Page 26 of Caruso
I nod. “Safety in numbers, baby girl, but after today you won’t fear him anymore.”
I’m not sure if it’s my imagination, but she appears to walk taller and she remains silent as we head to the roof where our helicopter is waiting to take us to the airfield to catch our private jet. Most of our guards will already be there waiting, and I wonder if Taylor is aware that her first lesson will be a baptism of fire.
Taylor stares at the helicopter with trepidation and shivers as Giorgio holds the door open.
“Is it safe?” Her voice is carried away by the breeze of the rotor blades, and I almost can’t hear her.
“Nothing in life worth doing is safe, baby girl.”
A rare smile crosses my lips, and she shakes her head. “I guess you’re right.”
The way her eyes flash and the hint of amusement in her expression steals my attention far more than any loaded look in my direction and I’m surprisingly upbeat as I reach for her hand and Giorgio smirks as I help her into the helicopter and make certain to strap her in.
As my fingers brush against her chest, I momentarily forget to breathe, and the way her eyes hold mine creates a protective streak inside me that has never been there before.
It’s a moment I doubt I will ever forget because it’s the one that tells me she is different from the rest. Cements it even because I guess I knew that the moment I sat beside her with a dead body at our feet.
I break eye contact and move back, and as I reach for my own belt, Giorgio’s knowing smirk as he jumps in beside me tells me he knows it too. Tommaso has jumped in beside the pilot, and the rest of our guards should be at our destination already. As soon as I made the call last night, our operation swung into action, and I wonder if Taylor’s stepfather understands that this is judgment day.
Chapter Eleven
Taylor
These men leave me breathless. When I walked into the room and they turned their attention to me, I almost crumbled under the pressure. It was the most intense experience of my life, and this is another one. I have never been up close to a helicopter before, let alone inside one, and being in such a confined space with these men is emotionally draining.
It’s as if I’ve entered a world I never knew existed. In the movies, perhaps, but not in the real one. The one where cruelty prevails and luck is a mere word in a dictionary. Perhaps I’m about to learn the meaning of that word because when I killed a man last night, I never realized it was my key to hell without actually dying.
These men are not the ones you take home to your mama but are definitely the ones required to pay your wicked stepfather a visit.
I have no anxiety about what the day will bring,merely curiosity, and when I gaze into Matteo’s eyes, I am impatient to learn what payment will require.
His eyes bore deep into my soul with the promise of delivery on my request and I must have been on another planet entirely when I offered him my virginity.
It’s like asking the devil to teach you the Bible. I’m guessing it will be a darker version, corrupt, immoral and sinister, and I am rejoicing in the fact he agreed at all. Who wants normality anyway? It leads you to hell all the same, so why not dance with the devil along the way and enter it holding his hand?
Conversation is restricted due to the ear defenders he insisted on me wearing, and as we take flight, I dig my nails into my palm as I stare with wonder at the view below and all around me.
The fear vanishes as I appreciate the wonder of flight, and as Vegas disappears into a patchwork below me, my eyes are open to new horizons as we fly with the birds high in the sky.
Matteo leans over and points out of the window, and his voice comes through my headset.
“We are heading to a private airfield where we’ll meet our guards and take the company jet to Oklahoma. It will be roughly a two-hour flight.”
Nerves churn inside me as I contemplate two new experiences in succession, and as Matteo turns his attention to his phone, I swallow the excitement hiding behind my cool disposition. I must guard my emotions around these men because they would use them against me.
I wonder if they realize I am using them.
My plan was to engineer a meeting to ask for their help. I would offer to work for them in return; I never realized it would be this quick. Who knew that killing a man would accelerate the process, and yet I never really expected a visit to my stepfather to be in the equation.
Revenge isn’t something I contemplated more than escape. However, now that it’s happening, I’m surprised how excited I am to see what they can do. I’m under no illusions that it will cost me dearly; however, when you have nothing but your soul to bargain with, it’s an easy sacrifice.
The flight is short but sweet, and as we land, I can’t disguise the pleasure this ride gave me. As the door opens, I’m surprised when Tommaso reaches for my hand.
As I take it, a shiver of something delicious spreads through my body as his dark, soulless eyes bore deep inside me. They are enigmatic, revealing nothing, and yet the hard edge to his lips doesn’t deter me at all. If anything, I’m used to a cool disposition. It’s something I possess and understand. His eyes flash as my hand rests in his, and as I step out of the helicopter, my heart beats faster as I contemplate the gleaming jet waiting for us on the tarmac.
It’s silver from the tip to the tail that carries a black insignia of three serpents entwined around three dice. Casino royalty. Deadly, unforgiving and corrupt. I’veheard the stories, and nothing they have shown me so far is contradicting that.
Tommaso drops my hand as soon as my feet hit the tarmac and I curse Matteo for insisting I wear the killer heels. I have a mind to discard them and walk barefoot onto the plane, but there will be time for defiance later. When I have the measure of them.
