Page 49 of Savage Hearts

Closing my eyes, I tilted my head back and rested it against the cool metal. I barely registered the plane lifting into the air as the sounds of the people working frantically to save two people penetrated my ears.

“I sent some men to check the crash.” Marco sat down beside me. “Someone may have survived the crash.”

Opening my eyes, I stared at him. “You really think anyone could have walked away from that?”

He shrugged his shoulder. “I’ve seen some crazy shit, so I don’t know what to think. You think he’ll live?” He nodded toward the bloody mess.

“I don’t know. Will he want to when he finds out the woman he loves is probably dead? I wouldn’t.”

The satellite phone Marco had rang, startling us both.

“Qué?” He shifted on his feet and glanced at me with an arched brown. “Busca en la zona.”Search the area.

Sitting up straighter, I waited for him to disconnect. “What?”

“They found the wreckage.”

“And?”

Marco set the phone down and ran his fingers through his hair. He blew out a frustrated breath and turned to look at Alex. “There were only two bodies on board.”

“Two?”

“Yes. Two.”

I pushed up to stand. “Do they know who, Marco?”

“Yes.”

My skin crawled with fear as I moved toward him. “Tell me.” I stepped closer, my fingers tightening into a fist. “Who did they find on the goddamn chopper?”

He shook his head as though he couldn’t believe what he was going to say.

“The only two people dead were men.”

“You’re telling me there were only men and both are dead?”

He pinned me with a glare. “Yes. There was a lot of blood leading into the forest, but the men lost the trail. I’m sorry, Beckett.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. My thoughts exactly.”

twenty-two

CELESTINA

Beckett spentthree weeks searching for Carmela in Columbia, but he was finally coming home—without her. Alex nearly died trying to rescue her, but the worst part was the emotional damage of losing her, not the physical injuries he was healing from.

“You should try to get up.” I stood in the doorway of Alex’s room. “She wouldn’t want you to sit around like this, not when you’re lucky to be alive.”

“Lucky?” His bitter tone cut through me like a knife. “I wish Iwasdead. She was in my grasp, Celestina. I had her, then…” He shook his head, trying to rid the constant memory I knew he woke screaming from. “I should have gone down with her in that fucking helicopter.”

“No. You shouldn’t have. And you and I both know that she could be alive.”

“That’s unrealistic,” Alex scoffed. “Even if she is alive, she won’t be the same person. I’ve lost the first woman I’ve ever really loved.” His eyes cut away, turning toward the window.

“And that’s my fault.” I blew out my breath. “I’ll have to live with that knowledge for the rest of my life. But I’m telling you she’s not dead, Alex. I feel it in my bones.”

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