Tempted By The Mafia Boss

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Charlotte

The ground shook as I was running causing me to trip and fall.

The blast that rippled through the earth could only have come from the bomb going off. It’s like an earthquake but a hundred times worse and the ground behind me has started collapsing away.

The bomb must have gone off but I was sure there was still time.

I was sure Gabe still had some time to get out.

But the bomb has gone off and that must mean he…

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I can’t think it… I can’t allow myself to accept what it must mean.

I came up in the meadow on the hill of the creek. I knew where I was when I looked around, knew the whole area to be dangerous for the subsidence caused by the mine itself. There were a lot of sections in the earth that had collapsed.

Now it’s practically peeling and crumbling away and raw fire is billowing up from the ground. It looks like hell has come to claim me.

The sight kicks me into overdrive, homing in on my survival instincts. Adrenaline boosts through my veins and I spring up and continue my flight against the earth that’s falling away around me.

The whole nightmare looks like the end of the world.

My world will end here if I don’t make it.

I run and then I hear my name being called.

I see Nick and Salvatore, then Vincent. They’re on the other side of the hill, running past the bridge.

Salvatore jumps down to the area I’m running. Just as Nick and Vincent are about to do the same the ground crumbles away in such a ravenous manner that Vincent had to grab Nick to keep him from falling .

Salvatore bounds toward me, fast , lightning speed fast but I can’t stop. The earth around me is still going, falling through and I know I came up a good thirty feet.

It’s at least that if I fall too.

I have to leap over a wide section and I’m aiming for a section ahead that looks stable. I manage to get there but only as the ground crumbles away and now I’m falling.

I’m falling.

I reach up as I pass a tree and manage to grab onto a branch that’s jutting out, but I know from the look of it that the tree won’t hold. There roots are already starting to pop out from the ground. It can’t take my weight and my panic.

“Charlotte, hold on,” Salvatore shouts.

I can’t, even though my grip is tight, I can’t hold on. The roots start popping faster flicking out the dirt in my face and my eyes.

I make the mistake of looking down and see the fire below me.

I don’t get the chance to look back up because the entire branch snaps off and I’m falling again.

I scream but then something crashes into me. Something hard like a wall and grabs me. arms grab me and knocks me off path to the drop I was aiming for.

I lose focus for the few nanoseconds it takes for Salvatore to land on the ground with me cocooned in his arms.

We fall hard and both cry out from the impact. I know he’s hurt but he doesn’t let go of me.

“I got you,” he says holding me close.

“Salvatore,” I wince. “Thank you.” I manage but I’m so choked up the words barely come out.

“That’s okay doll, I got you.”

I break down and he pulls me closer.

The ground has stopped shaking now but there’s still a rumble within it.

I glance around his shoulder to see we landed on the edge of a section where the earth came free. It’s just jutting out of the hill and where we are is solid like rock. The only reason we’re still on it. We must have fallen about ten feet.

The fire is still billowing but I see water flowing now that more of the area is exposed. There’s all manner of debris in it.

“Gabe,” I whisper and he runs a hand over my back.

The devastation around us is answer to any question I may have about whether or not Gabe made it.

“I’ll take care of you now. I promised him I would,” he tells me.

I start crying from what feels like deep inside my soul. His words are such a testament of the man Gabe is, and who Salvatore is too, but it confirms what I don’t want to accept. That Gabe… didn’t make it.

I close my eyes at the dark thought. It rips me in two, tearing me in pieces, tearing up my heart and shattering all that I am.

I open my eyes again and look down to the water flowing deep below us.

I stare at it long and hard and what feels like forever, wishing against the truth of the situation.

“Come on doll, let’s try and get out of here,” Salvatore says pulling my focus from the water.

He stands and helps me get up.

I stand but I’m still looking on ahead to the flowing river of debris. I’m still looking ahead to it, unable to let go.

Not yet. Not just yet.

“You guys okay?” Nick calls from across the other side.

I look to see him and Vincent. They aren’t that far away from us but the hollow that fills me with each passing second has left me numb inside and everything sounds like it’s far, far away.

“We’re good. We’ll need a rescue chopper,” Salvatore calls back. “Not gonna risk climbing. It’s too unstable.”

He looks to me and I’m just shaking and crying. Haven’t stopped. I can’t.

He places his arm around me and steadies me. “You’re gonna be okay doll… you will. I –” he stops midsentence and narrows his eyes then he straightens up and looks over me.

He gazes over my shoulder and I snap my head around to see what he’s looking at.

My mouth drops when I see Gabe floating amongst the debris. He’s holding on to a large wooden board and he looks badly injured.

“Gabe!” I scream and he lifts his head.

He lifts his head and I see he’s alive. Badly injured with blood all over his head but, he’s alive.

Salvatore gets ready to jump in but Vincent calls out stopping him.

“Stay there I’ll get him,” Vincent shouts, he’s already kicked off his shoes and within seconds he plunges into the river, swimming like a shark to Gabe.

These guys … all of them… the way they each work individually and together is so astounding. I’m speechless for the way they push the limit and

the way that they’ve all taken care of me.

Vincent gets to Gabe and the minute his hand clamps down on his arm to get him to safety it renews my own assurance.

He’s safe, he’s alive.

I’m safe. I’m still alive.

I’m still alive.

And the nightmare and darkness…

It’s over .