(Flashbacks are in italics)

The night went by with me contemplating about my next actions. Jin's words from earlier stuck to my mind like a leech and the weight those simple letters carried cuddled me like a freight. There was no way I was letting an innocent man such as Jungkook die but what excuse was I going to give to my cousin. I bet he would shoot me a death glare if I told him the truth, not that I had the guts in the first place. But I still had to come up with something.

It was true that Jungkook came here undercover to incarcerate us, maybe even execute us if needed but I couldn't deny being worthy of all of it. We Kims exploit other people for our own selfish benefits, how is that better? I was still unable to accept this business as ethical even though I was a part of it and hence I couldn't entirely hate Jungkook either.

May be I am the one I should hate.

Twisting and turning in my bed I shut my eyes closed, desperately trying to feel the serenity of the tranquil night. The clock struck 1:30 and nothing but a lingering silence could be heard from the adjacent rooms indicating that the inhabitants were fast asleep. However, slumber was nowhere near my vicinity and I didn't resist when I felt my memories drift back to a month...

"Are you sure about this Y/N?" Yoongi asked as he prepared a fresh syringe with a concentrated doze of sedatives.

"Of course I am. Taehyung's assumptions were correct and Hoseok confirmed it. The government was planning against us and now a cop is right in our territory posing as an acquaintance. What is there to not be sure of, we need to take him out" I snapped at the older man while strapping the uncomfortable heels tight as I garnished myself for the party where I'd be introduced as the new coronated mafia princess.

Hah

The thought itself made me crackle internally.

Who was that girl again, who wished to never be involved in this shit?

"I wasn't talking about that cop, I was talking about you. Are you sure want to do this" stressing on the 'you', Yoongi spared me a concerned glace before adjusting his gun in his leather holster.

"I am, Yoongi. I wasn't sure of my identity all this while but now I am. Its my responsibility to follow my fathers foot steps and I'll do it even if the path I'm walking on is filled with thorns" a weary sigh escaped my lips and I turned to the mirror, fastening my red and black columbina mask.

"Are you going to kill him?" Yoongi's constant questioning had started to annoy me, especially when he was trying to unlace the emotions I had been suppressing this past year.

"If the job requires then I will" there came my nonchalant reply.

By now the mask sat tight on my face, not the one with glitters and feathers but the one with remorseless indifference, not the one wrapped with red fabric, but the one smeared with the fragments of a girl's broken heart. It was the first time that I put on Kim Brute's stone visage and I am carrying it ever since.

"You still have a chance Y/N-aah. Leave all these and live your dreams. I promise to protect appa's legacy and keep this mafia alive. And I swear I'll punish all those who made our life turn upside down. You don't hav-"

"No Yoongi, I became a part of this the day I left school and came home only to see my father pale and almost lifeless on his bed. I became a part of this when I let myself choose revenge over forgiveness. I became a part of this when I let Y/N fall into a coma and let Kim Brute awaken. I am already in too deep, and I have no intent to get out of it, not until I get my revenge"

"Okay, I won't force you into anything but I just hope you don't regret this later"

Disappointment was apparent on Yoongi's face. His words wailed at me for failing him, for breaking his hopes and it eventually broke me. A dismal whimper tried to make its way up my chest but I somehow plunged it deep down, keeping my stoic face unharmed.

"I already regret a lot of things, one more to the list wouldn't hurt..."

The night came with a breath of fresh air. Soft breeze shuffling through the opened windows tossed the satin curtains into a beautiful waltz and the melancholy chirping of the distant crickets gave a rhythm to it. The moon peeped through the wet clouds stretching its silver arms and seeped in through the grills caressing my face with a mellow warmth.

The last two days went by briskly with me having my nose stuck to all the new commodities I received. Last week I had asked Stella to talk to the mafia vixen about providing me with a game or something but frankly speaking I never though she would actually do it.

But the reality dawned up on me when one fine morning I woke up to find my room filled with a few books and a freaking new Xbox! The coffee table at the corner of the room was scattered with several game cards and controllers and a single glance at those rendered me Jungshook.

So the vixen won't let me die of boredom either.

Thinking of her brought back memories. The scene from the attic from a few days ago haunted me like crazy and I was unable to brush the confusion away. I never thought a sadistic assassin would be even a tad bit interested in something as deep as art. And that too she seemed really skilled.

However, one more thing that was bugging me was her paintings. Most of them flaunted a very similar looking scenery, that consisted of a minimalist cottage in the middle of a vast green meadow. I wondered what the scene meant.

Rolling the fluffy blanket out I walked around the bed, plopping myself into the night's languor. Almost one and a half month in captivity and I still had my sanity intact. A miracle!

Maybe it was because my captor wasn't treating me that bad after all. But the question was why? Why wasn't she treating me bad? It's not that I wanted her to torment me, I just wanted to know her motives. Maybe there was something bigger I wasn't seeing.