Page 28 of Captivated with Them

Chapter Thirteen

Ryan

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I HATED BEING IN THISchair.

I hated it even more when the people I loved were being held against their will and there was nothing I could do about it.

Dillon was yanked away from us, the gun still jammed to his head. The massive guy who had hold of him shoved him through a set of swinging doors at the rear of the restaurant, into what I assumed was the kitchen. I wondered where they were taking him. We’d arrived at the front of the building, so perhaps there was a way out the back? I wished I could go after him, but I didn’t want to risk him being hurt again, and besides, there wasn’t much I could do while I was in this fucking chair.

I didn’t miss the different way in which people treated me when I was in the wheelchair either. It was as though I became less of a man by being unable to walk. When I wore my prosthesis, people didn’t know I was an amputee, and they treated me just like everyone else, but the moment they knew, an uneasiness appeared in their faces. An uncertainty to their smile. It marked me out as being different, and I hated that. One of the things I’d enjoyed about being in the Army was that we were all on an equal playing field. We dressed the same, we ate the same, we slept and shit the same.

The civilian world was nothing like that. Everyone was always comparing themselves to everyone else. A constant one-upmanship to see who had the best car, or house, or who was fucking the prettiest girl... or guy.

It was as if they thought my disability affected the rest of me as well, including my brain. There was no doubt they viewed me as less of a man, and it made me furious. If any of them had seen half of the things I had while I’d been serving, they’d be crumbling messes.

“Get her out of here, too,” Frankie said, nodding to his men.

Rue looked, wide-eyed, between the two men then back to us.

“It’ll be okay,” Kodee assured her. “We’ll figure this out.”

She gave a brief smile, and my heart broke. She trusted us, but right now, we had nothing to offer her. We might not be locked up anywhere, but we were as much the Capellos’ slaves and prisoners as she and Dillon were.

The two men dragged her in the opposite direction from where Dillon had been taken. I ached inside as she vanished out of the front door, and, moments later, car doors slammed. The roar of an engine started and then grew fainter as the vehicle drove away with Rue in it.

Frankie Capello turned his attention to us. “You got what you wanted. Now it’s your turn to do something for me.”

Kodee nodded. “Fair enough.”

I didn’t know how he was staying so calm, not after having both Rue and Dillon dangled right in front of our noses, only to be whisked away again. He’d always been more level-headed than me.

“I have two girls for you,” Frankie said. “They both need full passports. We’ll bring them around to you within the hour.”

The Capellos had done their part of the deal by allowing us to see Rue and Dillon. Now we had little choice but to go through with our side of things.

“Fine,” Kodee agreed. “We’ll be there.”

Our minders were waiting for us outside.

We left the restaurant, and Kodee helped me into the back of the car then folded the chair to go in the trunk. Neither of us spoke, knowing anything we said would be passed back to Frankie, but I knew Kodee felt the same as I did.

Powerless and furious, and determined to do anything it took to make things change.

***

JUST AS FRANKIE HADpromised, we were back in the apartment for a little less than an hour before the buzzer sounded. It was the middle of the night now, but we no longer lived the normal routine of the rest of society. We were outlaws, and we worked when we were needed, not simply because it was regular business hours.

Kodee went to answer it.

Two girls stepped through the door, herded in by the men Capello had put in charge of watching us. Both girls had the same body language—heads down, so their hair fell over their faces, shoulders rounded, hands clutched in front of their bodies.

I threw a glance to Kodee.

His full lips were tight, his nostrils flared. He was staring at the two girls, and I knew exactly what he was thinking, because I was thinking the same.

These girls could be Rue.

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