Page 58 of Captivated with Them

“We made a second copy of the passport Frankie asked for. We can all leave together now.”

My eyes filled with tears of gratitude.

We still weren’t safe, though.

The use of the ambulance meant we were able to get through the traffic with ease. I felt a little guilty at the deception, but my fear of Frankie catching up with us was greater. He’d be furious. We’d made him look like an idiot, and Frankie hated that. I imagined him having to go back to Davide Fleming and explain to him that I was no longer available for purchase.

The atmosphere in the back of the ambulance was tense. I sat holding Ryan’s hand on one side and Dillon’s on the other. I had to pinch myself. I was really here with them. We weren’t home and dry just yet, but we were free from the Capellos, and Joe Nettie was dead.

“What happened in the courtroom for Joe Nettie to get the not-guilty verdict?” Ryan asked.

I shook my head, a wave of shame and guilt washing over me. “The defense lawyers tore me to shreds when I was on the stand. It was horrible. They made me out to be a whore and a liar, someone who only did or said something because she was being paid for it.”

Dillon balled his fists. “Those fuckers.”

I remembered taking the stand, my legs shaking as I stood before the lawyers, the judge, the jury, and all those in the gallery. The things Caroline Simpson had asked me had been exactly what I’d been expecting, and I’d answered as we’d practiced, calm and confident. But, as she had predicted, it had been during the defense’s turn to question me when things had fallen apart.

I’d experienced the defamation of my character with every question they’d thrown at me, and I’d seen the jurors glance away, shaking their heads, their eyes filled with shame and disgust.

“You’d seemed so sad when I saw you sitting in the gallery,” Ryan said. “I could tell it hadn’t gone well, though I wasn’t expecting the verdict to come so quickly.”

But I shook my head. “That wasn’t why I was sad. I mean, I knew it had gone badly. Being torn to shreds in front of a whole courtroom of people, including the gangsters who had threatened my life and the lives of the people I love, to make sure I did a good job was never going to put me in a good mood. But I was sad because I hadn’t seen any of you there. I knew Dillon had escaped, and even though you were being watched, I’d hoped you’d still might have been able to make it.”

Dillon lifted a hand. “Hang on. Back up. You knew I’d escaped? How?”

“Some of the other women I was being held with overheard some of Frankie’s men talking about it. They didn’t mention any names, but I could tell they were talking about you.”

His frown furrowed. “How?”

I pulled a face, feeling awkward about saying the words directly to him. “They called you an Irish prick.”

He smirked. “Sounds about right.”

“We’re nearly there, folks,” Gordon called from the front.

“Make sure you stop far enough away to avoid any cameras,” Kodee told him.

I sucked in a nervous breath. This was going to be the next step—getting through the airport and onto a plane without being caught or questioned.

We couldn’t drive the ambulance right up to the front of departures. Security was too tight now. The other thing we wouldn’t be able to take was the gun. The thought of us being unarmed again made me nervous, but we didn’t have a choice. Trying to take a gun onto an airplane was asking for trouble.

The ambulance drew to a halt, and Dillon jumped to his feet to open the rear doors. Everyone moved quickly, a sense of urgency pushing us on. There was a set of crutches in the back of the ambulance, which Ryan picked up to use.

We all climbed out, and Ryan left the gun on one of the benches in the back of the ambulance.

“Thank you, Gordon,” Ryan said. “For everything.”

“Don’t mention it. Just get the hell out of here.”

The two men embraced, then Gordon lifted his hand in a wave to the rest of us and slammed the rear doors of the ambulance again and climbed back behind the wheel. He tooted the horn as he pulled away.

The airport parking lot was surprisingly quiet. Rows and rows of cars were parked, one behind the other, waiting for their owners to return.

“We need terminal two,” Kodee said, pointing in the direction of the huge glass and metal structure.

We set off for the terminal, but we could only move so fast. We might not be hauling giant suitcases around with us, like other travelers, but we had Ryan on crutches.

The ambulance had already vanished from view. I felt bad that I hadn’t even looked back to give Gordon a wave after he’d done so much for us.

---