Page 20 of Captivated with Them

Shit. Capello’s men. I’d had my suspicions that Frankie Capello wasn’t going to just let us go about our normal lives. He’d assume we’d most likely do something to get Rue back—even with him holding Dillon as insurance—and would make sure he had eyes on us.

“We’re going to the doctor.” I didn’t think the person we saw was technically a doctor, but I wasn’t about to start getting in the semantics of it. “Ryan’s amputation isn’t looking good.”

The bigger of the two men frowned. “Amputation? What amputation?”

Ryan spoke up. “My leg. I lost it in the war.”

The expression on the man’s face changed, softening with surprise and sympathy. “Ah, shit, man. That’s rough.”

“Yeah,” Ryan agreed. “You can say that again.”

“Good thing you made it back, though. Plenty don’t.”

The man seemed to have a newfound respect for Ryan upon learning this detail.

“You don’t need a cab,” the other guy said. “We’ll drive you down there.”

“Why?” I asked. “So you can make sure we’re going where we say we are?”

He shrugged. “I’m just doing my job, but yeah, if it kills two birds, why the hell not?”

He had a point. I glanced over at Ryan, who shrugged. These men would be following us anyway. We might as well let them be our chauffeurs. Besides, the taxi I’d flagged down had already given up on us and driven away in search of different passengers.

I nodded. “Let’s go, then.”

They led us over to where their car was parked across the street—a black SUV with tinted windows in the rear.

“Subtle,” I commented, and I noticed Ryan hold back a smirk.

The big guy cocked an eyebrow. “Do you want a ride, or don’t you?”

“Yeah, we do,” Ryan said.

I opened the back door, and we climbed inside, then Ryan gave them the address of his prosthetist’s office downtown.

As we drove, I resisted the urge to make small talk along the lines of ‘so, how long have you been working for that bunch of people-trafficking sons-of-bitches,’ but I managed to keep my mouth shut. I wanted to ask after Rue as well, see if they’d come across her, or if they knew where Dillon was being held, but I knew they wouldn’t tell us anything. Their alliance was with the Capello brothers, and they weren’t stupid enough to do anything to cross them. Doing so could land them a bullet in the head.

We pulled into the parking lot of the office, and I opened the door to climb out.

“We’ll wait for you here,” the bigger of the two guys said. I hadn’t bothered to ask his name. We weren’t friends. “Don’t try anything stupid, like leaving through another entrance. Remember we have your friend and zero mercy.”

Yep. These guys definitely weren’t our buddies.

“We’re here for the leg, that’s all.”

That probably sounded darker than I’d intended.

I helped Ryan out of the car, and we walked across the parking lot toward the building.

“Well, that was interesting,” Ryan commented when we got far enough away for them to no longer be able to hear us.

“The Capellos clearly don’t trust us.”

“Can’t say I blame them. They did leave Rue under our protection, and we grabbed her and tried to leave the country.”

“Good point.”

Together, we entered the building.

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