Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
She has to be.
I refuse to believe I’ve lost the love of my life, that I won’t hear her give me shit and won’t see her playful grin again.
The blow hits me so fucking hard that my body rips from Uncle Dario’s hold as I stagger backward.
Instantly, there’s a hand on my back. “Breathe through the pain,” Dad orders while he grabs hold of Uncle Dario’s arm, pulling him to his side. “Both of you, just breathe through it.”
Uncle Dario turns into Dad, and when a heartbroken cry is ripped from him, it ripples through me.
I need to find her so I can ease everyone’s pain.
While Dad is busy with Uncle Dario, I take my chance and walk away.
“Enzo!” Dad roars.
“I’m fine,” I snap. “But I’m not mourning the woman I love until I’ve seen her dead body with my own two fucking eyes.”
“Where are you going?”
“To work.”
“Jesus Fucking Christ,” Dad growls, then he shouts, “You’re wearing a fucking hospital gown, Enzo! Stop for one second and let your mind catch up to everything.”
I glance down, and the light blue fabric gets through all the desperation and fear. I slowly come to a halt when the sight of the bandages sinks in.
“You got hurt while you were digging like a madman,” Dad tells me as he places his hand on my back.
There’s a tightness whenever I move my arms and wrists, and it itches and stings.
“Get back to bed so that Dr. Milazzo can check your wounds,” Dad orders. “Once he’s cleared you, I’ll send your mother to get you clothes. Let’s take this one step at a time.”
One step at a time?
Two weeks?
Rosie’s been out there for two fucking weeks?
My head swings to Uncle Dario. “Were you able to find anything?”
He shakes his head. “Every camera around the fortress was taken out, and the footage I managed to salvage gave me nothing. Facial recognition on the bodies scattered around the debris didn’t help either.”
“And the rest of New York? There has to be footage of them coming in?”
Uncle Dario shakes his head again. “It’s like the men never existed before the attack, and after…” his voice breaks, and panic floods my veins.
No, Rosie isn’t dead.
“Everything leaves a trace. There has to be something we can work with.”
Uncle Dario’s face crumbles, and when the tears fall and I see he’s beginning to believe Rosie is dead, it feels like my heart is ripped right out of my chest.
“She’s out there,” I whisper. “She has to be.” I swing around but don’t even manage a step before Dad hauls me off my feet.
“Stop!” He snaps.
I shake my head wildly as a groan builds in my chest. “She’s out there.” My breaths speed up, and the mere thought that I’ve lost Rosie makes me shatter into a million pieces, ripping a wounded shout from me. “No. No. No. She’s alive. Rosie isn’t gone. I refuse to believe it.”
I fight against Dad’s hold until my muscles grow heavy and I’m dragged into the darkness where I can’t do shit to find the woman I love more than life itself.
Chapter 11
Rosie
(2 weeks ago…)
My sight blurs with tears, and my chin quivers.
God, this is it!
Closing my eyes again, I just listen to Enzo’s harsh breaths. “Rosie!”
“I love you,” I whisper, my heart beating fast and faster.
One of the men grabs hold of my arm, and out of time, I do the only thing I can to protect everyone I love.
I drop my phone while I press the button on the central remote.
BOOM.
A monstrous roar rips through the fortress. With the bombs detonating and the gases being pumped into the air, an inferno is about to devour everything.
It should be quick.
Oh God! Oh God! Oh God. This is it!!!
A scream tears from my throat as I try to brace for death.
“Davai! Davai!” The man hollers. “Bystro!”
The ground shakes violently, and I’m hauled off my feet, the central remote slipping from my grasp.
BOOM.
Scorching heat blasts through the air, enough to singe the hair on my body as I’m thrown into the SUV.
“Poshli! Poshli!”
Another explosion detonates behind us, making a bright yellow light come right at us like a tsunami of fire as the SUV swerves sharply before speeding over the rubble.
The SUV lurches forward from the blast, but somehow the driver keeps control.
The final explosion rips through everything with a resounding blast.
My arms fly up to cover my head as dust and fire engulf us. A strained shriek escapes me as I wait for a world of pain to rip through my body.
It doesn’t happen, though.
The SUV races away while a thunderous roar chases us. I twist around just in time to see a wall of dust erupt from the base of my fortress while the ground shudders ferociously beneath us.
Jesus!
Balls of fire burst through the windows, one floor after the other, before vanishing behind rolling clouds of debris. Chunks of concrete rain down from the sky, some slamming hard into the roof of the SUV.