Roulette ♧ 엑소

t w e n t y e i g h t

$ t w e n t y e i g h t $

Iva had been tied up while in the van when she continued to struggle. Tao sat in the back with her, staying close by, and everyone was quiet as she asked through her hysterical tears where Tao and her husband were. She was terrified, but even so she had tried to fight against her attackers the whole way to the Coven's house. When they finally arrived, Tao had whispered to the others to let him take care of Iva. He had asked the others to back off and they nodded, giving them their space. 

Tao reached into the van once he had gotten out and grabbed Iva by the arm, pulling her towards him. Her cries which had quieted down started up again and she struggled in his hold. "Take her to the basement. We'll call her husband tonight and ask for some money." Yifan instructed and Tao nodded silently. His words were lies and they all knew it, but they couldn't let  Iva know that her husband had planned all of it and that Tao was involved. The leader handed him the keys and he was quickly on his way. 

He took her into the house, pulling her by the arm as she resisted him. He led her to the basement of the house and unlocked the door, lightly pushing her into the room. There was only an old mattress in the room and a chair for her to use. Iva had tripped over her feet since she couldn't see where she was going and landed on her knees on the concrete floor. Her wrists and ankles were tied together and she was unable to get up by herself. Tao quickly rushed to her side to help her. He grabbed her by the arm and easily pulled her onto her feet. He led her to the mattress and forced her to sit down there. Iva still had tears streaming down her blue eyes, already guessing what was going on.

The youngest member of the Coven said nothing to her as he left the room and locked the door behind himself from the outside.

He climbed the stairs out of the basement and went to meet the rest of his brothers in the living room. Many of them were already gone. Lu Han and Minseok had errands to run, Jongdae had most likely gone in search of Mariel, and Yixing had gone to do some training. The only one waiting for Tao was Yifan because he knew the group's youngest would want to talk to him. He could see it in his face that it was too late, and that he had grown attached to Iva Fu.

"Do we have to kill her, duizhang? Why don't we just say that we killed her, and give her a new name and personality?" Tao asked, hoping for an answer that he wanted to hear. From the first moment that he had seen Iva he thought she was beautiful. But now that he knew her, he learned that she was more than that. She was intelligent and educated, and she was a good person. She had never harmed anyone, and she had treated him like a friend rather than her servant. All of those things had made him grow close to her.

"Her husband wants to see the body, and we need that money to rebuild. I'm sorry, Tao." Yifan informed him with a sigh. He understood how his friend felt. He had finally found someone he cared about and could be himself around. But it had to be someone that was forbidden to him. Iva Fu was destined to die, that was the way things were. There was no going around it.

"But duizhang--" Tao whined, trying to convince him.

Iva Fu was innocent. Her only fault had been marrying someone who was only interested in her family's fortune.

-

Mitsuki watched Yifan with his new love and it made her heart ache, but she tried to look happy around them. It wasn't his fault that he didn't love her and she was genuinely glad that he had found someone who had made him a better person. But she couldn't deny that it still hurt. At the same time, she had been moping around the house for another reason. She had been in constant contact with her brother, who had been trying to convince Shin to give her another chance.

When Takuya finally managed to convince his leader, Shin agreed to allow her to return to their house, but he informed them that he was still unwilling to resume their relationship. He didn't want to see her, he didn't want to talk to her, and he didn't want to even know of her presence back at the house. Though Mitsuki was hurt by his decision, she was okay with that for the time being. She knew he needed space and she didn't want to force herself onto him when she was still hurting over someone else herself.

The very next morning she ready to head to the airport. 

The members of the Coven were there to say their goodbyes and she hugged each of them. They had all become good friends of hers and she knew she would miss them. Once arriving in Japan she'd be unable to have any contact with them again, since they were rivals of her pack back home. She would have to continue as though everything that had happened in the last few weeks had never taken place. It was a sacrifice that she would need to make if she wanted to return to her country, and her husband.

Though she didn't want to forget the friendships she had made, she thought that it was for the best. Perhaps she would eventually be able to convince them to form an alliance again. 

When she hugged Yifan goodbye, she lingered a bit longer than she intended. She left the house in a private car that got her to the airport and then boarded a private jet to Japan.

Upon arriving, her brother was there to meet her. He was surrounded by about four security guards, which called attention to himself. But it was always like that whenever they went to very public places. They took extreme measures to keep their members safe. But her husband was nowhere to be found. She ran into her brother's arms and he hugged her tight, closing his arms around her slender frame. "Its great to have you back, Su." He said to her, no bitterness or resentment in his voice, as there had been of the late. He was the same Takuya she remembered from before--her brother and not the ruthless gang member he had been lately.

"I missed you guys." She admitted truthfully with a sigh.

"How'd they treat you in China?" He wondered, eyeing her with curiosity. There was the jealous and overprotective older brother shining through.

She rolled her eyes at him, but was quick to give him reassurances. She didn't want him swearing revenge against the Coven again. "Everyone was great. They treated me as just another member of their family. I was the one who decided to leave because I missed home." 

Her brother smiled at that, and he nodded in agreement. "This is your home, Su."

-

a very filler chapter tonight, but i promise its going to start getting suspenseful soon. we have iva's kidnapping and then something exciting involving yifan and ciel. so stay tuned for that.

thank you all so much for reading.

tomorrow im working from 11am to 7pm so im pretty bummed out. im used to working at 5am now and getting out at 1pm. but i won't be able to and it makes me upset. but anyway, im going to make the best of this and try to update another chapter to this before i get ready for work in the morning.

-clary