Seducing the Cold Bodyguard Gangster

Chapter Eight

A private jet was there for us fueled and waiting, just like they told me it would be, to take us to Florence to meet the mysterious Mr. Whitaker. A man I have hired who has just organized all of this with such speed to save my life. 

Allessandro approached the man with the clipboard. He was clearly from Mexico and worked at the airport. He was dressed in a neat blue suit and had the stark resemblance of a black beard lined with gray against his tanned Mexican skin. He handed the clipboard over to Allessandro, assuming correctly that he was the man in charge. 

“Are you the pilot?” he asked.

Carla strode forward with a determined stare on her face. 

“No,” she said taking the clipboard from Allessandro and looking it over. “I am.” She simply stated and if that man was going to question it, he might end up with a black right eye.  

Allessandro handed over an impressively thick envelop to the man who just put it in his chest pocket and left us at the base stairs of the jet. 

“Not stolen?” I asked as Carla moved up the stairs and left to the cockpit of the massive craft and I took a seat on a pristine leather sofa inside. 

I have never been in a private jet before. It was slender with only a dozen or so seats, one placed opposite the other along oval shaped windows.  

“No, hired by Mr. Whitaker privately. We don’t want Mr. Cole finding you on a domestic or international flight.” Allessandro answered in Carla’s stead. 

“Is that why you just bribed that man before we boarded?”

“You don’t miss much.” Allessandro complimented with a smile. “And yes, we don’t want this jet on the airport or the flight’s manifest. No one is going to know that this jet left for Italy. Your passport was never used, so Cole will conclude you are hiding somewhere in the United States.” 

“Well Mr. Whitaker did not mind the price. This jet is a Valkyrie.” Carla commented with an excited smile, “So long to it taking fifteen hours to get to Italy like I anticipated. No, we are going to be there in nearly half the time. Buckle up ladies, I am going to sure enjoy flying this animal.” 

Wow, Ok. I have no clue what a Valkyrie jet is, but whatever we are now in it is fast and Carla is pleased. I also grinned as she referred to the giant Emilio and Allessandro as ladies. She definitely was made of brass balls. 

I was feeling even safer now than the yacht. Surely, at this point there was no way that Damien would be able to find me. Not if no one knew that I was on this flight to Italy. I might have to go to Europe to get out of this, but one thing is for certain with that journey. I am looking forward to meeting Mr. Whitaker, if even to just tell him thank you for all of this. 

“You lot don’t really talk that much.” I said to Emilio as he glared out the window an hour into our journey. 

“Was there something you wanted to discuss?” Just like Allessandro and Carla, Emilio’s English was impeccable under his guttural Spanish accent. 

“How about how you all came to know this Mr. Whitaker?” 

“Allessandro knows him the best and has worked from him the longest. Five years or more, I think. I have only been with Allessandro’s team for a couple years now, and Carla, well how long has it been?”

“A year you Capullo.” She grumbled over her shoulder from the cockpit. 

My Spanish is rusty, but I am pretty sure that translated to jerk. I chocked a small laugh. I liked Carla and her take-no-bullshit attitude. She was just as ruthless of a soldier anyone could find. I think if she had been born at any point of history, she would have been a swashbuckling female pirate with her own boat of men to serve under her. 

“Allessandro. You are friends with Mr. Whitaker?” 

“I suppose you can call us friends as much as we are professional colleagues who sometimes work together. If there is a job that he needs done, or help with, he calls. He often takes missions on his own, but he is fine working in teams as well. As long as he is the one leading the operation. He is, well, not exactly the kind of man who likes to take orders from a superior. He lives in Italy, yes, but travels where contracts take him. He has affiliations with the Russian mob, the Italian mob, and quite a few contacts in the United States and Mexico as well. He is, I guess, well-connected is the word for it.”

Well-connected is exactly what I thought he sounded like. 

“I have to say I am glad that I called him then.” I admitted hearing the gilded reputation that Allessandro was intent to frame around Mr. Whitaker. 

One thing made me more curious than the rest. He wasn’t one for taking orders. Neither was I. I was a proud to consider myself fiercely independent. I hope that Mr. Whitaker is not going to try to boss me around in this situation like I am one of these soldiers under his orders. No, he better know better than that. I might be thankful, and justifiably so. However, the second that I meet him I want an explanation of how this situation ‘has developed’ and then I want to go to a police station, even if that is in Florence. I don’t plan on tolerating be told things are going to go differently. 

“And you and Carla have met him before?” I asked Emilio. 

“Just a couple of times. He is good, really good at what he does. You are going to be totally safe with him.” Emilio offered. 

Carla glanced over her shoulder. 

“Safe?” she laughed. “Yeah right. You want my advice Vanessa?” she offered with a purr of her voice. 

“Please.” I pressed as Emilio and Allessandro dashed a stare between them at the blunt interruption of Carla into this conversation, and that raised my interest even more.

“Be careful of Mr. Whitaker.” 

I glanced up surprised. Careful? Why did I have to be careful of this mysterious man? 

“He might be the best gunman you could hire in the world to protect you, but the man knows it as well. And his pursuits of women,” she looked over my figure obviously addressing my curvaceous breasts and thin waist, “Of beautiful women, is on an international scale.”

I was not sure if that was a compliment or not from Carla saying that I was beautiful and that Mr. Whitaker was going to probably try something with me. But surely that cannot be the case. I hired him to save my life. That was all. And I was going to pay him seven million for it. Case closed business deal. Nothing more. And the thought of being with any other man right now simply turned my stomach. I was definitely going to be taking a break from even thinking about dating anyone for a seriously long time now that things have ended in the worst possible way with Damien. 

“I am not sure if that was a compliment that I am pretty Carla, or a warning that Mr. Whitaker is flirtatious.” I repeated my thoughts out loud. 

“Flirtatious!” she laughed. “Wait until you meet him Vanessa. He is an arrogant son of a bitch.” 

“Hey Carla…” Allessandro started to defend Mr. Whitaker in an attempt to cut her off. 

“Oh, don’t you dare Allessandro. You know very well how long his relationships last. I might be the only women here with the two of you that can give Vanessa a proper preparation on how to handle Mr. Whitaker.” She blatantly put a stop to whatever Allessandro was about to say. 

“Just have your guard up Vanessa. He is going to protect you, and save your life. Don’t worry about that. You are completely safe now. But he is also an absolute hound. Just be warned. That is all.”

“Stay away from Mr. Whitaker.” I affirmed locking my thankful glance with her. “Done. Was there something between the two of you Carla?” I dared to ask. 

We were not friends, I did not know Carla at all, in fact. But I instantly liked and admired her. If there was a chance that she could be a friend, I would like to accept that very much.

“Not a chance I was going to put up with that Capullo.” She used that light term again to name Mr. Whitaker a jerk. “No. He never tried anything with me. I am definitely not his type.”

What did that mean?

“Not his type? Why is that?” I asked pressing my luck a bit with what she was willing to tell me. 

“I don’t think that Mr. Whitaker would date a woman that could put a bullet in his head if he was disloyal. And disloyal is Mr. Whitaker’s middle name. He’s an absolute playboy.”

“Wow. I take it you like the guy?” I laughed rhetorically over a choked cough. 

“I like him fine. He is probably the best trained man I know in the field. I have to give him respect for that. But personally, I do not like the way that he treats women. Every time I see the man, he has a new trophy on his arm.” 

“Well, his personal life is not my concern. His ability to keep me alive and see this whole thing through to put Damien and Derek Cole in jail, is my only interest in Mr. Whitaker. Nothing more than that.”

“Good girl!” Carla laughed with a still quiet Allessandro and Emilio watching each other. “Let’s just hope you still feel that way after you meet him.”

“Does the man have such a powerful effect on women?” I asked trying not to sound like I doubted it. 

“Not what I would call powerful, I think intimidating is more of the word for it.” Carla added.  

I am not able to rest much on the jet during the eight hours it takes us to arrive in Italy. My thoughts are twirling around in my head about Mr. Whitaker, and that is probably the last thing I should be considering. Carla made him sound like he could seduce any woman in the world by only being in their presence. Keep my guard up, she advised. My guard was definitely up. I know that I have hired this insane team to keep me safe, including Mr. Whitaker. But right now, I wish it was just Carla here to get me out of this. The male species is not exactly in my good graces at the moment. And Mr. Whitaker, however trained he is, sounds more like a chauvinistic pig than a nice guy. 

Emilio keeps looking over at me. Every time he does, I look back at him and he darts his gaze away like a caught child with a blush. He may be one of the biggest men I have ever met, apart from perhaps that red bearded villain, Yuri, but he is also like a quiet giant and it is clear that he is attracted to me. I decide not to address it. It should not be necessary to tell him that I am not interested. He will soon be able to gather that information on his own if I just keep my distance. 

I am glad that he is not making a move to hit on me though. I don’t think that is something I could take right now and would probably come off way too rude and tell him to go to hell after what I have just been through with Damien. Let’s hope that Emilio is intelligent enough not to try anything. 

We landed in Florence at the airstrip. As I emerged at the top of a metal staircase, there was a slender red Ferrari waiting for us in the rain. But my attention fell to the figure leaning against it as if the rain was nothing.