I have a reputation to uphold."

"Please, Hyuntae," he looks at me, his dark brown eyes pleading for my acceptance. "You know I never beg."

Seojoon is right, he never begs.

"What's in it for me?"

"We should discuss this in private," he snaps his fingers and everyone quickly flees from the room, the door closing right behind them. Seojoon gestures to the seat diagonal from him, and I walk across the room to take it without question.

"This better not be a waste of my time," I say as I rest my hands on the table.

"I knew you wouldn't trust me unless I made a contract, so I spoke with my lawyer and we typed one up, I hope it is to your liking," he reaches into a file folder on the right of his body and pulls out two copies of the contract as well as two pens. He slides one of each to me and sighs deeply.

"Read," I demand.

Seojoon nearly trembles at my words, but he is quick to obey them. "You will be paid double the amount of the other employees-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," I put my hand up and he stops speaking and tilts his head to look at me. "Stop speaking as if you're not a mob boss and I'm not a trained assassin."

He nods before going back to reading the contract. "You will receive complete protection from any threats for any person you name off for us, just name write their name and they're completely protected."

"Park Chanyeol," I say without having to think of anyone. "My best friend, I want him to be protected completely. From any and all threats. If anything is to happen to me, I want all of my money to go to him."

Seojoon nods and we both write Chanyeol's name onto each of the copies of the contract before we continue.

"You are guaranteed a position on any case that is given to the other assassins," he reads, his eyes scanning over the words printed on the paper. "You will always be given the first pick of the mission choosing, and if you do not want someone on your team, you can choose to remove them."

"So what you're saying is that I work for you, but I'm also kind of my own boss?"

He nods. "Mafia boss, Hyuntae. You're both an assassin and a mafia boss. You've been promoted," he pushes his chair away from the table and stands up. "Follow me, I'll introduce you to the others."