Page 51 of Light Me Up

Konig glared at him through the glittering refracted light from the chandelier. The man dangled one-handed, right across from Noah, and their struggling and thrashing had set the thing swinging. Slow, heavy sweeps like a massive pendulum.

Konig’s face was bloody and wild. His reddened teeth showed in a sneering grin as he lifted his free hand, which still held the gun. He aimed for Noah’s chest—

Boom.

Noah heard a crack from below. He looked down, and saw Konig’s gun hit the floor, bouncing and spinning.Konig screamed.

Aloud, wetthud—

Silence. Just the squeak and whine of the iron chain as it swungback and forth.

Konig was sprawled backwards over the horns of the bull, eyes wide and shocked. One horn pierced his chest. The other, his throat. The points gleamed wet and red. The bull’s head dripped blood. Rivulets trickled down over the pale marble to the floor.

Noah looked up. Caro was perched on what was left of the gallery, clinging to the statue’s leg to keep from falling. She held the gun inher other hand.

She’d shot Konig. Just in time. And the high gallery had almost completely collapsed, leaving her only a shaky fragment to stand on.

“Caro!” he called.

Her terrified eyes met his for just a second. She reached out to steady herself. The platform wobbled perilously beneath her. Her fingers patted smoothfrescoed wall.

No handhold anywhere. No safe way to jump.

Just a long, sheer drop to a bone-shattering floor.

The gun in Caro’s handbegan to shake.

Noah climbed quickly back up until he stood on the chandelier frame. He set the massive iron chain swinging, this time toward Caro. Higher and higher, until he got his hand around the marble elbowof the statue.

The force of stopping the chandelier’s swing tore at his injured shoulder and he cursed wildly. “Fuck!” he yelled. “Come on!”

Caro leaped toward him, arms around his neck, legs around his waist.

Agonizing pain shot through him as he let go of the statue—a second before it toppled forward out of its niche and smashed to the floor below them.

They swung free again, swooping back and forth over Konig’s corpse until the movement slowed enough for him to risk getting Caro down. Noah’s bloody hands slipped and slid on the thick chain as he helped her crawl down and dangle from the chandelier. That got her feet close enough to rest on the bull’s back and grab Europa’s shoulders.

She slid down to sit on the statue, caught her breath, then eased down to the floor.

Caro glanced at Konig’s splayed body and turned away without a word. She sank down to her shaking knees as if her legs wouldn’t hold her anymore.

Noah dropped from the chandelier, landing in a deep crouch near her. He pulled her swiftly into his arms and they held each other tightly, hearts pounding.

Noah lifted his head after a moment. “Babe,” he said, his voice thick with exhaustion. “I don’t know about you. But I have had enough.”

She looked up, a smile flashing across her lips. “You and me both.”

Another breathless hug to say all the things both of them were too shaken to put into words, and Caro looked up. “What should we doabout the gun?”

“What happened toit?” he asked.

“Must have fallen when I jumped on you. Don’t really remember.” Caro picked her way a little unsteadily through the wreckage of the fallen gallery, kicking aside pieces of wood and chunks of broken marble. Found one red sandal, then another. Then the gun. Her evening bag also lay among the wreckage. She pulled it loose and fished in it until she found a pack of tissues.

Noah took the Glock from her ice-cold fingers and carefully wiped it down with a tissue. A statue of a young girl carrying a large jug on her shoulder stood near the door. The neck of the jug was just wide enough to slidethe gun inside.

“We’ll tell Stefano where to find it.” He looked over at Konig. “When we’ll tell him that he has to deal with…that.”

Caro started to look back at the sprawled corpse, but stopped herself. “Tell Stefano about the gun? Really?”

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