Page 25 of Love Without Control

“No, absolutely not,” I hissed fiercely.

He placed a calming hand on my upper arm. “Let me finish. You know I always keep parachutes in the chopper. I’ll take her up, set the course, and then jump out well before time for it to go boom. I have a friend that can pick me up in a boat if I give him the coordinates.”

My eyebrows rammed together. “Who the fuck are you? James Bond?”

Rod let out a humorless chuckle. “Something like that. Luca will have someone tracking the helicopter, and when he sees it disappear from radar, he’ll think his plan worked and that we’re all dead.”

“What about Guido and the bodies in the house from last night?”

“I’ll handle all that. I’ve got someone I can call to take care of it. She likes to call herself a cleanup artist.”

I didn’t bat an eye that this person was a female. Nothing at all could surprise me today. “Okay, let me give you one of the money bags.”

“Don’t need a whole bag. I’ll just take enough to leave here for the cleaner to do the jobs and then be on my way. Time’s a tickin’.”

“And some extra for yourself,” I insisted. “Where will you go?”

“Don’t worry about me. Just worry about you and Evie.”

“I don’t even know where we’re going to go,” I muttered, jacking up my hair with my hand again.

“Gotcha covered on that. Do you remember my cousin, Rocco?”

I scanned the recesses of my brain. “Yeah, I do. He worked for Luca and then disappeared about… what… six or seven years ago? I thought he was dead.”

“Eight,” he corrected. “And that’s what he wanted everyone to think. He got word that Luca was about to have him taken out over some shit that went down, so he made himself disappear. Rocco and his wife live just north of Jacksonville.” He handed me a card with a Florida address, no name, and I pocketed it.

“You think he can help us?”

Rodrigo’s face turned grave. “He’s the only one who can. I’ll call and tell him to expect you.”

I shook my head in wonder. “You’re not going to have enough time to do all this shit, Rod.”

“Three quick phone calls and stashing some money behind the toilet in the bathroom for the cleaner,” he said, jerking a thumb toward the hangar. “I’ll be lifting off in ten minutes.” He handed me a set of keys.

“What are these?”

He gave me a broad grin. “I palmed them from Guido at the same time I took his gun. We need his car to be gone from here so we don’t arouse suspicion, so you and Evie will leave in that.” He pointed to a tricked-out, sky-blue Cadillac around the corner of the metal building.

“Jesus, that’s not conspicuous at all,” I retorted, letting the sarcasm seep into my tone.

“Yeah, but we can’t leave it here. Guido’s address should be in the GPS, so park the car at his house and take one of his other ones. Then get to Florida.”

“Okay, what else?”

“I need your regular cell phone, the one your father knows about. We can’t have that pinging if he has a tracker on it, which he probably does. It’s got to go up in the helicopter with me.”

Taking out my cell, I handed it over. “Thank you, Rodrigo.” Now I knew what Evie meant last night when she said that phrase didn’t seem like enough. This man was going to have to go underground to protect me. He’d likely never see his daughter, granddaughter, or anyone else in his family for a very long time.

“No need for thanks,” he said, looking at me with damp eyes.

I wasn’t a hugger by nature. Pretty sure I hadn’t hugged another adult since before my mother died—until Evie last night. But I reached for Rodrigo and wrapped my arms tightly around him. He looked like he needed it.

“Thank you anyway. You don’t have to do this, you know.”

He squeezed me so hard I could barely breathe, but it felt… good. “I’d do anything for you. I never had a son, but I always felt like you and your brother were mine.”

So many emotions welled up in my chest. Sadness. Fear. Affection.

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