Page 51 of The One Night Match (Mafia Matchmaker #1)

FIFTY-ONE

CRUZ

E very time I think I know what panic feels like, I seem to graduate to a whole new level.

Davis stays at the top of the hill with Monica while he radios to Colten to get an emergency crew down here.

We have no idea what’s waiting for us at the bottom of the slope, and although Hugo and I are trying our hardest to control how we slide, we may very well be injured by the time we reach the bottom.

Mud covers most of my body, and I’m desperate for a hot shower. Maybe Riley’s hellfire water temperatures will finally be warranted when we make it back from this nightmare.

If we make it back.

It’s a thought I’ve tried to keep away, but the rational part of my brain is trying to prepare us for the potential that what we find may not be what we’re hoping for.

“Cruz!” Hugo shouts from a few yards away. We decided it was safer not to go down beside one another, just in case we accidentally hurt one another, but it also gives us vision of more of the hill considering how heavily the rain is coming down right now.

I squint to spot him through the heavy downpour, but when I do, I realize he has his arm wrapped around a tree that has a body caught on it.

Jeremy’s body.

Relief floods me when I see the bullet wound in the center of his forehead, but Riley is nowhere to be seen.

“Secure him to that tree and then meet me down by the ravine,” I shout over my shoulder, already sliding further down the hill.

The earpieces come alive, and Colten’s voice comes through. “You there, Cruz?”

“Yep.”

“We have an emergency crew on route, but they won’t be able to deploy until the current storm surge passes.”

“I don’t give a fuck about their protocols. Bribe them and get them down here right the fuck now.”

He’s silent for a second as I reach the ledge of the ravine and manage to stop myself from slipping into the icy water.

It should not be this goddamn cold in September, not even in the rainy city.

“They’re deploying now, but I had to promise them a shit ton of money.”

“I couldn’t give a shit what it costs, Colt. My wife is hurt, and the only thing that matters to me is getting her out of the rain and to a team of doctors.”

“I know, man.”

“I’m at the ravine now, no sign of her. I’m going to walk along the bank to see if I can spot her.”

“If she went into the water…”

“I know.” I press my eyes shut. “I know.”

“Keep me updated.”

I don’t bother replying to him, instead starting down alongside the rushing stream of water.

Between the rain and how fast the water is moving, I can’t see much, but I focus on putting one foot in front of the other, telling myself over and over again that Riley is going to be okay.

Because she has to be.

The alternative is unthinkable.

I walk for a few minutes before I start wondering how far I should go without backup. The ledge I’m walking along could give way at any second, considering how wet and muddy it is, but I don’t want to stop if it means finding Riley.

A piece of fabric caught on a rock catches my attention, and my stomach bottoms out.

The light pink sock is tattered and torn from a night of running through the forest in suboptimal conditions, but I know without a doubt that it belongs to Riley.

Which means she’s in the water.

“Colten?”

“I’m here.”

“How far down does the ravine go?”

“Miles. It winds through a few properties, but I’d have to check where it comes out.” He pauses. “Why?”

“I’m almost positive Riley’s in the water.” My voice cracks as emotion crashes over me. I’ve never felt quite as hopeless as I do right now.

Not when I was a kid watching my dad beat my mom. Not at any point since we realized we had a rat in the organization. Not when I decided to marry a woman I’d never met. And not when I signed those goddamn papers, thinking Riley would be better off without me.

“The chance of her being able to swim against the currents is low, but she could have grabbed hold of something.”

I press my eyes closed, fighting against the sob that climbs up the back of my throat. “She’s not a strong swimmer.”

“Just keep looking, Cruz. Backup will be at your location in the next half hour, and Hugo is on his way down now. Don’t give up yet.”

I nod, even though he can’t see me, and I start walking again.

Every step is heavier than the last as my mind and body struggle through the gravity of the situation, thinking through every what-if that presents itself.

What if I had shot Jeremy when we first walked into the clearing?

What if I had never signed those papers?

What if Riley had just stayed in bed instead of going in search of me?

What if I had never left the house?

What if I had never brought her into this life?

What if I’d let her go when she first asked, when she first told me all the reasons she didn’t want to be a part of the Mafia?

It’s a little too late for any of it, and yet my mind throws them at me faster than I can push them away.

Footsteps jog up beside me, and Hugo gives me a sorrowful smile.

No one’s saying it, but we’re more than likely looking for a body rather than a rescue at this point.

We walk in silence for what feels like forever, but considering the conditions, it’s probably only a few minutes.

Hugo stops dead in his tracks, his eyes squinting toward something caught on a boulder in the center of the ravine.

Following his eye line, I move closer to the ledge before I catch sight of long auburn hair moving through the water.

“Riley!” I shout.

I shove my jacket off my shoulders, followed by my shoes and socks, but I can’t waste any more time undressing.

I’m about to jump into the water when Hugo catches my shoulder.

I turn, ready to tell him to fuck off, when he wraps a rope around my waist and secures it around a nearby tree.

“As soon as you have her, I’ll pull you both up.”

I nod once before diving into the water, but nothing could have prepared me for how fucking cold it is, like needles pricking into my skin over and over again.

Breaking through the surface, I find myself a few feet from the boulder, and I allow the current to push me closer rather than using my energy to swim. I’m going to need all I have to get Riley and me to the edge and then her to safety.

I hit the hard rock, stealing the air straight from my lungs as the undercurrent threatens to pull me under.

Grabbing ahold of the rock with one arm and Riley with the other, I turn her over, and once again, my breath whooshes from me because not only is my wife unconscious, but she’s also a shade of blue that has panic slamming into me all over again.

“Riley?” I choke. “Kitten?”

“Cruz!” Hugo shouts. “You can’t do CPR down there. Let me pull you both up!”

I swipe tears from my eyes and wrap both arms around her lifeless body before giving him a thumbs-up. He tugs at the rope, pulling us through the water, but the current catches us, threatening to pull us further down the stream.

“Fuck,” Hugo growls, using his own body to pull us toward the edge, and I barely manage to grab hold of a branch sticking out of the edge.

Hugo secures the slack to the tree before rushing to where I’m holding on for dear life. “Pass her up.”

I clutch Riley to me harder for a split second before using all the strength left in my body to push her toward Hugo’s outstretched arms.

He grasps her under the arms and pulls her over the edge and out of sight, leaving me clutching the branch as the water tries to drag me away.

Hugo’s arm reaches over for me, and I quickly grasp it, allowing him to tug me from the freezing currents.

I scramble to where Riley is unconscious and press my fingers to her pulse point.

“No! Riley, please,” I choke out when I find nothing.

“Can you do CPR?” Hugo asks, his breathing labored after pulling us both over the ledge.

Do I know how to? Yes. Can I perform it on the love of my life, who currently has no heartbeat and isn’t breathing after spending who knows how long in freezing cold water? I’m not so sure, but I also don’t think I can put her life in the hands of anyone else.

“Let me do it,” he says. “You control her airway. I’ll do the compressions.”

I nod and move beside her head, opening her mouth and repositioning her neck so her airway is open.

The clinical nature of CPR allows me a few moments to compose myself before Hugo begins compressions.

I follow every cue to breathe for her, but in between, I talk to her in the hope it will help to bring her back to me, to remind her of the reasons she should fight.

“Come on, Riley. Fight for me. Fight for us,” I murmur against her lips.

“I know you read the note and saw the signed contract to dissolve our marriage, but I couldn’t bring myself to give it to you.

It’s the last thing I want. All I want is to grow old with you.

To wake up every morning beside you and go to sleep every night with you in my arms.”

“Check her pulse,” Hugo orders, and I don’t hesitate.

My fingers find their target immediately, and my body sags when I feel a thready pulse beneath my fingers. “Her heart is beating,” I manage to tell him.

“Keep talking to her.”

I nod and swipe the tears from my eyes. “Come on, Kitten. You can do this. You can live for me. Fight for me. I’ll do anything, give you anything, just please breathe.

You want twenty asshole cats that swipe at me every time I walk past them and pee on my favorite suits?

They’re yours. You want to decorate the house with the ugliest furniture to ever exist, take the credit card.

I don’t care as long as you’re breathing. I don’t care as long as you’re alive.”

Hugo drops his ear to her chest and frowns. “Her lungs are full of water. We need her to expel it.”

I reposition her head, making sure her airway is clear. “Breathe for me, Riley,” I plead. “Please don’t leave me.”

A few more compressions pass, and I’m getting ready to beg her some more when water starts pouring from her mouth, and I quickly tilt her head to the side, allowing it to escape without choking her.

A hacking cough fills the night, and a choked sob tears from my chest that’s as much relief as it is my worries forcing themselves to the surface.

Riley’s eyes flutter open, and I cup her cheek in my palm.

“Hey, Kitten,” I rasp.

“Am I dead?”

I scoff. “Not a chance. You think I’d let you die without me?”

“Okay. Are we both dead then?”

Hugo chuckles. “Neither of you is dead.”

I gather her in my arms and bury my face in her hair as I allow her weight to settle my racing heart. “You’re never leaving my sight.”

“But the note and the contract,” she murmurs.

“That was when I thought I could let you go to keep you safe. Now I know there’s no way in hell you’re ever going anywhere without me.”