CONDEMNATION ✓

Chapter 75

Perhaps it was the challenge. Maybe you pushed it too far. Was it nightmarish at the absolute least? Completely. And it would change your life forever. The single most defining moment in your own humanity, if only you knew how close it was then.

Your blood turned to ice at the response that roared into the previously quiet room. His voice rattled with so much anger you could practically hear the sound of bones cracking in his tone. In a split second, you wished for a swift death. You heard the voice of evil and what would follow promised to be that of the darkest of nightmares.

"ME!!" Soul shattering rage radiated in his already demonic baritone. You weren't sure who was more shaken. You, whose life and death had just flashed before your eyes, or Seojoon... who still had no idea who that voice had come from.

Seojoon's head shot up and to the right. He moved with such swift grace that he almost gave off the impression he'd had military training. Dumb luck? You caught sight of the evil in the room before Seojoon did. Large veined hands emerged ominously from the shadows of the room and reached for Seojoon before either of you could react.

Instantly you pushed yourself out from underneath Seojoon and into an upright position, pulling the sheets up to cover your chest. Nothing he hadn't seen before, but still. Your jaw dropped and you wanted to cry out, but for what? To whom? No one could save you or even get close enough to try.

"You belong..." The inhuman voice growled. " ...to me!!" You could feel the chains wrap around your soul at his words, powerless to his dominance. He was the reincarnation of evil in your eyes and he proclaimed his supremacy over you.

"R." The letter choked its way up your throat as he violently took Seojoon into his grasp. His elbow pushed against his throat while the other hand restrained one of his arms.

"You were going to do it again?!" R screamed at the top of his lungs, his brass voice making the very air around you tremble. "Fuck a target instead of just killing them?!" Anger seeped from his lips like venomous honey, and you were at fault.

"N-no!!" You didn't stutter out of fear, but submission. You couldn't fight him now, he was too far gone and seeing red. This was about self-preservation. "I..I SWEAR!"

Seeing Seojoon thrash in R's hold and still remain confined was petrifying. You knew what was coming for your companion this evening regardless of whether or not you obeyed R. How it would happen, though, would surely be terrifying.

"I'm sorry! Please, just let me-" You began to beg, voice shaking. You never begged, or at least you didn't use to. But no man had ever stricken such terror in you. You tried to shift onto your side to get up, but a loud scream froze you in place.

"STOP!!!" He yelled from deep in his lungs, spittle flying from his mouth. You had angered him before, you'd threatened him, you'd seen him look stone-faced at danger, but this wasn't like any of those times. The devil had awoken within him. For the first time, you weren't happy that it was because of you.

"You belong to R. You belong to R.M. YOU BELONG TO ME!!" He chanted, as if on a stuck record. A trance had encased his mind, he was lost in a delusion.

"Okay!! Yes!" Raising your hands up you threw them into the air in surrender, hoping to calm him. "I'm yours!!" Submission derived from fear was never the goal, at least not for you. But it was this or your life. He might actually kill you this time.

"You still doubt me." R hissed as his arm released Seojoon's and disappeared behind his back. All at once, he was almost whispering. That was strangely more horrifying. "Then think of this-"

You saw a flash of resolve spark in R's eyes at that moment. A menace to the quirk of his lip. There it was, his demented jolt of pleasure he got from the torture he inflicted. The stain on his soul that could never be washed clean.

Just as you started to process what that look on his face meant, you noticed the glint of silver flash in the dim lights of the bedside lamp. Your eyes rounded as your heart stopped dead in your chest. You felt the sharpness of the butcher knife gripped fondly in R's hand.

"No!!!" Was all you could shriek as the blade swung out in front of Seojoon and raced for his neck. Your scream pierced everyone's ears just as the knife sliced through Seojoon's throat.

Your terrified wails came to an abrupt stop as squirts of hot liquid splashed against your barely clothed skin. You began to hyperventilate as more of Seojoon's blood poured onto you from his jugular vein. Your fingers moved to your chest, desperately trying to wipe the blood from your skin.

R did nothing more than hold Seojoon over the bed, his steel grip on the man's once manicured hair. He stood there, deathly silent, letting the blood from Seojoon's neck cover you.

It took a lot of slipping and sliding in a panic for you to squirm over to the edge of the bed and away from the still-warm corpse. You heard a thud from the footrest but focused all your attention on getting out of the bed.

As you reached the other side of the California king bed, you tried to swing your legs off the side, but you were blocked by a solid brick wall of a man. You wondered briefly how long you could go just staring at his shoes. Probably not long. Sighing, you looked up reluctantly in defeat to see R standing at the edge of the bed. There wasn't a speck of red on him, of fucking course.

He held his bloodied knife up and pointed to the drained figure he left at the foot of the bed. "Think of this the next time you decide to call my bluff." His face was emotionless, stoic as ever.

"You can do nothing without my knowledge. Remember this, princess, above all else," He murmured as he absently cleaned the blade handle with a handkerchief, ever the professional murderer. You heard it chime against the hardwood floor. R lowered his hands to his side and you repressed the urge to flinch. He stared at you, unmoved by your bloody appearance, your labored breath, or trembling frame. "You...belong...to me." He reiterated and enunciated every word. This was final; this was law.

Inside of you, buried deep below the fear and weakness you felt in that moment, you wanted to shout your protest, fight against the anarchy. Go out of this world true to who you were. One day you would do just that. But if you let your pride show now, you may leave it sooner than you wanted. Was it worth it? Was your dignity worth your life? You had to choose. Pick your hard.

"Y-yes, sir." You prayed that you weren't signing your death certificate no matter what you choose. You'd take your best chance at survival, though, and this was it. You were selling your soul for a shot to live.