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Chapter One
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A rush of cold water hit my body, plunging around my face and over my head.
Rushing, churning, tumbling.
Within seconds, I had no idea which way was up. How to get to the surface. It was fast, too fast. Panic filled me at the utter loss of control. I kicked my legs, flailed my arms, but nothing helped. For a split second, I burst to the surface, almost miraculously, and managed to snatch a gulp of air, but then another wave hit me and I found myself beneath the surface again. When I opened my eyes, blinking against the ice cold water, only a reddish brown filled my vision—a combination of silt and blood.
Yes, blood.
I was bleeding. Shot. I remembered that now. Shot by the man who had Vee and her sister, Nicole, under his ownership. I needed to get back to her, but right now I couldn’t even take care of myself.
The cold was squeezing the air from my lungs, and still I tumbled in the water. I’d never been so helpless before, but nature had hold of me now, and nature was a bitch.
A lucky spin brought my head to the surface again, allowing me a second gulp of air. It wasn’t enough, though, and my lungs burned. I was desperate to open my mouth and take another breath, but I was beneath the surface again, and doing so would kill me. I fought against my body’s instincts, but I was growing weak. Losing blood to the surrounding water. A flash of thought jumped into my head that at least I wasn’t in the sea, and so wouldn’t be attracting sharks. The thought was so distant and ridiculous, I fought against a laugh bursting from my lips. That laugh would have been fatal.
But I was going to die. I was sure of that now.
Where at first I had fought against the insistent strength of the water, I realized my limbs had grown weak. I wasn’t swimming, or attempting to swim anymore. Instead, the river buffeted me, pummeling my body like a hundred fists. What sort of distance had the water carried me? How far was I from Vee?
She was the last thought in my head, the memory of her, the fear in her dark eyes as the bullet from Tony’s gun punched me in the shoulder and sent me flying into the water. I wanted desperately to get back to her, but I was helpless. I was losing blood, and my strength with it. Part of me was amazed I hadn’t lost consciousness already, yet even as the thought went through my mind, I realized the thought had only existed inside my head. I was no longer aware of the outside world.
The ice cold of the water had retreated, though I still spun and tumbled as though inside a giant washing machine. My lungs burned, but I could think of no reason not to breathe now. I was warm, light-headed, almost comfortable. Hugged from all sides as I turned over and over in slow motion. I couldn’t remember what I was doing, or why I was here.
So I opened my mouth ...
And breathed.
