Chapter 71: Storm Beneath Silk

 

The light of early dawn spilled like soft milk over the marble floors of the mansion, brushing against the lacquered banisters and trailing across the velvet curtains of the grand library. The warmth of the sunrise, however, did nothing to quell the chill V felt in his blood.

 

He stood near the floor-length window of the second-floor study, a quiet place rarely touched by the household’s rhythm. Today, it became a war room.

 

He held a glass of untouched whiskey in one hand, the other resting on the smooth wooden edge of the desk behind him where three screens displayed rapidly shifting data—server traces, image origins, timestamps. A web of digital hunting that could no longer be ignored.

 

Kim Taehyung walked in without a word, dressed in his usual morning attire: black silk shirt, two buttons undone, and dark slacks. His gaze flicked briefly to the untouched whiskey, then to the red line blinking on one of the screens.

 

“They traced the auction routes through an old port server,” V muttered. “One of the backup drop zones we never updated.”

 

Taehyung didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he moved to the desk, placed down a thick folder of compiled press clippings from the past twenty-four hours, and finally asked, “Is it revenge?”

 

The question hung in the air like incense.

 

V’s jaw flexed. “Possibly. Or greed. Could even be both.”

 

“The fact that someone even dared to try this while Jungkook was still resting from last night…” Taehyung’s voice dropped low. “They clearly don’t know who they’re playing with.”

 

V’s eyes narrowed. “We’ve allowed too much leniency.”

 

“And now they’ve mistaken our quiet for weakness.”

 

They both fell silent.

 

Then V clicked a button, enlarging a distorted image that had been posted anonymously to a private art speculation forum. It was a blurry shot, taken from the back of the exhibition hall. Jungkook’s figure could just barely be made out beside Niki.

 

Someone was getting too close.

 

“I want that forum traced, dismantled, and anyone involved in that post silenced,” V said. “We start there.”

 

Taehyung gave a small nod, then leaned in closer.

 

But neither of them noticed the soft footsteps behind them—not until a quiet voice broke through the tension.

 

“Are you going to kill them?”

 

Both twins froze.

 

Jungkook stood in the doorway.

 

He was wearing one of his soft pajama sets, loose around the sleeves, the collar slipping slightly off one shoulder. His dark hair was tousled from sleep, but his eyes were wide open and serious, unblinking.

 

V was the first to move, stepping toward him slowly. “Koo…”

 

“Are you going to hurt the people looking for me?” he asked again. “Because… I know it’s not just about stopping them anymore. Not for you two.”

 

Jungkook’s small fingers tightened around the doorframe. “And I don’t want anyone to die because of me. I don’t want our life to be built on blood.”

 

There was a pause.

 

Then Taehyung crossed the room in two strides and gathered him in his arms, firm and grounding.

 

“You're not causing anything, Koo,” he whispered into the crook of his neck. “We're protecting what’s already ours.”

 

“But protection doesn’t mean silence,” Jungkook murmured, voice muffled against his chest. “I don’t want to be hidden like a broken thing anymore. Let me stand with you.”

 

V stepped behind them, one hand coming to cradle Jungkook’s head. “Then let us show you how.”

 

And with that, the tension eased. Not because the threat was gone, but because Jungkook’s voice, once tremulous and uncertain, now stood steady beside theirs.

 

Later that evening, a call from Niki finally came through.

 

She was safe. Shaken, but unharmed.

 

“I changed locations,” she said quickly. “I couldn’t take the chance they’d follow me from the gallery. But Jungkook—someone from the investors' circuit is involved. They’re trying to force Koo into public reveal so they can monetize the chaos.”

 

V and Taehyung exchanged a glance.

 

That narrowed the suspect list significantly.

 

“I want names,” Taehyung said. “Quietly.”

 

“I’m already digging,” Niki replied. “But… Koo needs to decide what’s next. Does he want to step into the light—or burn the whole thing down from the shadows?”

 

Her voice softened as she added, “He holds the match, you know.”

 

That night, Jungkook stood at the mirror in their shared bedroom, brushing his fingers over the small mole under his bottom lip.

 

The same lips that had smiled through exhibitions, whispered secrets to ‘Dada’ and ‘Daddy’, kissed paint-covered fingers and bruised silk-soft skin.

 

He wasn’t afraid.

 

But he was done running.

 

As he turned away from the mirror, the twins were waiting for him at the edge of the bed. The lights were low, the room dim with golden warmth.

 

They didn’t say a word as he walked toward them. Didn’t ask, didn’t push.

 

They simply opened their arms.

 

And he climbed into them.

 

It was slow at first. A gentle undressing, layer by layer—each piece of fabric removed not in urgency but reverence. Fingers brushed down bare skin like prayers, lips trailed soft worship over the expanse of his collarbones and down his chest.

 

Taehyung pressed kisses into the base of Jungkook’s throat, while V’s fingers traced the wings of his hips.

 

Jungkook whimpered, soft and breathy, as they took their time with him.

 

Touch became communication.

 

Desire became promise.

 

The intimacy wasn’t rushed—it was aching and slow, a language made of breaths and shivers and whispered praises.

 

“You’re ours,” Taehyung murmured into his ear, his voice rough. “Always.”

 

Jungkook’s fingers tangled in V’s hair as the elder pressed kisses just above his hipbone, and he choked out a shaky moan. “D-Daddy…”

 

V looked up, lips curling into something molten.

 

“Say it again.”

 

And Jungkook did.

 

Between kisses. Between touches.

 

Between the safety of two men who would raze kingdoms before letting the world so much as breathe wrong on his skin.

 

He called them what they were.

 

His Dada.

 

His Daddy.

 

His home.

 https://novelreadingislife.blogspot.com/2025/05/chapter-72-painted-trap.html

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