by Mari Carr
Once he was on solid ground, he reached out to Charlotte, who boosted her ass onto the wall, then executed a very girlie spin, flipping her legs to the other side.
Christian hesitated before joining them. “Didn’t you say the other end of this tunnel was the one that collapsed?” There was no denying the structure of the tunnel where Vincent and Charlotte stood was less stable than the main corridor where he was.
Charlotte didn’t seem bothered by that fact, but Vincent flashed his light up and agreed.
“Maybe you should get out of here, Charlotte.” Vincent took her arm, intent on helping her back over, but Charlotte shook off his grip.
“I want to take a closer look at this.”
Which left Christian one choice. He wasn’t going to be standing on one side while the two most precious people in his life were on the other.
He was halfway over the wall when he heard a woman yell.
“Hey! Christian!”
Christian lifted his flashlight toward the voice, just in time to see the dark-haired woman standing twenty feet away, gun in hand.
“This is for Caden.” Her voice was hoarse and desperate. Her eyes flat and blank.
Before he could consider his actions, he leapt into the chamber where Charlotte and Vincent were standing.
He saw Vincent reaching for his weapon a split second before a flash of light blinded him and a deafening boom shook his eardrums.
However, he didn’t feel any pain. She’d missed him. Rose’s bullet had gone high. Way high.
She was a bad shot. Or he’d blinded her with the flashlight.
That was all he had time to think before the ceiling above them began to give way. Maybe her aim wasn’t that bad after all.
Strong arms grabbed him, dragging him farther into the tunnel, away from the entrance. Several stones dropped on him, battering his legs, his arms, his head. Everything happened in fast forward. And slow motion.
He couldn’t move quickly enough to escape the beating of the cave-in completely, yet it seemed as if he was watching every single beam and boulder fall and bounce against the dirt floor.
Charlotte screamed, but the sound was lost as the rubble continued to fall, to crash around them loudly.
“Charlotte!” Christian called out, trying to get his bearings, desperate to find her, but the room had gone dim. His flashlight was somewhere on the floor, buried amidst the rocks and dust.
When the avalanche subsided, Christian only had two thoughts. One, he was alive. Two, he was trapped in utter darkness.
Rose closed her eyes, trying to recover from the blinding light Christian had flashed her direction. When she opened them again, all she saw was the ceiling of the tunnel fall before everything went dark again. She backpedaled, more on instinct than anything. Clouds of mortar and dust had her coughing. She took another tentative step back. She’d dropped the gun. When she stopped coughing, Rose rubbed her dry eyes, blinded by the dust.
The darkness was quiet. Rose continued backing up, still blind, arms outstretched. She heard stone crack and she ducked, arms over her head. Nothing happened, but she felt the band of the headlamp.
She clicked it on, gasping at the sudden brightness. When she could see, she examined the spill of rock in front of her. Christian and his trinity were buried under that. As disappeared as Caden.
Rose waited to feel something. Waited for the tears to come.
They didn’t.
Behind her, she heard rocks shift. She started to turn when someone ran up behind her, pulled the headlamp away, dropped a black bag over her head, and yanked her backward.
She was trapped. In utter darkness.
Christian coughed, choking on the dust that filled the chamber. Gratefully, Vincent and Charlotte were doing the same. They were alive. He wasn’t alone.
“Is anyone hurt?” Vincent asked, his dark voice cutting through the pitch black. It was a welcome sound.
“I’m okay,” Charlotte said. “You knocked me out of the way before anything hit me. Christian?”
Christian mentally took stock of himself. He was fairly certain he was bleeding in a couple places and his ankle throbbed like a motherfucker. But nothing life-threatening.
“I’m good too.”
“The bullet…” Charlotte began.
“Missed me by a mile.”
He heard someone rustling around in the darkness.
“Found it,” Vincent said after several minutes. And just like that, there was light.
Flashlight in hand, Vincent continued searching until he recovered the walkie-talkie as well.
“Can anyone hear me?” he spoke into the device.
“Vincent?” It was Juliette, who seemed to be in a bit of a scuffle with someone. “Dammit, will you two just stop for a second?” she said to someone. “The whole building shook like there was an earthquake, and we heard stone crashing. What the hell is happening down there?”
“Rose. She fired a shot at Christian.”
“Jesus Christ. Is he okay?” Sebastian’s voice came over the line. The reception was crackly at best, but at least they were able to communicate.
Christian took the walkie-talkie from Vincent. “I’m fine, baby brother.” He hoped Sebastian would blame the poor reception for the hoarseness in his voice. The dust still hadn’t settled, and it was suffocating.
Juliette was the next to speak. “Thank God for that. I had to bar the door to keep Franco and Sebastian from barreling down there. Where is Rose now?”
Christian started coughing again, so Vincent reclaimed the walkie-talkie. “Probably on the other side of this pile of rocks. You know those cave-ins you were telling us to be careful of? They’re real.”
“Shit,” Juliette said.
Christian appreciated the precariousness of her position. She could hardly allow anyone else to come down to rescue them, knowing Rose was in the tunnels with a weapon she wasn’t opposed to using.
“Don’t move,” she said at last. “I’ve already called Devon. He’s on his way back. I’m not sure what’s taking him so long.”
“Dammit, Jules, that’s my brother,” Christian heard Sebastian yell before the walkie-talkie went silent. Clearly his brother wasn’t happy about being held back.
“Are you in a safe place or are you in danger of another cave-in?” Juliette asked a few minutes later.
The three of them looked at each other. They were probably okay as long as no one tried to dig them out.
“Give me that,” Charlotte said, taking the walkie-talkie from Vincent. “Is Franco there?”
“I’m here, Charlotte. What’s up?”
“I know where we are. And I think it would be safer for everyone if you came to get us through the back door.”
“Sounds kinky. I like it.”
Charlotte laughed. “Turn on the light box and I’ll show you what I mean.” For several moments, Charlotte and Franco conferred about the possibility of saving them by digging out the previous cave-in. Doing so would keep the rescuers away from Rose as well as preventing any more of the current roof from collapsing on them.
Once they’d finished making their plans, Charlotte ensured the historian would work fast to get to them by dangling an irresistible carrot in front of him. “Believe me, Franco, you’re going to want to see what we’re trapped in here with.”
“What do you mean?” Franco asked excitedly. “Did you find something else?”
As she spoke, Charlotte shone Vincent’s flashlight around the tunnel, focusing the beam on the artwork. “Sculpture. Old one. Big one. I’m not well-versed in art history, but this, well…this is valuable. I just know it.”
“There are some trunks here too,” Vincent added. “They’re all pretty wrecked though.”
“Hot damn,” Franco said reverently as Christian overheard Juliette telling Sebastian to call Eli. Her resigned tone was in direct opposition to Franco’s outright elation.
“We’re on our way, Christian,” Sebastian said into the wal
kie-talkie. His brother clearly appreciated the fact that Christian was slowly starting to come out of his own skin in a way Franco did not.
He nodded, unable to speak. Right now, as long as he focused on his breathing, he could manage to keep from freaking out, rushing over to the pile of rocks to desperately try to dig his way to freedom.
Chapter Twelve
Charlotte scooted closer to Christian, running her hands over his face to make sure he wasn’t hurt. Everything had happened so fast. The woman yelling, the deafening report of the gun, and then the thunderous avalanche of rocks. So many rocks. Vincent had pushed her farther into the tunnel before rushing over to grab Christian.
Charlotte had been certain he would be crushed, buried alive amongst the rubble. That was the last thing she saw.
Then the flashlight blinked out and she was swallowed in darkness. She’d been terrified, certain she’d lost them both.
It was only once the earth stopped quaking and she heard their voices that she’d started to breathe again.
“You sure you’re okay? Those rocks came down hard.” She had to touch him, had to be sure he hadn’t lied about his condition to comfort her.
It wasn’t until she put her hands on his clammy, sweaty skin that she realized he wasn’t okay, but not for the reason she’d been thinking of.
“Oh my God, Christian,” she whispered. “It’s going to be okay. I swear. We’re getting out of here.”
Her words prompted Vincent to move. He’d been flashing the light around the tunnel, taking stock of their surroundings and what they’d found. His interest in that evaporated the second she revealed Christian was in trouble.
“Stand up, Christian.”
Charlotte glanced at their lover, surprised to find Vincent directly in front of them, his face stern, his expression the same as the one that caused her panties to melt away in the bedroom.
Christian swallowed heavily, but didn’t move.
Charlotte wasn’t entirely certain he could. His face was deathly pale, his breathing shallow. She touched his hand. It was ice cold.
Shock?
“Here.” Vincent grasped Christian’s hand away from her and took the other. Then he put quite a bit of strength behind lifting Christian’s shaky body from the ground. Christian winced as he gingerly put some weight on his ankle.
“Broken?” Charlotte asked.
He shook his head. His eyes locked on Vincent’s face.
“Take a deep breath,” Vincent ordered.
Christian tried. “There’s not enough air—”
“Of course there is,” Vincent said gruffly. “We’re not going to suffocate. In truth, we could start walking out of here, but I’d rather wait until your brother and his friends do what they need to on the other end.”
Vincent didn’t say he wanted to steer clear unless even more of the ceiling caved in.
“How far is it from here to the other end, Charlotte?” Vincent asked.
Charlotte had that same question. They needed to get Christian out of here. Fast. She pulled her phone to her face, wiping the layer of dust covering it from the screen. She did some quick math in her head. “Maybe a hundred feet?”
“Christian. I want you to keep your eyes on me.” Vincent’s voice was deep, soothing, but there was no denying it still held that thread of absolute authority, power. “Breathe. Now.”
Christian sucked in a deeper breath, releasing it with a shudder.
“Do it again.”
He repeated the process, and this time it appeared easier for him.
“Once more.”
By the time Christian had managed to get a third deep breath of air to his lungs, his shoulders relaxed.
“We’re going to walk out of here in just a few minutes. The three of us. Together. Do you know why we’re doing that?” Vincent asked.
Christian shook his head. He hadn’t said more than a few words since they’d become trapped.
“Because we have too much left to do. We have to pack up Charlotte’s apartment and yours. We need to get married, figure out your side of the bed and mine and hers.”
“I’m not sleeping in the middle every night,” she warned. “It gets too hot between you two.”
A ghost of a smile appeared on Christian’s face. Charlotte thought it was the sweetest thing she’d ever seen.
“Then there’s the issue of Charlotte starting a new firm and you winning a Tony and me making another billion dollars.”
“And babies,” Charlotte added.
Both men looked at her, their expressions the same blend of surprise and delight.
“Definitely babies,” Vincent said. They hadn’t discussed children. Hell, they hadn’t discussed much of anything. One second they were standing at the altar, binding their lives to each other, the next they were going undercover in BDSM clubs, chasing down purists, cracking codes, and exploring dangerous tunnels.
Before they could say more, there was an extremely loud noise from the far end of the tunnel, and the ground quaked once more.
Charlotte stepped next to Vincent and Christian, the three of them wrapping their arms around each other, seeking shelter and safety as they waited to see what happened next.
Had another section of the tunnel collapsed?
Or had Sebastian and the others broken through?
What if Rose knew of another way to get to them? What if she was coming to finish what she’d started?
Charlotte closed her eyes tightly, fighting back tears and the desire to scream at the top of her lungs.
“It’ll be okay,” Vincent said, over and over. She suspected he was talking to Christian, but his voice became her mantra too. She let it soak in deep, soothe her, warm her.
And then, a thousand years later, she heard Sebastian’s voice.
“Thank God, you’re all okay.”
Sebastian made a beeline for his brother.
Charlotte got out of the way as another man she’d never seen barreled past her in the tunnel.
He was big, not Vincent big, but tall and broad. He had dark skin and refined features that made her think he had a mixed-race background. He wore a chunky knit sweater, glasses, and had a brown satchel slung across his chest.
He skidded to a halt next to Franco, the two of them standing side by side as they looked at the artwork. “Sculpture,” he whispered. “Kore.”
Vincent pulled Charlotte against his side. “You alright?”
“Yep. I guess this is Eli?”
“Must be. He has that absentminded professor look.”
Franco wasn’t faring much better. His hair was standing on end from repeatedly running his fingers through it and, as with Eli, the sculpture had apparently struck him dumb for a moment.
Then he broke free from the trance. “Holy shit.”
“Come on,” Sebastian urged, rolling his eyes. “Let’s leave them to this. Trust me, you don’t want to be around these two when they find something they consider amazing.”
Charlotte shrugged. “It is a pretty cool statue.”
“Statue?” Eli said aghast. “Pretty cool?”
“Got it,” Charlotte murmured to Sebastian.
She expected him to laugh until she realized he was too focused on his brother for humor. “I want to get you guys out of here. Now.”
Sebastian’s primary concern was getting Christian back to the office. Most likely before he passed out, which was still a definite possibility. Christian’s color was not good.
The trip down the tunnel took longer than Charlotte anticipated. This tunnel hadn’t fared as well as the others, and there had obviously been several mini cave-ins throughout the years. That, coupled with Sebastian and Vincent both trying to support a limping Christian, slowed their pace more than she was comfortable with, even though Christian had seemed calmer since Vincent taught him how to breathe again.
Finally, they made their way out of the tunnel and back into Trinity headquarters. Sebastian led the way to the Grand Master’s off
ice as they followed.
Juliette was pacing the floor, frowning, upset. “Oh thank God,” she said almost reverently.
Charlotte felt sorry for Juliette. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like for this woman, day in and day out, dealing with so much pressure, so much stress. There wasn’t enough money in the world to compel her to serve as a counselor for the Grand Master.
Sebastian helped Christian to one of the chairs in front of the Grand Master’s desk. “Devon’s not back yet?”
Juliette shook her head. “No. I’m starting to worry. He’s not answering his cell. Eli and Franco?”
Sebastian chuckled. “In their element. Studying the sculpture. From the looks on their faces, whatever is down there is big.”
“Great. I was really hoping we’d find something else huge and unexplainable.” Sarcasm dripped from Juliette’s tone.
Sebastian walked around the desk and lightly punched her on the arm. “Did I mention Franco was actually speechless when he first saw it?”
Juliette narrowed her eyes. Charlotte didn’t blame her for being miffed. It was obvious her so-called best friend was trying to get a rise out of her.
“Thanks for the warning. I’ll be sure to slip a sleeping pill in his drink later tonight. Otherwise, he’ll be up until dawn obsessing over it. And keeping me up while he does it.”
“Might take more than one sleeping pill,” Sebastian teased.
“Keep it up, Bastian, and I’ll make you babysit him tonight.”
Sebastian very wisely closed his mouth, returning to his brother. “You doing okay?”
Christian nodded, and Charlotte noticed his color was starting to return.
“I’m never going back down in those tunnels.”
Vincent put his hand on Christian’s shoulder. “You don’t have to. We’re done.” He looked at Juliette and Sebastian. “Right?”
She nodded. “I’ve already spoken to the Grand Master. You went above and beyond what she asked of you. She asked me to pass along her most sincere gratitude.”
“But what about Rose?” Charlotte asked.