PETE
All my life I had been taught to be honorable, to do what was expected of me. Today I went against it all.
Smart and tall, Vegas appeared in the doorway, come to claim his prize. His eyes roamed over my naked body, and mine did the same.
...
I woke in a car, curled into myself, half tangled in my suit. Fabi was in the backseat beside me but didn't look at me. Instead, he was checking the rear window. Another man sat in the front behind the wheel and beside him was Vegas.
I wasn't sure if they'd given me another tranquilizer or if my body had trouble fighting the effects of the first injection. I hadn't eaten all day and hardly had anything to drink. A low moan slipped past my lips.
Fabi and Vegas both looked down at me. Vegas's dark eyes sent a shiver of fear down my spine, but Fabi's gaze didn't offer any consolation either. I closed my eyes again, hating how vulnerable I felt.
I wasn't sure how long we'd been driving, but the next time I woke we were in a helicopter. I struggled into a sitting position. The strip with hotels and casinos spread out below, and my stomach constricted as the helicopter started its descent over Chiragmaai. I didn't say a word to either Fabi or Vegas, and they didn't talk to me either. The tension was still palpable in the helicopter, but they had escaped from the Outfit and now I was in Chiragmaai. In Camorra territory. At their mercy.
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The moment we landed, Fabi helped me out of the helicopter while Vegas talked to someone on the phone. I needed to wash my face and clear my head so I could think straight again. I had been in my wedding suit for almost twenty-four hours. I felt sticky and sluggish and exhausted. And underneath it all a terror I had trouble containing throbbed inside of me.
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I was pushed into another car, and eventually we pulled up in front of a shabby strip club called the Sugar Trap.
Fabi gripped my arm again as Vegas went ahead without a single glance at me.
"Fabi," I tried, but he tightened his hold. "I need to go to the bathroom and wash my face. I don't feel good."
He led me inside the deserted strip club toward the bathroom' and followed me inside to wait at the washbasins. Vegas had ignored me mostly, but I had a feeling that would change soon.
I went to the toilet, hating that I knew Fabi could hear me. There was nothing I could have used as a weapon, and even if there were, how would that help me surrounded by Camorrista? I dropped my pant when I was done, breathing deeply, trying to hide my emotions.
