Page 10 of Captivated with Them

Chapter Five

Dillon

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A NOISE CAME FROM OUTSIDE, the distinctive scrape of something—or things—heavy being dragged across the floor. I sat up, my spine pressed against the pipe behind me, newly alert.

Someone was out there.

“Hey!” I shouted. “Who’s there? I’m in here. Open the fucking door!”

My prison suddenly flooded with light.

I twisted my face away, squinting as the light pierced my eyeballs and went straight for my brain. My head still ached from the hit I’d taken from the butt of the gun, and the piercing illumination was doing nothing to help.

The light wasn’t daylight, however. It came from whatever lay beyond the small door that led to my prison. I needed to take the moment to look around, assess the space for any means of escape, should I manage to get my hands free.

The room was even smaller than I’d first thought. I didn’t see any light-bulbs hanging from the ceiling.

What was this place? A piece of the restaurant cellar they’d walled off, away from the rest of it? A place to keep people they didn’t want others to find. An image filled my mind of the other side of the wall, of crates stacked up against the door my visitor had just opened, and them needing to be moved before they could enter.

Yeah, that would make sense. So, I was still beneath the pizza place. But what about Rue? Where was she?

I vaguely recognized my visitor as he approached with a plastic plate and a bottle of water. He looked like one of those men who was hired for his brawn rather than his brains. Thick shoulders, beady eyes. No neck to speak of.

“Boss says we’re not allowed to let you die down here, though I can’t see why.”

I yanked at my hands. “Are you planning on feeding that to me? Because unless you are, it’s not going to do me much good with both my hands tied behind my back.”

“Figure it out,” he snapped.

“How about you release one hand?” I suggested. “That way, I can eat and drink, but I’ll still be tied up down here. I need to take a piss as well, and unless you’re planning on getting up and close and personal with my cock, I’m gonna need a hand free.”

“You can piss yourself. I’m not going anywhere near your dick.”

“I assume we’re underneath the restaurant,” I said, pretending to only just be musing this through, “and I can’t imagine the Capellos are going to be happy if the stink of piss and shit starts drifting up through their floorboards. I think that might get a few complaints from customers and maybe even a visit from the health inspector. Considering they need this business to be legit and not get any unwanted attention from the authorities, I would have thought that would look pretty bad on them, and who do you think they’re going to blame?”

The beefy man scowled. “They’ll blame you, asshole.”

I shrugged. “It’s not like I can do much about it. I will make sure I mention this conversation to them, though.”

I was never going to get past this guy through physicality alone. I needed to be smarter than that.

“You need to shut the fuck up. In fact,” he took a menacing step forward, “someone should have taped your goddamned mouth up, too.”

I tried to look as though I didn’t care. “I’m sure as hell not going to be able to eat or drink anything then, am I?”

He glared at me.

I desperately wanted to ask about the others, but I doubted this meathead would know anything. Even if he did, he most likely wouldn’t tell me. I tried to remember what had been said before I’d been knocked unconscious. I was sure Frankie Capello had mentioned something about Kodee and Ryan proving they could be of use to him. Would they be sensible and keep their heads down and do whatever the Capellos asked? Or would they be hatching a plan?

At least I could be sure Rue was still alive, assuming Joe Nettie’s men hadn’t gotten anywhere near her. The Capellos would keep her safe, at least until the trial. I hated to think that they’d have put her back to work, though. Rue was ours now—body, heart, and soul—and I clenched my teeth at the thought of anyone else touching her.

I needed to try a different tact.

“Tell your boss I’d be more use to him if I was working than being kept down here.”

Meathead snorted. “You’d be lucky. You’re just trying to talk your way out of this shithole.”

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