Captivated with Them (Dirty Twisted Love, #3) Read online

  His office door was shut, but Gordon opened it, and I shoved him inside. Even though I assumed there was no one else in the building, I closed it behind us again.

  “Sit,” I told him, gesturing to the chair the patients normally sat in. He dropped heavily onto it and lifted his face to look at me. His eyes narrowed. “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

  It was time.

  I lowered the weapon, but only a fraction. “Yes, you know me. I’m a friend of Ryan Banks. I came here with him not so long ago when he attended an appointment with you. He’s a below the knee amputee.”

  Gordon’s frown deepened. “Yes, I know Ryan. And I remember you, too,” he gestured up and down my body, “though not like this.”

  “I’m sorry to have done this to you, but I need your help, and I couldn’t see any other way of getting your attention.”

  “How about asking nicely?”

  “You think you would have given me even a second if I’d just approached you looking like this?”

  His lips tightened and then he said, “I think maybe you could have given me a chance.”

  “Perhaps, but I don’t have the time to risk you saying no.”

  Gordon folded his hands in his lap. “So, are you going to tell me what this is all about?”

  “Ryan is in trouble. We all are. Some powerful men are threatening us. They’ve kept me a prisoner for almost a week. The reason I look like this is because I only just managed to escape, and they’re making Ryan and our friend, Kodee, work for them.”

  Gordon’s mouth dropped open. “Jesus Christ. You should be telling this to the cops, not me.”

  “I can’t go to the police. These men have eyes everywhere. They even have bent cops on their side, and if I try to report this, I can guarantee my dead body will turn up in a cell or an interview room, possibly with a note, and everything pointing in the direction of me having hanged myself.”

  Gordon shook his head, his eyes wide. “This is insane.”

  “Aye, it is,” I agreed, “but it’s the truth.”

  “And what is it you want from me?”

  “I don’t know if these men are listening in on Ryan’s phone calls, or even if they’re in the apartment with them. If I try to contact him directly, I could alert them to my location and get us all in some deep shit.”

  “What am I supposed to do?”

  “Call Ryan for me,” I said. “Tell him that you need him to come in urgently, for a fitting or something. Don’t even mention that I’m here.”

  In his lap, his fingers tightened around each other, his knuckles white. “And if I refuse to do this, are you going to shoot me?”

  I wanted to say no, that I had no intention of shooting him, but I also needed him to do this for me, even if it meant he thought I was a complete asshole.

  “Aye. I’ll shoot you in the foot first, though, and then I’ll give you the chance to make the call again. It’ll be entertaining to see if you can get through a conversation without screaming.”

  Gordon glared at me, lips tight, looking as though he was internally wrestling with what his response should be.

  “I’ll help you,” he said eventually, “but not because you’re threatening me. I’ll help because I like Ryan. He’s a good guy. I’m not sure what he’s doing hanging out with the likes of you, but when you were here together, I could also see that you cared about him. That other man he was here with the other day was the same.”

  I jumped on his words. “Kodee came here?”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “Kodee. Yeah, I think that’s what his name was.”

  I exhaled a breath. “Look, we’ve got ourselves caught up in something that was never intended. You think I’m one of the bad guys because I’m here, pointing a gun at you, but you don’t know the half of it. Really bad men don’t look like this.” I gestured to my bearded face and filthy clothes. “The really bad ones are dressed in expensive suits and drive top of the line cars, and always get the best tables in a restaurant, even when they haven’t made a reservation. It’s those kinds of men who are threatening us. They kept me prisoner, and they’re essentially keeping Ryan and Kodee the same way, even if their leash is longer.”

  “They were here this week. I didn’t see any sign of them being threatened.”

  “Have you got CCTV outside of the building?” I asked him.

  He nodded. “Yeah, we have.”

  “If you’ve got access to it, I guarantee there will be something on it that shows Ryan and Kodee being followed. You want proof? Go and check the footage.”

  Maybe it was something in my intensity, my passion, my determination, but his shoulders dropped. “Okay. I believe you. You can put down the gun. I’ll make the call.”

  I still didn’t know if I should trust him. If I put down the gun, would he rush me? He was probably fifteen years older than I was, but he also had a good amount of bulk on his frame, and I thought we’d be pretty evenly matched if it came to a hand-to-hand fight.

  I lowered the gun, but I didn’t put it away completely. “Make the call, then.”

  “I don’t have the number on hand.”

  That was fine. I knew it by heart. I reeled it off to Gordon, and he lifted the handset on his desk and punched it in. That was good. It meant if Capellos men were suspicious and checked the number, it would be linked back to here.

  For a moment, I thought Ryan wasn’t going to answer, but then Gordon said, “Hi, it’s Gordon Little from the prosthetics office.”

  There was a pause as Ryan spoke, and I picture him in the apartment, a frown creasing between his eyebrows, wondering why Gordon was calling him.

  “I need you to come down to the office, if that’s at all possible...” Another pause. “Yes, right away. It’s an emergency to do with your fitting.” More silence as Ryan filled in the gaps. “Yes, immediately. It really is important.”

  Gordon’s gaze flicked to mine then quickly moved away again. What the hell did he think of me? I wasn’t even sure why I cared.

  Gordon put down the phone.

  “Well?” I prompted.

  “He says he’s on his way.” His gaze flicked past me, toward the door. “Can I go now?”

  “Sorry, not yet. I still need your help, and I can’t be sure you won’t call the cops the moment you step out of the door.”

  He put up both hands. “I swear I won’t call the police.”

  I shook my head. “You’re not going anywhere. Not yet, anyway.”

  He exhaled a long sigh and sat back in his seat. “So, what are we supposed to do now?”

  I tightened my grip around the handle of the gun. “Now, we wait.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ryan

  I HUNG UP THE PHONE.

  “That has to be one of the strangest conversations of my life, and I’ve had a few weird ones in my time.”

  Kodee frowned at me. “What happened?”

  “Gordon Little down at the office wants me to come in right away. He says it’s an emergency.”

  Kodee’s frown deepened. “An emergency? What kind of emergency can happen at a prosthetist’s office?”

  I shrugged. “That’s what I thought. But he was pretty insistent.”

  “Guess we better head down there, then.”

  “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” I told him. “I’ll be all right.”

  He was already on his feet. “I’m coming. I’m not going to let you go on your own if there’s something you might have to deal with.”

  I grimaced. “You mean if he’s got bad news for me.”

  Kodee came to a halt in front of me and dropped down to one knee so he was at my level. “I’m sure everything will be fine, but you don’t have to go through whatever it might be on your own.”

  “Thanks.”

  He leaned in and kissed me, his lips soft and dry against mine. His proximity stirred desire inside me, but I knew I had to deal with whatever it was Gordon wanted. Sex was always a good distract
ion from my problems, but it couldn’t distract me forever.

  “You know we’re going to have our babysitters following us,” I told him, thinking of the men in the SUV who always seemed to be parked outside our building lately.

  Kodee chuckled. “Good. They can give us a ride.”

  Gordon hadn’t told me to bring anything in particular, so I just grabbed my wallet and keys, and Kodee did the same. I could go places on my own, but it was easier with him around. The chair was still difficult to negotiate, especially if I needed to catch a cab. I wondered if the call to come down to the office meant the new prosthetic limb had come in, or if it was something more ominous. I couldn’t wait to be back on two feet again. Even though it had only been a matter of days since I’d last worn my old one, the stump was already feeling better. The sores were no longer raw, and the swelling had gone down significantly. I was sure Gordon wouldn’t want me wearing the leg until it was fully healed, but any fears I’d had over getting an infection and needing a new amputation had faded. I hadn’t even suffered any night terrors, dreaming I was back in the war, fighting and being shot at. Now I was in a different kind of war, but one that in many ways was no less frightening.

  We left the apartment, and Kodee flagged down a cab. On the other side of the street, one of the big black SUVs that I’d come to recognize as belonging to Capello’s men came to life.

  A cab with its light on pulled over. Kodee helped me into the back seat and then folded down the chair to go in the trunk. The cab driver did nothing to help, and I pictured Kodee knocking half off any tip the driver might have otherwise gotten.

  As expected, the SUV also pulled away from the curb. It did a U-turn to bring it around to our side of the street, and followed us, a couple of vehicles back, the whole way downtown, to where Gordon’s office was located. It was well after hours, and the parking lot, which was normally crammed full of cars, was almost empty. Most of the building appeared to be in darkness, too.

  I frowned. “I hope he’s here. Looks quiet.”

  “Yeah,” Kodee agreed. “You sure he said to come down tonight?”

  “He said it was urgent, and he needed me to come down right away.”

  Kodee pursed his lips. “Weird.”

  “I guess we’ll find out what he wants soon enough.”

  We paid the driver, and Kodee got out first and set my wheelchair back up then helped me into it. Fuck, I hated this thing with all my heart. I hoped Gordon was about to show me that my new limb had miraculously been made overnight and I would be able to walk out of here, but I doubted it. Those kinds of limbs took weeks or even months to be made, and besides, I knew Gordon would insist I still wasn’t healed enough to wear a prosthetic leg.

  The cab pulled away, but lingering in the background was the SUV. It was impossible not to notice in the almost empty parking lot. The two people weren’t the same ones who’d driven us here before—if they were, I was sure they’d have either offered us a ride or would have struck up some kind of conversation by now. No, this was a different team. I guessed even gangsters and their employees needed to take shifts.

  Ignoring them, we went to the front door. A light was on inside, and I could make out the deserted reception desk. The doors were the kind that sensed someone approaching and opened automatically, but it seemed now they were locked.

  I was about to turn to Kodee when I caught sight of movement inside. Gordon appeared around the corner, a set of keys in his pocket. He spotted the SUV and frowned then quickly looked away again and focused on opening the door.

  “Gordon—” I started as the door opened.

  He didn’t let me finish.

  “Get inside, both of you.”

  My stomach flipped. What the fuck was going on? His face was pale, and he seemed jittery in a way I’d never known him to be before. I glanced over my shoulder, back toward the SUV. Did Gordon know there was something not quite right about the vehicle? How could he? Had the Capellos threatened him or something? For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out any reason that would have happened, unless the Capellos had suddenly decided I was better off staying in the wheelchair and had cancelled the production of my new limb.

  As I wheeled myself inside the building, Gordon locked the doors behind us.

  I shot Kodee a look, trying to convey my thoughts via eye contact alone, but Kodee just shrugged, as clueless as I was.

  “Come down to my office,” Gordon said, brushing past us to lead the way.

  I followed, Kodee at my side. “What’s this all about?”

  Gordon didn’t glance back. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

  He reached the office and opened the door then stepped out of the way to allow us both through.

  Standing in the middle of the room was someone I’d been worried I’d never see again.

  “Dillon!”

  “Dillon,” Kodee echoed from beside me. “Fucking hell, Dillon.”

  Four steps brought Kodee directly in front of our friend, and he wrapped his arms around Dillon and held him tight. Then he pulled Dillon away from his body to look into his face, and then down the rest of him, as though checking for injuries.

  “I’m fine, Kodee. Seriously,” Dillon assured him.

  Dillon crossed the room to me and pulled me into a hug as well. I was still stunned from seeing him there, a part of me wondering if I was imagining things.

  “You smell like shit,” I managed, choking past a lump that had formed in my throat.

  He dropped to one knee, as though he was about to propose. “Yeah, I know.”

  God, he was a mess. His face was partially obscured by dark beard growth, and his thick hair stuck out wildly. His clothes were filthy, too, but in that moment, I thought he might have been the most perfect thing I’d ever seen.

  “What—” I struggled to find my words. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  I looked to Gordon, who was still standing by the door.

  “I escaped from the Capellos’ restaurant. They had me tied up in a portioned off part of the cellar, but I managed to get away. I didn’t know where else to go. I couldn’t risk going to the apartment, or even phoning you myself, in case someone was watching or listening in, so I needed to figure out a way of getting you to meet me somewhere the wasn’t going to make the Capellos suspicious.”

  “He held a gun to my head,” Gordon said from the doorway.

  “Aye.” Dillon nodded. “Sorry about that.”

  Kodee looked to him. “You have a gun?”

  “I took it from the guy who was holding me captive. I don’t know if anyone has figured out I’m not down there any longer, but when they open the cellar door, they’re going to find Meathead locked up in there instead of me.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “Meathead?”

  “Aye, affectionate little pet name I had for him.”

  “Sounds like a delight.” I gave an amused smile.

  Dillon chuckled. “He was.” He grew serious again and looked between us. “What about Rue? Have you seen her since that night in the restaurant?”

  “Yes,” Kodee said. “Frankie brought her to the apartment so we could make her a passport.”

  Dillon’s expression darkened. “A passport? Why do they need her to have a passport?”

  A muscle in Kodee’s jaw tightened. “Why do you think?”

  I wheeled myself forward a fraction, needing the movement. “After the trial, he’s selling her on. She’ll be taken out of the country, and we’ll never see her again.”

  Dillon gritted his teeth and shook his head. “That fucking bastard.”

  I exhaled a long sigh. “You’ve got that right.”

  “We have to do something.”

  “I have a plan,” Kodee said, “but we’re going to need that gun.”

  This was news to me, but relief that Kodee had thought of something we could try swept through me. I was aware there was one person in the room who wasn’t a part of this, however.

  I turned
to Gordon. “You probably don’t want to hear any of this. I don’t want to make you complicit.”

  Gordon was surveying us all with a mixture of disbelief and horror. “You’re right. I don’t want to hear it.”

  Dillon picked up a pair of headphones that had been sitting on the desk and threw them to him. “You might want to plug yourself into something.”

  Gordon nodded and went to his computer. It occurred to me that he could use the computer to call for help, but I thought if he was going to do that, he probably would have done it by now. We waited until he’d fired up the PC, put some music on, and slipped the headphones over his head before we started talking.

  Kodee started. “I think the trial might be the best opportunity to get Rue back.”

  I frowned at him. “How do you work that out?”

  “Just think about it,” he said. “No one will be armed during the trial. Guns aren’t allowed in the courthouse. Rue will be with the prosecution lawyer, not with the Capello brothers. She won’t be guarded by anyone. It might be our best opportunity to grab her and get her the hell out of there.”

  “But the courthouse will be full of people, and we won’t be the only ones who will be after Rue. I can guarantee Joe Nettie’s men will also be watching out for her.”

  Kodee nodded in agreement. “Before the trial, they’ll be keeping an eye on her. That’s when she’ll be most closely guarded. Everyone wants her to testify, but what will happen once she’s finished testifying? The job will be done, and they will take their eye off her.”

  I could see where he was going with this. “And you think we can get in there and grab her before anyone else.”

  “Yes. If no one else is armed, it’ll put us on a more even footing.”

  Dillon pressed his lips together, lines appearing between his thick, dark brows as he thought hard. “What about if we are the ones who are armed? Won’t that give us an even better chance of getting her out of there?”

  “How can we get in there with a gun?” I said. “There are metal detectors and security.”

  Kodee arched an eyebrow at me. “You’ll already be taking a lot of metal into the courthouse.”