The Wrong Rescue

The Wrong Rescue
Aria’s POV

The door opened with a small click that seemed louder than anything I had heard inside that narrow compartment. A thin line of light cut through the dark space and hit my face. My eyes stung as they adjusted. My whole body went still. For a moment I could not breathe.

Nathan’s face appeared in the opening.

He looked tense. His hair was messy and damp with sweat. His chest rose and fell in fast, sharp breaths. His guard jacket had dirt on it, and his eyes kept shifting behind him as if he was afraid someone would come around the corner.

I stared at him, my heart pounding so hard that the sound almost drowned everything else. I felt a wave of relief hit me, but it came too fast and too thin. Something did not feel right. Nathan was not supposed to know about this hiding place.

He reached toward me with one hand and spoke in a low urgent whisper.

“Aria. Come on. We have to go.”

My throat was dry. “Where is Matteo? Did you see him?”

Nathan did not look at me. He glanced down the hall again, jaw tight. “They told me to get you. We need to move now.”

That answer did not feel real. It felt like a practiced line. But gunshots echoed again somewhere deeper in the house. Dust shook loose from the ceiling. I felt the metal wall behind me tremble. I did not have time to argue.

I placed my hand on the cold frame of the compartment and pushed myself out. My legs felt weak from sitting curled up for so long. My robe hung loosely around me, barely tied, and the thin lace of my nightwear did nothing to block the cold air rushing in from the hallway.

Nathan grabbed my wrist the moment my feet touched the floor. His grip was firm. Too firm.

The hallway looked like a war zone. Smoke drifted in the air. Pieces of broken furniture were scattered across the floor. There were burn marks on the walls. Guards were running in different directions, shouting to each other. Some limped. Some held pressure on their wounds. The smell of gunpowder and smoke was so strong it burned the back of my throat.

I searched the faces around me, desperate to see someone familiar. Matteo. Enzo. Dante. Chiara. Mama. Anyone.

But I saw no one.

“Where are they?” I asked, louder this time. “Where is everyone? Are they alive?”

Nathan did not slow down. He pulled me past shards of glass and pushed debris out of the way with his shoulder. His voice came out fast and clipped. “They are waiting for you. At the limo. Outside. We have to move.”

Hope flickered inside me, but fear mixed with it quickly. My bare feet slid across the uneven floor. Every sharp sound made me flinch. Nathan kept pulling, almost dragging me at times.

More shots rang out behind us. The floor trembled again. I tightened my robe with one hand and followed him as fast as I could.

We reached the destroyed foyer. The large entrance doors were broken open, one of them hanging off its hinges. Smoke drifted through the open space, mixing with the cold morning air from outside. The yard was full of movement. Guards were shouting. Two men carried someone who was bleeding down the steps. The distant sound of waves hit the shore behind the trees.

A sleek black limo was parked near the gate, engine running, lights on. It looked untouched, almost out of place in the chaos.

Nathan guided me quickly down the steps. He kept his body close to mine, shielding me with his arm each time a stray bullet cracked somewhere in the distance. Gravel bit into my feet. The air outside was colder than inside the house, and it sent a shiver through me.

He opened the limo door and pushed gently but urgently at my back. “Get in.”

I climbed inside, my chest tight. I expected to see one of the triplets waiting for me. Matteo. Enzo. Dante. Someone.

But the seats were empty.

Before I could ask anything, the door slammed shut behind me. The limo lurched forward, tires skidding slightly on the gravel. I reached out, grabbing the edge of the seat to steady myself.

Nathan sat across from me. His knees bounced. His hand stayed close to his gun. His eyes avoided mine.

“Where are they?” I asked again, my voice shaking. “Why are they not here? Nathan. Answer me.”

“They are waiting for you at the shore,” he said without looking at me. “They are already on the boat. We just need to get you there.”

I held my robe tighter. My hands would not stop trembling. The roads outside the windows were familiar, but everything looked different now. The trees blurred together. The path curved sharply as the limo sped along the private roads of the island. There were no other houses. No people. Only armed guards scattered in the distance and the faint smoke rising from the mansion behind us.

I kept calling Matteo’s name. Then Enzo’s. Then Dante’s. No one answered. The silence pressed down on me harder than anything else.

Minutes passed. Each one stretched longer than the last.

When the limo finally slowed, my stomach sank. We stopped near the shore. There was no one else around. Only the dock, the dark water, and the cold wind coming off the ocean.

The driver opened the door. Nathan jumped out first and reached inside for me. His fingers wrapped around my arm again. His grip was stronger now.

“Come on,” he said. “They are right there.”

A medium sized boat sat at the end of the dock. Its lights glowed faintly. Its engine was running. The water slapped gently against its sides. I squinted, trying to see who was on it, but the figures were only silhouettes.

Something felt wrong.

Nathan kept pulling me. Hard.

His eyes still would not meet mine. He stood too close behind me, guiding me forward with his hand wrapped tightly around my arm. I felt his fingers digging into my skin.

I stopped at the bottom of the small metal ladder that led into the boat. My breathing turned shallow. Every instinct in me told me to step back. To ask again. To run.

“Go,” Nathan said behind me. His voice was low. “They are waiting.”

I lifted one foot to the ladder.

A voice ripped through the air.

“ARIA. DO NOT GET ON THAT BOAT.”

I froze. My heart slammed into my ribs. I knew that voice even when it was hoarse and full of panic.

Dante.

He was not on the boat.

He was behind me.

Running across the dock.

Calling my name like the world depended on it.

I turned sharply, my breath stopping halfway.

Nathan’s expression changed the moment I looked at him. His face went still. Empty. All the tension dropped from it and something colder took its place. Something dead.

I understood everything in one second.

He was not saving me.

He was taking me.

I screamed Dante’s name.

Before I could move, a shadowed figure on the boat reached out fast. Something heavy slammed into the back of my head. A sharp pain shot through my skull. The dock tilted sideways. My knees buckled.

Dante shouted for me again, but his voice sounded far away now.

The world blurred. The light faded.

Everything went dark.