Queen's POV

Everyone looked at me as I pulled the trigger. Behind voices were heard followed by someone screaming. Taehyung probably. Jungkook too.
In front of me Jin closed his eyes. Namjoon pleaded with hot tears rolling down his cheeks . Sua looked away, not wanting to witness her sister murder someone.

All this drama from their end only for my gun to be empty.

Everyone was taken aback as they heard that empty click. I looked around taking in their confused faces. Jin looked up to meet my eyes, not sure why the bullet didn't hit him.

"What", I deadpanned. "Did you guys really think I was going to shoot him? Sure he is loud and hyper sometimes and overcooks his chicken but he is not even that bad. Why would I kill him? Honestly I could not even forgive myself if I shot a handsome face like his"

All boys were in disbelief. Hoseok looked up to meet Baekhyun's eyes. "Is this why the rumors said she was a psycho? Is she always like this? I thought she was pretty normal during the time we spent together except for that occasional craziness"

"Remember she was pretending. Stress is on the word pretending", Baekhyun replied and Hoseok nodded as if he understood.

"Is this—", Taehyung yelled, taking a second to process it all. "Is this all a joke to you!?"

"Of course not. But I just wanted to give you an ultimate chance. I am no saint either. This time the gun was empty, next time it might not be"

"I TOLD YOU A HUNDRED TIMES IT WASN'T ME", Namjoon screamed at the top of his voice.

"I KNOW WHO DID IT", Jimin suddenly spoke up, his eyes stuck to the ground before he looked up, realization of something dawning upon him.

"About time Jiminie", I snickered. "For someone who is always babbling, you sure stayed quiet for too long"

"Leo", was the only word he said.

"Ah", I chuckled. "The old blame game. Now that Leo's image is already tainted, let us all pin everything on him? Is this middle school? Who stole the snacks? Leo. Who cheated? Leo. Who drew a dick on the blackboard? Leo"

"Kids don't draw dicks on the blackboard", Sehun butted from the back. "Those are high schoolers"

"Really?", I raised an eyebrow. "I drew one when I was in sixth grade and then they suspended me for two weeks"

"For the last fucking time SEHUN SHUT THE FUCK UP AND HYELIN CONCENTRATE!", Suho yelled from the back and both me and Sehun immediately shut up.

"No. It is actually Leo. Believe me", Jimin panicked. "That day when they tried to shoot you, was it a Black Mercedes Gwagon?"

"Yes", Sua answered, since she was the only one who saw it.

"That was my car. I wanted to go out and went in to the garage but my car was missing. I did not know who took it but one of the men said it was Leo. Since Leo was a good friend of mine, I didn't mind. But I didn't know that he took it for doing something like this. Two hours later with that same car he went to our hotel the Red Bullet where I collected the car back from him. He didn't tell me where he went, just apologized for his actions"

I was taken aback. This seemed plausible but it could also be a story. In my two months of living there, I had observed that Jimin was a very manipulative person. Not manipulative as in a bad trait but more on the side of manipulation of situations. He was a master negotiator just like Xiumin and sometimes all it took were his charms and little bit of flirting for him to get his way through things.

"You want me to buy that story? Prove it then. If its true, walk free and you will never hear from us again", I said to Jimin.

"Footage", Namjoon spoke from the back. "Allow me to make one call and I will get you all the footage you need. One to prove Jimin's story and one to show our alibi"

I looked at him intently before motioning with my fingers for Jongdae. He removed his phone and walked towards Namjoon.

"Hyelin", I turned to the side to see Kris standing there. "I think they are lying. He is just trying to make his way out of this. I don't think we should let him make the call. Just end him already"

"No, let him make the call", I said ignoring his plea. Kris wanted to say something else but a glare from me had him step back. A part of me wanted them to be innocent and not the ones behind this. And that is why I was willing to give them more chances. Something I rarely did in the past.

"Namjoon, mind you though. If your try to act smart and call for help or something, this time the gun will be loaded"

"I won't", he said and dialed a number.

From the other side someone picked up. "Jackson, I want you to do something for me. Send me the footage from the party on the 28th two months ago. And while you are at it, call the security team at Red Bullet and get me all the footage from that day, especially the one at the main gate. Send it to this number"

With that Jongdae snatched his phone back. We waited a few minutes until his phone pinged and he walked to me. I took the phone and observed the video. It indeed matched Jimin's description since I could see Leo step out of the car and hand over the keys to Jimin at the front gate.

In another video, Namjoon and rest of the five boys were see entering a villa. Layla was there as well. The date and timing on the lower corner of the video matched with the assassination attempt.

"I will not lie", Namjoon began. "I wanted to kill you. But before we could do anything, the news of you dying was everywhere. We had managed to get a picture of you from Takahashi and planned to use it to find you. But just one day after we sent that picture out, you were dead. None of us could believe it as well. I also received a random message saying you had been killed from an untraceable number. Taehyung was still hell bent on believing that you were alive. I told him to snap out of it and concentrate on better things. Maybe I should have listened to him. We had the intent to end you but unfortunately we weren't the ones to act on it. And I understand someone set us up in a way that you believed it was us.."

It made sense. It all made sense to me. My instinct told me that he wasn't lying. And in my many years of being in the Mafia business I had realised that it was always best to trust my instinct. After spending almost two months at their mansion, I also knew that Namjoon was a man of honour, pride and integrity. If he did try and kill me, he would own upto it. His pride exceeded his survival instinct. Man would rather die than lie out of weakness.

There was dead silence in the room. All of EXO as well as Bangtan was looking at me.

"Let them go", I spoke.

"What", Tao mouthed as he looked at me in disbelief.

"Let them go", I repeated and this time looked at Suho.

The EXO boys all turned to Suho. Seeing him take steps back, they slowly backed away. The Bangtan members looked at Namjoon before standing up. Namjoon was the last one to stand up before he dusted his suit.

I could feel a lot of eyes on me. The Bangtan boys looking at me in despise and hurt. The Exo boys looking at me in confusion and disappointment because I let the other group go.

"For what you have done Queen", Namjoon clenched his jaw as he looked at me. "Its only fair I declare war. But I won't. Your sister was hurt by Leo who despite having gone rogue now was a part of my Mafia at that time which means it is my responsibility too. And because you are the one who got me lead on my family's killer, I'll let it slide. I expect Port of Chinae be handed back to us. Starting this moment I declare our alliance with EXO over"

With that he turned to leave. Jin met my eyes and I could see how much I had hurt him as he quietly followed. The pain was evident on Hoseok's face too who really considered me a friend. Jungkook walked towards Jimin as he helped him leave before giving me a strong glare. My eyes were set on Taehyung's back as I saw him leave. My eyes stung and lips quivered but I dare not make a sound. I hoped he would stop.

And he did. He stopped in his steps and he stood there for a solid few seconds before turning.

I was taken aback as he looked at me. He took steps towards where I was and within a few seconds was right in front of me. Dangerously close to be honest.

Tao who was the nearest immediately put a gun to his head. "Back off now. If you even dare, I'll pull the trigger"

"Taehyung—", Jin took a step ahead but Namjoon stopped him. Taehyung ignored him as well as Tao, pushing the latter away as he stared deep into my eyes.

"Thank you", he began, his face devoid of any emotion and voice hard. "For making me recall why I used to hate the idea of love in the first place. But props to you for acting like you were really in love. I would have never guessed you were faking it. Must have been fun for you, seeing me crumple like this. Anyways, I don't need to put this explicitly but I will. Its all fucking over. And this better be the last time I see you. 11 years ago, with Sohee at least I felt pain while killing her but with you I will do it gladly. Don't ever cross me or any of Bangtan's members again or this time I will really make sure you are dead Queen"

With that he turned and walked away, leaving me there. A tear rolled down my eyes followed by more. I could feel all the boys looking at me in disbelief while Sua watched on, hurt herself.

I looked down, the droplets smearing my cheeks as they fell on the concrete floor below. One misunderstanding and it was all ruined. And Taehyung, more than the fact that his words hurt me, it made me sad knowing how much pain I had caused him

I wish I could disappear somewhere from here. As I cried my eyes out, all the EXO boys looked at me in worry and surprise at this new romantic interest I had developed while away.

In the midst of the silence of the warehouse, the noise of my heart shattering was the loudest.