The fist connected with your jaw again, whipping your head to the side. Your head was throbbing in pain and there was blood dribbling down your chin. You could already feel one of your eyes swelling up. When Alistair had taken you back to his... lair (not without blindfolding you first, so you had no sense of direction as to where you were), he brought you down the basement. There, he sat you down in a chair, taunted you for a bit, and then left, leaving his men alone in the room with you.

They were all sadists and they were having fun beating the crap out of you. Luckily, none of them had tried to touch you sexually, which you were thankful for. Physical abuse was nothing compared to sexual abuse. And you'd been through enough in your life to know how to take a beating.

"Little uptight bitch. What, you think you're too good for us?" The man who had been previously hitting you snarled from above you. He grabbed your hair and yanked it back to force you to look him in the eye.

"Don't worry, I'll make you scream." He promised sadistically, grinning evilly at you. You coughed and cleared your throat, spitting up blood. You rolled your head around, so you were looking up at the ceiling.

"You punch like a nine-year old girl." You croaked out, smiling through a bloody grin. The man bared his teeth and his fist connected with your cheek for what felt like the twentieth time. Your head jerked to the side as pain exploded through your face. You didn't react though. You wouldn't give them the satisfaction of listening to you cry out or scream.

You felt the blood pool in your mouth, and you spit it out, cringing at the amount. The man rounded on you again and you braced yourself for another blow. Suddenly, the door to the room banged open and Alistair walked back into the room, clapping a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Easy Michael. If you mess up her pretty face too badly, Agust D won't be able to recognize her." His voice was calm and taunting and sent shivers down your spine. You had done a pretty good job of hiding it up to this point, but you were terrified.

Terrified of what Alistair had in store for you and even more terrified for what he had in store for Suga. You had no idea if Jimin even caught the clues you left behind. You had no idea if they even knew you were gone. For all they knew, you could have run away again.

Alistair started to pace in front of you, his face thoughtful and annoyed. You followed him with your eyes, trying to keep your face as impassive as possible. You still didn't know what they wanted from you, but you knew you would need to be smart if you wanted to get out of this alive.

"You know, I said before that you were more important that you gave yourself credit for," Alistair started, drawing your attention to him, "but I'm still trying to understand just how important you really are." He paused and walked up in front of you, bending down so his face was only a mere foot from yours. You leaned your head back, trying to put as much distance between you as you could.

"Why would Agust D risk so much for you? Why are you so important to him? You must have some kind of value." Alistair said softly, probably thinking out loud. You swallowed and offered no response. Alistair's eyes flickered down your face and body, lingering on your chest and legs. You cringed under his scrutinizing stare and didn't hide your disgust.

"I can understand an infatuation. You are quite lovely, but why would he risk so much for a whore? You must have something on him." He licked his lips and moved his face so close that you could smell the smoke in his breath.

"I'm not a whore." You hissed, clenching your fists. Alistair laughed, straightening up so he was no longer right up in your face.

"Agree to disagree, I suppose." He said in amusement. You clenched your jaw, fighting to keep the anger from showing on your face. You pulled at the zip tie that was holding your hands behind your back, but to no avail. You were hurting yourself more than anything and there was n point in trying to free yourself.

"Do you know who I am?" Alistair continued, looking down at you curiously. You paused, debating how to answer that question. When you took too long to reply, Alistair began to speak again. "Obviously, you know me as Alistair DesMoines, leader of the Underground. But did you know that I also go by Aaron Dearth in the real world? I believe you used to work for me."

You pursed your lips and your eyes flickered away before returning to him. You hated that this man was the pinnacle of everything that had ever gone wrong in your life since you left Luke two years ago. You hated him for everything he stood for and everything he was, and you didn't try to hide the hatred on your face. Alistair smiled at your reaction.

"So, you knew, I take it. If I had known how important you were going to be, I might have used you more." His smiled never wavered as you felt a chill roll down your spine. "I honestly had no idea that the little rat computer geek feeding me information was actually someone like you." You clenched your teeth in humiliation and anger. Now that you understood were all that information was going, you hated yourself. You had been working for the devil himself and although you didn't know it at the time, taking the job might have been the worst mistake you'd ever made.

"The Bulletproof's hold on their territory has been slowly declining for a while, but it seems that you were the catalyst to their downfall." Alistair continued, beginning to pace again. Your eyes widened as you looked back up at him. "Only a short time after kidnapping you, did Agust D begin to unravel his sex trafficking empire. It was his largest source of income, and yet he still disbanded each warehouse and brothel one by one, to hell with the consequences." Alistair continued. Your throat tightened at his words and you were trying not to cry. "I'm sure he must have thought it would bring more integrity to his gang, but it had the exact opposite effect. Less money, less power, less allies, he was ripe for the picking." Alistair turned to face you again and you felt you face drain of color.

"Then he went as far as to raid a police station for you. Why? Why would he ever risk his own safety, his own anonymity for you? For the life of me, I cannot fathom his obsession with you." You started to panic. If Alistair got too close, if he understood the true extent of your relationship with Suga, he would use it without hesitation. You had to throw him off. you couldn't let him use you as bait.

"He doesn't care about me." You blurted, needing to steer him away somehow. "He would rather you kill me than anything." Alistair chuckled.

"How do you explain everything he has done so far on your behalf?" He asked, turning to face you. You forced yourself to look into his eyes, hoping to convey truth.

"He hasn't done anything on my behalf. It was all for his own gain. He raided the police station and kidnapped me again. I didn't have anything to do with it. He only wanted me for..." You trailed off, leaving the rest of the sentence up for interpretation. You were sure Alistair could fill in the blank. You looked away, hoping you sounded convincing enough.

"So you are his whore." Alistair concluded, a wicked grin on his face. You turned back, baring your teeth.

"I am not a whore." You repeated, glaring at him. "I did what I had to do to survive."

"Oh yes, I am well aware of the things you did to stay useful to him." Alistair laughed and produced a bag from behind his back. You recognized the bag from the convenience store. It held the birth control pills that you were supposed to take. Now that you hadn't, you were terrified that there might be a life growing inside you. You still a chance, you just needed to convince him to give them to you.

"You know, if it is as you say, and Agust D does not care about you in any real way, then we could keep you here for a few months until you... start to show." He grinned and you felt a wave of fear at being prisoner here for months. "Then we could easily extort him. He may not care about the safety of his whore, but he definitely will care about his own kid." Alistair said, smiling.

"I might not even be pregnant." You protested, swallowing hard. Alistair's eyes glinted and he smiled, showing his pearly white teeth. You felt chills

"Plenty of time for that. No one said the child had to be his. As long as he believes it." He licked his lips and your eyes widened. You started to shake, unable to keep your face impassive any longer. From what he was insinuating, it was enough to send you into a panic.

"D-don't touch me." You stammered, trying and failing to sound confident as Alistair came close again, licking his lips. He leaned down close to you, placing his hands on the arms of your chair so he could get closer. He brought his face close to yours, and you turned your face away, cringing at the feeling of his hot breath on yours.

"If it were up to me," Alistair whispered in your ear, his lips brushing against your cheek, almost making you gag. "If it were up to me, I would have you all to myself right now. I would make you mine." He growled, is tongue darting out to swipe at the lone tear that fell out of the corner of your eye. You shivered and leaned back until he finally stood back up and moved away.

"Luckily for you, someone else wants to decide your fate today." With that, he beckoned for his men to follow him, leaving you alone in the small room.

You couldn't stop shivering even though it wasn't cold in the room. You could still feel Alistair's face so close to yours and his breath that made you want to throw up. You felt a few more tears slip down your face and you looked up at the ceiling.

I'm sorry Suga. I'm so sorry.

You never could seem to protect yourself. You always ended up in some kind of trouble and then someone had to save you. You hated feeling so helpless. But you hated yourself more than anything. You should have let Jimin come with you into the store. You should have known something like this would happen.

What had Alistair been talking about? It wasn't up to him to decide what happened to you. Why wasn't it up to him? Wasn't this his operation? His gang?

On top of that, something he said was still sitting strange with you.

Before you could really think about it, however, the door to the room opened again and a new man stepped inside. You turned away and quickly wiped the tears on your shoulder and replaced your impassive mask on your face. You turned to face the man and the mask fell instantly. Your jaw dropped and the color drained from your face.

"Hello little canary," Luke's face swam in front of you, making your head spin.

"Luke... what..." You could barely get a coherent thought out through the shock of seeing him here. "I don't understand."

"Yes, I suppose this must be a little surprising to you." Luke's eyes twinkled, but he still didn't smile. You swallowed when you saw the convenience store bag in his hands. "It's surprising for me too." He said, his voice a little softer now as he looked down at the bag.

"What are you doing here?" You croaked, hoping you didn't look as terrified as you felt.

"Well, why shouldn't I be, considering that I own the building and everyone in it?" He said sarcastically, dropping the bag. You gulped and furrowed your brows.

"You own... what? Luke what's going on?"

"This is my gang. Or didn't you know? I've been leader for years." He said simply. You gaped at him, trying to wrap your head around what he had just said. Luke narrowed his eyes at you.

"Where do you think all of our money came from? Do you think I was able to afford the penthouse apartment and all your designer clothes with my parents' money? I spoiled you, you should be thanking me." Luke said patronizingly. You swallowed clenched your fists.

"I never asked you to spoil me." You whispered.

The news about Luke's involvement was terrifying, but at the same time, it seemed that you should have known all this time. When you lived with Luke, it had been a day to day struggle to remain strong and emotionless, even though he was abusing you day after day and night after night. You never could seem to look past the abuse, but now if you thought about it, you should have known. Luke would come home late a lot and he seemed to come into large amounts of money very easily, which he used to buy you frivolous things, you supposed to make up for the way he treated you.

"And yet, even after everything I did for you, you still ran from me. You left me when I gave you everything." Luke's eyes flashed and he started to tremble in anger. You gulped, knowing you needed to find a way out of here right now.

"You betrayed me, Y/N. And now... now I find out that you cheated on me..." You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. Then you realized what he meant. You looked down at the convenience store bag and took a deep breath.

Think, Y/N, think.

An idea came to you, and before you could think it through completely, you let the tears well up in your eyes and fall down your cheeks. You started to cry freely, making it both exaggerated and authentic. You sobbed loudly, causing Luke to look taken aback. You tried to make yourself look as vulnerable and helpless as you could. You needed to sell this.

"L-Luke... I'm so s-sorry... I'm scar-scared..." You blubbered loudly, leaning forward like you wanted to run to him and wrap your arms around him. "I d-didn't want to! He m-made me!" You cried out, your body racking with sobs. "I missed you so much." You continued, "I'm so sorry for everything, I never should have left you."

Luke raised his eyebrows at you. He was obviously surprised and a little intrigued by this new turn of events.

"L-Luke, I'm so happy you're here. I don't care about any of the gang stuff. I-I love you." The words were fire on your tongue, but you forced them out of your mouth. You had to sell it. You had to be believable.

"Y/N..." You could see Luke falling already. His gaze softened as he stared at you. Luke's ego would be his downfall. He wanted everything to go his way, all the time. And if the only girl he wasn't able to control was finally seceding to him, he wouldn't be able to resist.

He moved closer to you and bent around the chair to untie your hands. As soon as you were free, you wrapped your arms around Luke's neck and let him lift you up, tucking his arms under your legs to hold you upright. You continued to cry, gripping him tightly, trying your best not to shy away from his touch that made bugs crawl over your skin.

You have to sell it, Y/N.

Luke carried you out of the small room and into the house. You looked around and almost gasped when you recognized it. It was the very first house that Suga had brought you. This was their house! You recognized the staircase and the closet underneath as Luke carried you up the stairs. You recognized the room where Jimin's computer set up had been. That all seemed so long ago when you had made Suga so angry, he had beaten you hard. Luke brought you into Suga's old room. He placed you on the bed and you sat in the familiar room, wringing your hands together. How were you supposed to react to this?

"Do you recognize this place?" Luke asked, still standing above you. You nodded slowly, peering around the room. Luke sighed and placed something on your lap. You looked down at it, surprised when you saw the convenience store bag. You looked up at him in surprise.

"You're letting me..." You whispered. Luke shrugged.

"I don't want you to have to live with your mistake. If you're truly serious about us, then yes, I will allow it." You felt both relief and fear rise in your chest. The farce wasn't over. It had only just begun. You had to keep up the pretense.

You stood up from the bed, swaying a bit from the imbalance. Then you leaned forward and supped Luke's cheeks. You closed your eyes and slanted your lips across his. You felt bile rise in your throat, but you tamped it down, moving your lips fervently against his. You hoped this was convincing as Luke's hands found your waist and pulled you closer. He groaned softly and you resisted the urge to cringe. Unable to continue, you broke the kiss and leaned down close to his ear, wrapping your arms tight around him.

"I love you, Luke." You forced the words out and felt Luke shudder under you.

You released him and picked up the convenience store bag.

When you were finished, Luke reached out and removed the box from your grip, flinging it over his shoulder. You looked up at him surprise as he advanced on you. His eyes glinted wickedly and your blood ran cold when you understood what he wanted from you. You swallowed as he wrapped his hands around your biceps and slowly pushed you back to the bed. You couldn't stop the tremble in your body when you realized what he expected. You racked your brain to come up with something, anything, to keep this from happening. As he lowered you to the bed, however, you winced when pain jerked in your shoulder. You curled into a ball on the bed, massaging your neck, face, and arms. You hadn't realized how badly Alistair's men had beaten you.

"L-Luke... I can't..." You whispered, nursing your injuries. Luke glared down at you, obviously annoyed, but his expression softened and he nodded.

"It's alright, Y/N. I'm sorry you were hurt so badly. Get some rest, I'll see you in the morning." You nodded and snuggled into the bed, holding in your sigh of relief until after Luke had finally left the room. When he was finally gone, you exhaled hard, finally taking in a full breath.

You rolled on your back and stared at the ceiling. You mentally applauded yourself for successfully fooling Luke and saving yourself in the process.

Your eyes welled up with real tears when you thought about Suga and the others. Were they looking for you? Did they care enough to find you? Remembering what Alistair had said only made the tears fall faster. From what he had said, you knew now what had happened in those first few weeks with the gang. After you found out about the trafficking camps, Suga must have started disbanding them and taking them down. Had he done that for you?

Remembering the conversation that Alistair had with himself while you sat helpless in front of him, you felt guilt swell in your stomach you rolled to the side, clutching your stomach. You cried softly when you realized that Suga's string of bad luck had been your fault. It was your fault that he was in such a mess. A few months ago, you realized that you might have wanted this. Not anymore, not after everything you had been through up to this point. You loved the gang and you would never imagine harming them now.

You wouldn't be surprised if they didn't come for you. In fact, if it were up to you, you would rather be left. You were too much trouble and they didn't deserve the suffering that came with your presence. This was where you belonged. Forever in the grip of someone who would never let you go.

You got lucky today. You played your cards right, so Luke left you alone. It wouldn't be so easy in the future. And you were terrified of what you would have to agree to just to stay alive.