From Reluctance to Desire: A Mafia Story [JJK]

✨ASHES OF WARNING✨

Jungkook's POV :

The cigarette burned between my fingers, glowing dimly in the dark. I brought it to my lips, inhaling slowly, letting the nicotine settle into my veins, but it did nothing to calm the storm brewing inside me.

Something had felt off all day. A gut feeling. The kind that crawled under your skin and refused to leave.

I exhaled, watching the thin stream of smoke curl and disappear into the night air. The city stretched beneath me, its lights flickering like dying embers, but my mind was far away—stuck on her.

Y/N.

I rubbed a hand over my face, my jaw clenching. She had no idea what kind of world I was trapped in. And I wanted to keep it that way. But lately, the weight of keeping her safe had been suffocating.

She wasn't just someone I wanted to protect.

She was my fucking weakness.

And that scared me more than anything.

I thought about the way she looked at me—like she saw something in me that I couldn't even see in myself. The way she stood her ground, never backing down, never letting me push her away no matter how many times I tried.

She didn't understand that the closer she got, the more dangerous it became.

And yet, selfishly, I couldn't stay away.

I took another drag, but the nicotine did nothing to ease the tightness in my chest. My hands twitched with the need to do something. I hated feeling like this—like something was slipping through my fingers, like I was losing control.

Maybe it was paranoia. Maybe it was just exhaustion.

But something didn't feel right.

She didn't get it.

If something ever happened to her—

A sharp noise behind me snapped me out of my thoughts.

I turned just as Alex stormed onto the rooftop, his face twisted with urgency.

"Jungkook," he panted, hands braced on his knees. "It's bad."

My cigarette slipped from my lips, hitting the ground in a dull ember.

I already knew what he was going to say before he even said it.

"The safehouse." Alex swallowed hard. "It was attacked."

Everything inside me turned to ice.

I didn't ask questions. I didn't hesitate.

"Get the car."

----

By the time we arrived, the stench of smoke and gunpowder clung to the air. The warehouse was barely standing—walls scorched, shattered glass littering the pavement, bodies lying motionless in the wreckage.

I killed the engine, stepping out, my gun already in my grip.

No words were exchanged. We moved like ghosts through the destruction, scanning for survivors.

A crunch of glass. Footsteps.

I turned just in time to block an incoming attack. A man in black swung a knife at me, but I ducked, twisting his wrist until the blade clattered to the ground. He barely had time to react before I drove my elbow into his ribs, sending him staggering back.