Property of the Mafia

[39] Left Behind

Hello my lovelies~ sorry for the wait again and hope you enjoy <3

This is definitely one of my fave chapters... not that much action, but I'm really happy about Linette's growth and progress through this story :)

Raine xox

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Now I was definitely not an expert in money, precious gems, or valuable artifacts, but even I felt overwhelmed by the amount of gold piled in front of me. Bars, coins, and golden trinkets---the entire floor was just covered by the stuff. It felt like the sky had just decided to rain gold for a day or so in this cavern.

But there was something about the room that made me feel… uncomfortable, for a lack of a better word.

It almost felt like we had reached this room too easily. Sure there had been a couple of trick doors along the way, but besides that... it wasn't even half as difficult as actually finding the place. It felt like the trauma of getting to this point was out of balance with our long journey. How many months had it been since I had first met Leon? It felt like we had been together for ages, but the actual time that had passed was probably only slightly longer than half a year. Incredible.

But anyways, besides the endless amount of glitter around us, the walls and ground were made of brittle, uneven rock. Splinters of rocks stuck out from odd angles on the walls and ceilings, almost resembling millions of tiny icicles. I couldn’t help but feel slightly wary of them. They did not look stable.

My suspicion still got the better of me, as I remained motionless. On the other hand, Alyssa and Leon had joined Marcel in admiring the riches before them, all wide-eyed with open mouthed--it was quite amusing to watch, especially keeping in mind how mature and intense the three of them could be. 

"Well... is this what you were expecting?" I asked Rei, who was still calmly standing next to me. He seemed to be having doubts about the whole thing as well. I stared solemnly at his face. Wow. He actually did kind of look like my dad.

"... I'm not quite sure. I imagined a variety of different things, but..." He furrowed his eyebrows, deep in thought as he broke me out of my own wandering thoughts.

"Like what?" I asked curiously, watching as Alyssa knelt down and laughed as she picked up one of the gold bars with delight, resembling a small child on Christmas morning.

Marcel seemed to be examining it for authenticity over her shoulder as his glasses fell to the end of his nose. Leon was walking back and forth between the various stacks of gold, still in awe. After all, he was probably the one looking forward to this the most—it had practically been his life’s mission.

"Well, I don't know. I know this is supposed to be all the wealth left behind by the Noir family---and I knew that that would definitely be a lot. But to just convert everything they had to gold? I was expecting something a little more... interesting." He added with a wry smile, turning his heads towards me. I smiled back at him. It was good to know I wasn’t the only paranoid one. Maybe it ran in the family.

"That's true. Since you said they loved to play mind-games and watch people suffer..." I frowned, recalling Rei's words from earlier. "Then we have to be more careful in rejoicing." Rei nodded in response.

"How's it look over there, Marcel? Is it real?" Rei asked inquisitively, as we slowly walked over, taking note of the spikes bending towards us and avoiding them.

"Definitely authentic." He nodded; grinning from ear to ear as he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. I had never seen the man so delighted. "Problem is, how would we transport all of this outside with our bare hands?" He shrugged, his open palms facing us.