His Caged Dove -Mafia Romance (BOOK ONE)

Eleven: Dove

"Oh," I mumbled, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. "Just the landscape, like the river, the stream...the snow."

"The landscape?" he asked, unamused and bewildered though he did make the effort to look at the things I pointed out, almost as if he never even thought about it or took it in before I even pointed it out. After a brief glance, his eyes falls back onto me, puzzled. "The scenery made you smile?"

"I wasn't smiling," I protested. "I was admiring the view."

"With a smile on your face."

"You're seeing things."

"Right, clearly I'm the blind one," he scoffed, though the edge of his lips tugged upwards, just barely before he stopped walking. I followed suit, staring at him with confusion when he proclaimed, "We're here."

I blinked, looking around, though I didn't see anything remotely close that resembled a little shed where someone would keep his weapons either. "Where?"

"Patience, bird," he instructed lightly before he stuffed his hands into his coat pocket and produces a small looking remote. He pressed it, entering a four-digit code and cocked his head to the side. "Step back."

A moment later, the ground that was a foot from us creaked and groan before it lifted from the ground. I gawked at it for a moment, my eyes widened in shock by the contraption. It was designed to be hidden out of sight, with only probably him and a few others knew about this place. As it comes to a halt once the platform underneath raised for us to stand on, I stared up at him, astound. He waves for me to step onto the platform as I did, cautiously. "A secret underground...elevator?"

"Constructed to hold my cars in the beginning my Father collected, and quickly turned to weaponry once I took over," he replied as it slowly started to descend into the ground below us. He pressed his lips thinly together as he stared at me. "Do you really think I'll have my weapons out in an open above ground where anyone could access it if they truly wanted to?"

"I guess not," I agreed, watching the light illuminate on the side of the panels, amazed by the contraption but also feeling rather claustrophobic to be trapped underground with no means to escape either. While the thought of Robert trapping me in his murky and dark basement usually sent me into a panic, I bit my tongue and looked at the lights for leverage from my stomach turning.

"Did Mateo?" he asked, drawing me back to reality of where I was

I nodded, hoping he doesn't feel my grim expression. "Yes, both Robert and Mateo rather loved to showcase their firearms, leaving it out and about; tempting to see who would dare to try and grab it. I guess it was a way to show their power and help their ego that no one dares to go against them."

"Those who are powerful don't have the need to show off," he said under his breath.

"The most dangerous thing about a person is those who listen, thinks, and observes rather than to flaunt," I recited after him, peering up at him to see his reaction. His eyes sparked with surprise before he nodded in agreement. It was as if I understood him a bit in that moment before it become hard again.

"Precisely," he said rather impressed with my statement. "Now when we reach the bottom, don't touch anything you're not supposed to, trust me, you don't want to see me angry."

"Okay," I nodded as he entered yet another set of codes. The metal door dinged before opening to reveal the inside as my eyes took in everything. The place was huge, staked with all sorts of weapons you could probably ever imagine on the walls on neat display. A monitored mounted on the wall showed his office and some of the other rooms in the estate. Three cars were on the other side, two luxury cars and one truck. There were also two doors next to the truck, which I assume was locked anyways.