Chapter Ninety

*Gabriela*

The entire dock shook.

The sound of breaking wood and crunching concrete was loud in my ears as the shipping carrier suddenly comes out of nowhere and smashes right into the dock full speed. I gasp in fear as Gia jerks me away from where we were just moments before as the large crates surrounding us topple over or gets smashed into each other.

“Move!” Gia yells in my ear and I don’t get to see what happens to Enzo and the others with him.

“No! Enzo!” I scream, my heart pounding in my chest as fear washes over me in torrents, afraid that he wasn’t going to move out of the way in time as the ship keeps moving forward. Lights flicker out of power and the sound of waves hitting all around us was deafening as the debris of the dock fell into the sea.

Gia doesn’t stop pulling me after her even though I was looking everywhere I could for him, but everything was going so fast, and the darkness was starting to swallow us up. Trying to pull myself free from her gripping grasp I don’t realize that I was sobbing my heart out, tears racing down my cheeks as I kept screaming out his name over and over.

“We can’t stay here! We have to keep moving away or we’ll both get thrown into the water and die!” Gia yells at me angrily and yanks on my arm to keep me moving even though all I wanted to do was look for the love of my life, the father of my unborn child that he doesn’t even know about yet.

A loud metal whine rents the air, baring down on my eardrums like nails on a chalkboard as the ship finally slows down and then fully comes to a stop. We were now dozens of feet away and where we once crouched down just moments before was now completely gone, left by an open gap into nothing but ocean.

We stand there staring as everything finally calms down. I didn’t see any movement from where I last seen him. The car was gone now, probably at the bottom of the sea. Sirens were then heard in the distance along with horns from firetrucks and soon the press was going to be all over this.

“We can’t stay here. We have to go!” Gia was trying to get me to go with her once more, but I wasn’t going anywhere until I found him.

“You go, I have to get to him.” I say stubbornly to her, pushing her away from me as I stumble back to where I came from.

The ground was now unstable as pieces were broken in odd angles. Bars and wood splinters were poking out in certain areas and if I wasn’t careful with just one slip I could seriously become injured or worse. But the thought of Enzo beneath any of this sent chills of dread through my blood stream.

“Damn it!” I hear her faint cry before she too starts following me. “If we find him, we get him out and get the hell away from here before the authorities show up.”

She then takes my shoulder roughly and pulls me back to face her. Her features were set in stone as she grits, “I’m not going back there ever again, and I refuse to sacrifice what freedom I do have on you and your boyfriend. If we don’t find him before the cops show up we’re leaving. If you refuse to come along then you’re on your own, got it?”

I just nod, knowing full well I wasn’t going with her after all. Because there was no way I was leaving him behind, even if the authorities did show up. He was the only thing important to me right now.

We carefully maneuver over the dangerous debris as we get to the front of the ship. I look up at its enormous bow with its rusted metal from years of use and tear caused by the salt sea water. It groans loudly causing shivers to race up my arms from the eeriness of the thing. I didn’t understand what had caused it to lose control. It didn’t seem anyone was manning it or even on it at all.

“Enzo?!” I call out just as we get to the location the men were all at. Silence reaches us as I scan my eyes everywhere I could.

My chest grips within me when I spot a bent leg poking out of the rubble making my body shake horribly as I reach to whoever it was that was buried underneath. But once I came closer I see it was someone I didn’t recognize and moved on, not knowing or caring whether he was dead or alive.

A movement catches my eye to my right and I quickly head in that direction as the man pushes a large piece of concrete off him with his shoulder, his hands tied behind his back. I notice right away it was the other man that had been captured with Enzo. I didn’t know who he was, but I was sure he was on the same side as us.

He shakes his head from the pieces of stone that sent dust powder everywhere. “What the ever loving fuck?” He coughs out looking a bit dazed.

“Enzo, where is he, did you see him get out of the way?” I instantly bombard him with questions.

He blinks for a few moments before seeing the damage that was done, and his eyes widen. “Shit! Enzo?! Where are you?!” He calls out frantically ignoring me completely.

He scans the area looking around just as I had done, not caring that he was still tied, he wobbly starts taking off looking everywhere for him while still calling out his name. I start doing the same again, feeling hopeless, afraid that he may have fell in the water. If that happened he wouldn’t be able to swim back up as he was still tied as well. I go to voice this out to the man when Gia gasps and cries out,

“I found him!”

Both me and the man try our best to race over to her where she was trying to remove a piece of a wooden pillar off another slab of concrete. Once I get there I look down to see him unconscious and bleeding from the side of the head. There was so much blood.

“Enzo!” I cry out on a sob, hoping that hearing the sound of my voice will wake him but it doesn’t.

“Here, free my hands and I’ll get him out.” The man quickly states looking pale himself as he struggles with the zip ties keeping him bound.

“Who the hell are you?” Gia snaps, mistrust flashing in her eyes.

“I’m his driver, Samual and I’m not going to stand here arguing with you on identities.” He turns around as she quickly takes a knife from her pocket and sets him free just as she says,

“Don’t try anything stupid.”

But he ignores her with that as he goes straight to pick up the pillar that she was having trouble with a moment before.

“On the count of three you and I will hold this up while you,” he looks straight at me, “Drag him out. I don’t think anything is really pinning him down other than this pillar here that’s holding the slab from landing on him.”

I see what he means, and I position myself where I can grab his shoulders when the time came.

“Try and make it quick alright.” He sounded a bit off, like maybe he was more injured than he led us to believe as he winces when he squats to grab the wooden beam in his grip.

But I couldn’t focus on him when Enzo was suffering. He was losing so much blood and with a head injury like that could be deadly serious. Who knows what other injuries he suffered during this accident. If it was even an accident to begin with.

“One…two…three!” Samual grunts with a hiss as he lifts with all his strength as Gia strains to help him, her face immediately turning red from the effort.

I dive in just as enough room was permitted for me and don’t think about checking on him and just focus on getting him out from under the debris. Grabbing beneath his shoulders I prayed I was strong enough to move his dead weight muscled body. I don’t think, I just do as all the adrenaline rushes through my system as I grunt as I pull with all my might. It was slow on my part but thankfully both Gia and Samual held out as I got Enzo fully from the debris, barely.

As soon as he was cleared they both drop the pillar with grunts of their own, Samual breathing heavily as he holds his left side tenderly. Wincing he comes to kneel on the other side of him as I check the side of his head with shaky hands.

“He has a laceration that needs to be stitched.” I say hoping it wasn’t as serious as it looks. “We need to stop the bleeding.” My voice came out strained and my stomach churned at the smell of blood now surrounding us.

“Here.” Gia hands me a handkerchief that she must have had in her pocket.

I press it against his wound and look over the rest of his body that seemed to look okay. “We need to get him to a hospital.”

“No.” Samual rejects my statement. “No hospitals. We’ll take him to a nearby shelter that’s not too far from here. I’ll call in a doctor we know.”

The sirens in the distance was getting louder by the second and I knew it was a matter of minutes before the authorities showed up. “How do you expect us to get there?” I ask seeing the car they came in completely gone now.

Before he could ask Gia states, “We got here on foot. Don’t have a vehicle.”

He frowns looking a bit panicked now. “Hold on.” He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a cellphone. But before he could turn it on it lights up with an unknown number as it rings.

Suspicion races across his features as he accepts the call. “Who is this?” Was his response.

I hear a muffled voice on the other line causing him to look straight at me. Without saying another word he slowly hands me the phone. “They want to speak to you, if you’re Gabriela.”

Shock becomes my next emotion as I take the cell from his grasp and place it against my ear, curiosity getting the better of me. “Hello, this is Gabriela.”

“Gabby, it’s me.”

Relief swam through my blood as I deflate, nearly about to burst into tears hearing a familiar voice.

“Charlie.” Was all I could muster to say as the tears near choked me from speaking.

“I have a car coming for you that’ll be there in less than a minute. Get Enzo in and follow the coordinates I’ll be sending you through this cell. I’ll see you soon.”

“Charlie, Enzo…” I couldn’t bring myself to say it as more tears fall unchecked.

“Don’t worry. He isn’t going to die; I’ll make sure of that. Just get him to those coordinates understand?” His voice was confident and sure, making me feel like what he was saying was going to be true.

Nodding my head even though he couldn’t see it headlights flash in our direction as a car pulls up. And I knew with Charlie in charge right now, everything was going to be alright.