I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU READ THE LAST FEW CHAPTERS.

In time, you will find... what goes around comes back around.

~

T H I R D P E R S O N

"SHE'S GONNA KILL us," Bantuera said quietly, thoughtfully. Bourbon seared his throat raw as he turned to the city view Dol had. Nerves began to prick his skin, a feeling he hadn't felt in ages. "First what we do, then what we love, and then us."

"She won't," Dol said with conviction, turning to the man beside him before looking at Seoul.

Before them in the penthouse was an incredible view but that's not what held their attention, no. It was Bantuera's name lighting up the city. Everywhere. There was no building, no billboard, and no phone his photo did not touch. No place where his name wasn't smeared.

A tick drummed in Dol's jaw at it.

For the past month, he had been dealing with the fallout of your actions. Secretaries, assistants, managers, and his entire team had been trying to manage the situation, contain it the best they could. It's not because he felt bad for Silas, it was because Dol's name was tied to his. After all, he was the one who got him acquitted.

News reports, and campaign smears, all of those painted distrust in the people's eyes toward him.

"Congressman Dol leading the city into ruin?" Seoul Media wrote.

"How could a Congressman do business with someone who assaults and murders?" Shouted a group of rioters.

"We need to get him out, that Congressman. Pretty soon he'll be spreading more problems throughout Seoul like a damn virus!"

And this was all because of you. Because of your actions. Your choices.

You got what you wanted in the meantime. You hurt the two men who hurt you the most and you did it with pleasure like a boss. Like a king.

"She's coming for me," Bantuera told him, his eyes unmoving, his face straight, "I've run this city for years. Before she was even born and yet, here she is within weeks unraveling everything I've ever built," He smirked, "It's a marvelously mundane thing."

"How quickly you could lose everything?" Dol wondered.

"No, how I know I'll be dead within weeks."

Dol cleared his throat and for a second, fear slipped. He covered it quickly but Bantuera already noticed. He laughed at it, clapping his hand on the younger man.

"We could leave town for a bit. Perhaps go for a vacation and plan our next move," Dol said just because his mind was racing.

"I don't run. I never run. We do that, we show we're weak. No vacation we take will suffice Stone's bloodlust for us. We killed her parents. We ruined her life. The only thing she has left to live for is her vengeance. It burns like fire and it will consume us. Or well me. You might have a chance."

Dol gulped.

He needed to think.

He thought killing your mother would take care of you but he was wrong.

"What about Jimin? We could try something to turn him against her."

Silas scoffed and crossed his arms.

"That boy is too far gone. He's abandoned his principles and has fallen in bed with a witch. She's cursed him."

"I've been told he's like your adopted son. You could reason with him, get him to join us before it's too late, before she takes you." Dol was grasping our straws, trying his best not to let his desperation leak but the pipe was already broken.

"Do you know what he's been doing?" Silas looked over at him, "Every hour for the past four weeks, he's been sending boxes, large boxes to everywhere I've stayed. And every time I open them, there are bodies inside. Bodies of my men he's been killing."

Dol's eyes widened and Silas smiled.

"Terrifying, right? Bodies. He's warning me that my time is coming. It's probably here already. Jimin's been waiting for this too, his revenge on me. When I took him in, he believed I was saving him. Instead, I threw him into another hell. This retribution for him.. for the both of them."

Dol looked away, trying to get a grip.

You were putting walls around him and his options were running out.

With Bantuera gone, he would have to figure this shit out by himself. He didn't know how to do that. It worried him more than anything.

"I'll fight them," He chose to say than admit his fear, "I'll fight with everything I have and I won't regret anything."

Silas plucked a cigarette from his pocket then, lighting it with a sigh, "I'll have one."

Dol rose an eyebrow as the man before him grimaced, "I didn't bury Stone with her father."

Y O U

"STONE, TURN ON the TV," Jungkook burst through the door, a knowing smile written on his face.

I obliged, moving from Jimin's spread table where we plotted our next hit on Dol, and toward the remote. Jimin followed behind me, his hand pressing into my lower black. The flat screen scratched on with color as Jungkook barked about the news channel.

"BREAKING NEWS! Silas Bantuera has just been arrested outside Lorve Suites this afternoon. Reports say this investigation against him was closing in after the outbreak of media data depicting his crimes was revealed to the public nearly a month ago."

I lit a cigarette as laughter left my lips.

It was warm and bubbly. The first genuine laugh I had let out in ages. It filled me just like the smoke in my lungs as my eyes followed Bantuera's movements.

His head was cast downward, cuffs locked around his suit-covered wrist. Cops shoved cameras and reporters away from him, screaming and cursing at them. Bantuera just kept quiet with Van-Buren at his side, pushing his head inside a vehicle and getting in with him.

There was something about this moment, something so saccharine.

"Victory," Jimin whispered in my ear like he read my mind.

I flipped through the channels, each one of them plastered with Bantuera's cuffed picture on them. It made headlines and took over Seoul. The buzz was indescribable, the pleasure overwhelming enough that I could cry.

This arrest was like no other because this one would stick.

The plan might've been done dirty and we might've schemed but it was reliable. By exposing of Bantuera had left him open and wounded and we, as sharks, went right for the kill. Nobody would take his case, nobody would represent him. We gave the cops to him on a silver platter, only this time we made it stick by a little abuse of power.

Jimin had a "friend" that owned a penitentiary. He kept his name undisclosed but things about the ward he owned scared people shitless. For a million bucks, he promised to house Silas until I was ready to make my next move on him.

Uncovering everything about Bantuera and showing it to the world set into motion that no judge would ever give him bail after hearing those victims speak about those atrocities. And if they did, they would probably be torn apart by the public. All the Seoul PD needed to do was detain him.

I would do the rest afterward.

A plan for the ages crafted all by me.

Silas Bantuera's undoing would end with me.

"Victory," I answered Jimin with a wistful grin. He stole my cigarette and kissed me fervently. I felt as if I was above the sky, soaring past the planets.

I felt more alive than I ever did before.

Alive with happiness.

"Let me leave before you two start," Jungkook groaned, quickly running to the door and closing it.

The second he did, Jimin pounced on me. He gripped my hips and pushed us toward the table. A huff left me as he hoisted me onto it, removing the cigarette right after, and then kissing me stupid. I grunted at the impact but responded ferociously, breathing in his intensity and holding him close.

At this moment, everything was right.

Silas' arrest depiction played like my favorite song in the background and my lover's lips locked on mine was heaven. Even if this moment was brief, I would savor it for the rest of my life because for the first time, in a long time, I was living, living for what was best for me. Nobody could ruin this. Nothing could.

My hands moved to push my jacket off but before I could, Jimin pulled away.

His forehead knocked into mine, breath swallowing mine as he cupped my cheek. I chased his lips and he chuckled, curling a finger around the strand of my hair. His eyes became crescents before he shut them and sighed.

Something was on his mind.

I knew it.

"What is it?" I said after a beat of thick, comfortable silence.

He pressed his lips together and pulled away. He didn't look at me immediately but his thumb stroked my cheek absentmindedly. He seemed nervous, tense even. It started to scare me.

"What's wrong?" I asked again, wrapping my legs around his narrow waist, "Talk to me."

I turned his face back toward mine. He looked deeply into my eyes and I saw the reluctance fade. His labored breaths began to stabilize as a shy smile crawled onto his face. I wondered what he wanted to say, what he was thinking. I was desperate to know.

"I just," He paused, "love you."

I smiled and kissed the side of his mouth.

"I love you too," I said.

His eyebrows creased and he shifted on his toes. There was more he wanted to tell me but he was holding himself back.

"I'm sorry, I'm not good at this."

Now, it was my turn to be confused.

"Good at what? Jimin, you're not making any sense." I laughed quietly. He gripped my hands and held them tightly in his, staring at them and how they fit together.

"I've spent twenty-six years of my life not knowing you existed," He brushed his thumb over my knuckles.

My heart raced in my chest.

"And now that I have you, I don't ever want to let you go. I want to be," He gazed at me, adoration filling his, "I want to be perfect for you. I want to be the man you need me to be, the man you want. Not the man from before."

His admission kept me silent.

He warmed my heart in a way that nothing else had before.

I listened in closely, watching him with soft eyes.

"I know I haven't said it out loud but I want us to work. I want you. I—" He paused, seemingly overcome with emotion. He looked as if he was trying to find the right words to say, glancing downward before at me, sighing, "I want you to be my girlfriend, Y/n. No, I want you to be my wife—"

I gasped quietly.

Wife?

"I just want everything with you. There's no one else for me. It's you," He confessed. I felt blood rush to my head as he stroked my knuckles, "Do you want me too?"

He sounded so genuine, so pure.

I wanted nothing more than to kiss him, to steal his breath away the way he had stolen mine. Nothing else mattered but this feeling right now, this feeling of requited love.

"Of course, I—"

"BOSS!"

Kook came through the door again.

His eyes shifted between Jimin and I and he immediately took a step back, giving us a sheepish look as he rubbed the back of his neck. I cleared my throat and pushed away from Jimin whose eyes didn't leave mine even when Kook began talking.

"Employees for the MOXLEY just arrived for their check. You want to get started?" Jungkook asked though it didn't look like Jimin listening to him.

"Send some of them to Yoongi and Hoseok. I'll be out in a minute."

"No, I could go," I interjected, "We'll talk later, alright?" I squeezed his hand before letting it go and following Jungkook out the door.

The second I got out, I was greeted by tons of workers from the MOXLEY all lined up.

I moved past them until I heard the call of my name.

"Y/N!"

I whipped around at the sound of it and came face to face with Shay.

I hadn't seen her in months, not since I hit her over the head with a lamp all those weeks ago.

I smiled and walked over to her and she pulled me into a hug, ringing her arm around me tight for a moment before releasing me. I did my best to reciprocate her excitement but my brain was still clouded with everything that was Jimin.

"Have you come for compensation too?" She wondered, eyes shifting between mine slowly. I stood there, befuddled at her question but in the same sense, not necessarily listening. My attention was elsewhere, specifically toward the door Jimin was behind.

"Compensation...? I don't understand."

"The MOXLEY, Y/n. It burned down, remember?" Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. My eyes lit up as I nodded, a laugh leaving me quietly as I tried to brush off my forgetfulness. "We all lost our jobs." She finished softly.

"Shit. I'm sorry. A lot's just been going on right now. I haven't had time to process much honestly," It was a stupid excuse but an easy one. I knew she didn't buy it, my elusiveness. I chewed on my lip, desperate to follow my lover who still hadn't come out.

"I didn't know you ran with Park now."

That had my eyes snapping toward hers.

Shay was ready to receive it, curiosity glimmering in his eyes. She was searching for answers, trying her best to sift through my bullshit. I scoffed lightly, pushing my shoulder into hers.

"I don't run with Park," I said slowly.

She chuckled and rose an eyebrow.

"I saw you walking out of the room he's in. I saw the way he looked at you. The way you looked at him. You keep watching the door," She nodded to it, "It's as if you're waiting for him to come out. Waiting for him, watching for him," A heavy pause sat between us before she asked, "How did you do it?"

"Do what?" I questioned and crossed my arms.

"Park Jimin fucks. Park Jimin doesn't know how to love. He doesn't do relationships. Everybody is disposable in a world that is his own. You know this. You knew this the second you stepped into the MOXLEY looking for a job and yet somehow, you've wedged your way into his heart," She said thoughtfully.

"Some shit happened and he was there for me," I tried to explain though it was pointless.

She smiled.

"It's more than that, Y/n. We both know it," She whispered and I hated the way I knew her words were true.

I didn't say anything in repose.

It seemed as if luck was on my side when one of Jimin's guards called for Shay. She turned to me, eyes soft, hands reaching out to grip my forearm as she gave me a tight-lipped smile, one that shook my core.

"Be careful, Y/n." She warned.

I watched her leave, disappearing behind a door where Yoongi was, handing out checks.

I felt uneasy when I stepped outside for some air. I hadn't been careful in weeks. Restraint felt useless. It reminded me of feeling powerless and I didn't ever wanna feel that way again.

When I went to see Bantuera a few days later in prison, I had composed myself in amazing regard.

Thigh, high boots, a leather jacket, and fitted pants, I strutted in ready for business, ready to gloat. I swiped my pass and listened as the guard told me he would grab Bantuera. I waited patiently, reveling in the silence.

Soon enough, the guard returned and walked me toward the metal machine door.

I spotted Silas already sitting there.

I waited until the door closed before I picked up the phone, smiling at him.

I reclined into the seat and crossed my legs, amusement flickering across my face as his heavy breath filtered through the shot line. Bantuera's lips were a fine line, pursed with putrid resentment, swarming indignation I felt beyond the glass.

"Do it like it?" I asked softly, my eyes bouncing across the paned room. It was colorless just like his draining features, "Do you like being my bitch, Silas?"

That got a rise out of him.

The look he gave me was venomous as if he wanted to pounce through the glass and strangle me. He wanted to rejoice on my body and spit on my blood but he was trapped, locked away right where I wanted him to be. His hand squeezed the phone.

"You had me arrested. So, what? It's nothing I haven't been through before. I'll be out in two hours tops."

"That's ambitious!" I chuckled. My lips tilted up, "I wonder who told you that. Dol? Did he promise he'd get you out? Tamper with all those police reports of the countless women you sodomized? All the men you bludgeoned? The families you wrecked with just the snap of your fingers? Tell me what makes you think that."

He rolled his eyes.

"You're new to this. Jimin hasn't taught you much yet, sweetheart," He leaned on, hissing, "I own this prison. I own the cops here. I own these prisoners. I own the very chair your ass sits in. Little girls like you shouldn't play with big men like me, Stone, because trust me," He paused, "I'll kill you for it."

"You don't think I know that?" I scoffed lightly, "You seem to forget, I've studied you my whole life. I'm not an idiot. It's why I'm having you transferred tonight."

His eyebrows furrowed.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, I can't have you running off when the show's not over. No, I need you to watch what I do to this city you think you've created. I want you to watch me tear it apart and I want you to watch knowing you can't do a single thing to stop me. And I can't take any chances of you trying anything so Hong-do Penitentiary it is."

"I want my lawyer." He said quickly.

"Silas, you don't have one," I snorted, "Not after you've been exposed. Who would want to stain their practice defending a monster like you? Someone you think I'll have to care of too? Because you know I will."

He punched his hand against the glass.

"I'll call Dol. I'll tell him before you even send me there."

"Your privileges have been revoked courtesy of Park Jimin. We've paid the in-keepers just a little bit higher here to make sure you can't do anything until it's time for you to go."

He shook in his seat, visible anger booming.

It made my blood boil.

"Y/n, be reasonable now. You can't ship me off like a parcel. People will wonder where I am. They'll look for me. They'll find me."

"Do you think so?" I wondered, tapping my nails against the desk, "Because if that happens, I can just send a tabloid report that you made bail and left for the States. It's that simple."

"Y/n—

"No one will wonder where you are. No one will try to look for you. No one will find you, not unless I make it so," I told him fiercely, confidently, "While you're in Hong-Do, I want you to think long and hard about what you've done, not just to me, but to everyone you've ever hurt. I want you to cry as they did. Beg for your life while you wait in solitary."

"No!" He shouted, "No!"

"When I'm finished with Dol, I'll come for you," I promised, "I won't forget and neither will you. You'll wait for me just like how I've waited for you, how I've waited for this moment."

Spit flew from his mouth as he banged on the desk, slamming his hand over and over on it. It was impenetrable though. It wouldn't shatter against his will. I didn't flinch at his outburst; it hadn't terrified me. I embraced his hatred and used it to fuel the fire in me.

I stood, ready to walk out and let him rage.

But his final words paralyzed me for a moment.

"You can't do this!"

His statement rattled something in me, knocked on another door of anger. I whipped to face him once again, hand speeding toward the device.

"Why can't I?" I growled lowly, "Tell me why! You took everything from me! Why can't I do the SAME?!"

He quieted.

"You will do what I want when I want because I own you. It's time you start realizing it."

With that, I slammed the phone back into the receiver and walked out.

~

"SHOULD I ASK how you did it?" Van-Buren questioned, pushing her lighter in my direction.

I covered the flame with my hand and blew the smoke out tersely. My head knocked against the brick wall concealing us under the bridge. I rolled the rings around my fingers, a ridiculous habit I had picked up from Jimin, and looked at her, "I don't think my answer would make you happy."

"You somehow got Bantuera locked up in a penitentiary, Stone. The whole department is buzzing about it so, spill."

I gazed at her, hesitant to share my secrets with her.

I pushed out the smoke.

"I needed him in jail and exposing him would do that. You had an overwhelming amount of evidence to lock him up but he'd find a way to get out. He always does," I paused, feeling a subtle ache in my lungs from the smoke, "So, I thought of what to do, thought of a place that I knew could harbor him in the meantime. Jimin knew a guy in Hong-Do and told us he'd take care of it."

"Jimin had a hand to play in this too?" She asked and I nodded.

"We used power and leverage against Bantuera and we won."

"And when the time is right for Bantuera?" She asked.

I looked at her. There was no laughter, no smile, nothing but a straight face.

"I'll take care of him," I told her slowly.

"Y/n," She said but I stopped her.

"You can't change my mind about this. I won't let you Van-Buren. This has to be done." I muttered. She shook her head in disbelief, anger permeating her features. She blew out smoke and kicked rocks in annoyance.

"Did he tell you that?" She hissed coldly.

She looked at me and I recognized a hint of sadness there. Grief laid bare under her eyes and it hit me in vicious waves. I wanted to apologize, wanted to say something that would erase that look in her on her face but I didn't think any answer I could give her would suffice.

"Just because Jimin thinks he's above the law doesn't mean you should either, Y/n," She paused before her eyes zeroed in on mine, "I'll arrest you too."

It was a threat, one I felt deep in my bones.

I threw my cigarette to the ground and crushed it.

"Come on, Van-Buren," I snorted, "I'd like to see you try."

-

end of chap.

hi guys how are you?

i know it's been awhile but i'm back in school and i've been busy. i wanna cry because we are coming closer to the end of PARASITE and i know we all are waiting on the climax.

regardless though, i love you guys, have a great start to your week.