Quintin led them through the corridor to his apartment, then a few more steps to an unnumbered door.
"I was just curious," he explained. "I thought it was probably just a janitor's closet."
He swung open the door to reveal a narrow staircase leading into pitch darkness—a part of the building Jennifer was certain hadn't existed yesterday.
"I'll go first," Damien decided.
Quintin found the light switch, which cast only an eerie fluorescent glow and long shadows.
Jennifer found herself somewhere in the middle of the group as they descended the stairs. She clutched the railing like it was a lifeline, half-expecting the creaking steps to give way.
"Why is there such a place?" Damien growled, frowning.
"Is this even structurally safe?" Adrian asked from behind her.
Safe? Jennifer echoed in her head. Dear self, next time, along with the polite and honest MC, write structurally safe, well-lit environments.
While she was at it, she might as well write Sesame Street fanfic.
The basement was even creepier than the stairway down. Yellowed plastic wrap around the furniture gave everything a ghostly cast. Jennifer felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.
"Alright, beautiful?" Adrian put a hand on her shoulders.
Jennifer nodded and then gulped. Great. This was a really bad time to transform into a goldfish, but Adrian had that effect on her.
Actually, now that they were all in the cramped storage space, Jennifer was suddenly acutely aware of the scent of colognes and the taller, broader bodies moving around her.
"This space was not in the building blueprints," Frank informed her, his voice a gentle steel.
"Pardon me."
The duke stepped close—only to shield her while Angus squeezed past to join Damien and Quintin.
Sebastian was here too, but he only smiled and took the rear.
Quintin stopped in front of a plastic-wrapped dining table to show the other two MLs.
"Here," he said, getting onto all fours to touch a rectangular metal plate under the table.
The floor slid open, revealing a narrow ladder descending into further darkness.
"Looks like some kind of secret basement." Damien jumped in.
"Wait!" Angus called out, but too late. The young alpha had already gone down.
"Check this out!" Damien yelled back.
Angus followed him. "Idiot, don't just leap into unknown spaces..."
Quintin looked up at Jennifer and then dropped through the trapdoor to follow his friends.
"Uncle! You need to see this!" Angus shouted up.
"Ms. Jen! You're rich!" Damien shouted too.
"If you would permit me."
Duke Chevon eased himself past her and entered the trapdoor as well. Even under the creepy fluorescent light, the aura around him glowed faintly, and his eyes—
Jennifer made the mistake of making eye contact.
Her heart did a triple somersault, nearly giving her cardiac arrest.
Luckily, he disappeared quickly enough.
Frank stepped forward, calmly surveying the trapdoor.
"This must be my mother's doing. She always liked to deal under the tables."
Which was literally true, since the trapdoor was situated exactly under the table—except Jennifer knew it wasn't his mother.
It was her webnovel.
"I don't think it's like that..." she tried to defend the landlady.
But the duke was calling out now.
"My lady, I believe this warrants your attention."
Who was his lady? Jennifer looked around stupidly at the other three men left with her.
"It's quite safe," the duke assured them.
Frank offered his hand to help her down.
It was a quick little drop, but Jennifer had a gorgeous duke to catch her. While her body was safely placed on her feet, her spirit clearly left it for the full twenty seconds she spent in the duke's arms.
No wonder women swoon.
"I didn't take any of it!" Quintin was insisting. Damien was growling at him.
Angus had his arms folded. "I should certainly hope not. You do realize that would constitute theft of private property."
"Look, I'm not that kind of guy!" Quintin argued.
Angus didn't look all that convinced. "Then why were you hiding it?"
"He's not lying, though," Damien confirmed with his wolf senses.
Adrian and Frank had joined them now too. Sebastian dropped down last, silent as a shadow.
"My god," Adrian breathed, a low whistle escaping him.
"I would advise everyone present to refrain from pocketing any of this," Frank said civilly. "I cannot say with certainty whether these notes are marked or counterfeit, as they likely belong to my mother."
It was supposed to be rent money.
Jennifer sighed.
She had meant for Quintin to find money so he could continue staying here. It felt like the least she could do to help him escape the bullies in his life. She did feel bad for writing them.
Of course, her authorial intention had already mutated into alien cockroach chaos, and she had left the chapter incomplete...
But she still gasped when she saw the money.
It was money.
Like proper paper money.
In every denomination.
And possibly every currency.
Neatly bundled, stacked into mountains.
"I swear, I didn't take any of it," Quintin said. "I knew it looked shady, but Ms. Jen let me stay here without even taking a cent. I meant to just pretend I never saw it and leave… but I saw that."
That being what the men were now standing around.
In the middle of the piles of money, on a display stand, sat a black cube.
"Pandora's Box," Adrian breathed.
"What is it doing here?" Duke Chevon asked, his expression losing color.
"For the record, I am as surprised by this discovery as anyone present." Frank said civilly, without looking at anyone in particular. "I have never seen it before in my life."
For the record, nobody in the room looked like they believed him.
"What is it anyway?"
Bastien reached out and picked it up.
"No!" Adrian shouted.
"Don't touch that!" Duke Chevon commanded.
Damien took it from Bastien and turned it over in his hands like a Rubik's cube.
"You say this is Pandora's Box?"
Why was Pandora's Box under her building? And just as Jennifer thought things couldn't have gone more absurdly wrong, the black box clicked open in Damien's hand.
"NOOOOO!!!!" Shouted a dramatic chorus of masculine deep voices.
"Oh shit," said Jennifer.