Page 12 of Love Without Control

Chapter 5

“Andthenthealiensfed me Cheez-Its before dropping me back on Earth,” Rodrigo said.

“Umhmm, that’s nice,” I murmured before what he said registered. I snapped my head toward him. “Wait, what?”

My longtime friend and confidant chuckled as he piloted the helicopter through the dark Louisiana sky. “Just seeing if you were paying attention. You weren’t, by the way.”

“Damn. Did I miss the part where you got an anal probe?” I asked, amusement pulling me from my thoughts.

“I declined that particular procedure,” he quipped, maneuvering the control wheel to bank us slightly to the south. “You want to tell me what’s going on that’s got you so distracted?”

A puff of breath left me on a sigh. “I’m just not thrilled about this…assignment.” That last word curled into a sneer.

Rodrigo’s eyes darted toward the back where a plastic bag of chains, straps, handcuffs, and tape sat on an empty seat. “Who are we picking up?”

“A girl.” But she was more than a girl. She may be young, but she was a woman. A feisty woman that had fascinated me with a set of blue eyes and rebellious middle fingers. “He bought her.”

His head jerked back, and his mouth turned down in disgust. “Dear god. What the fuck?”

“Fi is going to talk to Leo and see if he’ll set Luca straight on this. He’s the only one who can control him. Hopefully, by the time I’ve gotten her, our directive will have changed and we can get her back to her family.”

Rod shook his head. “I need to fucking retire from this shit.”

“You should. Spend some time with that new granddaughter of yours.”

The man’s eyes lit up like the Fourth of July in the dim light of the cockpit. “She’s such an angel. I’m her favorite person, you know.”

“I have no doubt, Rod. Tell me more about her.”And distract me from the task that lies ahead of me tonight.

After a couple refueling stops, we landed at a private airstrip north of New Orleans, and I stepped out of the chopper and into the muggy night air, my ears still buzzing from the noise.

“Damiano, my boy!”

I did my best not to roll my eyes. Guido Conte—orcunty, as I liked to call him—was twenty-seven years old, only two years older than me, but he always insisted on calling memy boylike he was my grandpa or some shit. In a pale-blue velvety tracksuit, an overextended belly, and gold chains around his neck, he looked every bit the low-level mobster he was.

“Guido,” I greeted shortly. I hated this fucker.

He began unloading the bags from the helicopter and placing them in the black sedan that was waiting on the tarmac for me. “I’m putting the money bags in the trunk. Where do you want this?” he asked, holding up the bag of restraints.

“Toss them in the trunk too. I won’t need them.”Hopefully.

He eyed me curiously before doing as I asked. “I put the address to the location in the GPS, as well as the address where you’ll be staying tonight. It’s a safe house we keep here.”

“I thought we were flying back tonight,” I protested.

“Naw, Luca wants Rodrigo to get some sleep. Otherwise, he’ll be over on his flight hours, according to the FAA. You’ll leave in the morning.”

My father would buy an actual human being, but god forbid he break Federal Aviation Administration rules.Mafia morals.

Grabbing my leather Nike go-bag from the helicopter, I placed it in the backseat of the sedan. I never went on an assignment without it.

“Fine. What time are we leaving in the morning?”

“Eight sharp.” Then he cast a leering grin my way. “Don’t have too much fun with the new…acquisitionand oversleep.”

My fingers twitched, wanting to reach for the pistol hidden beneath my finely cut gray suit. I may be a lot of things—most of them bad—but a fucking rapist wasn’t one of them.

“I’ll be here.”

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