Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Declan
“Bella.” I caught her arm and pulled her back into the shadow of the sorting tables, keeping my voice low even though my heart was trying to beat its way out of my chest. “The second they're under it, I cut the rope, and that hopper pancakes them.”
Her gaze tracked the line I was imagining, from the frayed rope overhead to the rusted ore hopper suspended above the chamber floor, to the ax clenched in my hands. The weak light caught her expression, her skin was pale, but her jaw was set.
“That only works if they're standing directly underneath it,” she said. “They're not idiots. They won't just wander into the kill zone and wait for you to drop a metal coffin on their heads.”
“They'll be searching for us. We hide and wait for them to move into position—”
“I'll lure them there,” she said.
I jerked back. “The fuck you will.”
“It's the only way.” The decision was burned in her eyes, sharp and settled, as if she'd crossed a line like this before.
“No. We'll find another—”
“Declan.” Her voice didn't rise, didn't shake. She wasn't reckless. She was thinking, and she knew exactly what this could cost her.
“We don't have time to argue.” She glanced toward the tunnel, listening.
I shook my head, panic clawing up my spine. “Bella, if I miss—” I assessed the weight of the ax. This was a fucking bad idea.
“You won't.”
“You saw me back there,” I snapped. “I haven't thrown anything right since—” I stopped myself, the truth sour in my mouth. “Since ever.”
Every practice session flashed through my mind. Fifteen years of trying and failing, of knowing the math and never trusting my hands to follow it.
She pressed her burned palm against my forearm. The pain must've been unbearable, yet she didn't flinch. “I trust you.”
Those three words punched through every defense I had left. Trust. Real trust. Not expectation. Not obligation. Trust placed in me when everything was on the line.
And I trusted her.
I nodded once. “Okay. Get them where they need to be.” My voice came out rough.
The voices grew louder, closer. Boots thumped on trampled clay.
She stepped back, jaw set, eyes fierce. “I will. Get ready.”
Christ! This is insane.
I moved behind a thick support column near the sorting tables, pressing my back to the cold timber. The ax felt too heavy and too light all at once. Sweat slicked my palms. My pulse hammered so hard it felt like it was rattling my teeth loose.
Every bad throw I'd ever made tried to crowd into my brain, along with every time Dad told me I was pathetic or useless when things needed doing.
None of that mattered then.
All of it mattered now.
Bella stepped into the open, positioning herself just beyond the hopper's shadow, close enough to draw them forward. The weak overhead lights caught her face, dust-streaked and determined, her posture was straight, yet fear tightened her shoulders.
“I'm right here, you bastards!” Her voice rang through the chamber, sharp and defiant.
Silence followed. Two heartbeats. Then boots thundered closer.
Pike and Rocco burst into the open, guns raised.
Pike appeared first, limping hard, his weapon locking onto Bella immediately. Rocco followed, his face a wreck of blistered skin and swelling from the boiling meat pies and the hot tray. One eye was completely shut, his vision halved, and his balance probably compromised.
Both of them scanned the chamber.
“Looking for me?” Bella took a step forward, daring them.
Pike's mouth twisted. “End of the line, bitch.”
“Where's that other asshole?” Rocco growled, scanning the shadows.
“I don't know,” Bella said, letting her voice crack just enough to sound real. “We got separated.”
“Bullshit.”
“I lost him in the dark, and I've been trying to find my way out of this hellhole.” She raised her hands slowly. “So … I guess you bastards win.”
Pike took another step closer, almost where I needed him to be. But then his gaze flicked to Rocco, and he jerked his chin toward the tunnels. “Find that bastard. I'll handle her.”
My stomach dropped. Son of a bitch!
I tightened my grip on the ax, splinters biting into my palm. One throw. That was all I had. I needed them together.
Every frantic beat of my pulse hammered in my throat.
Pike kept his gun trained on Bella while Rocco strode toward the nearest tunnel opening, sweeping his weapon into the darkness.
“He's here somewhere,” Pike snarled.
“Yeah,” Rocco added. “Probably hiding like a fucking coward.”
My jaw clenched so hard I thought my teeth might crack. Every instinct screamed at me to charge out there and beat them both to death with my bare hands. But I forced myself to stay behind the timber column and wait for the perfect moment.
Rocco moved methodically, checking each tunnel entrance at ground level.
When he found nothing, he turned his attention upward to the excavation platforms that jutted out at different heights around the chamber.
The wooden stairs connecting them looked like they'd been held together by rust and sheer stubbornness.
“Come out, you gutless prick.” Rocco's shout echoed around the chasm. The wooden stairs groaned as he started climbing, dust raining down with every step.
Pike grabbed Bella by the hair.
Her scream tore straight through me. White-hot rage flooded my veins, and it took everything I had not to rush him right then and there.
He yanked her head back, pressing the gun barrel against her temple. “I know you can hear me, asshole.” His voice boomed through the chamber. “Show yourself, or I paint the walls with her brains.”
My breath stopped. Every muscle in my body locked up.
I couldn't move. If I stepped out, he'd kill us both.
If I stayed hidden, he'd—
Wait.
If Pike wanted Bella dead, she'd already be dead. He could've shot her the second he saw her. Could've pulled the trigger ten times by now.
But he hadn't.
They were keeping her alive for a reason. Leverage? Information? Whatever sick game those assholes were playing, maybe they really did need to take her back to Sicily for some reason.
I held onto that theory like a lifeline and prayed I was right.
“Looks like we have to do this the hard way.” Pike shoved Bella to her knees but kept the gun aimed at her head. “Your boyfriend's a real piece of work, leaving you here to die alone.”
“Go to hell,” Bella spat.
Above us, Rocco reached the first platform. He swept his gun across the shadows, his one good eye straining in the dim light. His left eye was swollen completely shut, turning half of his field of vision into a useless blind spot.
He moved to the next staircase, not even bothering to test each step before putting his full weight on it. The stairs creaked and swayed, the support beams underneath groaning like they were about to give up.
“You up here, you asshole?” Rocco kicked open a rotted door to a storage room on the platform, and as the timber shattered inward, Rocco dove in gun first.
“Anything?” Pike yelled up to Rocco.
“Nothin'.” Rocco appeared again, shaking his head.
“I told you. He's not here,” Bella cried.
Pike slapped her across the face. Hard.
She screamed and slumped to the ground, the hem of her dress sliding up to reveal pale thighs mottled with dirt and bruises.
My vision went red. Every fiber of my being wanted to break cover, to bury this ax in Pike's skull and watch the light drain from his eyes. That's what they both deserved.
But I stayed put. Forced myself to breathe. To think.
Rocco moved higher, climbing toward the second level.
My mind raced as I tracked his movement. This wasn't working. Another plan was going to shit.
And now Bella would die because of my failure.
Rocco reached the second platform and moved along the walkway, his boots sending small avalanches of dirt and debris raining down. He checked behind a stack of old mining equipment, then turned toward the tunnel openings at that level.
The walkway swayed under his weight.
“Anything?” Pike called up.
“No. But he's here. I can feel him.” Rocco moved to the third staircase, this one even more decrepit than the last. The handrail had rotted away completely.
He started climbing.
Below, Pike shifted his stance, adjusting his aim at Bella. “Last chance, you gutless asshole. Or do I start with her kneecaps and work my way up?”
“You're the one who's gutless!” Bella's voice rang out across the chamber, sharp and fierce. Even from here, I saw the fire blazing in her eyes. My chest swelled with pride, mixing with my bone-deep terror.
“Hurting an unarmed woman,” she continued. “You are gutless.”
“Shut up.” He backhanded her across the face again.
The crack echoed through the chamber. Bella cried out and hit the floor hard, her burned hands scraping against the stone.
Everything in me screamed to kill him. But she pushed herself back up and used the momentum to inch farther away from Pike.
Away from the hopper's shadow.
My breath caught. She was doing this on purpose. Antagonizing him, goading him so she could create distance from the kill zone.
Smart girl. Keep going.
“It's just like when Vincenzo killed my father,” Bella said, her voice shaking but defiant as she crawled another foot away. “He murdered an innocent man.”
“Your father was no innocent.” Pike's voice was cold, dismissive. “He was just as guilty as Paolo.”
“Bullshit!” Bella pushed herself to her knees, putting another precious foot between them.
That's it, Bella. Keep moving. Keep him talking.
Above us, Rocco had reached the third platform. The ancient planks groaned as he moved along them toward another cluster of tunnel openings. His blind side was turned partially toward me. He couldn't see half the chamber from up there. That ruined eye was useless.
My fingers dug into the ax handle so hard that splinters drove into my palm.
“Why don't you just kill me, huh?” Bella's voice cracked. “Get it over with?”
No. Bella, what are you—
“Because you need to answer for what you did,” Pike said flatly, like he was discussing the weather.
Bella's glare could've melted steel.
There it was. Confirmation. They needed her alive. For now.
Which meant I had time. Not much. But some.
“I'll never go back. Never,” Bella continued, and I heard real pain cracking through her voice.
“I said shut up,” Pike snapped. But he didn't hit her again or take a step toward her.
He was following orders. Keeping her alive for their boss.
Which meant my theory was right.
I still had a chance to end this.
I scanned the overhead pulley system where the massive hopper hung like a rust-covered guillotine, suspended by ropes that looked older than hell.
And then I saw a secondary rope. It was part of the pulley system, running along the wooden beams and connecting the various platforms at different levels.
It was looped through a counterweight mechanism in an old system used by the miners to haul equipment up and down.
One end of the rope disappeared into the shadows near Rocco's platform.
The other end was tied to the main support rope holding up the hopper.
My pulse kicked into overdrive.
If I cut the secondary rope higher than I'd originally planned, the counterweight would release, and the whole system would drop. The tension would shift. The entire goddamn thing would tear itself apart and collapse.
And, if I’m right, the platform Rocco was standing on would give way beneath him.
But to hit that rope, I'd have to step out from behind the column, exposing myself completely. I'd need to aim twenty feet higher than my original target, adjust for the angle, account for the spin, and pray my aim was true.
One shot.
That's all I had.
It was insane.
I shifted my position, peering around the column toward Bella. She was still on the ground, but she'd managed to crawl five feet from where Pike had first grabbed her. Far enough that she was almost clear of the kill zone. Pike's gun hung at his side, pointing at the floor instead of her head.
Her gaze found mine across the chamber. The fear in her expression damn near destroyed me. Raw and real and cutting straight through my chest. But fear wasn’t all I saw. There was also steel burning underneath that terror.
And determination. Trust.
And hope.
As we stared at each other through the dim light and shadows, the distance between us felt like miles. I gave her a single nod, slow and deliberate. I've got a plan. Be ready.
She held my gaze for one more heartbeat. Then she gave me the smallest nod in return. Almost imperceptible. Just a slight dip of her chin.
But I saw it.
I trust you.
Oh hell.
I’m really doing this.
My grip tightened on the ax handle until my knuckles went white. Every nerve in my body screamed, every instinct told me this was suicide.
But Bella was counting on me.
This was it.
Now or never.