Chapter 11.
Reuben
Three seconds.
That’s how long it’s been since Christian was thrown overboard.
Three agonizing seconds frozen on the floor of the deck.
Gunshots are firing away behind me and in my periphery…
It’s so loud in my ears, it feels like that’s all I can hear.
The world is suddenly… fractured.
‘I'll use my life to show you and this team the worth of the Adler Squad.’
Christian.
Five seconds and I’m finally able to break the spell. Not an ounce of me cares about Lucia, I leave her on the ground, as I run towards the edge where he disappeared.
Nine seconds.
The ship is blasting some kind of alarm across the PA systems, the sensors along the hull were designed to pick up when someone fell overboard, and bright white lights activate along the hull of the ship to shine powerful beams into the water below.
Eleven seconds.
I tug my vest off viciously as I focus on that spot where Christian might have disappeared, based on his size and the impact…
He got hit hard.
Way too hard. The force would have broken bones.
‘I have to show you why it was me.’
The moment I throw my leg over the rail to jump in after him, I’m being tugged back.
Thirteen seconds.
Tobias’ voice is in my ears but I’m honestly too hyper-fixated on that spot some meters away from the hull.
Christian.
Tobias is still pulling me back from jumping in, and it takes a moment for me to ignore the sudden itch to pull my gun and shoot him in the head right now for getting in my way.
Fifteen seconds.
I need to focus every pore in my body to look back at Tobias.
“There’s a life raft on the railing.” Every inch of space in my mind is noisy—cluttered—but I know Tobias can hear me clearly. “The moment you see me re-surface, you throw it to me, do you understand?”
Spanish falls off his tongue easily, “Reuben, I can’t let you—”
Seventeen seconds and my gun is pointed at his temple.
Seventeen seconds is too long.
Christian needs air.
“We can talk about my decisions later,” I snarl back, prepping the trigger, before switching to English. “If you don’t, then I’ll be happy to have the conversation with your fucking ghost. Do you understand me, Tobias?”
“Yes, sir,” Tobias replies immediately and I drop the gun.
“Life raft. Throw it to me.” It’s all the instructions I can think to give to him before I’m diving over the edge.
Twenty-one seconds and my shoulder dislocates on impact. The sound of my pain is lost to the cold sea, but I kick my feet and keep diving down, scanning the depths, illuminated by the lights of the hull.
All manner of fish are knocking into me—some misguided assumption that I’m food that has unceremoniously fallen overboard—and the salt in my eyes stings.
Christian.
Twenty-five seconds and I’m barely spotting him.
He’s sinking like a fucking stone, out of range of the hull’s lights.
The only tell of it being him is the aura around him—
That ridiculously gorgeous hue fluttering in and out with his consciousness.
Christian.
I lose count of how long it takes to reach him. Every second feels like an eternity until I’ve finally grabbed hold of his hand in the dark. The pressure in my lungs is insurmountable. Still, I grit my teeth and hold him close to my chest with my good hand, kicking ferociously.
Breaking the surface of the water, drawing in air, is agony.
But I have him. I can barely feel his pulse.
A strange laugh is leaving my lips, “Hey now, estrellito, weren’t you going to show me the worth of the Adler Squad?”
There’s no answer, obviously.
“You’re not telling me they’d be taken out by a water slide, are you? That doesn’t sound right.”
Tobias had thrown the life raft. I see it now, some ways away, and it’s easy to reach for it.
But I’ll be honest, I didn’t plan any next steps.
And Christian needs CPR.
‘I need to show you why it was me.’
“If this is your why, you can fucking keep it,” I’m talking to myself when a whistle blows to my left. I almost thank Baachan’s shifty spirits when I see two crew members, waving to me with flashlights in hand, having lowered a ladder from a door in the hull.
I’d found them in the cockpit and left them to untie themselves while I dealt with the other intruders. I’m glad I’d made the decision now. Else I’d be sitting out here in the cold waiting for a rescue.
With a dead Christian.
I ignore the darkness in my chest as I swim towards them quickly, with Christian in tow.
Thankfully, they pull him up first to commence CPR right away, but I’m not entirely sure what happens to me after that. I think I spew some nonsense about the Adler Squad again. Some nonsense that’s making me grin.
I also think I might’ve lost my mind.
Because Christian isn’t responding.
“I'll be tempted to insult your team again,” I promise darkly, with narrowed eyes, “just to see if you'll get up and shoot me like you promised.”
Christian’s eyes don’t open, but I finally see a weak flicker of irritation in his energy.
“You.” When his voice breaks the air, it’s weak. Barely a rasp to one of the crewmen, “My gun’s in my left pocket… shoot the asshole in the foot for me.”
My deranged smile isn’t even close to fading off my face, but the relief injected into my blood is like a drug sifting through my system.
“I’d rather you did it yourself, estrellito. No throwing yourself in front of water slides in the future, okay?”
I think he mumbles a ‘shut up’ but it’s hard to tell. He’s going back under fast, his energy fading with his consciousness.
“I’m… going to sleep,” he mumbles just loud enough for me to hear. “So stop being noisy.”
He mumbles ‘asshole’ before passing out, and I can’t help but stare at him. At the wet strands of hair falling along his face. The icy hue of his lips.
Bastard looks fucking peaceful.
Rather that than dead I suppose.
I have to force myself to let the paramedics take him. Have to force myself back into my role as a Taiga to deal with what comes after.
Tobias helps me lock my shoulder back in.
While no one is looking, my team and I thoroughly deal with the incident in Room 206.
The freed crew members guide the boat back to the port… where father’s people are waiting.
An incident of this scale, including one of the Don’s sons? It was inevitable.
Aster is there to collect us at the shore, looking as imposing as ever, but although there’s a cold fury in his body language, it doesn’t reach his eyes.
And it doesn’t reach his energy.
It’s moments like these where my own blood scares me the most.
Christian tries to cover up his emotions with a stone mask, but his energy always betrays him. His is bright and untamed and beautiful.
Aster is the opposite. A monster wearing emotions on his face to appear human.
The cops try to take me in, but Aster doesn’t let them, and they can’t force it, not with so many guests as eyewitnesses. They have no choice but to take our statements there at the port.
It’s in our favour, at least, that all the guests and crew members say the same things:
‘The Mezzi boy unveiled the Queen’s Diamond on the ship.’
‘The ship was attacked.’
‘Reuben’s team fended off the intruders.’
Not in our favor?
The Queen’s Diamond is nowhere to be found.
And everything officially goes to shit from that moment.