Page 119 of Forging Caine

I gripped Cam-ron’s waist tighter with my good arm, held his hand around my shoulders with the bad. Pain was screaming up and down my bicep with each movement. If I’d been fully healed—if I hadn’t played stubborn at New Year’s and saw a doctor in Roma while we were at Giovanni’s, maybe I’d be better. Maybe I could do more. Sling Cam-ron over my shoulder and run with him.

Why don’t you, Tony?I was asking Cam-ron to battle through the pain of his bad ankle, but I couldn’t suffer through my own? “I’m done.”

Samantha whipped around to me. “What?”

“Sorry, Cam-ron.” I leaned over, put my shoulder into his waist, and picked him up.

“Antonio—that’s dangerous out here. Your balance will be off and if you—”

“Does my balance matter if I’m dead? If he is? Or you?” I charged forward, not interested in the debate. Two hundred feet, she’d said. I could do that.

Samantha dashed ahead of me.

Fire licked through my arm with every movement. I couldn’t keep up with Samantha but moved infinitely faster than if I’d continued walking with Cam-ron.

She skidded to the ground, barely visible under the tree cover. “Here!”

There was no hole. She was sitting on the ground, digging with her hands. I set Cam-ron down and looked behind us. “Flashlights.”

“This is the spot. Someone must have filled his hole in, but it’s loose. You both need to help.”

Cam-ron and I dropped next to her and joined the effort. It was fast progress, but with every second we were digging instead of escaping, the flashlights got closer.

The mound of dirt grew larger and larger until I stopped. “Cam-ron, it’s big enough. Go now. On your back.”

“Okay.”

As he went through, squirming and inching his way under, Samantha looked at me. She knew what I knew. It was a tight fit for him. She’d fit. But there was no way I would.

“Bella, you’re next.”

“No.” She resumed digging. “It’s not big enough for you yet. Jason would have dug a hole that would fit him, so enough has to be loose for—”

I grasped her hands and pulled them away. “You see the flashlights behind me? There’s not enough time for this. We’ll both get caught.”

“No.” She struggled against me. “I can’t lose you.”

“Bella.” I reached for her feet and put them into the hole under the fence. “If any of us are going to make it out of this whole thing alive, you know it’s me. He needs me. But more than that, I’m Giovanni’s nephew. If Fiori kills me, he’s signed his own death warrant. You’re just the woman who’s ruined every one of his plans.”

“Are you guys coming or not?” asked Cam-ron.

Samantha whispered, “I love you, you stubborn fool.”

She tucked her feet into the hole and sank down, legs squeezing under the bottom bar.

I tried always being honest with Samantha, but there were moments that called for lies. Fiori would likely kill me. But at least Samantha would live. When we’d met, she’d cut herself off from the world. She didn’t want more friends. Didn’t want a lover. Didn’t want to open her heart to anything. All she wanted was to do her time in Brenton and leave.

She held the metal rungs, twisting to find a better grip, like the rock climber she was.

Hopefully, the friends she’d found over the last year would change that. She’d learned much about herself and gotten past many of the scars that held her back. Her heart was finally open. And with my dying breath, I would cling to that. Not just that her body was alive, but that her heart was.

Samantha moved backwards out of the hole. Finding a better angle? Was she going on her stomach instead?

She pressed her face to the bars and pointed past Cam-ron. “I need you to listen to me. Do you see that tree over there?”

He nodded.

What was she doing?

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