You awoke to something digging painfully into your palm. You peeled your eyes open and blinked at the sunlight wafting in through the window. You looked down at your hands to see both were wrapped tightly around the heel of one of your stilettos. You uncurled your fingers and slipped the heel into your sleeve, stretching out the sore muscles and rubbing the red marks on your palms.

The events of the day before came at you in rush and you gagged, coughing loudly. You sat up and wheezed, trying to take in a full breath. When you finally did, you blinked and turned your head to look around the room. You were petrified of what you would see, but were surprised to find you were alone. The bed that you had been terrified of last night was still empty and looked like it hadn't been slept in at all.

You pursed your lips and pushed yourself to a standing position, feeling your muscles ache. You were in desperate need of a hot shower. But the idea of showering in the presence of the most dangerous men in the country was not comforting and steered you away. Instead, you opened your suitcase and quickly changed into a long-sleeve t-shirt and some leggings. It felt good to get out of your work clothes.

Work!

You had forgotten it entirely in the rush of events that had taken over your life yesterday. You were supposed to be at work right now.

Judging by the sun from the window, it was at least mid-morning. You were sure that Stacy or Rick would be blowing your phone up right now. You never missed a day of work. Not once in the two years that you had started working at the newspaper.

You timidly made your way to the door and tried the handle. You were surprised to find it was unlocked. That told you that either someone had come up to unlock it, or Suga had indeed been in the room last night. With that uncomfortable thought in your mind, you made your way down the hall and the stairs to hear voices coming from a room to the right of the foyer.

You peered around the corner to see three of the five men from last night sitting around the kitchen counter, various breakfasts in hand. In the middle of the counter, your phone and laptop lay, tempting you. You recognized Suga reading some papers in his hand while sipping a thermos, which you assumed was coffee. V and Jimin were both talking to each other while Jimin cooked something on the stove, and V watched impatiently.

"All I'm saying is that you should have seen it coming." V was saying. You could see a teasing glint in his eyes, but Jimin's jaw was ticking furiously, which made you think this was a little more than careless banter.

"Yeah, okay. You try bypassing the country's security system and let me know how that works out for you." Jimin ground out, flipping something in the pan he had over the stove. V chuckled light-heartedly, but Jimin still looked annoyed.

You took a deep breath and stepped fully into the doorway and out of the shadows. Suga immediately noticed your presence, looking up from his paper. Your eyes were drawn to his as he stared you down with an emotionless, empty glower. V turned his head and smiled when he saw you.

"Firecracker, you're awake!" He said enthusiastically. "We thought you'd never wake up." He said with a grin. He beckoned you to come closer and your eyes flickered to Suga for permission.

You remembered the deal you had made the night before, and you planned to honor it. As long as you were never asked to do anything sexual or degrading, you would obey him. Being a mindless, invisible servant was nothing you couldn't handle.

Suga dropped his eyelids slightly, a subtle gesture of approval. You walked fully into the room and joined V at the counter. Jimin turned around with two plates full of eggs. He set a plate down in front of you and you stared at it in confusion. You looked up at him in surprise as Jimin sent you a wink.

"I figured you'd be pretty hungry after last night." He said kindly. You could only stare as you tried to make sense of this situation.

Park Jimin and V were notoriously ruthless. They were gang members, leaders of the underground and the black market. Why were they being so nice? Why were they acting like normal human beings?

"Eat up, Y/N, it won't stay warm for long." V said, stuffing in a large mouthful of food. You looked down at the eggs and timidly pushed them around with your fork. You forced yourself to take a few bites, surprised at how good they actually tasted.

Suddenly, your phone started vibrating on the counter, drawing all eyes to it. You looked at the caller ID to see Stacy was calling. You swallowed and looked at Suga, who was watching the phone with a thoughtful and annoyed look mixed together. He looked up at you and you gulped, terrified of what he was about to ask you to do.

"Answer it and put it on speaker." He ordered. You obeyed, reaching out with trembling fingers. You swiped to answer and pressed the speaker button.

"Hello?"

"Y/N? Oh, thank God, I thought something had happened to you. Are you okay? I tried calling you when you didn't show up for work this morning."

"I'm fine, Stacy, I'm just... sick." You looked up into Suga's eyes. He nodded and mouthed 'quit'. You took a deep breath as Stacy started talking again.

"Are you coming down with something? Yeah, Martin said there's a stomach bug going around. Did you just forget to call in this morning? I put you down for a sick day anyway, even if it wasn't the case."

"Stacy, can you put Rick on the phone?" You asked, cutting her off. She was quite the chatterbox, and it broke your heart when you thought about never listening to her absurd stories during lunch breaks.

"Oh yeah sure, he'll definitely want to know you're okay—Hey, somebody get Rick—anyway, yeah, he's been asking me every twenty seconds where you've been. To be honest I think it's a bit of overkill—oh, here he is."

There was a pause and then Rick's voice wafted from the speaker and you felt your shoulders sag in sadness.

"Y/N? Is that you? Stacy said you were sick, are you okay?"

"Hey, Rick, yeah I'm alright. Just a little stomach bug. I'm sorry I didn't call this morning."

"Oh thank God, I thought it was something serious. You're okay then? Don't worry about not calling in, I knew you wouldn't ditch unless it was important. Do you need anything? I can send an intern to get you medicine or something."

"Rick, Rick, stop it I'm fine. Listen to me... you—I... um," You looked up at Suga who raised a brow at you. You had no idea how to approach this. You wished you could have just sent an email.

"Rick, you have to fire me."

"What? Y/N, what the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry, I would give a two-week's notice, but I won't be at work anymore after today." You said firmly. You felt like such a bitch, springing this on him, but looking at Suga's resolute eyes, you knew you had no choice.

"Yeah, okay, sure. Is this a joke? Because it's not funny."

"It's not a joke. Some... family issues... came up and I have to move. I won't be at work anymore and I'm moving." Your eyes were trained on Suga's as you tried to sell the lie. What would make this believable?

"Y/N, that's ridiculous and I don't believe you for a second. Stop playing around and tell me what's really going on."

"It's not a joke or a lie, it's real. This is real. You may not believe me, but it doesn't change the fact that I won't be at work tomorrow, or the day after, or that day after that." Your voice cracked as the reality sunk in. The reality of you never seeing any of them again.

"Y/N... why are you telling me this now? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"This was all very sudden. I didn't know it was going to happen until last—this morning." You corrected yourself when you saw the warning look on Suga's face. You had to be careful. Anything you said could lead Rick to figure out your true situation. You couldn't let him find out. He would just come looking for you and get himself killed in the process.

"Can I come over at least... to say goodbye?"

"Don't waste your time. I'll be gone before you get here." You felt heartless, cruel, but you had to do this.

"I just... I wish you would've told me sooner."

"I'm sorry Rick." You wished you could have said more. You wished you could have been there now, hugging him and telling him it would be okay. Anything would be better than what you were doing now.

"Will you be coming back?"

"I—I don't know. I don't think so." You looked up at Suga, who had narrowed his eyes. Rick was asking too many questions and you needed to get off the phone before Suga decided he knew too much.

"Y/N—I—I don't know what to say. If I had known... if I had known I would have told you how I felt about you."

"Rick..." You felt a bluish rise to your cheeks. You knew this was coming. Rick was about to start the heartfelt goodbye that you so desperately wanted to avoid.

"I should have given us a chance... I'm sorry. I hope you're happy, wherever you're going. And I hope you do come back to visit."

"Thanks Rick. I'm going to miss everyone. Tell everyone I'm sorry." You said that last sentence barely above a whisper.

"Will do. Goodbye Y/N..."

You felt a spark of panic shoot through you and you tried to keep him from leaving.

"Rick? I—um... I'm really going to miss you." It was a desperate attempt to preserve this memory, but it was all you could say.

"I'm going to miss you too, Y/N."

You hung up and pushed the phone away from you, fighting tears from falling down your face. The three men in the room with you were all silent for a few beats. V broke the silence with a loud, awkward chuckle.

"Well, that was dramatic." He said sarcastically.

You were silent as you wrung your fingers in your hands. Rick was more than a coworker to you and you knew that if this had never happened, one day you and Rick would have gotten married. You just sort of knew it the first time you met Rick. He was sweet, dependable, the perfect husband material. He wasn't daring or passionate, but he was safe and loyal. And he loved you. If you had given it a chance, you may have loved him back... but it didn't matter anymore.

"Okay, little firecracker, we have something for you to do." V said, pulling you from your thoughts. You pushed the plate in front of you away and got up from your seat, turning to follow V out of the kitchen.

"Wait." Your legs froze at the voice behind you. You rotated to face Suga as he gave you a suspicious look. He eyed you up and down for a second, before holding out his hand.

"Give me the heel." He ordered, raising an eyebrow expectantly. You gulped and blushed, as the heel tucked in your sleeve seemed to get heavier. You looked between him and the other two, who were both giving you curious looks. Suga's expression made it obvious that you had no other choice, so you pulled the heel out of your sleeve and took five steps forward to place it in Suga's palm.

"Remember our deal," Suga whispered, closing his fist around the heel. You stared at the ground and nodded, turning to scurry back to V.

You followed V out of the kitchen with your neck burning. How Suga had known about the heel in your sleeve was a mystery. He must have seen it poking out or something. Either way, you had been caught with a weapon and you knew that that wouldn't be taken lightly.

V showed you to a room behind the staircase. He opened it and you were greeted with a cloud of dust. You coughed and swatted the dust away, clearing your vision. You looked around the room to see it was small enough to be a walk-in closet, but it was filled to the brim with old moldy boxes.

"So, this is a storage room that hasn't been cleaned in like... ever." V explained, gesturing around the space. "We kind of need you to clean it. The cleaning supplies should be in there somewhere and if anything seems like it can be thrown out, then just throw it out."

You pursed your lips and looked around the room, mentally deciding where you would start.

"What if I don't know if it should be thrown out?" You asked, stepping further into the room.

"You can find one of us, if that's the case. We'll be around. Oh yeah—" V grabbed your arm before you could enter the room and turned you to face him. "There's a key pad at each entrance to the house and the windows are bulletproof and can't be opened. Also, any room that had a closed door is off limits. So... don't get any ideas." He smirked, but you could see the real threat in his eyes. He meant every word. There was no chance of escape, no matter what you thought up.

You swallowed and nodded as V retreated from the room and walked back to the kitchen. You sighed and looked around the room, feeling the weight of your situation settle on your chest. A servant, a maid, a live-in housekeeper, whatever you wanted to call it, you were here now. You had quit your job, left your father, and moved to some unknown house where you were surrounded by people who would much sooner kill you than anything.

You were terrified out of your mind, but you knew that you had no other choice but to adapt. You would need to forget everything about your old life and adapt to this new one. You had already offended them enough with your phone and laptop, then again, when you had pulled a comb on Suga, and then again when you had used a heel as a potential weapon. You were walking on eggshells and you needed to be careful of your next moves.

Your primal instinct was escape. You felt like a caged animal desperate enough to claw at the lock enough for your fingers to start bleeding. But you had to push that instinct down. You had to keep yourself from the 'fight or flight' instinct that was programmed into your DNA (A/N: lol, get it? I hate myself...).

You forced yourself to step into the room and turn the light on. When you did, you saw the real state of the room. The floor was absolutely caked with dust and grime and the boxes everywhere would make it hard for you to even maneuver yourself around to vacuum. You saw on one side of the room were a bunch of cleaning supplies and you sighed, walking over to them. You picked up a rag and some Lysol spray. You decided to start with the boxes. You couldn't even get to the floor until you cleared the boxes out anyway. You walked over to a pile of boxes that only reached your shoulders and started to take them down.

You realized that this specific pile of boxes was resting on top of something. You started removing the boxes one by one, kicking them to the side as you investigated what they were sitting on. Once you had removed the last box, you nearly laughed out loud at what you found. It was a twin bed with an old mattress. You shook your head at it and remembered Suga's words from earlier:

You're only here because we don't have another room available. This house isn't as big as you would think.

Of course they would make you clean this room. It was also going to be the room you slept in. Why go through the trouble of finding a room for your unexpected guest, if you could just make them do all the work instead? You sighed and started brushing down the bed. You sprayed it with the Lysol and wiped it down with your rag until you deemed it safe to sit on. You sat on the bed and pulled one of the boxes toward you. What were they even keeping down here?

You opened the box and scrunched your lips at the very old and dusty files. You opened one of the folders to see that most of the pages had worn down so much that you could barely make out any words on the page. You rolled your eyes and kicked that box away, pulling a different one forward. You flipped this one open and let out a loud scream at what you found in there.

At least a dozen assault rifles were packed neatly together in rows in the box. You covered your mouth and kicked the box away, climbing fully on the bed to get as far away from the box as you could. You heard the sound of loud footsteps and you looked up to see Jimin and Jungkook standing at the door, both in a defensive position. Jungkook's hand was behind his back, mostly likely holding a gun that was tucked in his waistband, while Jimin held a knife that you recognized from the kitchen.

"What's going on? What happened?" Jimin asked, looking around for an intruder. You tucked your legs against your chest and glared at both of them. You pointed at the box and Jungkook stepped forward, releasing his handgun. He peered into the box you saw the corners of his mouth lift up mockingly.

Jimin stepped up next to him and looked into the box, before his eyes relaxed with understanding. He looked back up at you and sighed.

"I forgot these were in here. Are you seriously scared of a few guns?" Jimin asked incredulously.

You scowled at his tone and untucked your legs. You stood up and brushed your legs off before stepping up to the box. You kicked the box full of guns hard enough so that it slid across the room and banged against Jungkook's legs.

"Those aren't 'a few guns'. Those are assault rifles. Purely meant to murder people." You snarled. Jungkook rolled his eyes.

"We're a gang, that's what we do." He said patronizingly.

"It might be what you do, but I want no part of it. If this is going to be my room, I would prefer it that guns not be present." You snapped rudely. Jungkook's eyes narrowed, like he was surprised that you had the audacity to talk to him like that.

"Why do you think this is going to be your room?" Jimin said, pulling your attention from Jungkook's angry, dark eyes. You crossed your arms and rolled your eyes.

"I'm not an idiot. You don't want to treat me like a guest, because I'm not, but I'm not technically a prisoner either. So after I've been told that there aren't enough bedrooms, I'm sent down here to clean up, where I also find a bed? It's not rocket science." You explained. Jimin cracked a smile and shook his head.

"Listen, first, calm down. It's not a big deal, these guns are completely useless. They aren't loaded and I'm pretty sure these are defective, which is why they're down here in the first place. Look, if you find any other boxes like this, just leave them outside."

You nodded and Jimin sighed, rubbing his temples. He left, but Jungkook stayed behind, giving you a nasty snarl.

"I know you're not used to this, and I get that you feel upset about your new situation." Jungkook started. You nearly scoffed at his choice of words. 'Upset' was a bit of an understatement.

"But you need to understand that you aren't in Kansas anymore." Jungkook continued, deftly twirling his handgun between his fingers. "You're going to have to get used to this. And you need to understand that talking to us in a certain way is a one-way ticket to getting yourself killed. Learn your place and you may survive."

With that, he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, leaving you speechless behind him. Defiance and indignation rose up in your throat and you felt like you might choke. Who did he think he was? How dare he tell you to 'learn your place' like you were somehow worth less than him? What made him think that you would just sit back and take the abuse without a bit of a fight?

You hated that he was right. You hated that you had to stay silent. You had to take the abuse. If you didn't, then they would kill you and all that fight would have been for nothing. You had to remember to pick your battles carefully. Confidence and bravery could easily be swapped out with stupidity if you didn't choose your actions cautiously. There was no room for error here. One slip up could mean the end of you.