Toxic Love: A Dark Enemies To Lovers Mafia Romance
Toxic Love: Chapter 38

It all happens so fucking fast it’s like watching a bullet leave a gun.

…But I’m faster.

The split-second Tempest and Jacqueline hit the railing, the ropes at my back finally snap under the strain I’ve been putting on them. I’m pretty sure I’ve just dislocated my shoulder, but fuck that.

I’m on my feet a nanosecond later. The rope is still tangled in the chair, so I grab that too as I bolt toward the two women teetering on the edge.

You are not going to die like this, Tempest.

I can save her.

I’m going to save her.

Just as they start to slip, I wrap the end of the rope around my wrist and hurl the chair at the planters dotting the side of the patio.

Hey, Dante. Don’t go over the edge, okay? There’s a whole world out there.

I never did go over the edge again.

But I’m going to now. For Tempest.

I leap over the side of the patio, gravity yanking me down after them. My hand closes around Tempest’s ankle, so tight I might rip her goddamn foot off. But I don’t let go, even though I’m falling too.

And then, two things happen:

First, the chair catches the planters. The rope goes taut, and if my arm wasn’t yanked out of the socket before, it sure as fuck is now. I roar as my arms stretch past their breaking point—one hand holding the rope that’s tangled in the chair against the railing above, the other holding Tempest’s ankle.

Then the second thing happens. Jacqueline’s face is white as she makes one last-ditch reach with her outstretched hand…

…And snags the rope tying Tempest’s wrists together.

Shit.

Tempest screams as her arms go too tight from Jacqueline’s weight. I see pure searing white pain as both arms dislocate from their sockets, agony exploding through every nerve in my body.

But there’s no fucking way I’m letting go.

Time does pause for a second then, I think: the three of us dangling forty-four stories above the streets of Manhattan. Jacqueline holding to Tempest. Me holding Tempest. The chair holding me.

…The chair that starts to creak very loudly a second later.

Tempests screams, her hair whipping wildly in the wind as she looks up at me. Her big hazel-green eyes are terrified as they lock onto mine.

“I’m not letting go!” I hiss. “I’m not. Letting. Go!”

“Dante!”

I glance up just as the rope gives slightly. Gabriel looks over the edge, frantically grabbing at the rope. The end I’m holding is fraying quickly—more quickly than he can pull the three of us up.

Suddenly, Alistair is there too, grabbing on the rope as well and hauling us up.

“Fuck…you!”

My head snaps down just in time to see Jacqueline raise the gun in her hand toward Tempest.

Oh fuck.

Tempest screams as the first shot explodes from the gun. But Jacqueline’s spinning in midair, and her shot is way off.

Her next one might not be.

My eyes raise to Gabriel right before he disappears from the edge, and I hope to God he and I are thinking the same thing. A second later, he returns, and indeed he’s got the gun I dropped before.

“Shoot her!” I roar.

Gabriels’ eyes are wild, his aim all over the place as Alistair keeps slowly pulling us up.

“Gabriel!” I bellow at him. “Shoot⁠—”

“I’ve only shot a fucking gun like twice before!!” he roars back.

Tempest starts to shake violently. My eyes snap back down, widening when I see hers roll back in her head as her mouth begins to froth.

Oh God, no.

She’s having a seizure.

She’s fucking dying.

Suddenly, just as Jacqueline raises her gun, I feel hands grabbing my ankles. The wind slows, and the wild spin of all three of us goes still.

I let go of the rope, feeling the arms around my ankles tighten. I raise my hand as I look back up at Gabriel.

“Drop the gun!”

He stares at me. “What?!”

“DROP! IT! TO! ME!”

Time slows to a crawl. I watch as Gabriel lets go, following the gun with my eyes as it slips from his fingers and plummets toward me. The gun hits my hand. My fingers curl around it and I bring it up.

My finger squeezes, and the bullet explodes from the barrel.

Jacqueline’s head snaps back, a black and red hole right in the middle of her forehead. Her hand slips from the rope binding Tempest’s wrists, and I watch as she drops into space, hurtling away from us.

Tempest is still convulsing.

“Pull us up!!”

Arms tug us back up over the railing until we go tumbling to the patio floor. I lurch over Tempest, ignoring the ripping pain in my shoulders as I cradle her head.

“What the fuck is happening to her!!” Alistair roars as I yank my phone out and unlock it.

“Her kidneys are shutting down.”

They both stare at me blankly in horror.

“She’s having a fucking seizure because she’s dying!” I scream at them both. “My phone!” I jerk my chin at it as I lift Tempest into my arms. “There’s a Dr. Han in my contacts. Call him, tell him I say we’re doing this right fucking now, and that we’ll be there as fast as we can. He’ll understand.”

Gabriel grabs my phone as I lock eyes with Alistair.

“What can I do?” he chokes.

“Drive. Fast. Now.”