Page 11 of Caruso (Vegas Mafia #3)

Chapter Eleven

Taylor

T hese 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’ve heard 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.

A flight attendant greets me with a smile and a hint of curiosity.

“Welcome.”

She smiles as she escorts me to a seat by the window about halfway down the cabin.

I say cabin; it’s more like the living area in the penthouse we just came from, and as I settle into a huge cream leather seat, she asks politely, “May I offer you a pre-flight drink?”

“Whiskey, neat, on the rocks.” Matteo says gruffly, answering on my behalf as he drops into the seat beside me without a glance in my direction.

The attendant smiles and moves away, and he leans closer and whispers huskily, “Today your choices are mine. Your education will relate to all aspects of your day, and only when I believe that you have learned the lesson will you be permitted to choose for yourself.”

His cruel eyes bore deep inside me as he whispers huskily, “You made a deal with the devil, baby girl. Perhaps you should have asked to read the contract first.”

“Perhaps I’m good with the contract as it is.”

My eyes flash as I reflect the steel in his voice right back at him, and his low chuckle is a welcome sound .

“You don’t know what it involves.”

“My virginity, my submission and my freedom, if I’m to hazard a guess.”

He nods, a thoughtful gleam in his eyes.

“You’re a fast learner.”

“You have to be when you are playing somebody else’s game.”

Giorgio drops into the seat opposite me and is quickly joined by Tommaso and I swallow hard. Fuck, this is intense. One of them is hard to deal with, but three, all staring at me with obvious hunger, is soul-destroying.

My heart flutters like a bird caught in a cage, and sweat bubbles under my skin as they strip me bare with just one look. Brothers. Dark, despicable brothers with no life in their eyes; no humanity in their smiles.

All dressed in black to match their aura and they are staring at me as if I am their in-flight meal.

I say nothing because the power of speech has deserted me until Giorgio leans forward and his husky voice drags against my nerves like a rusty blade.

“Did he touch you?”

The air stills, and I nod. “Yes.”

His eyes flash.

“How?”

My nerves scream out in terror as I return to the madness and whisper, “He punished me. Spanked me, beat me, kicked me.”

Tommaso’s voice drives fear into my heart as he growls, “Did he touch you sexually?”

“No. ”

I lower my eyes because their attention is stifling, toxic and the most frightening experience of my life.

“He told me I was to save myself for him. That I would replace my mother in his bed the day I turned eighteen. I did save myself in every way because I ran from him the day before my birthdayand have never gone back.”

“So you saved yourself.” He asks, and I raise my eyes to his and say coolly, “Did I?”

Giorgio laughs out loud as the attendant returns with four crystal glasses of whiskey and hands one to each of us in silence.

When she moves away, six eyes concentrate on me as Matteo says huskily, “After you, baby girl.”

I don’t hesitate and in one sudden move, I knock back the alcohol, refusing to reveal my reaction to it.

I’m guessing these men are waiting for that, to amuse themselves in my discomfort, bask in it in fact.

They will relish placing me in impossible situations, and I will not allow myself to react to that.

As I slam the glass on the table by my side, I raise my eyes to Giorgio’s, noting the madness in his, and say nothing as we stare into one another’s eyes with the same cool, emotionless gaze.

“I think I just came in my pants.”

His low, husky response drives desire inside me as he knocks back his own whiskey and leans forward, surprising me by reaching out with a quick hand and grasping my face in his rough fingers.

It hurts. His nails dig into my skin, and his eyes flash as his lips hover close to mine as he whispers, “When Matteo has finished with you, I’m next. ”

Matteo growls, “Fuck you, Giorgio, don’t terrify the woman before we’ve even taken off.”

He grins and leans back in his seat, my face smarting from the pressure, and yet I refuse to show them how terrified I am right now.

I sense Tommaso’s distaste and guess he believes me to be a whore, nothing more, nothing less, and he takes his shot and slams the glass on the table beside him and huffs, “What’s taking so long?”

In answer to his question, the engines start up, and my heart now races for a different reason entirely.

I’m now even more terrified. The helicopter was one thing, but this plane is another.

Once again, I reveal nothing, and as we move, I count to one hundred in my mind.

I can do this. This is what I came here for.

Retribution, definitely, but more like solving a real threat to my safety.

The trouble is, I’m not sure if I just jumped from the skillet into the fire because I have never felt so unsafe in my life.