NOVEL NEXT Chapter 50: To The Shabby Place (Part-3)
I close my eyes for a few seconds, letting Ava’s word sink in before starting to chuckle.
“Why are you laughing!? Didn’t you hear what I just said!?” She asks angrily.
“No, I heard everything perfectly. Your father is the leader of the second-largest gang in Yreles, right?” I ask while raising my eyebrows.
“Yes,” she answers smugly.
I start chuckling again.
“Stop laughing, idiot! I am not joking!” Ava hisses.
“I-I know, I know,” I say while covering my mouth to muffle my voice.
And seriously, I do not find this funny at all. It’s just that I couldn’t hold back my laughter when I think about my fate, that is far more pathetic, ridiculous, and hilarious than anything I have ever seen.
Okay, so, let’s add this to the list of fucked up things happening to me, shall we?
Meeting the second most powerful gang leader in my city and lying to him about dating his daughter… Check!
“Okay, I won’t laugh anymore. Anyway, so, what is this gold coin thingy, huh? And why do you want it so badly?” I ask.
Ava rolls her eyes.
“Don’t say “gold coin thingy”, idiot. You are talking about something really serious and important,” She says angrily.
“A golden token is basically the proof of an absolute oath of granting a favor. All the large-scale gangs have them and it can only be given to someone by their leaders. In fact, these coins are even inscribed with the crest or logo of the respective gangs, to correctly distinguish them easily.”
“Eh… Okay, but what’s the significance of these coins? Why are they so important?” I ask.
“I just told you, asshole. It’s the proof of a promise. A promise to grant a favor. As long as you hold on to a golden token, the gang to which it belongs cannot harm you in any way.
“And whenever you need a favor, just return that coin to the gang and they will do anything you ask in exchange. Well, anything as long as it’s not on the— Ahem, I-I mean, that’s it. That’s all you need to know,” Ava says.
Damn…
That’s a pretty interesting bit of information. If even a gang like this use these golden tokens, then it goes without saying that Zoe’s gang and The Black Cross must have them too.
This might prove useful to me in the future. But for now, I cannot seem too interested in front of Ava.
“Okay, I agree, these golden tokens are great. And also, they are totally unrelated to me so, I don’t care. Anyway, how come no one at school knows that your father is a criminal? At least your friends should have figured it, right? Especially that pig,” I ask while raising my eyebrows.
“Why are you so calm?” Ava asks, complete ignoring my question.
“What do you mean by that?” I ask with a frown.
“You are taking this way too calmly. I just told you that my father is a powerful gang leader. Either you think that I am lying to you, or finding out that your enemy is so dangerous is just too great of a shock for you,” Ava says.
Too great of a shock, huh?
Yeah… Sure.
“Well, I guess the latter might be it. Anyway, answer the question I asked,” I tell her.
“Hmph… It’s because my father strictly told me that our gang needs to keep a really low profile. I cannot attract attention to us in any way. Including telling my friends about this,” she says, still looking at me with a frown.
Hmm? I can understand Zoë and Reagan keeping a low profile, but why would an already established gang want to do the same?
I mean, being the second most powerful gang in Yreles, isn’t that practically impossible?
Suddenly, I remember a certain thing Emily told me a few weeks ago…
Wait, aren’t all the gangs in Yreles local and work under the governance of The Black Cross?
“Hey, tell me honestly, your father’s gang doesn’t hold much power in the city, does it?” I ask directly.
“W-What? O-Of course, they hold a lot of power in Yreles,” Ava answers nervously.
….
Can you be more obvious about the lie?
I mean, it’s is very much possible that this gang “The Royals” might be the second most powerful gang in Yreles. But my guess is that the power difference between the Black Cross and them must be tremendously large.
“Are you sure, Ava? Because I have heard that only the top gang of Yreles holds most of the influence in the city. Ehh… what was their name again? Yes, The Black Cross,” I say with a small grin.
“W-What the… H-How do you know that n-name?” Ava asks, looking clearly shocked and alarmed at the same time.
Woah… Just the name of The Black Cross is enough to induce such fear in her?
“I once ate at a restaurant owned by their leader; Maxim Bosi—”
Ava jumps up a little.
“—and overheard a few guys talking there about this stuff,” I answer with a shrug.
“Overheard? Oh… W-Well, no— I mean, yes, Black Cross is the top gang in Yreles, b-but we are… we are also really powerful. In fact, The royals are the biggest rivals of the T-The Black Cross,” Ava says, trying to sound smug again but failing because of all the stuttering.
Sigh… Knowing Ava, I don’t think that she is going to admit the truth in front of me anyway. No matter what I tell her.
Well, not that I care, to be honest. I know enough already.
“Oh, really? I must have heard wrong then. Good for you. Now, drop me at home. You don’t know how fucking tired… tired…”
Wait a second…
“You said that your father arrived in the city tonight, right?” I ask.
“Yes,” Ava answers.
“And he will leave the town tomorrow morning?”
“Eh… Yeah, why?” She asks suspiciously.
“No, I was just wondering if The Royals are active outside Yreles as well. I mean, if your father is always traveling this much, surely he must be working for his gang, right?” I ask.
“Ehh…”
Ava does not answer me immediately. Looking at her face, it seems like she is thinking about something hard.
“W-Well… Yeah, that’s exactly right. He’s growing his influence outside the city as well. And the day is not far away when The Royals surpass the Black Cross,” she answers after a few seconds, in her usual smug manner.
“And that’s why, a puny bastard like you shouldn’t have made him doubt us, understand? You don’t know what he can do to you…” She threatens.
…
“You don’t have to worry about me…” I say in a low voice.
“Oh, really?” Ava asks while raising her eyebrows.
“Yup…” I answer.
Actually, Ava, you should worry about your father more than me. I don’t even want to think what Maxim Bosi will do once he finds out that Mr. Leawitt is growing his gang outside of Yreles.
And after meeting the King of Yreles directly and hearing all the things about him, one thing is for sure.
He will find out. The only question is when and how…
“Lily…” I mutter absentmindedly.
Right now, I am sitting inside the principal’s office, passing my detention after school.
Two days have passed since my meeting with Ava’s father, and I haven’t even seen Lily even once in that time period. She’s didn’t come to the school, she didn’t answer any of my phone calls, and even the fucking gang didn’t contact me in any way.
And honestly, this has gotten me really worried. Today, I am planning to go to her house right after this detention, and see how she’s doing myself.
“Jacob, are you okay?” Suddenly, Principal Steele asks while looking at me in concern.
“Oh… Yes, I-I am alright,” I answer.
“Well, just half-an-hour left. You can go home after that,” she says with a smile.
“Thanks,” I answer.
*RING* *RING* *RING*
Suddenly, Mrs. Steele’s phone starts ringing. Elegantly, she picks it up and reads the name of the caller. To my surprise, her calm expression immediately changes to an extremely serious one.
“Hello,” She speaks on the phone.
“Yes… the school is over… Yes… Now? They are outside?… Okay then, send them in…”
And after this small conversation, Principal Steele ends the call and stands up from her chair. For a moment, I thought that she’s going to move to the door but instead, she walks over to the sofa where I am sitting, and stands directly in front of me.
“Y-You need something, ma’am?” I ask, a little intimidated.
“Just this…” she whispers.
And before I can even realize what’s happening, she lowers her body to sit down on my lap… only to start kissing me intensely.
