Chapter 18

Davien's P. O. V

As far as I or anyone else knew, Caesar had decided to sell his property on a whim, but I always felt like that was far from the truth. Hence, I had Gwen cash in some favors and get a background check on his maternal side.

The Calamari family.

It turned out, he was part Italian, and with the connections from the pack, I found out his maternal side had deep connections with the Mafia.

For a businessman, that was a fucking mess. The only person in the family that stood out, was Greta herself, for straying from the family business and seeking out art. Though, according to the investigation, all of her art was lost over the years to a brutal clash that almost broke the family up.

My lips curled into a twisted smile, when I noticed him whisper something to one of his men. He was panicking, I could hear his heartbeat pound faster than anyone in the room.

"Twenty five thousand! Going once! Going twice.. "

"Thirty thousand!" The pawn in front declared, raising his bidding stick, acting stubborn. I looked behind me at Fabri, to see his expression relax a bit.

Did he think I was that easy to put down?

"Thirty thousand! Do I hear Thirty one thousand? Anyone?" The auctioneer excitedly cried out, placing a palm to his ear.

I raised my bidding stick, "Forty thousand dollars!" I announced firmly, my voice echoed off the walls of the enclosed room, as my declaration raised the tension to the roof.

A deafening silence followed, as even the manager who had a defeated look, couldn't believe his ears. Swiftly, he cued the instrumentalists to switch up the slow sophisticated music, into a faster paced tempo.

"Woohoo! A whooping forty thousand dollars! Old Greta will be dancing in her grave right now!" He exclaimed in poor taste, overly excited by the table turn.

"Do I hear forty two thousand? Forty two thousand dollars for this artwork? Going once! Going…"

Fabri closed his eyes, then signaled the man in front to make the bid, this time, not caring to hide he had a pawn doing the bidding for him.

"Forty three thousand…"

"Forty five thousand dollars!" I sharply cut him off, before his words could reach the auctioneer.

The other bidders gasped and started whispering to each other, stealing glances at me.

"Forty five thousand dollars is a mean buck! I wonder if you can buy me instead and take the painting for free?" The sweaty man said, in his sorry attempt to quell the mood.

Caesar reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a cigar, he swiftly lit it's butt and brought it to his lips. The sound of his shoes nervously tapping against the marble floors, drowned the lively music in the background.

"Anyone bidding anything higher? Or will this painting go to the handsome devil in blue?"

"Going once!" The auctioneer announced, raising his curled fist over his head.

"Going twice!" His eyes took a sweep around the room, searching for any look of hesitation.

"And…"

"Sixty thousand dollars!" Caesar cried out, finally raising his auction stick, he looked at me and smirked in satisfaction, as though he was asserting his dominance over the situation.

So that was how this fucker wanted to play?

Well, two could play at this game.

Before the auctioneer could acknowledge his bid, I casually flung one leg over the other and called out my bid.

"Seventy thousand-"

"Eighty thousand dollars!" Right as I was talking, Caesar interrupted and made his bid, doing the same thing to spite me.

The auctioneer widened his eyes, "Eighty thousand?" He unintentionally echoed in stun, he tossed a glance at the manager, who shared the same expression.

Eighty thousand dollars on a painting, Caesar wasn't taking this as seriously as I thought he would be. The starting price for the land we were struggling to buy was three hundred million. With that in mind, you'd think he would flash a bit more money on this painting.

"Eighty thousand dollars going once! Going-"

This was ludicrous, and I didn't have the time to waste here sitting around and playing games with him.

I raised my bidding stick and announced, "Two hundred thousand dollars!"

Caesar, naturally raised his hand to counter my bid, but when his ears finally registered what was said, he shrank back and lowered his hand.

"Two hundred thousand dollars?!!" The auctioneer exclaimed with widened eyes, simultaneously, the music stopped and people's voices penetrated the tensed atmosphere.

"Two hundred thousand dollars? Really? For that boring painting?"

"Who is that man? I've never seen him at this gallery before?"

"That's ten times the original bidding price! Is this guy serious? That's one fourth of a million? And for a no name auction too!"

The murmurs from the crowd got louder and wilder, but I couldn't be bothered, to me, the only two people in this room were Caesar and I.

And what I wanted to know was who would bow his head first to the other. It wasn't just my pride, but Ralph's domineering nature, that made us act this way.

Taking charge, the auctioneer raised his fist over his head, "Two hundred thousand dollars! Going once! Going twice!"

The conflicted look on Caesar's face and the way he bit on his lower lip was enough proof to see he was struggling. And soon enough, his contemplation turned to despair, the moment the auctioneer cried out…

"And sold!"

"Thank you very much for your time sir. Please come this way, while we have all the necessary documents processed and confirm the transfer." The blonde manager said, showing me the way to his office.

It wasn't large, no surprise there. The painting was already wrapped up and ready to be taken. The extra documentation was all just formalities that needed to be taken.

Once I was seated on the sofa, Mira came in with a bottle of brandy and a shot glass. I noticed the way her eyes ravished my body, like I was a feast, an irresistible one might I add.

"You're not very subtle." I told her, breaking her concentration, the nervous woman tucked a strand behind her ear and averted her eyes.

"But I like that about you." I said, picking up the bottle without breaking my gaze on her.

She took two steps forward, "That auction was amazing, I had never seen anything like it."

"Was it now?" I spread my arm across the sofa, then, using my eyes, I invited her to sit next to me. "Tell me more."

However, our fun was cut short by the sound of the door pulled open, and the synchronized footsteps that poured into the room. I flung my head back and sighed, acting exasperated.

"Leave us!" Caesar shouted in a demanding tone, the woman didn't think twice and rushed out, nearly tripping over her heels.

Caesar signaled his men to shut the door behind him, which they did, then proceeded to spread themselves apart, across the room. A reckless grin planted itself on the bastard's face, as he settled his gaze on the wrapped up painting sitting on the sofa adjacent to mine.

"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!" He reached into his jacket and pulled out a shiny silver handgun, my guess was, it was loaded just for me.

"What's this shit you're pulling?" I asked, pouring myself a drink, choosing to ignore the cheap intimidation he was trying to sell me.

"You brought this on yourself Moore, you shouldn't have come here in the first place, talk less of trying to outbid me. Ludicrous!" He spat then pointed the gun to my face.

"So murder was your endgame?" I chuckled dryly, he was cracking a joke and it wasn't even funny.

"Call it a negotiation, nobody has to die, if you do as I say. Doesn't that sound nicer?"

"For you maybe. But I don't have any interest in dealing with a man like you. With a coward." I said, placing emphasis on the last word, making sure to rile him up a bit.

He clicked his tongue, "Stop trying to act coy when you're probably quaking in your-"

I swiftly interjected, "I'm not, you're all a bunch of idiots. The manager will be back shortly, and not just that, Mira saw your faces and has most likely already called for help. Unless you plan on going to prison, you're no threat, Caesar."

Although that was what I said, the true reason why I kept calm was obvious. They were just humans who didn't know who, or rather what they were up against.

"Don't worry, I'm well prepared for certain contingencies." He said with cold eyes.

"You mean, you have a sacrificial lamb ready." I pushed the glass to my lips and emptied it in one go.

Reclining into the sofa, I narrowed my eyes, "I take it you want the painting."

"That's very smart of you Moore." He smiled, but it lacked any humor to it. He signaled one of his men to nab it, but I cut him off by hitting the bottle of alcohol against the coffee table.

"I didn't give you permission to take what's mine, Caesar."

Caesar's left eyebrow twitched, "Hah?"

"You've stated your demands, don't you think it only makes sense to listen if I accept?" I straightened my clothes and stood up, this banter had gone on long enough.

"That's ridiculous, you're in no position to oppose." He retorted, as though on cue, all his men reached into their pockets and pulled out black pistols.

"The entire room is surrounded, there's nowhere to run." The arrogance oozing from his words made me laugh, ignorance was truly amusing.

"But who ever said anything about me doing the running?"

I curled my fingers into a tight fist and punched him square in the face. My attack sent him crashing miserably on his back with blood running down his nose, to the corners of his mouth and through his parted lips.

"Boss!" His men cried in unison, directing their pistols at me.

I stepped hard on the gun at my feet, propelling it to the air right in front of me. I grabbed it by the trigger and before their eyes, I bent the miserable thing!

"No, you're the ones who'll be begging to escape me." I announced, glad as hell they had locked the door after they came in.

Made my job much more easier.