The Hunt

58

"Good," Yoongi said as Jimin and I walked back into the lounge area. He moved to sit next to Jungkook, offering Jimin and me the two seats next to Jin. "Kook-ah, will you fill them in, please?"

Jungkook nodded as we settled onto the couch. Clearing his throat, he began, "So, like I said, I talked to my cousin, Hyukmin-"

"The hitman?" Jimin asked incredulously.

"He prefers 'contractor,' but yes," Jungkook nodded.

"But, I thought your family had art galleries?" I asked quietly, shooting a glance at Taehyung.

Jungkook followed my gaze, and let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, my dad's side of the family works with museums and owns art galleries and auction houses. My mom's side of the family, well... they re-home artwork and antiquities, and do contract work." Jungkook rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Casting me a sheepish smile, he continued, "You know how I said my grandpa was a viper? That's my mom's father."

I slowly nodded. What the hell? No wonder he was so chipper during the whole kidnapping ordeal. It probably reminded him of a family reunion.

Holding up a single finger, I began, "One more question." Jungkook's eyes grew wide, but he nodded for me to continue. "How did your parents get together? Like, wasn't one side of the family kind of cautious of the other? How?"

Jungkook let his body relax, and the corners of his eyes crinkled as he began to smile. He genuinely resembled a rabbit. Not a fanged, giant one, either. A cute, little bunny.

"My grandfathers arranged it. The auction houses and galleries are a fence, while the museums are mostly used for money laundering. It works really well."

Damnit. That's genius.

I nodded. "O-Okay. Makes sense."

"Anyway, after I told Hyukmin about JiHoon- he sends his condolences by the way," Jungkook turned to Jimin as he spoke. "He said he's been hearing about The Council cracking down harder on hybrid-human relations."

"That's what I heard from my contacts as well," Sarah added.

I kind of tuned out , only half listening as Jungkook and Sarah compared what they had heard from their contacts with a slightly darker sector of the hybrid community.

We are so screwed.

If The Council is behind JiHoon's murder, then what the hell are we going to do about it? Why the hell would they take out an heir? Sure, The Parks aren't a top tier family, but they do have plenty of money and pull within the community.

It make sense, though.

Controlling the community with fear is pretty effective.

A firm squeeze just above my knee brought me back from the depths of my thought tangent. It definitely wasn't going anywhere productive.

My eyes met Jimin's concern filled orbs. I gave him a weak smile, and removed his hand from my thigh and held it instead.

"You okay?" He mouthed to me. Jungkook was still talking, but the conversation seemed to have shifted to video games. He and Sarah were in a heated debate about the best installment in the Assassin's Creed franchise.

I started to zone out again.

"Did you drive tonight?" Jimin whispered in my ear. I nodded listlessly.

"Hyung," Jimin leaned forward, getting Hoseok's attention. "Can you take Sarah home tonight?"

My eyes darted between the two men who now had my full attention. What is he planning?

Hoseok's face lit up brighter than I had ever seen it. "Of course! I'd be happy to!"

"What's happening?" Sarah asked, having heard her name.

"I'm going to take you home," Hoseok said suggestively. "All the way home."

I was glad I couldn't see his face, but I assumed he was wiggling his eyebrows and winking. From the surprised but happy look on Sarah's face, he was definitely doing something with his face.

"Hobi! No!" Jin whined loudly. "There are children in the room!"

"Great," Sarah said, her tone a little lower than usual. "But can we pick up my car first? It's at Y/n's place."

"Yeah, let's go." Hoseok stood up quickly and offered his hand to Sarah, pulling her up gracefully from the arm chair. Glancing back at the rest of the guys, he asked, "We're done here, right?" But they didn't wait for a response before leaving the lounge.

The others started trickling out of the room, until it was just Jungkook, Yoongi, Jimin, and me.

"So, I'll ask Hyukmin to take one of those jobs and see what it's about?" Jungkook looked to Yoongi for guidance.

Yoongi gave the younger male a nod. "If he can give us a name, we can look into the person and see why someone wants to scare them."

"Sounds like the best plan we got," Jimin said and stood up, pulling me behind him. "Have a good night guys. We're going to go talk."