The Suspicion (pt. 4)

The auction room turned out to be more of a hall where people were sitting in rows and watching as a woman who was stood to the side of a platform wearing a bunny mask began rattling off as they led people onto the same platform. My eyebrows shot to the top of my head when a literal child, no older than nine years of age was led to the stage, wearing a child's tuxedo and shackles with a sack on their head. Okay so this really was a secret society.

"That's fucked up," the guard to my right whispered, and all the rest of us could do was nod in agreement. The auctioneer looked at the child and motioned for the sack to be taken off. When it was, I immediately took note of the unfocused look on the child's face, which made me want to strangle everyone in the room.

People immediately started murmuring amongst themselves; some enthusiastically, and others in disapproval. My blood was beginning to boil in my veins, and if the light hadn't been dimmed in the room, everyone would be able to see how red I was.

"I'm going to make this one my personal slave," one person said.

"I'm going to adopt this one," another person said. That one was obviously a politician.

"I'm going to take this one to my pet house," another sick individual said. The comments ranged from wholesome people wanting to give this child a better life to twisted individuals who deserved to be burnt alive.

"That one, that one, and that one," I stood beside Marco and began pointing at people across the room. "I want them," Marco looked at me again, and I could tell that he was debating whether I was overstepping my boundaries or not by acting so comfortable, but I couldn't have cared less. Someone was going to die by my hands, and so would the person who bought this child. I would've bought them myself, but it's not like the liberty to do so was exactly mine. "Please?"

He gave a single nod and I retreated again, eyes fixed on the auctioneer as she prepared to speak. I would kill her too.

"Here we have a young Nepalese child from the village of Kaskikot. Untarnished and trained to be a house pet," my vision was completely red. "Bidding starts at two hundred thousand euros…"

"Two hundred thousand."

"Two fifty."

"Two seventy."

"Two seventy-five."

"Three hundred thousand."

"Three twenty."

"Three fifty."

"Three seventy-five."

"Five hundred thousand," my eyes shot to the person who was holding up a paddle with the number forty-three on it. I could sense Marco getting tense, so it was only natural to assume that he was the man we came in here looking for. If so, then I'd leave him to it, my eyes were on a different prize.

"Five fifty!"

"Five seventy."

"Five eighty-five."

"Six hundred thousand!" the politician again. I could feel an evil smile stretching the sides of my cheeks. The higher he bid, the more fun I'd have with him later.

"One million euros."

All eyes went to the person in the crow mask who had his paddle raised for one million euros. Number forty-three again. One look to my left, and Marco had his eyes fixed on the man, squinting menacingly. That look wasn't even directed at me and I was already scared of it. A chill went down my spine.

"One million two hundred euros!" the politician again. I licked my lips.

"Fifteen hundred thousand!"

"One million five hundred thousand euros goin once… going twice… sold to number forty-three!" The auctioneer banged her gavel on the wooden plate and proceeded to announce the next person up for auction.

"Get ready, we're leaving. Kat?" Marco left the empty question hanging for me to catch, and I immediately pointed out the people I personally wanted to get my hands on. That politician, especially. It wasn't so concerning whether or not people would question this politician's disappearance, because the Italians probably had a solution for that too. Their country, their problem. I was just here to enjoy the ride. "Get her those pieces of shit to the dungeons. I'm going to see a certain someone about a child."

I hadn't been expecting Marco to grab my hand and make me follow him to the seat where number forty-three was located, but it's not like I was exactly complaining when he did, anyway. To say that the man in the crow mask was surprised when he saw us was an understatement. By now, only one guard had followed us. The other one went to collect my gifts.

"Andreas Bottiano in the flash," Marco smiled warmly and casually shoved a hand in his pocket. "Fancy seeing you here."

"You've got the wrong person," the man stuttered out, and made a move like he was about to leave. Couldn't let that happen, huh? Without thinking, my foot came up and I stepped on his stomach, essentially pinning him to the seat. He looked down at my leg then back up at my face, and I smiled at him.

"We just saw your wife, she's absolutely radiant!" Marco's hand went from mine to around my waist, and I played along to confuse this guy. "Wasn't she, honey?"

"Absolutely radiant," I echoed. "Pregnancy suits her well. What a shame…"

"Please," he immediately cracked and took off his mask. "Is she okay? Please say you didn't hurt her."

"We haven't hurt her, calm down," Marco rolled his eyes and took his phone out of his pocket. A few taps and the screen became a display for security camera footage where Lina was tied in a seat and the front seat guard was standing behind her eating a bowl of pasta. "Unless of course you give me a reason to hurt her."

I immediately knew he was bluffing, but it pissed me off anyway. Marco had an infuriating way of cornering people by attacking their surrounding defences, and slowly circling them in. It was infuriating because it was absolutely genius. I was direct with my attacks, but I was stealthy, so a person would never see it coming until it was about to hit them in the face. Marco would blatantly show his target the way he was eradicating all their protective gears.

"Please, she's pregnant!" He tried to stand up, but I pushed him back down with my leg. She obviously wasn't pregnant, but apparently that wouldn't stop them from repeating it. Did they think that mattered?

"Then you'll come with me, right? Peacefully."

Once I'd removed my leg, the man nodded and stood up, making sure to bring his mask with him.