Page 50 of Reckless Games

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Chapter 26

Lorenzo

The gunshots echoed, bullets tearing through the air, and I braced myself for the searing pain I was sure would hit me in the chest. But a few seconds passed, and it never came. Slowly, I opened my eyes, only to see Angela standing opposite me with a smile on her face. The smile was so out of place, so unsettling, that it twisted my brain into a whirlwind of confusion. Despite the chaos, I managed to say, “You missed.” I had won. I had taken my revenge. But then, why didn’t I feel the satisfaction I was waiting for? Why were my nerves not calming down? Why did it feel like the start of a doom I never saw coming?

Angela’s smile widened as she staggered slightly. “I never miss Lorenzo,” she whispered, her voice soft but loaded with a finality that sent chills down my spine. Then I heard a thud behind me. My lips parted in confusion as I turned to see one of Nikolai’s men lying dead with a bullet lodged right between his eyes and a gun dropped near his hand. My mind blanked out, and my ears started ringing. I was frozen, staring at the dead man.

I never miss Lorenzo.

Her words echoed in my head, making my limbs tremble. I whipped around to where Angela had been standing, but my heart stopped suddenly. She wasn’t there. Instead, there was a pool of blood where she had stood just seconds ago. A distortedbreath escaped my lips as I took a hesitant step forward, my body moving on autopilot until I reached the spot. My hands trembled uncontrollably as I bent down, reaching for the familiar, gleaming stone encased in the ring. The cold metal felt foreign and heavy in my grasp. With a shaky thumb, I wiped away a small drop of blood that marred its surface, the stark red against the pristine stone making my stomach churn. My mind raced, desperately trying to piece together the events that had just unfolded. Everything felt like a nightmarish haze I couldn't escape from.

“Lorenzo!” Emir’s voice called out from the distance. I looked up to see him standing near the dead body, holding a briefcase. The exact same briefcase Angela had held moments ago. “We got the diamonds!” he shouted, flashing the bag at me. “Declan killed Nikolai. It’s over.”

Diamonds? Over?

“What do you mean you got the diamonds?” My voice was filled with disbelief.

“That bastard had two sets. One was fake. We’ve checked and confirmed! One of his men came in handy. These are the real ones.”

That means…

I never miss Lorenzo.

I forgot to breathe as her face fell before my eyes, and her words echoed again in my mind.

That meant...no!

“Angela?” I mumbled to myself, my chest heaving as the reality of the situation hit me like a freight train. “Angela!” My voice exploded through the air, raw and desperate. Panic surged through my veins as I bolted towards the edge of the rooftop, my footsteps echoing in the air. My hand grasped the cold metal railing, gripping it so tightly that my knuckles turned white.The city’s lights blurred below, and the river flowed ominously alongside the tower, its dark waters seemingly calling out to me.

“Angela!” I shouted again, my voice breaking. Without a moment's hesitation, I swung my legs over the railing. My heart pounded in my ears. “Lorenzo!” The distant sound of Emir’s voice barely registered as I launched myself off the edge, driven by a desperate need to find her. Right now, nothing else mattered.

Fuck! What had I done?

The cold air whipped past me as I fell. I had to find her. I had to save her. The realization of what I had lost hit me with a force more brutal than any bullet. The peace I had sought through vengeance now seemed like a cruel joke, replaced by gut-wrenching fear and regret.

Please, God! Please let me reach her in time. Or I would cease to exist.

The impact of the icy water stole the breath from my lungs. I plunged into the river with a force that knocked the wind out of me, the cold immediately making my muscles stiff. I struggled to the surface, gasping for air, my eyes scanning the murky depths around me.

“Angela!” I screamed. The darkness of the water seemed to swallow my cries, mocking my futile efforts. I kicked my legs, battling against the current, my arms slicing through the water as I searched frantically for any sign of her.

“Angela!” I called out again, my voice breaking. The water around me was an endless expanse of black. My limbs grew heavy; fatigue setting in, but I couldn’t stop. I wouldn’t stop. I dove beneath the surface, opening my eyes despite the sting of the water, reaching out blindly in the hope of finding her. But all I touched was the empty void, the cold nothingness that seemed to reflect the emptiness now growing within me.

The minutes dragged on, and with each passing second, my hope dwindled. My chest burned from the effort, and my muscles screamed in protest. But I kept going, driven by the thought of losing her forever.

“Angela!” I cried once more, the sound more like a sob than a shout. Tears mixed with the river water, and a hopelessness I had never known before clawed at my heart. She couldn’t be gone. She just couldn’t be.

As I floated there, exhausted and defeated, I realized that the world felt utterly different without her. The very thought of her absence was a gaping wound, a pain so profound that I could barely comprehend it. My vision blurred, and I gasped for breath, the situation settling in like a weight that threatened to pull me under for good. She had saved me. Not once, but twice. She had always been my guardian angel. And what did I do?

I failed her. I failedus.

In that moment, surrounded by the cold and the darkness, a part of me began to shatter. Angela had been my light, my reason, and now that light was fading, slipping through my fingers like the water around me. I let out one final, heart-wrenching scream into the night, my voice echoing across the river and lost to the vast, indifferent world.

“Angela!”

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