Page 116 of Last Breath

‘Stay up,’ she pleaded. ‘Stay up!’

‘I ... trying ...’

‘HELP!’ she screamed. At who? ‘HELP! I’ve got him. He’s been shot!’

Shot? No way. There was hardly any pain anymore.

‘Did you call them?’ he managed as the beach figures he’d seen from the cliff loomed closer. Two of them, one big, one small, splashed into the water. Max and Grey.

‘No.’ She cupped his chin to stop the wave sloshing down his throat. ‘I didn’t call anyone.’

The water was lulling him to sleep, its cold arms pulling him down to the floor.

‘No. NO! Jett, NO! Stay awake, keep your head up, just lean on me. Lean on me.’

‘It’s okay,’ he said, everything fading. ‘It’s okay.’

‘Don’t you dare.’ She kicked out, pulling him on top of her as she floated on her back.

No. No. She’ll drown. He tried to push her away but she was stronger.

‘What the hell will it take?’ Her chest seized against his spine. ‘How can I make you see you’re loved? That you’ll be missed? That you’ll leave a crater the size of the goddamn earth if you leave? We won’t be the same. I won’t be the same. You’ve marked me, Jett. I’m forever scarred by you.’

‘You’ve shown me.’ His teeth were chattering so violently there was no way she would hear him. ‘You, here. I see it now.’

Then the darkness came and he didn’t see anything.

41

Nella

Hospitals were one of the only places in the world where having the surname Barbarani didn’t make a difference.

Nella had pleaded, tears streaming down her face, her hair sopping wet from the sea and Jett’s blood. To everyone in the waiting room, she must have looked like an accused witch who’d survived her trial by water.

‘Who is he to you, ma’am?’ the nurse had asked.

‘He’s my ...’

The nurse tilted her head in a sympathetic way.

‘He’s my driver.’

‘I’m afraid I need to speak to a family member or a spouse.’

‘He doesn’t have anyone! He only has me! Please, please, let me see him. I won’t get in the way, I promise. Please.’ She’d never begged for anything as long as she could remember. Not since her father had beaten that weakness out of all of them. She hadn’t even begged for her life, six months ago at the gala.

‘He’s in surgery. You can’t go in. Let me check with my supervisor and I’ll see what I can do after ...’

‘You need to tell me what’s going on!’ Nella pleaded. ‘There was one bullet, I know that, I think it hit him in the shoulder, just over his tattoo, but she kept firing ... she kept ... Was he hit anywhere else? I held him up for as long as I could, but he slipped back under the water before the others got to him. Please ...’

‘Nella.’ As a firm hand gripped her upper arm, the scent of apples enveloped her atmosphere. Max. ‘Come on, I’ve got you. Let’s go sit with Tom while we wait – he wants to talk to you. You can’t do anything for Jett right now.’

‘Tom?’ Her brother’s name broke through the foggy trenches of her mind.

‘The road cleared. The rain’s helped with the fire – they’ve got it contained. He got back to Bindi Bindi just as we got to the hospital. He called me.’

Nella let Max lead her away because she’d lost control of her own body. Her bones were milk, her heart a rock too heavy for her chest to carry.