Kidnapped By The Italian Mafia

"God, were these rooms always so f.u.c.k.i.n.g dark?" I side stepped a decorative pillar and narrowly avoided knocking over something that was probably priceless. Or that wasn't a pillar at all and it was a person. I couldn't tell because it was basically pitch black.

"You've never been to an auction like this before," Connor held his hand out to help guide me, which I was thankful for because otherwise I would've tripped and broken my neck and then Katarina would have been dead for sure. "This is for the lower classes. You've only been to the higher auctions."

"Have you been to these auctions before, Con?" It wouldn't surprise me if he had, considering Connor had an affinity for using people that didn't know who he was. Low level auctions and black market meetings seemed like his playground.

"No, this is my first time."

I stand corrected.

When we emerged from the darkness of the hall into another form of darkness, albeit much less penumbral. The room was dimly lit, but from what I could see, it was very spacious. There were rows and rows of people sitting in metal chairs, similar to what gyms look like during high school graduation. There was a stage at the end of one side, also similar to what gyms looked like during graduation, and there was a pulpit there as well where a man in a mask was calling out numbers.

People were raising their paddles at random, as they usually did during auctions, and I watched as the auctioneer pointed his gavel at some of them.

"This auction is a disaster," I muttered with a roll of my eyes. One of the things I couldn't help but notice was how the auctioneer spoke in another diplomatic language, not French. Moira hummed in agreement and handed me a paddle. There was no intention of raising this until a really important item came on display.

Or so I thought. Turned out, the items being auctioned weren't as bad as I had assumed they were, and many times I had fought the urge to keep that paddle up and outbid everyone. Nobody had bid past fifty thousand dollars, but that was just because no item was worth more than fifty thousand dollars.

"And now we've got a Mockingbird home system up for auction, brand new with a wiped serial number so you can't be tracked! This home system is the surest way to keep yourself and loved ones safe. With hidden safety measures, you can weaponise your house against any intruders whilst resting assured that you will be safe and sound. We start the bidding at twenty thousand euros!"

Immediately, my hand shot up and the auctioneer called on me. A few other people placed their bids, so I put my hand down and allowed other people to make their calls. There were a few murmurs from different spots in the room, probably about how fast I raised that damn paddle. It was ridiculous, why couldn't I just walk up there and buy it? Cash or credit, I was good for both.

"Fifty thousand euros!"

I let a few other people raise their paddles because I was waiting for the price to raise just above their budget. When it hit eighty thousand, I raised my paddle again and let the auctioneer count me in. The price started to hike up by ten thousand and pretty soon only a couple people were raising their paddles. I kept mine raised until it hit one hundred and fifty thousand euros, and nobody was bidding against me.

"And… sold for one hundred and fifty thousand euros!" The auctioneer banged his gavel unnecessarily and began to move on to the next item. I placed down my paddle and leaned back, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. As suspected, such a purchase in such a high amount was enough to draw attention, which was what I wanted. Even though I still wasn't sure about what exactly the Mockingbird security system did, I was taking Henri's warning into consideration.

Weaponising a structure against intruders seemed very farfetched, but I wasn't one to be picky. At the end of the auction, I'd just ask someone to explain it to me further.

As the evening went on, things became more questionable, and people started to leave. At one point most of the room was empty and there were maybe between thirty and fifty people sitting down and waiting for the real night to begin. I didn't know much about low level black market auctions, but I had heard that the darker dealings came once the uncompromising items were sold. If this was true, I was about to cross the gateway into the world I knew so well.

Connor hadn't moved at all since we sat down, and this worried me a little bit because Connor was never the type to just sit and observe, that was Moira's thing. I had been expecting him to participate in the auction, but his body language was rigid and anxious. Honestly, I didn't know what that was about.

Moira, on the other hand, was participating in the auction as planned, but she trickled down towards the end as we were all waiting for darker dealings to take place. Once again, I had never been to a low level black market auction before so I assumed that darker dealings meant selling a pound of cocaine or something.

The reality took me by surprise. My arrogance had led me to be very astonished. Darker dealings meant auctioning off organs, something I wasn't too happy about but wasn't willing to change any time soon because I was a big hypocrite. As long as the organs weren't from any kidnapping victims or children, I was alright.

Having been kidnapped myself recently, I was sure that I wouldn't be too happy if my liver had been put up for sale.

"We start the bidding at five hundred euros!"

Even less happy. Five hundred euros for a perfectly clean liver? "These people are out of their damn minds." What a joke.

"Five hundred, do we have a thousand?" The auctioneer called out, looking around the room enthusiastically. A few people walked into the salon and took their seats.

"A thousand, do I have two thousand? Two thousand, do we have twenty-five hundred? Twenty-five hundred!" The auctioneer exclaimed excitedly. "Three thousand? Do we have three thousand?!"

"Five thousand!" A random person called and raised their paddle. I sighed, tempted to let myself lean back into my seat. I knew this type of person, I had seen it all too often. The type of person that was so excited to be at a black market auction that they would spend outrageous amounts of money on a specific item just to say that they bought it at a black market auction for x-y-z price, but they didn't have use for the item so it ended up being more abandoned than a pet rock. Sad, really.

My group and I just sat still, letting others around us have their fill of fun. Hopefully the organ did someone a good service. Although I wasn't all that sure because there were some people in the room that looked incredibly shady. What would that man in the trench coat do with a liver? Why was he wearing a trench coat? Suspicious.

What about that woman over there? She looked like she would have a lot of uses for a liver. Necromany. Definitely necromancy.

God, and that other woman? Usually the goth aesthetic was awesome but she ruined it. It just didn't suit her.

"Fifteen thousand euros, going once… going twice… sold, for fifteen thousand euros!"

And then the next item came on. A heart. Oh, now there's a kicker. Hearts. Maybe I should buy that one since apparently mine had ceased to exist somewhere along the years. How long had it been since I'd felt any emotion other than l.u.s.t or treachery? Was treachery an emotion? It probably was. I'd have to look that up later.

What about l.u.s.t? Was that an emotion or just a random reaction? It didn't seem like l.u.s.t was an emotion, and if it was… yikes. It's not like much else was expected from me, being who I was. That's kind of insulting, come to think of it. Who said I couldn't feel love? I could fall in love with someone if I wanted to. After all, wasn't that the whole point of this narrative I'd crafted for my undercover persona?

No wait… I'm supposed to be the manager for Katarina's club. I was tempted to write it down, just to keep my story straight.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, we have a guest lounge accessible to all peoples with green tickets. Please, we invite you to move forward towards the door on your right and present your tickets to the bouncer."

Moira and I stood up first, shortly followed by Connor. I wanted to be first in the room, even if I didn't know what exactly I was walking into. I wasn't too worried, though. What could go wrong?

"Ticket," the bouncer grunted, bored. I grinned and presented my green ticket, along with my ID, since I knew he would want to see it. "Ain't seen you around here before."

"Haven't had a need to come here before," I shrugged, holding my hand out for my ID. He gave it back with an intelligible grunt and motioned for me to pass, then he stopped Moira and Connor, even though he probably didn't need to, considering who they were.

The room we stepped into was even darker than the first, and there was a distinct mix of scents in the air, no doubt the different perfumes that they doused the humans with.

"Are ye aware," Connor began lowly as he placed a hand on the small of my back and guided me to a spot. "Tha' buying a person goes completely against yer father's morals?"

"It couldn't be clearer." There were no seats. "Why are there no seats?"

"In case the police barge in and we need to run. It's an emergency tactic," Moira whispered back. "Completely opposite to the betting lounges."

The betting lounges were auction rooms located in the bas.e.m.e.nts of high end establishments, which is what I was accustomed to. They were more like country clubs, but for the mafia. One could walk in, partake in all sorts of illegal shit without having to look over your shoulder or worrying about shady looking stains in the corners of the room.

"Great, so now we have to stand up for maybe hours. I knew I should have worn my Guiseppes." Out of all the uncomfortable pairs of shoes I could wear, I just had to choose Saint Laurent heels. And why? Because they went with my outfit way too well. My vanity was going to be the death of me.

"Just take off your shoes," Moira whispered smugly. "I wore boots."

"Yeah, I know. I told you to wear them," I snapped back, quietly, of course. "No way in hell I'm removing my shoes on this grubby floor.

"Shut up, both of ye." Connor shushed and crossed his arms. With a glare at him from the corner of my eye, I shut up anyway and readied myself for the human auction.

"Madames et monsieurs, bienvenue à la Maison Noir." The boring introduction welcoming us to the auction was in French, surprisingly. Definitely wasn't expecting that. What I was expecting less? For the auctioneer to be someone I knew.

"Holy shit, is that Juan-Carlos?"