Chapter 105: A Spider's Thread

 

Dawn crept in slow over the city, filtered in fragments through reinforced skylights and quietly shattering the illusion of peace that had barely settled over the safehouse.

 

Inside the surveillance room, the atmosphere was thick with static and code, screens flickering with endless streams of data. Taehyung stood leaning over the main monitor, his jaw clenched and eyes sharp, scanning lines of digital footprints left by a ghost who never should have existed.

 

V entered the room silently, his long coat trailing behind him, a fresh mug of black coffee in his hand. He offered it wordlessly, and Taehyung accepted with a tight nod, the soft clink of ceramic the only sound between them for a long moment.

 

“The footage from Seoul’s District 9 banks two days ago,” Taehyung muttered. “Encrypted audio. But the ring—the same spider crest, seen on the hand of a man withdrawing over five million in untraceable bonds.”

 

V narrowed his gaze. “Not Kyungho. He’s dead. It’s someone new. Someone using his name.”

 

“And worse,” Taehyung added, shifting to another screen, “someone who knew about us. This safehouse was only logged under our deepest protocol. Yet we had a breach warning three hours ago—proximity trip, south perimeter.”

 

V’s spine stiffened. “They’re not just watching, they’re testing.”

 

“We’ll need to move Koo again.”

 

But before either twin could speak further, a soft knock echoed through the surveillance room—delicate, hesitant.

 

The door opened just enough for Jungkook’s small face to peek in, curls still damp from his morning shower, wearing an oversized grey hoodie that slipped past his thighs. His bare legs were curled slightly inward, the movement shy but not uncertain.

 

“I had a dream,” he whispered. “And I think I know where they’re hiding.”

 

Both twins froze.

 

“What do you mean, sweetheart?” V asked gently, motioning him closer.

 

Jungkook stepped in, feet silent on the cold floor, until he stood between them. “It wasn’t just a dream. It was… a memory. The room was dark, but I could smell oil. Paint thinner. And… salt. A lot of salt. And there were metal grates under my feet. Like… drains.”

 

Taehyung exchanged a glance with V. “An industrial dock?”

 

Jungkook nodded slowly. “They kept me there. The man—he had a tattoo. I didn’t see his face. But it was the same symbol. The spider crest, but older. Burned into his arm, not inked.”

 

V’s tone turned cold. “That’s not just a tattoo. That’s an initiation brand.”

 

Jungkook looked up at them both, a hint of that dangerous calm flickering behind his lashes. “He’s not hiding. He’s waiting.”

 

Hours later, in the central archive room below the safehouse, the twins pulled ancient files from the underground vault—pages yellowed, sealed with bloodline codes, left untouched for over a decade. Hidden docks, forgotten territory maps, secret warehouses passed down the Kim syndicate's darker legacy.

 

Jungkook sat at the table, legs folded beneath him, sipping sweet hot chocolate as he flipped through a thick black ledger. His fingers stopped suddenly, eyes locking on a sketch—an architectural blueprint of a forgotten shipyard long since erased from the public records.

 

“There,” he whispered, tapping the edge of the page. “That’s it. That’s the floor I walked on.”

 

V leaned down, breath ghosting over his shoulder. “You’re sure?”

 

Jungkook met his eyes. “I never forget the sound of chains on concrete.”

 

That evening, as the sky began to turn gold and the garden glistened in the aftermath of a soft rain, the tension softened only briefly.

 

The three of them curled into the large sofa by the fire pit in the inner courtyard. V held a book, absently flipping pages, though his eyes often wandered to Jungkook’s profile. Taehyung had wrapped a blanket around all three of them, cocooning them in a quiet warmth.

 

Jungkook reached up and touched V’s lips lightly with his thumb, trailing the curve of his mouth as if memorizing it.

 

“You’re always watching me,” Jungkook said quietly, tone teasing. “Don’t you get tired?”

 

V didn’t smile, but his hand slid beneath the blanket, settling around Jungkook’s waist. “Never.”

 

Taehyung kissed the back of Jungkook’s neck, fingers kneading his thigh slowly through the soft fabric of his pajama shorts. “We have to memorize every version of you. The playful one, the painter, the quiet king, the dangerous one too.”

 

“You still think I’m dangerous?” Jungkook asked, turning slightly.

 

V’s voice lowered, eyes dark. “You’re the most dangerous person we’ve ever loved.”

 

A soft, heavy silence fell. The words hung between them, not as fear, but as reverence.

 

And then Jungkook’s lips curved upward, a wicked glint in his eyes. “Good.”

 

Later that night, after the house had fallen into deep quiet, Jungkook lay on the bed—shirtless, a thin silk blanket over his hips. The twins stood at the foot of the bed in silence, the air thick with something unspoken.

 

Jungkook stretched slowly, deliberately, the blanket slipping to reveal the sculpted arch of his lower back.

 

“You’re staring again,” he whispered, pout forming. “Are you going to touch or just burn holes in me with your eyes?”

 

Taehyung moved first, climbing onto the bed, hands framing Jungkook’s waist as he pressed a slow, open-mouthed kiss to his spine. V followed a moment later, fingers tangling in the younger’s hair, tilting his face up for a kiss.

 

It wasn’t rushed. It wasn’t gentle.

 

It was reverent.

 

Their lips trailed down his body like prayers, claiming every inch of him not with urgency but with certainty.

 

And when Jungkook whispered “mine,” into the dark, their twin voices echoed back—

 

“Yes, always yours.”

 

 https://novelreadingislife.blogspot.com/2025/05/chapter-106-blood-on-tide.html

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