Chapter 18 #2
Kara couldn’t stop shaking. Her hands in her lap were twisting, leaving red marks where she squeezed hard, trying to get the pain to keep her from descending into even more panic.
Without a word, Angelo reached across the car and grasped one of her hands in his own, squeezing it gently. It grounded her, stilling the trembling.
“I’m sorry we didn’t have time to say goodbye.” This was how her life was. Last-minute decisions to run. It made her far harder to be followed. There was never any evidence of her planning to leave, or where she’d been headed.
“It’s going to be okay,” Angelo said. “We’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out together.”
The evening sun vanished beneath rolling clouds as a storm drifted in off Lake Michigan. The once shimmering water turned frothy gray as sleet splattered the windshield. She held onto Angelo’s hand, her grip tightening as they drove along winding highway that bordered the lake as they headed south.
She turned to look back once, to see the Chicago skyline now half-shrouded in sleet and storm clouds. The city had become her home in such a short amount of time.
Tears slipped down her cheeks, and she brushed them away. Angelo turned to her.
“Kara, everything’s going to be fine. I promise—”
Something came out of nowhere, crashing into them from the side. Kara screamed as the sedan skidded on the icy pavement and headed straight for an empty space between the guardrails.
“Hang on!” Angelo threw an arm out, bracing her as the car simply launched into space, then plummeted into the dark churning waters of the lake.
Wham! The car impacted with the surface of the lake ,and murky water steadily rose up around the car.
“Oh my God…” Kara suddenly couldn’t breathe. They were going to drown.
“Kara, breathe. We’ll be okay. I want you to open your door and swim out before—” the car suddenly lurched deeper, the entire top of it now fully submerged, drowning out the light from the sky.
“Undo your seatbelt.” Angelo commanded and Kara managed it with trembling hands. He unclicked his belt, then winced when he tried to move. “Shit,” he cursed.
“What?”
“The seat jerked forward when we crashed. I’m stuck,” he said.
“Stuck?” Kara’s body seized with fresh panic.
Angelo grasped her hands, making her look at him. The car was dark, the quiet sound of water whooshing against the windows made her ill.
“Kara, listen to me,” Angelo demanded, giving her hands a little shake. “I want you to roll down the window and swim straight up, toward whatever light you can see. Get to the bank and get to safety. I’ll be right behind you,” he promised.
“No, no! I won’t leave you.” She shook her head violently, even though she was terrified.
“You aren’t leaving me. You’re just going ahead of me.” Angelo’s brown eyes were dark and his breathing was coming faster. He was scared too. Oh God… they were going to die. He knew it, just like she did.
“Kara… I need you to go. Now,” he ordered.
“No. You can’t—”
“I love you, Kara,” he said. “I love you with all that I am. You understand? Now, roll down the damn window before the power in the car goes out and swim!” He shouted the last word at her.
The rage and fear in his voice spurred her to action. She rolled down the windows, water instantly pouring in and she heard Angelo’s bellow for her to take a deep breath.
The, icy, black lake water was everywhere.
She opened her eyes, trying to see through the watery gloom to find the window.
When her hands found the frame of it, she kicked, dragging and clawing her way out of the car.
The water felt like knives on her skin, each movement, cold and cutting as she swam.
Her mother’s voice wailed like an Irish banshee in her head.
Death… death… death…
“Swim!” Angelo’s voice in her mind drowned out the whaling cry of fear, and she cupped her hands, pulling herself through the water as he had taught her. Only the palest difference in gray hues above her hinted at what she hoped was the surface.
Her lungs burned, warning her that she had only a few seconds before the instinct to breathe would overpower her.
She surged forward even harder, even if she felt her brain overriding the logic of holding her breath.
The surface came to meet her just as she sucked in a lungful of water.
Coughing, choking, splashing, she spat out the lake water and wiped her face trying to see where she was while keeping herself above the churning waves.
The lake embankment was about twenty feet away, and she swam toward the rocky hill, fighting with every stroke against the rough water.
When she reached the bank, she crawled up the rocky surface.
She fell onto her back, exhausted and breathing hard for a few seconds before she shoved herself up to look for Angelo.
The lake waves were white-capping now against the shoreline but she saw no sign of Angelo.
He said he would be right behind her…
“Angelo!” She called out.
Trembling, she stared at the water another few seconds before she got to her feet, ready to dive back in even though she could barely stand. A scuffing sound from behind her startled her, and she nearly fell over as she turned to see a man was racing down the bank toward her.
It was Asher.
“Angelo’s still under the water!” She managed to shout and pointed in the direction where the car had been. She didn’t ask how the bodyguard had found them. It was his job to know, and she was grateful.
“Stay here!” Asher commanded before he flung his jacket at her and plunged into the water disappearing from sight.
She was so focused on the surface of the lake, tears blurring her vision that she didn’t hear someone approach until it was too late. Someone grabbed her arm and whipped her around. The blow hit her so it hard it simply turned the lights off.
When Kara came around, her head aching, and her stomach churning with nausea, she heard angry male voices nearby. Her body vibrated with a gentle, steady rumble.
She was in a car. The windows were tinted but she could tell it was night outside. It took her a moment to remember the car, the crash… the water rising and Angelo telling her he would be right behind her. But he wasn’t. He’d… he’d never surfaced.
“Ye could’ve killed her.” Someone growled, his accent heavily Irish. That sent a chill through her.
No… no… no…
“Well I didn’t,” another man snapped, this one with an American accent. “She’s fine.”
“We’ll see,” the first man spat. “Ye’d better call the boss.”
They had to be Cormac’s men.
She struggled to move, but her hands were bound behind her back, and she lay on her side in the middle row of an SUV. Something had been taped over her mouth, making it hard to breathe as she struggled to cry.
Angelo. She’d left him to drown. She’d never gotten the chance to go into the water after him. Oh God…
He was the only thing that mattered… the one person she dared to love, dared to trust and she had killed him.
Because she had insisted that they run. He had warned her not to.
He’d known this might be what exactly what Cormac wanted, and he’d tried to tell her.
He’d been right. Her foolish need to act without thinking had killed the only man she ever loved.
Now she was going to be delivered to a life that would kill her spirit and destroy her soul.
This is why you never should have fallen in love. Why you never should have let him into your heart.