Page 39 of Between Control and Chaos
“I’m not for sale.” My gaze moves over and across the room; there are no windows, no exits except for the door. The room doesn’t appear like a doctor’s office. There’s no medical bed or supplies in sight.
Instead, there’s a plush queen-sized mattress against the wall, a dresser and a desk lined opposite, and a door that, I assume, leads to a closet.
In the corner of the room near the ceiling, is a camera with a red light, indicating we’re being watched, likely by her security team.
Even if I could flee, there’s still the matter of the electronic device around my neck. At the very least, she’ll torture me if I attempt an escape, but is that worse than what I’ll be forced to endure if I stay?
Livia comes to stand behind me, nudging me into the room, her hand on my back, forcing me to enter.
“Given your behavior,” Livia says and stalks past me toward the bed where a paper gown is folded, she snatches it up. “Perhaps you’ll learn to show some respect.” She takes the gown with her along with my towel, leaving me naked as she slams the door shut.
“Wait!” I scream, pounding on the closed wooden door. The handle doesn’t so much as budge as I try to yank it open.
I’m locked inside.
Fifteen
Luca
“You’re telling me she’s in there?” I nod toward the towering building in the distance.
“That’s what Dante’s intel is telling us. Her phone is off,” Ashton says, giving me a look of pity.
I don’t need his pity.
We have a trunkload of equipment. Sophia inspects the small drone that’s sitting on the ground. There’s a remote control, and she fiddles with it, getting the drone up a few feet off the ground but then sets it carefully back down.
She’s practicing, but for what? I don’t see how the drone is going to be of much use.
We need to get Harper out, now.
I cling to the belief that Livia DeLuca wouldn’t kill my wife. She may want revenge, but a mafia boss doesn’t get their hands dirty.
I glare at Sophia, annoyed by the drone that she’s playing with. Now isn’t the time to be screwing around.
“Careful,” Liam warns his sister as he glances through the equipment in the back of the SUV, finding a micro camera and turning it on. The feed links to a tablet. “We don’t want anyone to notice we’re here.”
I don’t do well sitting still, waiting to rescue my wife.
I pace outside, anxiety prickling at my skin, my stomach in knots.
“We need video, now.” I glare at Rhys, who is working diligently to gain us access to surveillance cameras. He’s pulling up satellite internet on the laptop; it’s a multi-step process and I don’t want to stand around and wait.
“Patience, Luca. I’m working as fast as I can, believe me, I want justice as much as you do.”
“Vengeance,” I seethe, glaring at him. “They took my wife. They threatened my son.”
The DeLucas won’t stop until they’re all dead.
Liam stalks over toward us, leaving Sophia to manage the drone on her own. “How’s the footage from inside the compound coming?”
“I just got the link from Dante’s source. As soon as I log in with the parameters, we’ll have full access to every camera inside and outside the property.”
Rhys types away at the keyboard, clicking hastily, and manages within a few short seconds to pull up footage. There are more than a dozen cameras, and it takes some sorting and rearranging the feed on his screen to find Harper.
She’s naked, the footage grainy, but the anger bubbles in my veins.
“What the fuck are they doing to her?” I growl, stepping closer, examining the video, and Rhys turns the sound up.
