Chapter 285

Her hands shot upward, and her fingers caught the edge of the roof railing.

The sudden stop wrenched her shoulders.

A scream tore from her throat.

"ADRIAN!"

He lunged toward her.

Dante staggered backward, clutching his injured leg. Blood spread rapidly through the fabric of his trousers.

Adrian barely saw it.

His entire world had narrowed to Emilia’s hands gripping the railing. He reached her in three strides and dropped to his knees.

"Hold on!"

"I CAN’T!"

"Emilia, look at me!"

She was sobbing now, her arms shaking under her weight.

Her fingers slipped a fraction of an inch.

Adrian reached down and caught her wrist.

She screamed again.

"I’ve got you!" He grabbed her other arm.

For one terrible moment, her weight pulled him toward the edge. His knees struck the concrete, and pain shot through his legs, but he tightened his grip.

"Don’t let go!"

"I’m trying!"

"I know. I’ve got you."

He pulled.

Emilia’s shoulders rose above the railing, but she was still too far over the edge for him to lift her safely.

He shifted his weight, braced one knee against the concrete, and tried to draw her toward him.

Then Dante moved.

Adrian heard the scrape of a shoe behind him.

He turned just as Dante charged.

The older man was bleeding heavily, but the pain had done nothing to diminish his rage. He came at Adrian with the desperation of someone who had lost control of a situation he had spent years constructing.

Adrian barely had time to react.

Dante struck him across the shoulder, driving him away from the railing.

Adrian’s grip on Emilia’s wrist loosened.

She cried out.

He caught her again, but Dante slammed into him before he could pull her up.

They hit the roof hard.

Adrian’s elbow struck the concrete, sending a burst of pain up his arm. Dante rolled over him, grabbing at his collar and trying to wrench the gun from his hand.

The weapon skidded across the roof.

Adrian drove his knee into Dante’s side.

Dante grunted but held on. "I asked you to sign the papers!" he growled.

He struck Adrian across the face.

Adrian’s head snapped to the side.

"How dare you block my funds?"

Dante hit him again.

Adrian caught his wrist and shoved it away.

"You think you can take everything from me?" Dante’s face was twisted with fury. "You think you can destroy my life and walk away?"

Adrian drove his fist into Dante’s injured knee.

Dante screamed.

His grip loosened.

Adrian struck the same injury again, and again. All he could think about was Emilia hanging over the edge, and the sound of her scream.

Dante tried to twist away.

Adrian caught him by the collar and slammed him against the concrete. "You touched her."

Dante spat blood onto the roof. "She is my daughter."

Adrian struck him again.

Dante raised his arm to protect his face, then grabbed Adrian’s wrist and tried to roll him over.

They struggled across the roof, neither man willing to release the other.

Adrian’s injured arm protested every movement. His shoulder throbbed where Dante had struck him, and the side of his face was already swelling.

But he kept going.

He could not let Dante reach the gun.

He could not let him get back to Emilia.

And he could not allow him to leave this roof with the belief that he could do whatever he wanted and still win.

Dante managed to get one knee beneath him.

He drove his shoulder into Adrian’s chest and forced him onto his back. Adrian struck the concrete hard enough to knock the breath from his lungs.

Dante reached for his throat.

Adrian caught his wrist.

Their faces were inches apart.

"You should have signed," Dante snarled.

Adrian’s eyes burned. "You should have left her alone."

He drove his forehead into Dante’s face.

The impact made Dante recoil.

Adrian used the moment to shove him away and roll onto his side.

For one brief second, they separated.

Adrian pushed himself up.

Dante reached for his injured knee and struggled to stand.

Blood had soaked through the fabric of his trousers. His face was twisted with pain, but his eyes remained fixed on Adrian.

"You’ve ruined everything."

Adrian wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. His voice was rough. "You did that yourself."

Dante’s expression changed. Then he lunged again.

Emilia was still hanging from the roof. Her entire attention was fixed on the railing beneath her hands.

Her fingers had begun to lose their grip.

The metal was cold, and her palms were slick with sweat. Her shoulders burned with every passing second, and her body felt impossibly heavy.

She tried to pull herself upward. Her arms shook violently.

"Adrian!"

Her fingers slipped, and a sob escaped her.

She was going to fall.

The thought arrived with such terrible clarity that she could no longer pretend otherwise. She was going to fall, and Adrian was somewhere behind her fighting her father.

Her father.

That man who had looked into her eyes while she begged him to remember who she was. He had let her hang over the edge.

Emilia’s throat ached.

She tried to call Adrian again, but the word broke apart before it left her mouth. Her right hand slipped.

She caught the railing with her left.

The movement wrenched her shoulder, and a cry of pain tore from her.

She couldn’t hold on much longer.

Her fingers slipped again. "Adrian!" She screamed.

This time, she heard him.

"I’m coming!"

The words were distant, and strained.

She tried to hold on. Then her left hand lost its grip. For one suspended second, she hung by her right hand alone.

Her body swung away from the wall.

She screamed, and her fingers slipped.

........

Adrian saw her fall.

He didn’t think, or hesitate. He didn’t even look at Dante. He launched himself toward the railing, throwing his weight forward as Emilia dropped.

He caught her around the waist.

The force of her fall dragged him over the edge. For one horrifying moment, they were both in the air.

Emilia screamed against his chest.

Adrian wrapped one arm around her back and the other beneath her knees, pulling her as tightly against him as he could.

He twisted his body.

They struck the side of the building on the way down, and pain exploded through Adrian’s shoulder.

He held on.

The ground rushed toward them.

There was no time to think about where they would land, no time to search for a safer angle or find something to grab.

He could only protect her.

So he curled around her and rolled his body over hers as they hit the ground.

The impact was brutal.

Adrian’s back struck first.

Pain tore through him, stealing his breath. The force of the landing sent them rolling across the hard surface, his body taking the worst of the impact as he kept Emilia pressed against his chest.

They stopped near the base of the building.

For several seconds, neither of them moved.

Adrian couldn’t breathe.

His entire back felt as though it had been struck with a hammer. His shoulder burned, his ribs ached, and every attempt to draw air into his lungs sent a sharp pain through his chest.

But his arms were still around Emilia.

He could feel her. She was alive.

He forced his eyes open. "Emilia?"

There was no answer.

His heart lurched.

"Emilia."

She lay against him, her face pressed into his chest, with her body trembling. Then she moved.

Slowly, she lifted her head.

Her eyes opened. They were wide and unfocused, her face pale with shock. She stared at him as though she couldn’t understand why he was there.

Adrian tried to smile. It hurt.

"Hey."

Her lips parted, but no sound came out. He brushed her hair away from her face with a trembling hand.

"You’re alright."

He stopped himself.

He didn’t know that.

He didn’t know whether she had injured her neck, whether her shoulders were damaged from hanging over the edge, or whether the fall had done something he couldn’t see.

So he tried again.

"Look at me."

Her eyes moved to his.

"I’m here."

Emilia stared at him.

Then her face crumpled.

"Adrian—"

He drew her closer. "I’ve got you."

She began to cry. She cried as though the fear had finally found somewhere to go. Her hands clutched his shirt.

Adrian held her, pressing his face against her hair.

Somewhere above them, a gunshot cracked through the darkness.

The bullet struck the ground several feet away.

Emilia screamed.

Adrian twisted around instinctively, shielding her with his body.