Chapter 69 THE AUCTION IV
In the blink of an eye, a woman dressed in a hot red dress that shimmered at the reflection of the stage light walked majestically to the podium with the foot of her heels hitting the marble titled floor and leaving behind trails like pixie dust in fairy tales.
Her name was Lara and she was going to lead the auction bidding for me. She was very charismatic and poise with an alluring charm swaying around her like a mystic being as she mounted the stage, riling the male auctioneer with a simple kiss on his cheek before he left the podium while she surveyed the crowd.
The lights behind the stage had suddenly gone dim, the smoke filled room reeking of desperation and power. Lara was flanked by two burly men with guns tucked into their waistbands.
And for the first time since she had mouthed the stage, Lara grabbed the microphone and began to say,
“Alright, capos. Let's get straight to business. The next item up for grabs: a rare package straight from the Don's vault— La Perla Nera, the black pearl with a starting bid of 50 million dollars.”
I scoffed slightly. She had just called 50 million dollars. The starting bid price for me was 50 million dollars.
I thought of this as funny and ridiculous and my eyes darted at Rafael where he had been sitting to read his expression and also in anticipation of him having raised his bidding banner already, but to my surprise, he was still sitting still—just like I had first seen him.
The crowd began to murmur and a few men began to raise their bidding banners.
“Ah! Excellent, 50 million dollars, right here!” Lara announced with a small smile. “Do I hear 60 million?”
Another bidder raised his banner with confidence, pulling the fat tobacco stick resting in between his lips out to drizzle its ashes on the ask tray beside him on a small side stool.
“Sir Alessandro, thank you! 60 million dollars. Do I hear 70 million?”
The crowd buzzled briefly as the price began to go up a bit higher and my eyes kept racing at Rafael, hoping he would raise his own bid to claim me back or perhaps I wanted him to buy me my freedom from this cage and the absurd auction I was in.
But still, Rafael wasn't bulging and his gaze was numb, evenly locked on me as though his astral form was already out of his physical form— perhaps he had died in his seat, but I pushed these thoughts away as the pressure in his gaze was clearly solely resting on me.
I could feel him staring into my soul—with unspoken words already formed in his thoughts trying to splurge out from his eyes, but I couldn't hear them as my tears had suddenly blinded my eyes—the hope I had with him being their shattering as he wouldn't raise a bid for me.
Lasts suddenly raised her phone, announcing there was an online bidder. I had thought the auction was a closed one, but there was someone else whose invite would be assessed through the digital world.
“A special online bidder has made his call,” Lara called with a brilliant smile to her lips. “Say, 200 million dollars!”
The crowd began to mumble again at such calling bids, but the leading tier Mafia bosses had no comments on this piece as it seemed as though that was just a starting price which was worthy of the woman—me who was inside the cage.
‘Who could this online bidder be and why would they blindly call a bid for me at such a price?’
I had asked myself in my thoughts, my eyes darting towards Rafael saying to read his reaction to this, but this man was as hard as steel and he still wouldn't bulge.
Was he really going to do nothing about my being in sale at an auction?
Among the seated men of the Mafia world, one who was seated at the front seat was particularly happy, grinning from ear to ear that I couldn't help but assume him to be the host of the auction.
He had a triumphant grub on his lips and he occasionally looked behind his shoulder to cast a look at Rafael. It was evident this was a subtle shade to him that the price for me was skyrocketing without him having to move a muscle and he was as well expecting Rafael to start calling his bid.
The look in his eyes were clear—as clear as day just to make Santiano break out of his shell and name his price.
“250 million dollars!” An Asian man who had been silently observing me from the beginning had suddenly made his call, shifting in his seat with a groan.
Lara said, “Oyabun Takeshi, 250 million dollars. Anyone ready to counter his bid?” She asked, her eyes laced at a man at the front seat like she had been expecting him to grace the auction with his own heavyweight price. “Vorovskya Voina, the Don of the very prestigious Mafia family, do I hear you call a bid?”
The man Lara had just called was the same Mafia boss Santiano had been trying to take his family business to after the crash out he had with the DeLuca family.
The Don cleared his throat briefly and his right hand henchman pulled closer to him, lighting up another cigar for his boss. The Don, Vorovskya Voina took a long drag from his cigar and puffed up the smoke which rented the front row in no time then he gave his right hand man a little signal to name their his bidding price.
“500 million dollars.” The henchman spoke with a rustic Russian accent.
Fear gripped me tightly— the size of a boulder. The price was hiking up pretty fast and these men were enjoying throwing their dirty money just to have me for themselves.
I thought everything would be over as the Russian raised his bid, not until a voice out of nowhere made their first call.
“1 billion dollars!”