Vol. 1 Chapter 1.1

“Let’s just go.”

Yoonha Kim bit down on the inside of her cheek as she looked at her idiot kid brother clinging to her arm. As if she wanted to start a fight this close to midnight.

But walking away wasn’t an option.

“They’re gangsters, sis. Let’s just get outta here.”

You think I don’t already know that? She clenched both fists to keep herself from cursing out her dumbass little brother. Did he think she wanted to get involved in this mess?

A bunch of thugs in suits were standing guard in a vacant lot packed with shipping containers. The last thing she wanted was to march right into that like some clueless fool.

Especially not when the car they were guarding was the one she needed to get back. That would be suicide. And she was smart enough to know it.

But knowing better didn’t matter. She had to act anyway, because her genius little brother was too busy hiding and waiting for someone else to fix his shit.

Actually, no. Not just because of him, but because of their sick mother, who had begged Yoonha to help her youngest son just this one last time.

“You’re the one behind on your loan payments and using Mom’s bank account like it’s your own, and now you wanna run because you’re scared of those assholes?”

“It’s not about being scared. I’m saying they won’t listen. If we call the cops and the car gets impounded, we’re not getting it back. Let’s just wait till morning, when there’s more people around, and try to talk then.”

“And if they disappear with the car before then? What about the payments? You think those will just magically go away?”

From their hiding spot behind one of the containers, she glared at Yoonhyun like she was going to set his ass on fire. She had scraped every damn mechanic and used car dealership in the city to find this car, and now he wanted to come back in the morning?

“That’s not what— It’s just so obvious that there’s something shady going on here.”

“Oh sure, Mr. ‘Good Instincts’ here, who handed over a car registered under his name to a complete stranger.”

“No, I’m telling you, when the rental business was doing good, Kangseok hyung was paying the loan and even cutting me in on the profits. Things just went south recently.”

“You make less than two grand a month, and you maxed out a lease on some luxury car with a capital loan, because what? Some guy promised you could flex and get rich at the same time? And you still think it’s a legit business?”

“Fuck off, it is a real business, okay? Imported car rentals. Kangseok hyung’s just in a tight spot right now, that’s why he’s MIA. Once it bounces back, he’ll pay me.”

As if you know the first damn thing about money.

The second Yoonhyun spit out those words, Yoonha raised her hand and smacked him upside his head.

He let out a strangled groan, but it wasn’t nearly enough to cool the anger bubbling inside her.

“Big words for someone who doesn’t even realize he got scammed.”

Yoonha had to hold her breath just to stop herself from unleashing a string of curses. She could see him rubbing the back of his head, glaring at her like she pooped all over his party.

And as she met his eyes, she was once again reminded of why she’d cut ties with her family all those years ago. Her damn blood ties.

She’d left her hometown, Sangchon, for Seoul at the age of twenty because of them. If her mom hadn’t been diagnosed with cancer, she wouldn’t even be here now. If not for that, she would’ve let her dumbass brother sell his kidney and chalked it up to natural selection.

Yoonha quietly pulled out her phone and punched in 112 without calling, just in case. First, she needed to get that flashy import back. It was the only bargaining chip she had if she was going to deal with the lease payments bleeding over three hundred a month.

She couldn’t let her mom end up homeless just because this idiot had racked up so much debt that they’d have to sell her tiny apartment, the one their mom barely had space to lie down in.

That thought alone made Yoonha step forward.

“Sis, wait—!”

She heard Yoonhyun call after her, but she didn’t stop walking.

She was going to talk to them. Explain the situation, lie if she had to, threaten them if that’s what it took. She had to get that car back. Sure, it had a different license plate on it now, but it was still theirs.

“Who the hell is that?”

One of the men, cigarette between his lips, muttered as she approached. Yoonha swallowed hard.

Honestly? Part of her almost wanted them to hit her. A couple of punches would be easier to deal with than everything else.

She wanted to scream, Look, I tried. Mom asked me to. I did my best, okay? She wanted to be able to say that and walk away clean. She had savings, barely enough to live on, and she was already burning through it trying to survive. She didn’t want to spend another second cleaning up her brother’s mess.

But at the same time, she didn’t want to be the kind of daughter who turned her back on her mother.

She didn’t want to sacrifice herself, but she wanted it known that she had made sacrifices. That strange, twisted pride was what drove her forward. And it was that contradiction that made her reckless.

“Yo, miss. What’s your deal?”

A man smoking in front of the container stepped toward her. He didn’t sound aggressive, just genuinely curious.

“A young lady like you shouldn’t be wandering around out here this late.”

“Is this your car?”

Yoonha looked up at the man—easily twice her size—and forced her chin up high, defiant.

“What?”

The man frowned, confused and mildly annoyed. She met his eyes and stepped closer, planting herself squarely in front of the white luxury car. Every part of her told her to back off, but she fought it.

Maybe if she opened the trunk, showed them the GPS system and explained the situation calmly, they might listen. Unlikely, sure, but she couldn’t just hide like her coward of a brother. She had to try.

“This car belongs to my family. It was stolen. I’m guessing you bought it from a mechanic, right?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

His face twisted with a scowl, making his already rough features look even more menacing. Yoonha flinched. Reflexively, her eyes darted to the side, toward her younger brother.