Chapter Text
Max sighed heavily as she looked up at the tall building in front of her. She never expected to be standing in front of this building herself, though she had seen it from a car window before. She swallowed hard and steeled her nerves, deciding that the reason why she was here was far more important than her nerves. She walked into the building, listening to her heels click against the marble floor in the practically empty foyer. She walked to the silver elevator doors and pressed the button with an arrow pointing up. After a moment, she heard a quiet ding and the doors slid open. She stepped inside and she pressed the button for the fiftieth floor.
“You can do this Max….” She said to herself, taking a deep breath.
There was a large mirror on the wall to her left and she turned to look at her reflection as the elevator climbed the levels, checking over her appearance. She set her purse on the floor and smoothed her black skirt down, worrying that it might have been too short for this type of meeting. It was a mid-thigh length, black, pleated skirt that she had paired with a slightly loose fitting red blouse and a pair of plain black heels. She fixed her long, dark blonde hair and her jewelry before picking her black purse back up and waiting for the elevator to reach the desired floor. There was another quiet ding and the doors glided open. She stepped out onto the wooden floor of the office space that filled the top floor of the building.
“Hi,” an over cheerful receptionist called, smiling at her, “Can I help you?”
“Oh, um, yes,” Max answered nervously, “I’m here to see Cha Hakyeon.”
“Do you have an appointment?” She asked, picking her desk phone up and dialing an extension.
“Uh, we spoke on the phone earlier.” Max responded, still nervous.
“What’s your name?”
“Maxina.”
She nodded and soon said into the phone, “Mr. Cha, there’s a woman named Maxina here to see you. She says she spoke with you on the phone earlier today.”
She nodded and made a noise of acknowledgement before hanging up the phone.
“Mr. Cha will be right out. Go ahead and take a seat Miss.” The receptionist said, smiling brightly at her.
Max nodded and took a seat on the rather comfortable tan couch in the foyer of the office. A few moments later, a tall man dressed in a black suit and white dress shirt approached her with a smile on his face. The moment he saw her however, his smile faltered.
“You’re…–” He started quietly, eyes wide.
Max stood up quickly and said equally as quietly with closed eyes, “Yes, I am who you think I am. Please, can we go somewhere else to speak?”
When she opened her eyes to look at Hakyeon, she saw a confused look on his face but he nodded anyway. He motioned for her to follow after him and she did so, staying close to him. They stopped outside a door with his name on it and he opened it, letting her inside first. She thanked him quietly and took a seat as her told her to.
“So, Mrs. Mantanari, would you mind telling me why you are here?” He asked, looking at Max hesitantly.
Max sighed and said quietly, “Look, I know you weren’t expecting the wife of the rival mafia’s leader to come to you, but it’s not for the reason that you think. I’m not here on order or behalf of my husband.”
“Then why are you here?” He asked, now confused.
“I need VIXX’s help.” She said, looking down at her lap.
Hakyeon narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, “With what?”
“Protection.” Max answered.
“From who?” Hakyeon asked.
Max nervously looked down at her hands in her lap and said, “Please, may I discuss this with Mr. Jung…?”
Hakyeon sighed and said, “Leo doesn’t just meet with anyone for—”
“I know,” she cut him off, squeezing her eyes shut again, “But this is extremely important and I risked so much by coming here. Please, Mr. Cha, please.”
Hakyeon was shocked. This was not what he was expecting. He sighed and stood up. Max looked up at him with pleading eyes and he showed her a small, kind smile.
“I’ll bring you to his office and I’ll talk to him, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll see you.” He said.
Max let out a breath she had been holding and said, “Thank you, Mr. Cha.”
He nodded at her and lead her out of his office and down several hallways to the very back of the office. He stopped before a large, mahogany door and gestured for her to wait as he knocked on the door before slipping in. Several minutes went by and Max was almost sure at this point that the leader of VIXX was going to send her away. Just as she was about to give up hope, the door opened again.
“He’ll see you.” Hakyeon said, smiling at her softly.
Max smiled back at him in relief and whispered, “Whatever you said to him to get him to speak with me, thank you.”
He smiled a little more and let her into the huge, fairly dark office.
“Take a seat, Mrs. Mantanari.” A soft voice said.
Max swallowed nervously as Hakyeon lead her over to a chair in front of the large desk and pulled it out for her to sit. She thanked him quietly before looking at the taller male behind the desk. She flinched slightly as she heard the door to the office close, knowing that she had been left alone with the leader of VIXX.
“Hakyeon has informed me that you are looking to acquire my company’s services.” Jung Taekwoon said, voice soft, yet still intimidating.
“Y-yes, Mr. Jung…,” Max said, fidgeting nervously, “I need protection….”
“Against who?” Leo asked.
Max closed her eyes and answered barely above a whisper.
“Speak up, Mrs. Mantanari.” He commanded.
She looked up directly into his dark eyes and said, “From my husband.”
Leo’s eyes widened at her words.
“Why would you need protection from your husband?” He asked, his usual poker face still in place despite his confusion.
Max swallowed again and looked down, no longer able to make eye contact with the man. Leo took this pause to examine the young girl sitting in front of him. Upon a closer inspection of her appearance, the older male realized that the girl sitting in front of him couldn’t be more than twenty-two years old, if that.
“Tell me, Mrs. Mantanari, how old are you…?” Leo asked, slightly hesitantly.
Max blushed, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Leo, even in the low light of his office.
After a few moments of silent, Max answered quietly, “I’m nineteen…. Twenty in August….”
Leo’s face was still emotionless, but his eyes would give him away if anyone looked at him close enough. He was definitely not expecting her to be that old, or, that young rather. He also realized in that moment, that she must have a good reason for needing protection if she was involved with a man like Krikor Mantanari at such a young age.
“How did you end up involved with someone like Krikor before you even turned twenty?” Leo asked.
The teen sighed before telling her story.
“My father used to gamble with Krikor, a lot, when I was younger. When I was barely sixteen, my father owed him an unbelievable amount of money, and, of course, he didn’t have the money. He didn’t even have a fraction of the amount he owed him. So he offered Krikor a deal; he offered him one of his daughters as his bride, if he dropped the debt. Krikor agreed, and the bastard that I have the misfortune of calling my father took me with him that day, so I was there when he made that offer. My father told him not to choose that day since my sister wasn’t there. But I didn’t give Krikor a choice.”
Leo’s eyes were narrowed in confusion and he asked, “What do you mean you didn’t give him a chose?”
Max sighed again and said, “There was no way in hell that I was going to let my little sister go through what I knew would happen to whoever he chose, so I immediately offered to marry him. Neither Krikor nor my father know that I only offered to marry him to protect my sister. I was able to convince them that I had fallen in love with him over the years of him and my father knowing each other.”
Leo hesitated before he asked, “How old was your sister then?”
“She was barely thirteen at the time.” Max answered, her voice quiet.
“Where is she now? Still with your father?” Leo asked.
Max shook her head, a small, sad smile gracing her face.
“No,” she said, shoulders sagging and voice slightly shaking, “She um, she died… two months ago….”
Leo opened his mouth to say something, but he didn’t know what to say. He sat there with his mouth still open, trying to find something, anything to say to this poor girl.
“I… I’m sorry to hear that…,” Leo finally said, bowing his head slightly, “If… you don’t mind me asking… how did she die?”
Max cleared her throat and said, “It was a car accident…. Drunk driver…. Or, so I was told….”
“You don’t believe that’s what happened?” Leo asked.
He saw hatred flare in her eyes as she shook her head and growled, “No. I don’t believe anything Krikor tells me. And it happened just after she did something that pissed him off, so no, I don’t believe it was a drunk driver that killed her…. I believe it was Krikor, who had her killed.”
Leo was trying to figure out how all of this connected to why she was there, but couldn’t exactly figure it out.
“So you’re asking for protection because you’re afraid he’ll have you killed as well?” He asked.
Max swallowed hard again and shook her head. She pulled her purse onto her lap and opened it, rummaging around for something. When she found what she was looking for, she gently and shakily placed it on his desk, sliding it towards him. Leo reached for the remote on his desk that controlled the lights in his office and turned the lights up a little more, but not all the way. He picked up the object that she had placed on his desk and looked at it. His eyes widened, and immediately he understood why she was asking for his protection.
“How many months?” Leo asked, staring at the ultrasound photo in his hand.
“Two and a half months….” She answered, resting a hand on her still mostly flat stomach.
Leo’s eyes snapped up to her as a thought occurred to him and he quickly asked, “Does Krikor know about this?”
Max shook her head as she said, “No. I mean, I-I don’t think so. I didn’t tell him so unless he found out some other way, he shouldn’t know.”
Leo nodded and handed her the ultrasound picture back. She put it away in her purse and placed it down by her feet again, before looking back up at Leo.
“Now that you know the situation, Mr. Jung, will you please help me, and protect my unborn child?” She asked, looking him in the eyes.
“Normally if someone were to come to me asking for protection, I’d turn them away, as it is none of my concern,” Leo started, causing Max to visibly deflate and her heart to sink, “However, I will never leave a child in harm’s way, nor their mother. So, Mrs. Mantanari, you have my word that I, along with the rest of VIXX, will do everything in our power to protect you and your child in your time of need.”
Tears came to Max’s eyes and she began thanking him over and over again as the tears flowed freely.
“Sorry,” she said, laughing slightly and wiping her face, “The pregnancy hormones are already affecting me.”
A small, almost non-existing smile graced Leo’s lips as he said, “Don’t worry about that. For now, just worry about your health and the baby’s health.”
Max bowed to him in her seat and said, “I will. Thank you.”
Leo nodded, leaning back in his chair. “If you’re going to be under our protection for a long time, especially from a man like Krikor, then there are a few different conditions I have.” Leo said, staring at her.
She nervously nodded, signaling that she was listening.
“You will be living with me from now on, or staying with one of my five trusted men. You are not to go anywhere without myself or one of those five. And we’ll have to change your appearance and give you an alias. Do you understand?” He said, leaning forward in his chair to look closely at the young girl in front of him.
She sighed in relief and visibly relaxed, nodding her head to signify that she understood and agreed.
“Good,” Leo said, leaning back in his chair again, “For now, I’ll have N take you to the salon to get your hair changed. Since your pregnant, I will not allow you to undergo any sort of plastic surgery procedure like we would normally do, so we’ll have to hope that changing your hair and clothes and possibly colored contacts will be enough.”
Max nodded again and stood when Leo did. He walked around his desk and she turned to him, kneeling on the floor and bowing to him extremely formally.
“There is no need for that. Please, stand up,” Leo said, gently gripping her arm and helping her to her feet, “You don’t have to do anything like that, alright?”
She smiled and nodded, picking up her purse. Leo gently placed his hand on her lower back and lead her through the twisting hallways until they came to a common room sort of area where two men were sitting. One was Hakyeon, and the other, Max had not yet met.
“N, I want you to take Mrs. Mantanari to the salon and shops and change her appearance as much as possible.” Leo said, nodding toward the younger girl beside him.
“Sure thing Boss.” N said, standing up.
“Ravi, I want you to go along as well. One of you is to stay by her side at all times and no matter what, do not leave her alone, or so help me god, I will beat you within an inch of your life. Am I clear?” Leo threatened, staring the two men down.
“Crystal clear Boss!” The other man, who Max was guessing was Ravi, said, grinning.
“He’s rather chipper for someone who just received a death threat from their boss….” Max said, making Leo let out a silent laugh.
“He’s always like that,” he said, shaking his head, “Anyway, you’ll be in good hands with these two. I trust them with my life, so you can trust them with yours.”
Max smiled up at him and nodded, reflexively placing her hand on her stomach. N and Ravi stood and took Max from Leo, taking her to change her look.