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“Neither was I, Mr. Caruso.”

Dante’s brows furrowed at her response. Getting his way with her, unfortunately, wasn’t going to be as easy as it usually was.

“If I let you out of this car and One-Shot gets even a whiff of who you are, he will find you and either kill you point blank … or worse.”

Nadia slightly gulped, wondering what could possibly be worse than that.

“He will use you to get to me.” His brows relaxed their furrow, his eyes becoming slightly softer. “Since I got you into this mess, you are now the responsibility of the Carusos … until I can get you out.” Suddenly, his fierceness returned. “But I will not let you risk the life of my family because you do not want to go on a yacht for a few days. Got it?”

As much as Nadia wanted to shove her foot up his ass, she nodded … For now.

She hadn’t been more grateful for a car to come to a complete stop when the mad driver put the shifter in park. The eager teen was the first one to jump out of the car. Nadia, on the other hand, wasn’t as eager for the next part of the journey to begin, not leaving the confines of the car until several minutes after the others.

Fuck. She should have never stepped out of the car, seeing exactly where they were. Nadia had been so busy trying to think of a plan to escape that she hadn’t paid attention until she was staring straight at a white private jet.

It didn’t take Dante long to notice something was wrong. “Everything all right, Ms. Brooks?”

She watched the back of his son disappear into the jet, unable to put her words into a sentence that didn’t make her sound like a child in front of him.

The left side of his mouth tugged up, catching on. “You don’t like flying, do you?”

“Correction,” she began to clarify. “I do not fly.” She left out the bit where she believed flying airplanes was like magic.

There wasn’t an ounce of pity on his face when he spoke. “Well, you do today, Ms. Brooks.” Dante then gave a brief nod to his bodyguard before turning his back on her and heading toward the jet.

Her fear of sounding like a child came to fruition as she suddenly felt like the annoying kid of a rich son of a bitch who didn’t have the time of day to parent. And, with Amo suddenly giving her a nudge to get moving, he might as well have been the mean-ass nanny.

“I’m going!” she snapped at the prick when he was about to push her forward again.

As she began to walk past him, she was able to see him head-on, which gave her a better view of him than she’d had in the back seat of the car. “Jesus, how old are you?” she asked incredulously, seeing that, while his frame was massive in stature, his face still had a youthfulness to it.

He gave her a suggestive wink, making her regret her words. “Old enough.”

Nadia couldn’t help putting him back into his place. “But are you old enough to drink?”

His smirk instantly disappeared as his eyes turned into vicious little slits. “Get going.”

“I’ll take that as a no,” she commented with a smile, knowing he was practically a child compared to her. Well, at least she was certain she could definitely outsmart him on her escape plan. Unfortunately, though, as she headed toward her second death trap of the day, it wasn’t going to be possible to escape here. She needed brawn, and Amo definitely beat her there.

Her ankles rattled in her heels as she walked up the steps to the jet, only able to step into the big machine because of the big idiot right behind her.

“Not there.” He pushed her past the first seat that was facing backward and was the closest to the door, to the one that was facing it on the opposite side, in the middle of the plane. There was a mahogany table between the two facing chairs, but hers was right next to where Dante was already sitting, so when she took her seat in the white, luxurious leather recliner-like seat, there was only a small aisle separating them.

When Amo went to buckle her in, she slapped his hands away from her. “I’m not a child …” Like you. She looked at him ruefully, knowing he knew her exact thought.

He flexed his jaw before taking the seat facing her.

Dante had simply watched their interaction curiously, clearly trying to figure out the context he had missed in the few minutes he had left them alone.

Reaching for the seat belt, she fumbled with it nervously as the jet’s door was closed.

Maybe, just maybe, she thought, hoping there was a way off this plane.