Vegas Ruby🥀 | Taennie ff |

Chapter 1

"I love the dark hours of my being. My mind deepens into them."

 – Rainer Maria Rilke

⛓️🖇️🍷🥀🖤

Taehyung 

"You do remember what I told Mino last time I saw him? I doubt he'll have any kind of interest in working with us after that," Namjoon muttered, pacing the room. "He will kill me the moment I set foot in his territory, trust me. Fuck, I would kill me if I were him."

Jungkook shook his head. "He is angry, but he will see reason." I nodded. "He wanted to protect his property, his wife, but he's still a businessman, and we have good arguments for cooperation. Drugs are still his main business, and our contact in his lab tells us they can't produce enough for the increasing demand. Mino needs to import drugs, but he can't because we hold the west and Dante holds the middle. His smugglers lose too much of the shit before it reaches the East Coast. If he works with us, we can guarantee safe transport through our territory and in return he promises us to stay out of our fight with Dante Cavallaro. We don't even want his help."

"We don't need it," Jungkook insisted, dark eyes hardening. We disagreed on that point; additional help facing an opponent like Dante Cavallaro would have been very appreciated, but like Mino, Jungkook let emotions get in the way of rational decisions.

Namjoon frowned. "Mino isn't like you, Taehyung. Not every single one of his decisions is based on logical reasons. He's furious because we insulted Aria, and his pride might stop him from making the logical decision. Trust me on that."

Pride and fury. Neither were useful.

"If you tell your sister that you gave Jihyo that bracelet, she will convince him. She'll think you are her little brother again. She'll want to believe it. Take Jihyo with you. Make it out to be a family visit, for all I care, but convince Aria and Mino to talk to us. Tell him I'm going to meet with him personally," Jungkook said.

I gave Jungkook a slanted look. Last time he talked to Mino hadn't gone over too well. Years had passed, but if Mino held on to grudges, he'd remember that too. And Jungkook had a way of provoking people that didn't go over well with the other Capo.

"He won't believe that we're trustworthy," Namjoon said. "And you talking to Mino is the fucking worst thing that could happen. Jungkook, you are a fucking time bomb. You get a hard-on just imagining how it would feel to bathe in Mino's blood, damn it. Do you really think you could stop yourself from trying to kill him?"

Jungkook leaned back with a smile on his face that I'd learned to be wary of. "The Familia is all about bonds to ensure peace, aren't they? We give them what they want, what your sister wanted for you and everyone else."

He hadn't answered Namjoon's question.

Namjoon stopped his pacing and crossed his arms. "And what's that supposed to be?"

"Peace and love." Jungkook's mouth twisted as if he was going to start laughing. "We'll suggest a marriage between our families. It worked between the Outfit and the Familia for a while."

Jungkook hadn't mentioned anything to me. Usually he consulted with me before he made these kinds of decisions. For Jungkook, it was a surprisingly reasonable plan. Marriages had prevented many wars over the centuries of human history— of course, they'd started just as many as well.

Namjoon laughed but I could tell that he was displeased from the narrowing of his eyes. "For a few years and now they are back to killing each other."

"A few years is all we require," I told him. "Mino knows as well as we do that any kind of peace arrangement will always only be for a short period of time."