Tension hung so thickly in the ballroom that it was actually a struggle just to inhale a decent lungful of air. Izzy stood pressed to the wall at the corner of the room while staring at her scuffed shoes, not having moved from her spot since Jimin walked away. Her mind was still consumed by the words he'd said to her. I'm in love with you. Izzy bit down on her lip to keep from smiling in this tense atmosphere. Her life and freedom were hanging in the balance and yet she was smiling; the situation was just slightly insane.

She was shocked out of her thoughts when an angry businessman slammed his fists onto the table and growled in frustration. He wasn't the first one to have done so.

The game was in full swing. A dozen players had already folded or lost out. The losers littered the edges of the room with bitter expressions plastered on wrinkled faces. The smart few who had folded were only sticking around so they could collect their winnings checks from the dealer once the game finished.

Jungkook and Namjoon stood on either side of Izzy, they had folded within a few minutes of each other. Apparently they already won more than they put down and didn't feel comfortable leaving Izzy alone in the corner of the room when Youngkyun was there—their words.

The remaining players sat perfectly still. Some—like Yoongi, Taehyung, and Youngkyun—had impeccable poker faces. Others—like Izzy's father, who was sweating bullets and glancing nervously at his cards—did not.

The dealer turned over another card and several men at the table groaned, but Izzy wasn't focused one them. Her attention had been snatched away and the wind had been effectively stolen from her lungs.

At the far end of the ballroom, wearing a pale violet dress that hung too loosely on her small frame, stood Cassie. With the way her back was pressed against one of the decorative columns, her hands wrung nervously in front of her, and her head hung low, Izzy almost hadn't recognized the girl whose floor she'd slept on for over two weeks.

"Cassie," she mumbled quietly enough to avoid disturbing the silence of the room.
"What?" Namjoon whispered back, ripping his eyes away from the game table to look at Izzy, who glanced up at him with confusion in her mascara-smudged eyes.

"Cassie is here."
"Cassie?" His eyebrows furrowed. "The one who's dating Jae?"

Izzy nodded absentmindedly. Her mind was too distracted at the moment. If Cassie was here, that only meant one thing. And that thing was sitting at the game table with a handful of cards.

"Jae—" Izzy's breath hitched in her throat. How had she not seen him earlier? Perhaps it was because he'd traded in his usual outfit of nothing but wrinkled boxers for a slate grey suit and for once he didn't look completely high off his ass.

"Jae is here?" Jungkook's jaw clenched and he started towards the table, only to be stopped by Izzy's fingernails digging harshly into his arm.

"Kookie no. Don't do anything—"
"He hurt you!" Izzy flinched at his sudden shout.
"We've got enough to worry about right now," she mumbled. "Don't do this here, Jungkook. Please," she pleaded with him, laying one hand on his chest and stepping into his path. Jungkook tore his furious glare away from an oblivious Jae and turned to girl who had grown to be one of his best friends.

"I want to kill that guy," he growled lowly to her.
"Not now, please." Jungkook heaved a sigh and nodded reluctantly before taking a step back. But his stiff shoulders never relaxed.

Seeing that Jungkook's anger was momentarily appeased, Izzy slowly moved away from him. But before she could move too far, he placed a strong arm around her shoulders and pressed her protectively into his side. Izzy didn't mind, for one she needed the comfort, and she knew that the embrace was keeping Jungkook from strangling Jae in the middle of a crowded ballroom. As Jungkook and Namjoon focused their intense gazes once again on the game table, Izzy let her eyes stray back to the girl in the violet dress.

Cassie stood perfectly still, and if it hadn't been for the slight rise and fall of her shoulders with each breath, Izzy might have mistaken her for a statue. A few tense moments passed before Cassie's head lifted and, as if she felt someone's gaze on her, locked eyes with Izzy. A shocked gasp threatened to escape from Izzy's throat at the sight of her.

The skin surrounding Cassie's left eye was caked in a thick layer of makeup that only half hid the purple discoloration beneath it. Now that her head was lifted, Izzy could see the trail of bruising leading from her eye to her jaw and disappearing behind the curtain of hair that hung over Cassie's shoulders. Izzy's worried eyes searched the bruised face for answers, and when Cassie's dull eyes darted over to the table for just a fraction of a second, she found one: Jae. He had done this to her. Izzy didn't know what to do. And she didn't get the chance to figure it out.

Jae slammed his fists down on the table, making towers of game chips fall over and mix colors. He shoved his chair away in a fit of rage and stalked towards his girlfriend, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her from the room. Cassie craned her neck around and cast one last sad smile at Izzy just as she was pushed out the ballroom doors.

Another card was flipped.

Jin, Taehyung, and Hoseok laid down their cards, pushed away from the table and joined the group at the edge of the room. Only three people remained at the table. Youngkyun, Yoongi, and the one that worried her the most: Jimin.

He still looked furious. The cards in his hands were creased from the pressure he held them under. Jimin watched Youngkyun with hawk like intensity, not one twitch of the hand or bat of the eyelash went unnoticed. There was no way in hell that Jimin would cost them this game, so he watched Youngkyun's poker face for any sign that his opponent was hesitant or unsure of his cards. He saw none.

The river card was flipped.

The room froze.

"No!" An outraged shout echoed through the room as the last three men at the table all shot to their feet.

Expensive leather shoes tapped against the marble as they all moved towards the corner where Izzy stood, wide-eyed. It was over. The game was over.

Jimin was the first to reach her, his arms found their place around Izzy's waist once again. The boys took a step closer to her, blocking Youngkyun from having access to her.

Several dozen businessmen had their attentions transfixed on the tense gathering in the corner. There was a different kind of game being played now.

"Alright," Youngkyun addressed the men blocking Izzy from his view, "Step aside now so I can collect my winnings."

"No!" Jimin shouted again.

"We made a deal—"

"You're not taking her from us!" Hoseok put a protective hand on Izzy's back.

"It's been two years and you all haven't gotten any better at keeping our deals," Youngkyun was seething. "But we made this deal," he gestured to the other men in the room, "I have a roomful of people who can attest to that. Now hand her over."

"No!" Namjoon snapped at him. "Another game! Give us another game—"

"No," Youngkyun shut down the request.

"We'll give you the money, and the interest that we owe you, just don't take her," Yoongi's offer made Youngkyun think for a moment.

"That's quite a bit of money, are you sure you'll be able to pay it off this time?"

"Yes," there was no waiver in Jin's voice.

"Hm," Youngkyun pretended to think for moment, but Izzy, who'd been silent from shock, she knew what his answer would be.

"No," he denied. "I don't want that money now. So Izzy, take this key and head up to my room, I'll meet you there." He pulled a hotel key card from his pocket.

"No!"

They went back and forth. These men shouted at each other, offering deals and shooting them down like clay pigeons. Their furious arguments filled the room and echoed off the marble floors and columns. These eight men could stand for eternity and rage over the fate of a girl who hadn't taken a proper breath since the last card had been flipped. Neither party was willing to relent, so they just kept on shouting. But Izzy knew exactly how this evening would end. And she had to be the one to end it.

"Guys," Izzy's quiet voice went unnoticed. "Guys!" The shouts stopped for a moment and eight sets of eyes turned on her.
"It's okay," she whispered to her boys, looking up to meet Jimin's watering eyes.
"I made this deal, I'm the one who has to uphold it," her voice faded off.

"Izzy no—"
"Jimin," she cut him off and tried to keep her own tears at bay, "I had so much to say to you," her voice broke.

He shook his head vigorously. "No Izzy, don't do this," he pleaded with her, and she so badly wanted to fulfill that plea, but a deal is a deal.

"I'm sorry."

She pried herself out of Jimin's desperate arms and despite their protests, she walked past her friends with zombie-like movements, coming to stand before the man she hated with every fiber of her being. Slowly, she took the key card that he held outstretched to her. And that was it. She had sealed her own fate.

"Good girl," Youngkyun smirked down at her.

And just like that, she walked away.

With Jimin calling her name, and Yoongi screaming profanities at Youngkyun, she walked away. Her heart was breaking more and more with each step she took closer to those doors and further from the family she had come to love, further from the man she had fallen in love with.