Page 21 of In the Dark

“You’re tiring, little viper. Admit it, and I’ll pull you to shore when your legs give out.”

“I’ll never admit a damn thing to you Knights. You can go to hell.”

“Why? Because we killed your uncle? You know you hated him.”

Her eyes flashed with guilt for a moment. “You can hate your family but still want them to live, Callahan.”

“He was going to sell your hand in marriage to Tomás.”

“As opposed to you taking Maribel’s now?” she whispered in a tone that was full of betrayal.

She wasn’t turning this on me. “Your family is hemorrhaging. It’s the best type of deal to take when that happens. Plus, you expect Diamonds to be okay with you just burning down a billion-dollar building. That’s on you.”

“Go to hell,” she said through the water as she struggled to keep her body afloat.

“Keep my spot warm for me, then? You’ll be there before I will.” I let her go and took a stroke back, and she didn’t even follow toward the shore.

“I hate you, Callahan.” She gurgled, and then she went under.

That dark-blue hue of her hair got smaller and smaller. It spiraled down into the abyss like ink in water. One second, she was a spitting, defiant creature, and the next, she was just … gone.

The silence of the Atlantic was deafening. The waves crashed against the shore, indifferent to the fact that a Ruiz had just vanished into the dark. My back was screaming, the saltwater a thousand needles in the wound she’d carved into my muscle, but that pain was nothing compared to the sudden, hollow vacuum in my chest when the ocean swallowed her up.

Fuck, my panic started to overtake me. I probably should have let her drown, but as I weighed the options, I couldn’t kill her or let her go just yet. It didn’t matter that she was more of a menace than anything. I swear she knew something—I told myself that was why I hit the HEAT smartwatch with tracking for an emergency. My team would get here quickly now.

I scanned the surface once more, my heartbeat galloping faster and faster. There had to be a reason her aunt and uncle didn’t want to give her hand up and so quickly offered their own daughters.

So, I dove down for her. I kicked hard, my muscles burning with the effort as I shot through the water to spot her sinking slowly, down, down, down. I grabbed her by the waist and hauled her upward, breaking the surface with a gasp that tore at my lungs.

She was limp. Her head fell back against my shoulder, her skin the color of marble.

“Breathe,” I growled, swimming toward the shore with a brutal, one-armed stroke. “Breathe, you stubborn little pain in my ass, or I swear I’ll bring you back just to kill you myself.”

I’d have to give her CPR. How long could a body go without air? Was she fucking breathing?

The sand finally hit my loafers, and I yanked her up into my arms, trying to get her out of the cold. I moved quickly toward the shore enough to clear her body of the waves, and then I collapsed with her in my arms. I put her onto her back and pressed my hands to her chest, pumping with a rhythmic, desperate force. I leaned down and put my mouth to hers to force my own air into her lungs. I tasted the salt and the faint, lingering ghost of the woman who had tried to murder me only minutes ago.

Of course it only took one breath from me for her to spurt water from her lungs and immediately shove me away from her as she coughed and then tried to scramble away in the sand.

I grabbed her jaw and held it to the side long enough for her to empty the saltwater from her lungs before I turned her back to face me.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you.” She stared at me with a defiance I almost respected at that point.

“There is none. So, instead of saving me, let me die.” She started shaking uncontrollably then, and I realized if I didn’t get her warm, the cold would kill her. She was freezing. The blue of her lips was so deep I was concerned how fast hypothermia had hit.

“I didn’t drag you from the ocean just so you could die from the cold, Jas.” I yanked the coat from her shoulders, trying to strip at least that layer off her. The cold water was soaked into the fabric and was surely making her body temp drop faster. “How stupid are you that you thought you’d kill me with that stunt?”

“Worth a shot,” she said through chattering teeth, pushing my hands away when I tried to get any of her clothes off. I left them for now. “If you would have just sunk to the bottom of the ocean or let the sharks get you, I would have had a chance at disappearing with my family.”

“Instead of marrying off one cousin? You could have died out there if I hadn’t saved your ridiculous ass.”

“I don’t care. If you marry her, I’ll die anyway.”

“Why?”

“They’re family, Cal. And I’m not throwing my family to the devil himself. I’ll die before I do.” She huffed out a breath, and it was only a small puff of heat now while her body shook, trying to reach a warmer temperature but failing.

And even still, her hand was snaking to her side like she was looking for another weapon.