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Gianpierre winced when she said “postponed.”
“Sir… Gianpierre,” she said, softening her tone. “I am good at my job. Please, let me do my job.”
He looked her up and down, and his jaw tensed, but finally he gave a single nod. Turning on his heel, he headed for the main entrance to the catacombs. It was a roped off opening in the courtyard floor that would eventually be sealed over with a custom made door, which would sit flush with the surrounding cobblestone.
Grabbing a couple of yellow hard hats sitting on the ground, Gianpierre handed one to her and put the other one under his arm. She stood staring and waiting with the hard hat in her hands, but Gianpierre didn’t budge until she lifted it to sit atop her head. Then he turned away once more, shrugged off his jacket, and headed into the bowels of the Romano del Mare.
Once they were below, Luciana moved into the lead. At nearly every turn of the tunnels, she referenced the map on her computer pad again. Even so, she got them lost and walking in circles. She kept waiting for Gianpierre to become impatient and chide her before ripping the computer pad away, but it never happened. Instead, he remained calm and patient, and eventually she was able to lead them to the spot that Paolo had found. He was there, too, on his knees with a tubed video scope in his hands. He’d pushed it through the jumble of rocks and dirt that filled an arched doorway in an attempt to see what was beyond.
“Any luck?” Gianpierre asked, kneeling down next to Paolo and peering at the scope’s monitor.
“Not yet. The debris is thick. The entire room might be a cave in that was bricked over up above. But if it’s not…”
Luciana knew what it was that Paolo wasn’t saying. If the room was not completely full of stone and debris, there was a chance that the courtyard floor above the room could eventually give way. People could be hurt or even killed. Finding out what was inside the room was a matter of safety.
“This scope’s not long enough,” Gianpierre said. “We need the ten foot.”
“Se, I’ll get it,” Paolo said. He was on his feet and gone in the next moment. He didn’t have a map. He’d been down here so much that he knew his way around.
Luciana’s gaze moved to Gianpierre with a flash of realization. Gianpierre could have taken over and figured out where the uncovered room was in a matter of minutes, but he’d given her the chance to prove herself by allowing her to lead them to it instead. He could be so gruff and so hurried that his tendency for gentle leadership always caught her off guard.
Gianpierre adjusted the light density of the small view screen. “It looks like mostly rubble. We could drill a coring hole through the top of the courtyard, but I’d rather not damage the top bricks.” Standing, he left the monitor on the ground and shook his head. “I don’t have time for this. I’m needed in Dubai. These setbacks, they’re no good. They’re ruining my schedule. I’m going to leave this. It will still be here when I’m ready.”
“Sir… Gianpierre, no. You can’t.” Her heart thudded heavily in her chest and she felt light headed. She’d only just gotten approved for her loan. If she had to report back to the bank that her two-week-old job had already ended, all the progress she’d made toward providing little Natalia with a better life would slip away. She couldn’t let that happen.
Gianpierre shot her a sharp look in response to her declaration that he “could not” abandon the unfinished job. This was his show, she knew that. Not only was he one of the most sought after medieval restoration experts in the world, he was also one of the three owners of this property. He could do whatever he pleased with it, even if that was shoving a stick of dynamite under the thing and blowing it up. Telling the man what he couldn’t do wasn’t going to work, Luciana quickly realized. So, she tried a different approach.
Taking a deep breath despite the dusty, stale air of the catacombs, Luciana willed her heart to slow and her body to relax. If she was tense, he’d be tense. And, if she was relaxed, he might relax a little. Next, she smiled the biggest smile she could manage, but when that effort was met by Gianpierre’s grunt as he refocused on the little monitor, she let the smile soften and then pressed forward with her new, gentler attack on his plans. “Is walling a section off to come back to it later something that’s commonly done?”
Gianpierre shrugged. “Sometimes.”
Luciana licked her lips nervously and was thankful that he wasn’t looking at her to notice. “Is it something you’ve done in the past?” Please say no. Please say no.
Gianpierre’s lips thinned and his eyes narrowed as he shifted his attention back to her but he did not give an answer.
Gotcha! Luciana resisted the urge to do a triumphant fist pump in the air.
Gianpierre twisted the tubed camera scope in an effort to get it to travel into the rocky debris a little further. “You’re right. I would not normally leave a cave-in until later, but situations change. It can’t be helped. The entire project is taking too long. One delay after another. It’s too much.” He backed the tube out a few inches before attempting to push it back in at a different angle.
Luciana shone her flashlight at the jumble of dirt and rocks at eye level. Tracing the edges of the curved archway, she spotted a rock that was only loosely wedged into the debris and it seemed to have some space behind it. “There’s a spot up here,” she said as she reached on tiptoes to pull the rock free.
“Don’t!” Gianpierre yelled, but his warning came after Luciana already had her fingers hooked around behind the rock and was in mid-yank. A small sound followed of dirt and rock cascading, but then, as if someone turned up the volume on a set of speakers, the sound grew.
Luciana backed away from the clogged archway with her hands still lifted in the air where they had been when she’d pulled the rock.
There was a grumbling that felt as much like vibration as it was sound, and then… an avalanche. Rock, dirt and heavy carved stones flooded out of the archway as the archway itself lost its shape on one side.
Fear shot through Luciana as she saw the dirt that would become her grave come down at her, then Gianpierre’s long arms wrapped themselves around her body and she was pulled hard onto her back on the ground. There, Gianpierre covered her head with his arms, head and shoulders while his torso and legs did a good job of shielding the rest of her.
The air turned thick with dust that left Luciana gasping for air, and Gianpierre’s powerful body lay unmoving on top of her, his added weight making it all the more difficult to breathe.
“Sir? Gianpierre!” Terror filled Luciana that she had brought their deaths. She’d been a fool to insist on coming down into the catacombs. She’d only wanted to be seen as valuable to his team, but now she’d cost them both everything.
Gianpierre moved with a groan, sending dust from his hat into Luciana’s face. Squeezing her eyes shut, she coughed and spluttered, but then stilled when Gianpierre’s fingers brushed the dirt away from her eyes and cheeks.
“Are you alright?” Gianpierre’s gruff voice asked. “Say you’re alright.”
“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pulled that rock. I’m—”
