A female scream rends the air and I turn, heading south toward the sound. It doesn’t sound like January, but maybe it’s the girlfriend or the new fiancée. Someone I can reason with or hold hostage.
A large, gold-plated door is hanging open, and the air and the scent rushing from it are tropical. I recall Parker’s plans for a huge indoor greenhouse and wonder how he keeps the foundations from sagging under the moisture. A more stupid billionaire there cannot be.
The woman screams again, and I plunge into the mock jungle.
I push through plants in a daze, my mouth dry.Please.Please let her be there.
I find a clearing, a giant purple waterfall tumbling from the roof into a pool, and I get my wish. And my worst nightmare. Zachery Parker is crouching by the water, holding January under. She’s naked and fighting him, her skin shiny-wet.
On the other side of the pool is the woman screaming. The redhead who threw up at the safe house and I can see Archie Baskerville slumped against a tree, hands pressed to his bloody stomach. I move toward the pool. Parker’s pushed January’s head and shoulders underwater and he’s holding her down. Her legs are kicking wildly, her hair churning the water to foam.
“Away!” I scream, raising my gun but Parker’s too close. I can’t try to kill him without risking her. “Get away you,pezzo di merda!”
But January’s movements slow, her thighs slackening against the purple pool tiles.
“Too late,” Parker says with a grin. He releases January’s shoulders, and she slides into the pool like a stone.
“No, no, no!”
I aim for Parker’s head, but my hands are shaking; I fire into the trees and hear the redhead scream again. Parker scrambles, grabbing a hunting rifle from the ground. Hoisting it onto his shoulder he plunges into the foliage. I ignore him, rushing to the pool. January’s lying on the bottom, a flesh-colored doll against the purple tiles. I toss aside my gun and dive. My body is aching, everything is aching, but I haul her up with all my strength, piling her sloppily onto the wet tile. I climb out, my saturated clothes weighing me down. I shove January’s wet hair out of her face, open her mouth and press my lips to hers, forcing my breath into her lungs.
The air comes whooshing passively back out.
“No,” I mutter. “No,bella. No.”
I give her my breath again and press two fingers to her neck. I can’t feel a pulse, but I must be shaking too hard because she can’t be dead. She can’t be.
I breathe into her again, pounding her chest the way Doc showed me all those years ago.
“This is useless,” I told him. “When will I need to save anyone?”
What a fucking fool I am.
“Come on,bella,” I say, pushing her chest. “Come on,bella, come back to us. I love you. I love you. I love you with all my heart. Until my dying day, I will love you. If I have to live in a shack forever, I will be grateful. Just breathe.Breathe.”
Somewhere I can hear Parker laughing but I can’t spare a thought for him. Not revenge and not that he could easily snipe me from the forest. I’m with January. Always.
“Always,” I tell her, then I press my lips to her cold ones. It’s more of a kiss than CPR, and as I begin to press my breath into her, January shifts. I pause, paralyzed with hope as she turns her head and chokes, spitting out chlorinated water.
“Yes! Yes, my ruby.”
I clasp her mouth and breathe for her again. This time she weakly pushes me away, sputtering harder. I have kissed her back to life. My princess. My perfect January Whitehall.
Her beautiful green eyes blink open, droplets clinging to each of her lashes. “Eli?”
I laugh in pure relief. “Yes, my love. I’m here.”
“You need to…” she says weakly. “…Emilia…”
A shot rings out, skimming the tile beside me. I swear, pulling January into my arms. I try to stand but my clothes are wet, my shoes soaked. I stumble, almost tipping both of us back into the pool. January collapses naked on the tiles and I look around for my gun. I can’t see it anywhere.
Parker emerges from the forest, hunting rifle raised. “I just can’t seem tofucking kill you.”
“You can’t,” I agree.
He looks me right in the eyes. “No more running, I’m gonna blow your fucking—”
The shot blows through his right thigh, punching through his suit pants like a nail. Parker screams.
