CHAPTER 4: The Outcome

One hour into the auction Bella was feeling restless, The young man beside Captain had bid on an old landscape portrait which cost fifty thousand dollars in the name of Lotus and it had drawn curious eyes to him, it made her fear for Captain who was now seen as an associate, she saw Captain leave the room with the younger man and a few minutes later Drago's men followed but Drago stayed behind smiling and chatting with a man known as Morris the king of Play house.

"Are you alright?" Leonard asked, sensing her tension.

"Ohh yes, please do excuse me" she excused herself pinching Cassandra who followed her after softly slapping Bella's hand away.

They opened the door and were immediately greeted by the cold evening breeze that roughened their hair. They walked to the corner of the building, where they saw a black SUV pull up before Captain and the other man, then came to another car behind the first car and Lorenzo alighted from the second car, he walked to Captain who told, Lorenzo, Snipper and Matt to unload the cash from the SUV, and after offloading four bags from the SUV it drove off so did Lorenzo and Matt leaving snipper with Captain.

"I told you to choose a different life route, Andrea, why don't you listen?" Captain scolded.

He had tried his possible best to keep his nineteen-year-old son away from this lifestyle, it was too dangerous and the young man did not have the balls it took to live like this, now he was here as Lotus emissary.

"I haven't done anything paa, it's just an errand" Andrea said defensively.

"That's how I started too for fuck sake" Captain cursed.

"So if you aren't Lotus, who is he? Who sent you here?"

"I don't know them directly, they're very secretive people"

"They? " Captain asked.

" I don't know paa, I was told not to ask questions " Andrea shrugged his shoulders.

"Were you told to bid as well?" Captain asked feeling uneasy, it was obvious that Lotus was using his son as a human shield while he remained in secret as an unknown force, right now he didn't know anymore if Lotus was an ally or enemy.

"Yes, Sir," Andrea answered.

"You need to leave, I don't want you caught up in all this mess" Captain said looking around.

Andrea took out his phone and made a call and in a few minutes, an SUV pulled up before them.

"This my ride paa see you later" Andrea said, going for a hug from his father.

The girls stood watching and waiting from a distance, when they began to notice shadows, instinctively Cassandra reached for her purse bringing out a gun. On the other side of the building, Bella saw a black Mercedes drive away slowly, the back window brought down so that whoever was in it saw Captain and Andrea, but it was too dark for Bella to see whoever was inside the car as it drove by finally exiting the place.

"Get the car now !" Cassandra whispered to Bella screwing the silencer onto her gun, she saw someone raise a gun toward Andrea and Captain from a distance, she raised her gun, aimed at the figure then fired, making Captain jump in his son's defence as he pushed the boy toward the SUV, he opened the door and shoved Andrea into the car and it drove off immediately then ran for cover, Bella was in a panic as she ran towards the parking lot, more shots sounding behind her.

Cassandra saw the figure retreat into the darkness, she wasn't certain if he had taken a hit, so she ran toward Captain signalling for Snipper to cover her, she got to Captain and led him toward the parking lot, snipper followed behind them shooting back at whoever it was that was shooting at them. They hid in a corner a bit farther from the exit of the parking lot, because shots were being fired rapidly, and haven crossed over to Captain it was more dangerous crossing back toward the stairs to the parking lot, so they'd stayed closer to where the car was bound to exit, it was very clear it wasn't just one or two persons shooting at them.

"It's Drago's men, he thinks Andrea is the Lotus," Captain said, reaching for his gun in the inner pocket of his suit.

"He isn't the Lotus!" Cassandra asked, taking a quick peek out of their hiding spot.

"No the Lotus wouldn't come, he sent Andrea as an emissary, getting my boy caught up in all this mess" Captain complained.

"I don't know what his deal is but I do not like it one bit," Cassandra said looking toward the parking lot for any sign of Bella.

"What's the plan!" Captain asked, looking at Snipper.

"Bella is bringing the car Cap, she should be here any minute" Cassandra informed him as they hid and waited.

* * * * *

Bella looked around the parking lot hurriedly, most of the cars looked alike making it difficult to identify Captain's car, she reached for her purse, brought out the keys and began to press the button in every direction.

"In a hurry baby?" Hugo said, coming into sight.

Bella ignored him, still searching for Captain's car.

"Somehow I can't shake off the feeling that you had something to do with my last flop," he said, approaching her gently.

"I don't joke with my money baby, and you know in this line of work we always pay back in equal measure" he continued.

Bella turned to him, she didn't want to anger him, she was alone and didn't stand a chance against him.

"I don't know what you mean Hugo, you knocked me out remember," she said continuing her search, she heard the car beeping sound and also the sound of footsteps and she looked in that direction, she saw the huge man from Hugo's house come up behind her, having a gun in hand which he pointed at her, Bella got the message late, she felt the piercing pain to her left shoulder that sent her flying across the parking lot crashing hard to the ground. She cried out in pain realising she'd just been shot, she was unable to get up and fear washed over her of what Hugo would do next.

"This is a warning baby, if I find the tiniest bit of proof, I will kill you myself and have fun with your corpse for a week before feeding you to the birds" Hugo threatened, bending down he rubbed her cheeks with the back of his hand then smiled down at her.

Bella felt strength sip out of her as she bled out, and tears rolled down her temple. She was dying. She could feel it, everything was becoming a blur due to the tears that filled her eyes, and the intense pain she was feeling from the gunshot made it more difficult to move. The last thing she saw was Hugo's smiling face, the huge man who had opened the door for her at Hugo's house standing over her holding the gun with which he'd shot her, it was then she felt the im

pact of Hugo's hard blow to her head and everywhere went dark.