Page 91 of Taking the Heat

With Dante’s fingers crushing my throat, I felt my gag reflex twitch.If I cough, it’s all over.The water would swamp my lungs. With no help on the way, I realised I was about to drown and the only thought in my head wasChris …

Chapter 28

I’ve always enjoyed living in Australia, where, growing up, almost everyone around me owned a swimming pool. Every summer, days were filled with water and sun and the delighted squeals of my friends and me.

My favourite game as a twelve-year-old was sinking to the bottom and seeing how long I could stay there. I liked lying down or sitting cross-legged, a submerged yogi, and it was actually harder than simply holding my breath, because I had to expel all my air so I didn’t keep floating back up again. My capacity for Buteyko breathing became pretty damn good—although I had no idea what it was called at the time.

My experiments with reduced breathing gained a fair bit of notoriety among the neighbourhood parents, who would flip out, thinking I’d actually drowned. I was ‘saved’ about four or five times by worried grownups before my mum banned me from lying on the bottom of other people’s pools—which only inspired me to do it more.

As an adult, I’d been unconsciously practicing my breathing whenever I was surrounded by water, even since being on the island; I’d taken great delight in staying under longer than Nik in the ocean when snorkelling with the dolphins. But my favourite moment was sinking to the rocky bottom of the hot springs and sitting with my backside pressed against the scalding stones while Chris swam around me, trying to break my attention.

That was why I was so glad when Chris popped into my head as I flailed and kicked, pinned underwater by a manic. I could see Chris’ magic blue eyes, floating in front of me, and I calmed down.You can do this. Relax.

Conjuring an iron will, I forced myself to go limp. I expelled out a stream of bubbles and let my eyes roll up, half closed and concentrated on keeping everything soft and still.I’m just lying on the bottom of the pool, Chris by my side. I’m happy, I’m content, I’m blissfully peaceful.

Knowing how deceptive time can be, I began to count.One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand …My record was over a minute and a half, but I’d already been under for at least fifteen seconds, so I prayed Dante wouldn’t wait that long. His fingers loosened on my throat slightly, a good sign he was buying my possum act.

While I marked the time, I pictured Chris: his lazy smile and tanned chest, his strong arms reaching for me. My pulse began to slow and the panic dissipated. Suspended, my mind bobbed away on an ocean of good thoughts.

As my counting passed forty-five, Dante pulled my floppy form up from the water. Deliberately acting unconscious, I let myself remain heavy and lifeless in his arms, drawing a steady breath in without moving my chest. The oxygen flooded my system along with adrenaline and I was ready for war. This time, though, it would be on my terms.

Dante slapped me across the cheek and my head snapped bonelessly from the blow, but still I didn’t move. His voice was sinister as he said, ‘So much more willing now, myBella.Dante will make a woman out of you. Prepare for the might of mycazzo!’

He cackled and dragged me by the armpits to the dry sand.Wait for it … wait for it…Although my body was loose, inside I was coiled and ready to spring. I cracked my eyes open and peeped at Dante through my lashes as he lowered his pants, then leaned over my body.

‘Be glad you’re not breathing, littlestracciamanici,because I’m going to make sure this hurts you a lot …’

Crack!I slammed my head forward into his, striking him right between the eyes. Yelping, he fell sideways, his legs pinned across mine. He tried to rear back onto me, so I used a punch I’d learned from Toshi and drove my knuckles into his sternum.

‘Tara?Tara!’ Chris’ frantic voice echoed down the beach, but I was past comprehension as Dante and I rolled across the sand, locked in mortal battle. I pushed my thumb into his eye socket and flipped him onto his back using a hank of his hair, finally gaining the upper hand.

As he whimpered in agony, I drove my knee into his crotch with a powerful blow, my entire body weight behind it. Dante howled, broken, bleeding and incapacitated, and I stood over his wretched form, victorious.

‘Tara!’ I looked up the beach to see Chris sprinting across the sand towards me. I must have looked like the walking dead: dripping with water, my dress torn, my neck bruised and my cheek raw red. Still, I was happy to see the cameras tagging after Chris. Behind them, all the other contestants and crew raced down to see what was happening.

Chris reached my side and wrapped me in his arms. He was crying freely, unashamed. ‘Babe! Talk to me! Are you okay?’ He stroked my hair and scooped me up in his arms, carrying me away from the crumpled would-be murderer and rapist still moaning on the sand. ‘Greg raised the alarm; he saw you guys on a fixed camera facing the beach.’ Chris’ voice broke. ‘He said Dante drowned you. I thought I’d lost you.’

‘I’m okay. I’m okay.’ I was back in the arms of the man I loved. Nothing could hurt me anymore.

‘I love you, babe.’

‘I love you too.’

Chris peppered my face with kisses, distracting me from the security guards who had arrived. They swiftly surrounded the mewling Dante and cuffed him using cable ties while everybody watching clapped.

‘Well, this is all very exciting, isn’t it?’ Maxine stepped between the other competitors. Even navigating soft sand, she still carried herself with haughty poise. ‘What a happy ending. Our viewers will simply adore it. It’s only a shame that you two must be disqualified from the competition as well.’

‘What?’ A cry of outrage sparked from the other contestants. Chris shook his head, confused, while I could only stare silently at Maxine and her crocodile smile.

‘Well, both of you were on your final strike. Chris, by picking Tara up, you violated your last chance, and hers. Now, you’re both out of the running for your million-dollar prizes.’ She grimaced. ‘It’s so bitter-sweet, don’t you think?’

Clara stomped forward, getting right in Maxine’s face. ‘This is fucking bullshit, you evil English wench, and everybody here knows it!’

Dante laughed hysterically as the security guards dragged him away. ‘Dante wins! He is the winner after all! Farewell,Bella!Think of me every time you look in yourvuotoaccount!’

I twisted my head into Chris’ shoulder. ‘I don’t care,’ I whispered in his ear. ‘I’m alive and I have you.’

‘This isn’t right,’ Chris said. ‘They’ve been allowing Dante to terrorise you since we got here, he almost kills you, and now they’re booting you off? This isn’t right!’

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