CHAPTER 157

CHAPTER 157
Celine

Adrenaline kicked in, and my hands began to move quickly and clumsily around the rope, intense fear clawing at my chest, while Antonio attempted to stand, his back falling back to the floor. 

Soon after, he frantically reached into the back of his pocket, probably in search of his gun, but he soon realized it wasn't there, and that was likely because it had gotten lost somewhere when he fell.

Marco’s hysterical cackle pulled my attention away from Antonio to him, disdain burning in my eyes as he watched us both with amusement gleaming in his eyes. 

“This is so much fun,” he mocked through his laughter. “It feels like I'm watching a different version of titanic,” he added, taunting me by threateningly bringing his thumb towards the detonator on his phone’s screen, and gradually redrawing it. 

But at this point, I cared less about the bomb about to go off underneath my seat or this psychopath, all I wanted was to get to Antonio and give him the help he needed.

Then like a burst of thunderstorms, Antonio yelled at the top of his voice, his veins sticking out from the side of his neck and forehead as he held the ground firmly and began to push himself up, the rebar detaching gradually from his stomach.

Unable to bear to see him in that state, I broke into loud sobs, frustratedly and aggressively tugging at both the rope and chair which just wouldn't budge.

My heart ached painfully as tears welled up in his eyes and his screams lingered on, his lightly bruised face as red as a tomato, while Marco's taunting laughter continuously rang in the air.

Despite the unbearable pain Antonio continued to force himself up inch by inch with determination on his face, until he finally separated from the rebar. 

Then he began to stagger towards me with the speed of light, his hand covered in blood as he clutched the side of his stomach where the rebar had previously been in.

Then out of the blue, Marco's maddening laughter seized abruptly, replaced by a soft groan as sounds of gunshots echoed in the air. And here came Pedro and Matteo, the former firing repeatedly into Marco’s chest while the latter ran my way. 

Marco staggered backwards with each shot, but to everyone's surprise, none of the bullets punctured through.

“He's wearing a fucking bulletproof vest!” Matteo announced to Pedro, just about the same time he and Antonio reached where I laid, hurriedly untying my hands.

From there on everything happened so fast.

Pedro fired at Marco’s head, the bullet grazing him on the side of his neck as he ducked cleverly, while my hands finally slid free from the ropes, Antonio and Matteo helping me up to my feet.

Marco groaned in agony while gripping his bleeding neck, and the portable phone fell from his hold and clattered to the ground, then he ran off into a passage, Pedro hot on his tail.

But all three of us soon realised that it was already too late and Marco had long pressed the activate button, as the red blinking countdown light on the phone's screen showed: 00:01

In that moment, Antonio hastily pushed Matteo and I out of the way and grabbed the chair by the leg just as we landed flat on the ground, tossing it with all his might towards where the dead bodies of Marco's bodyguards lay. But it couldn't get far enough before it exploded in flames, landing on the metal rods and construction materials piled at the corner.

Dust and fire erupted high in the air, and the impact of the blast shook those rods, my teary eyes and that of Matteo, widening in sheer horror as the heavy metals came crashing down on Antonio in twos and fours.

He quickly lifted his hands to cover his face, dropping to his knees and collapsing to the ground as he was swallowed up whole by the rods.

“Antonio!!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, bringing Pedro to an abrupt halt just by the passage Marco had run through, as his head snapped towards our direction.

Then Matteo sprang up to his feet and bolted towards him, Pedro equally racing his way.

I got on my knees as they reached Antonio, hurriedly crawling forward, because apart from twisting my ankle when I’d jumped over the gate of the company, the fear tugging at my heartstrings also made my legs too wobbly to stand.

I barely managed to stumble to my feet after fighting the ache, dragging one foot against the ground as I headed towards Matteo and Pedro who'd already begun to hastily offload the rods from Antonio’s body. 

At that point, the flickers of fire surrounding the building caught the naked wires dangling from the ceiling, spreading quickly until it created a hot barricade between where I stood and where they were.

“Stay back, Celine!” Matteo uttered in urgency, bringing me to a forced stop as he held his hand out to stop me. 
“It's dangerous,” he added, returning his gaze to what he was doing.

“Antonio,” I called out in a shaky voice as tears streamed down my cheeks, finally able to get a glimpse of him as more and more rods were being thrown off him.

He was unconscious—eyes shut and blood stains and minor cuts on his face and head.

Then more and more of the Luna Nera brothers began to weakly race past me, hopping over the fire without hesitation, in order to get to the other side so as to join Matteo and Pedro in lifting up the metals.

I stood there hopping on one foot, squeezing my hands together as I cried and prayed for Antonio to be okay, because his body had already been through too much.

In a matter of time, the fire got worse and hotter, thick smokes lingering in the air as it quickly devoured everything in its path. It was so bad that I couldn't even see what was going on on the other side anymore.

“Leo, get Celine out of here, now!” I heard Matteo yell, addressing the Luna Nera brother who had been standing beside me all this while, so I wouldn't be left all by myself without protection from Marco who was nowhere in sight.

“I won't leave without Antonio and you all,” I shot back over the sound of the burning flames, shaking my head defiantly.

“It's not safe,” Leo said softly, trying to convince me.

“Please listen to me, Celine,” Matteo said, the agitation in his voice evident. “I swear to you that Antonio and everyone of us will get out of here. But you have to leave first.”

There was a brief pause, my lips trembling slightly as the tears dropped in thicker strokes.

“Please just go,” Matteo added softly. “For Antonio’s sake.”

I swallowed hard and turned towards Leo, nodding. Then he took off his suit jacket, throwing it over my head so that my body wouldn't get burnt.

Afterwards, he pulled a gun from behind his pants and took my hands, placing it in them. “Just in case.”

I stared at the gun, slowly looking up at him.