Chapter 28
They took the bait
Dina
My throat feels like someone rammed a brick through it, then crushed it and made me swallow pieces of debris. Debris? Why is there debris in the back of my throat?
My head hurts.
I try to get up, but can’t.
It’s awfully quiet.
Why are my eyes shut? My eyelids flutter, but there’s dust on them, so I don’t open them. Dust? I cough. What is that on my chest? I want to turn left and right, and I struggle to do so. I can’t move. Get this thing off my chest!
In my head, I scream, but nothing audible comes out of my mouth. Other people’s voices drift in.
First like whispers, but soon I hear sirens over the people, who appear to be shouting above me. I blink open my eyes, and when the dust gets in, I close them again and roll them until the tears coat my eyes.
Now would be a good time to cry. Make tear production useful for once, but of course, when I need to cry to clean my eyes, I can’t.
I’m trapped. Why am I trapped? What happened?
I was in my hair salon, grabbing the supplies and…and. OMG. Connor.
“Connor,” I whisper, but I can barely hear myself speaking. I try again, but swallow the dirt in my mouth. “Connor.” Useless.
The voices become louder. Someone above me is shouting. What are they saying? I’m trying to understand them, but I can’t hear well.
An explosion. There was an explosion. This is why my ears can’t adjust and why there’s a ton of debris around me. Am I trapped under the rubble? I blink open my eyes and force myself to focus…on broken gray concrete and metal wiring above my head.
I am trapped.
Oh my God. I’m trapped. I’m going to die. I can’t breathe. Fuck, I can’t breathe. Panic seizes my chest, and I struggle to get up but can’t, and to breathe but can’t, so I try screaming at the top of my lungs.
“Someone is under here!” a man says from above.
Yes! They must’ve heard me or seen me with the light. More flashlights flicker in.
I squint my eyes and call out again, my voice stronger than before. Panic is subsiding. I will get rescued. I hope Connor is okay. I hope Connor is alive. Declan will be devastated if something happened to his brother. Because of me.
And my stupid bridal shower.
And my stupid hair.
My stupid freedom. My stupid in general. God, I am stupid. My ex was right.
Damn it, Dina.
Bright light shines over my eyes. “I see someone!” a woman shouts.
I recognize the voice. Tris? “Tris!” I croak out. It doesn’t have the volume I hoped for, but it’s something. “Tris!” I shout. This time it’s louder. “Triiiiis! I’m down here!”
“Dina, I hear you! We’re coming. Hang in there.”
“There are two of us under here.”
No answer.
“Tris? I said there are two of us under here.”
No answer. She might’ve moved away.
I hear scraping above me. The hole through which the light shone widens.
I think they’re digging. This takes a while, though it might just feel like it to me, but finally, I see Tris’s face, and two firefighters in hard hats poke their heads inside the hole they dug.
One of the men reaches for me, but I can’t move yet.
“There was a man with me,” I say.
Tris is shaking her head. There’s fear in her eyes.
“Did he die?” I ask.
Tris presses a finger over her lips, signaling me to be quiet. The firefighter looks over his shoulder.
“What? What’s going on?”
“We’ve got orders to get you out, ma’am,” the firefighter says.
“Thank you. Is the man who was with me out?”
“Ma’am, our orders are to get the woman out.”
I try to shake my head, but I can’t because I’m trapped. My brain must’ve suffered a hit because it takes me a moment to understand what he said. “Okay, I’m the woman. But what about the man who was with me?”
“Another crew is working on him,” Tris says. “Let’s just get you out.” Tris sticks her hand through the hole and wipes my face with a washcloth. I can see better!
“Is he alive?” I ask.
“You set on getting us killed, lady?”
“No. No.”
“Then keep your mouth shut.”
I don’t like him. “Who is out there?” I ask.
The other fireman speaks for the first time, “I’ll tell you who if you tell me who the fuck you are.”
“Dina Ferrar.”
“Who?”
“Dina Ferrar.”
“Well, Dina, the chief of police ordered us to get you out and into custody, and then we are to stop digging. That’s all.”
“Declan Crossbow is under the rubble,” I lie, because Connor risked his life for this.
He risked his life so that the man who wanted his brother dead would strike and reveal their hand.
I might be stupid, but I’ve seen enough of how these two brothers work to know I need to keep up with Connor’s ruse.
Now, I cry. It’s good. Tears clear the debris from my eyes.
The men exchange looks. Tris curses. I push on even when my throat burns. My voice sounds like I scrubbed my vocal cords with sandpaper.
“Tris, there’s thirty-five thousand dollars in my apartment.” The cops might’ve confiscated it, but they might not have. “I’ll tell you where I stashed it if you do something for me.”
“Lady, I have three kids,” the older of the two firefighters says.
Tris shakes her head. “Dina, don’t. You’ll get us killed.”
“Please, Tris. All I want you to do—”
She looks over her shoulder. “We’re working as fast as we can!”
The firefighter barks, “No more talking. I mean it.”
“Please,” I beg, and tears spill from the corners of my eyes. “Please, get the man out.”
“Shut up, Dina,” Tris says firmly. “Shut up or they’re going to kill you. The chief is here and Crossbow’s SUVs are arriving. Since Massio is dead, someone else owns the city now. Keep your mouth shut.”
The firefighters struggle to lift the last large piece of concrete wall. I shut my eyes, terrified they might drop it on me. When I close my eyes though, Connor’s dimples and his smile flash before my eyes.
By the time they fetch me out, I’m a hopeless emotional mess. Injured with cuts and bruises everywhere, I cry me a river. My arm hurts when someone pins my wrist to the stretcher before they wheel me away.
The face of a dark-haired man blocks out the sun.
“Hi, Dina. I’m Chief Kinnar. I’m glad you’re okay.” He crushes my wrist, and I scream in pain.
He steps away.
“Declan Crossbow is under the rubble. You’re obliged to get him out. You’re a public servant.”
The chief bends over the stretcher, “We will retrieve his body. Don’t worry.”
“He could still be alive. Get him!”
The chief tsks. “What a loud little cunt you are. If your friend Martin weren’t my wife’s cousin, I would have left you too.” He disappears from view.
I try to sit up. I can’t quite make it, but I manage to shout after him, “The other one will come for you.”
The chief shouts back, “I sure hope so.”
Tris pushes my stretcher into the ER. The bright light blinds me. People swarm the stretcher, and one woman introduces herself as a trauma doctor. I’ve never met her before. She must be replacing Dr. Pertel, who went on vacation.
There’s a flurry of activity.
The woman shines a small light into my eye and says something, but all I see is her mouth opening and closing. My heart hurts, lady, and I can’t deal. I cry harder, and they sedate me.