Chapter 24

"Austin!" I almost screamed. Desperate, I knelt into the rocks, visually scanning him for anything serious.

Tears began to fall, some landing on his face and shoulder.

"Eva." He whispered hoarsely—his lips cracked and bruises showed all over. I cupped his face in my hands.

"What have they done?" I sniffed back as many tears as I could.

"Oh, I'll be fine. You know that."

But I didn't! For all I knew, the crevice above us would be that last daylight we ever saw.

"Tell her, Austin." Plymouth's words distracted me.

"Tell me what?" I demanded.

Austin lifted himself up, his strong biceps shaking from the weight he put on them. I helped him, instructing him to lean on me. He favored one leg when he finally stood. If it wasn't for his blue eyes, I wouldn't have recognized him through all the dirt and blood.

"Austin? Tell me what?" When he was stable I backed away, trying to read his face.

"I—I'm sorry, Eva."

"Sorry about what? What is this about?"

He looked at his uncle repulsively and then down to the floor. "I'm sorry I never told you that I was working for my uncle."

"Working? What do you mean?" I was getting more confused by the second. "But you were just attacked by him."

He looked into my eyes with his one good eye.

"Because I told him I couldn't. I told him I fell in love with you."

"What?" I backed away from him.

His eyes went back down to the ground and I felt lost; as if someone had just dropped me in the middle of a war scene. I bit my lip furiously.

"I can't believe it." I paced in a circle, blinded by furry. "I can't believe this!"

"But I couldn't complete my job because- "

"Because what?" I snapped, my blood continuing to boil.

"Because of my feelings for you!"

I stood with my arms crossed. Tears pooled in my eyes to the point that his sad, stooped figure became blurry. I couldn't even take his words to heart.

"You're just like the rest of them!" I hissed, my breath hitching from the sobs. "You're just like my Dad, you're just like your uncle! Always hiding things—always... lying!"

My face turned to stone as I looked at the sorry excuse of a man in front of me. "And you know the worst part about it?" I breathed in sharply. "Is that I thought it was all real."

His once bright blue eyes turned dark. Plymouth laughed sadistically, seemingly enjoying the moment. Will stepped beside me, wrapping his arm protectively around my shoulders. Austin looked so wounded, it made me writhe inside. That he was getting what he deserved, but that also somehow, my feelings couldn't change, no matter how much I tried.

"Eva." His voice was so quiet. I couldn't look at him anymore, at his sorrowful, beaten face. I turned away, rubbing my cried-out eyes into my shoulder. Every moment we ever shared together burned into a flame and disappeared before my eyes.

"If you're finished with him- " Plymouth said. I didn't say anything, just kept my back to them, all of them. One of the men jumped down into the hole, probably to take him away.

"No!" I demanded loudly. "You know what? I'm not finished." I stepped back towards him, standing tall. "I just have one question." I tried to wipe away the tears, but the effort was useless.

"When we first met—when you crashed into me, did you do that on purpose? Did youhurtme on purpose?"

He shook his head. "That was an accident." Plymouth's man stood on the ready to take him away.

I shook my head, my bloodied hands open by my side. "Why did you do it?" I shrugged. "Money?"

"No." He said instantly. "He was threatening to kill Hannah." His sister.I backed away, realizing the reason for his desperation. It still didn't explain why he never told me. I watched as Plymouth's men fastened him in a harness to drag him back up to the top. He faced the wall, then turned back to me.

"Those feelings were real."

My eyes followed him as he climbed up, watching him, wondering if that was the last time I would ever see him. My knees landed on the hard rocky floor, the ocean spray making my tears fall faster. Plymouth sighed and I looked up at him from my kneeling position.

"Pity it never worked out with you two." He held out his hand.

"Now, if you please, I think you have something that belongs to me." I remembered what was still hanging from my neck, the diamond necklace—the last testament of Austin's feelings. To think it was all staged, made me want to throw up. I zipped down the front of my shirt and with one hand tore it off my neck, handing it to him.

"Thank you, my dear. I long for the day it is reunited with its brothers and sisters. I'm sorry to say that neither you nor your bodyguard will be there. Same goes for Gio- " My head shot up at the mention of his name. "—if he doesn't make it out of the hospital, which is sadly looking to be the case."

My teeth grit strongly together. He motioned for more of his men to come down, and they did, bearing some kind of harpoons and rope.

"What are you doing?!" I demanded. He tilted his head, as if not understanding my question, then looked down. I moved my feet, realizing that the water had risen almost 2 inches higher than before. I closed my eyes, realizing what was going to happen. He was going to drown us. Will lunged forward toward Plymouth, but was stopped in his tracks by two of his men.

"You wanna kill us? You'll be a real man and do it yourself!" He shouted, struggling against the men.

"But you see, that's just it, William, is it? I amkilling you myself." Two other men came to the center and pointed the harpoon's upward. I covered my ears as the loud shooting sound came from each one as they anchored in the sediment above.

"What is your plan anyway? After this." I said. He took off his leather gloves, trying to protect them from the environment in the cavern.

"I'm going to get my diamonds back first." He said with a smile Then wipe out the KGB with the help of WWM." I grimaced while the two men tied the ropes together.

"Oh, and thank you for thatby the way."

My attention turned back to Plymouth. "For what?"

He looked at me and scoffed. "For what? For leading me to the diamonds! You think that book just appearedon your nightstand?" A sly laugh escaped his lips.

I tensed as one of the men wrapped the ropes around my wrists. Will flinched. His arm was going to hurt suspended us from those anchors. I was lost for words. He was going to get away with it all—with manipulating my Father's company, with whatever he has planned for the KGB, with convincing his nephew to play a huge role in it all and with killing the daughter of his enemy right on her own family's property.

It was all so well planned out—I was speechless. I looked to Will, who was just as stunned by this man's way of killing us off. The two men swung the ropes over the anchors and began pulling us up, until we were at least 7 feet off the ground. Will's yelling made me ache inside—he was suffering; all because of me.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance!" Will sneered, the veins nearly popping out of his head.

"Oh yes." Plymouth called from below. "I forgot to mention that I'd already had the perfect scapegoat from the beginning."

"And who's that exactly? My Father? He was dead long before you started shipping WWM's weapons to Russia." I said, trying to ignore the stabbing pain in my shoulders.

"No, my dear, it's someone very much alive."

I opened my eyes, staring at the ceiling because I couldn't look down.

"It's someone who had the motive, the resources, and the knowledge... It's you!"

"What?!" I yelled down and then sarcastically replied: "Clever plan. I was only at the facility one time, before the entire board ousted me!"

"You could have operated from anywhere. In fact, you could have organized your own Father's death and intercepted shipment, after shipment, after shipment! Oh yes, and let's not forget the fact that all of your only alibis work for the government, MI6 to be exact. And they have their own problems in Russia."

I was furious. He was going to blame all of this on me?!

"It's going to be an easy headline." He laughed. "You had your Father killed because you wanted all of his money and fame, and then once the KGB tries to take that from you, you took the appropriate action and destroyed them all."

"What?!" I yelled. "No one has proof that I even knew about you and my Father's past in Russia."

"They do now—you were at the archives."

I shut my eyes tight, trying to mentally slap myself. Of course, the archives in Santorini were monitored by the government. No one in heaven knew I was there searching for diamonds. No one except Charles and Gio and Will. But my heart dropped further when I realized Plymouth was right. They all worked for the government too. I struggled against the ropes, in a sudden panic to break free. I was distracted by Plymouth's constant laughing.

"For what it's worth, it was nice knowing you. Ironic that your death should be helped by some of WWM's finest harpoons. Your Father went through with the design himself." He continued laughing. "Ironic."

I called him every profanity I could think of as he climbed out of the crevice to the surface above.

"Don't worry, Gio will fight to the death defending you." I couldn't find Will's words comforting especially now that the mention of death was sending me to another dimension. I wasn't ready to die! I had a promising career, friends! Will and I faced each other, our arms suspended to their limit.

"Austin was a bastard for hiding the truth from you." He said, his breathing labored. I looked him in the eye, trying to process everything that happened; why Austin did it. He was only trying to protect his sister, but what did that say of his feelings for me? If he really felt something he should have told me the trouble he was in—we could have figured something out together!

I looked down, noticing how the water had already risen considerably. I bit my lip trying to hold the tears in.

"For what it's worth, I think we made a good team."

I laughed at his words, more out of nervousness than anything else. "Yeah, we did."

We stared at each other, then he looked up.

"Do you suppose we could twist the harpoons?" He wriggled and writhed, taking hold of the ending rod and hook. I tried the same, twisting until it hurt, but to no avail. my heart lodged itself in my throat thinking about my Aunt and how she was probably tied up in that dreadful attic. If no one got to her in time she could—I blinked away the tears, once again trying to break free with all of my might.

"It's no use!" I cried, hanging my head. "It's over."

"I don't think it's ever over." He said. Wondering what he meant, I lifted my head, letting the tears run down my face.

"It's a term we learn in the service." He clarified. "You can still fight until the end." I doubted that would be any help to us now. We weren't in the middle of a battlefield, we were hanging from a ceiling in a cave.

I looked down and noticed the water had risen even higher.

"Don't look down." Will instructed. I tried to obey, looking at him instead. He was severely bruised and tired looking, but his intelligent brown eyes still flashed with ideas. I tried focusing on those eyes—the eyes of the person who had been there for me since the very beginning.

"Thank you, Will."

"For what?" He asked.

"For being there, here, by my side until the end." Something in him changed. He looked braver, like he was traveling back in the past, before all of the gang activity ruined his zest for life. A small simple smile spread across his lips.

"Woah." I said jokingly. "I actually made you smile. That's hard to do, you know." His smile widened.

"I know." He turned serious, his brown eyes seeking mine out.

"It was always you, you know."

"Me?"

"You who finally changed me. I was in a dark place, Eva, a real dark place. You brought me back." I searched his face, wondering just how far gone he'd been before meeting me. I forever hoped not as close as suicide.

Will and I had been through a very interesting few weeks. The chemistry between us was like fireworks, as Holly always liked to describe "that feeling", but I had been so swept away by Austin's charm, I hadn't really ever thought about how terrible Will must have felt that entire time. Guilt struck me hard.

My heartbeat quickened when the water finally touched my toes.

"Eva, don't look down, look at me."

I tried, but I didn't want him to see me cry. "Oh my God." My tears fell and made small splotches below.

"Don't stop looking at me." I obeyed finally. He was so calm, it unnerved me. "How long can you hold your breath?"

"I—I don't know."

"You need to hold it as long as you can and focus on me. Help is not too far off." I couldn't understand how he was so confident in that. The water creeped up my ankles and I shut my eyes tight, facing up.

It was so hard finally admitting to myself that I failed. I failed my Father, Gio, my Aunt, the MI6 agents; everyone that was close to me I disappointed somehow.

"Hey, since we're almost there- " He winced from the pain.

"Yeah?" I replied, my eyes still closed.

"Do you think—if we ever get out of this—I could take you out sometime?"

I stared at him in that WTFyou're asking this now?Kind of way.

"You mean like a date?"

He nodded. The water rose above my hips. It was so cold.

"But I thought you weren't the dating type!"

He never stopped staring at me, not allowing me to look down. "Like I said, people change."

I don't know why, maybe it was the fact that I was about to die here with him, but I smiled.

"Sure."

"Sure, what?"

"I'll go out with you."

His lips broke out into a smile, exposing his white teeth and laugh lines I'd never seen before.

"Where will we go?"

I shrugged. "Morocco."

"Morocco?!"

"I've always wanted to go there."

He looked surprised. "I didn't know that."

"I guess you don't know a lot of things about me—yet" Even I could hear the nervous quiver in my voice. I couldn't feel my wrists—the circulation had been cut off completely. I didn't have to look down to know that the water had already reached my midsection. I let out a small whimper and looked up, determined not to break the pact I had with Will. Sunlight from the opening reflecting off of the water was glinting all over the roof of the cave, it would have seemed so beautiful at another time in another place when I wasn't about to drown.

"Come here." Before I realized what he was doing, I felt his legs wrap around my torso, pulling me closer. The stretch on my arms was so painful, but somehow that didn't matter now; the only thing that mattered was that I could be closer to him.

"Eva." He whispered hoarsely, his voice pleading. My lips parted gently—I tasted ocean water and tears. The water was now just below my shoulders, forcing me to push my head up next to the restraints that held us. I was beginning to suck in as much oxygen as I could in the remaining seconds we had left, shivering from the cold and fear. We had so much life ahead of us and this is how it ends!? In one last effort to break free I yanked hard at the binds, screaming from the effort.

"Eva, stop! Hold onto me." He instructed, his voice loud and echoing. My legs entwined with his as we braced to go under.

"I'm sorry, Will. I'm sorry that it ended like this—that you cheated death so many times just to end up dying here with me." I let out in one final cry as the water reached my chin. His wet dark hair clung to his forehead as he took deep breaths.

"You're sorry?I'm sorry that I knew I would die for you from the first moment I laid eyes on you." He took one final breath and plunged, forcing me to do the same. My hair circled in large waves around me and my face could now just barely reach his, allowing me to kiss him one last time. This was it, this was the end. I could now surrender myself to the darkness.