Without a second thought, I snapped Hwasa's neck. It wasn't enough. I wanted to destroy everything that she had become, to make sure she was never brought back, but there wasn't time.

I dropped to my knees beside Kai and pressed on the wound in his chest. Mentally, I tried to close off the wound like I'd done with Jimin, but Hwasa had used a small caliber bullet and it had done a lot more damage as it bounced around inside him. I didn't even realize I was crying until tears landed on my hands as I furiously worked to save him.

"There's no time," Kai said, lifting his hand up to cup my cheek. His breathing was already ragged, but it was the wheezing sound that accompanied each inhale that was the most concerning.

"Shut up! Yes there is! You just have to work with me." I slipped as I tried to haul him up and fell back down to the bloody floor. "Come on, Kai, stand up!"

"I can't," he said between painful, gasping, breaths. "You have to leave me."

"I won't do that," I sobbed. "I didn't come all this way just to leave you here."

"But that's what you're going to do." There was a finality to his words. A firmness in the sound of them. He wasn't going to let me take him.

"Kai," I begged. I shook my head and looked down at him, pleading with my whole body for him to keep fighting.

"I love you, Morgan. I have since that night in your apartment. I don't want to live in a world where you don't exist." He could barely form the words between breaths and even with me trying to seal the wound, there was more blood around him than there had been only seconds before.

"Do you think it will be any easier for me? I love you, too, dammit!" I screamed down at him, nearly beating his chest to get him to move. My sight was so clouded with tears, I could barely see but there was too much blood on my hands to wipe them away. "We can both make it out if you just help me."

"No, we can't. I'll only slow you down."

With his last moment of strength, he fisted my shirt and pulled me down to him. I kissed him with everything I had in me, tugging him closer as if I could pull him into me and carry him with me forever. His fingers wound through my hair, and I held his hand there as his grip began to loosen. When his body went lax, I didn't dare look down at him. I just kept my eyes shut to the reality that I was trying so hard not to face and pressed my forehead against his. It wasn't until I heard the sound of dress shoes walking across the tiles behind me that I let him go.

If my rage could have been a tangible beast beside me, it would have brought that whole facility down in seconds. But when I turned and faced the enemy walking up behind me, I wasn't prepared for what was about to happen. The fight left me immediately and the only thing left behind was sheer terror.

I hadn't seen his real face yet, but when I saw the man turning the corner by Hwasa's body, I knew exactly who he was. And all at once, my memories came flooding back to me. Reality shifted and I once again dropped to my knees. I was no longer in the hallway surrounded by carnage. I was in my room from two years before, looking at myself in a mirror with sirens blaring all around me.

"You must forget," I told myself. "Everything they told you to do, forget it. Forget who they told you to be. What they told you to be. Leave this place and disappear. For their sake. Stay away from them. Kill yourself if you have to, but stay away. Save them from what you've become."

I glanced over my shoulder. They were coming for me. I didn't have much time. I turned back to my reflection.

"Only if you meet him again can you remember. Remember so you can escape. Don't try to fight him. He'll only win. If they catch you again and take you to him...run. Don't hesitate....just run. And if you can't run, you have to end it. He can't be allowed to have you again."

When my vision cleared, I looked up into Taemin's smiling face and cold fear flooded my veins. The snake-like grin held me transfixed like headlights to a deer. I willed my body to move and pushed to stand, but before I could run, Taemin raised his hand and fired the weapon he held. A barb lodged in my throat and immediately I could feel the drug coursing through me.

"You've caused quite a scene here today, haven't you?" Taemin's soft voice was deceptively pleasant. Low and scratchy, but seductive at the same time. Conflicting emotions filled my stomach as I collapsed to the floor.

He stepped up to me and crouched by my motionless body as guards and other doctors rushed up behind him. His eyes swept the mess around us before landing back on me. My own eyes were wide with fear, but I couldn't do anything to stop him as he reached down and brushed the hair from my eyes like a lover would. His expression was serene, but I knew the monster inside him too well.

"I finally have you back in my posession," he whispered as he smiled, baring his perfect teeth. "And this time, you won't get away. I'll kill those men myself just to keep them from touching you again."

A tear slid into my hair as he stood and looked down at me. A woman in scrubs carrying a tablet stepped up beside him but he didn't look away from me as he addressed her.

"Clean this mess up and get her into the Chamber on a drip. As soon as the halo is ready, we're putting her back inside. I have to see what damage she's done and get it repaired before she makes another attempt."

"Doctor," another man said as he ran up, "the team is ready to move on Bangtan. We just need your word."

"Do it. Destroy them and everyone that ever helped them."

"What about Suho," the man asked.

Taemin nodded. "I don't need him anymore, either. As far as Exo knows, he's working for me. Let them continue to believe that. Kill him and dispose of the body."

"What about this one," the female doctor said, pointing towards where Kai still lay.

Taemin smiled cruelly as he stared into my immobile eyes. "Take him to the Chamber as well. I have better plans for him."

"Please..." I whispered through the effects of the drug he'd shot me with. "No."

Once again Taemin knelt down beside me. He took my chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted my face up to his. "You took away my second in command and my best soldier. Wonho was too damaged to bring back, as well. So you've left me no choice. I need another soldier. And when you're by my side where you belong, I won't need Hwasa anymore." He closed his eyes and popped his neck before looking down at me again.

"And who knows? Maybe I'll be feeling generous and let you have him as a toy to play with once you're you again."

"I'll die before I let you..." My words trailed off as the effort to speak them became too much.

Taemin's eyes turned hard and there was a glimpse of the evil inside him. "I'm going to break you, Natalia. Over and over again until you realize that you are mine. I made you what you are. Without me, you would be nothing more than a whore on the streets. And one day you are going to thank me for making you into a masterpiece."

"One day I'm going to kill you."

Taemin's serene smile returned and he stood. "We'll see about that, my pet. We'll see."

E N D   B O O K   T W O

https://youtu.be/KUvOQlkLNhE

Hello lovely readers.

Thank you for being so patient with me. I had to take a break from Wattpad for a little while because I had some anxiety issues to get settled and I needed to help my kids with their school, which is still 100% online. Thank you for sticking with me through all of this.

I hope you and your families are still doing well. If you're in the States like me, it's been more difficult because we, as a society, have some major issues. Think of it like the Spoiled Child syndrome. Hopefully with future generations, we can change our country for the better but until then, we're stuck with this crap. Hang in there, friends. We'll get through this.

I'm still working on where I want the third book to go. I have an idea for a Book 2.5 that goes back to when Natalia first met Bangtan, so let me know what you think about that idea. I hope you love Taemin as much as I do, because there was no better person to choose as the Doctor. I can't wait to dive into his character!

As always, let me know what you think and thank you so much for reading my work! ILYSM!