CHAPTER 31: ABOVE DESTINY

The sea.

Luciano’s eyes widened as the thought hit him like a brick.

His driver, on his command, was driving through the old road like a mad man.

At every corner, Luciano would drop, and search around whilst calling out Valentina’s name.

So far, they had been unlucky. They had combed through every single piece of land surrounding the old woods, but still, she was nowhere to be found.

Until he remembered the sea.

He quickly tapped on Dante. "Drive to the sea," he commanded.

The look on Dante’s face was the same anyone in their rational mind would have.

How could she possibly have found the sea when it was so deep in the woods?

But it was a chance he was willing to take.

"Don’t die on me, Bella. Don’t you dare," be muttered under his breath.

After passing through rough, patchy grounds, the car finally rolled into the shores of the sea.

Luciano jumped out of it before the car fully stopped.

He took just one step forward, when lightning struck, splitting the sky into two.

But before the sky dulled again, his eyes caught something that made him confident Valentina was around somewhere.

He ran to the tree that had been axed down, and picked up the digital camera.

Stunned silence followed his discovery. Not a single drop of drizzling water had touched the device.

He looked up, and there he saw why. Another different tree with shades thick like a bush, had shielded it.

Thunder ruptured the sky, its noise tugging at his thoughts. "Valentina!" He ran back to the car, and dropped the camera inside of it.

Dante too had gotten down, and was screaming Valentina’s name in the rain, as he searched all round for her with a torchlight in his hand.

"Where are you? Where?" Thick lines marred Luciano’s forehead, as he walked through every single cardinal point around the sea.

It was so dark. Not even the torchlight Dante held could penetrate the dark completely.

And then lightning struck again. This time, when Luciano was looking towards the sea.

The light lingered a bit in the sky, just long enough for Luciano to catch a glimpse of something in the water.

Something was being dragged down by the waves.

His legs already drew close to the water, but his eyes weren’t fully convinced it wasn’t just the storm playing tricks on him.

Again, lightning struck just as his feet touched the shallowest part of the sea.

"CristoSanto!" he cursed under his breath.

There was no mistaking anything now. It was Valentina.

He quickly peeled off the vest from his body, and dove into the furious sea.

Cold gripped him in a deathly hug, seizing his breath for a few seconds.

But he didn’t surrender to it. He wasn’t an ordinary man to give up just like that.

Not even against the raging storm of the sea.

So he pushed through the slicing pain that tore at him, just as the cold released its shackles around his body.

"Stay with me, Bella. Don’t you dare die on me,"

As he swam with every strength in him, the waves replicated its deviousness on him.

It tried to pull him back, with the kind of unusual strength only nature could provide.

Luciano did not yield. He refused to yield. The desperation to save the woman that had entered into his world, and made him question his sanity at first sight, was the motivation he needed.

Lightning struck, showing him that he was close to her now, even though her body was barely visible.

"I’m coming. I’ll be right there. Just stay with me. Please–"

His words were desperate. His breath ragged. He raced against time, and the violence of nature.

It was an impossible task.

To the mere man, it was. But after matching violence for violence, by holding on to his innermost strength, and straddling through the water commandingly, he finally got to the spot he had seen Valentina.

His head dashed down under, and there, he saw her floating away.

"Cristo!" He swore under his breath, as he reached for her, and grabbed her.

Valentina’s body was limp, and her hair tangled round her face like a mask.

"Bella?"

There was no response from her. Only the rumblings of thunder.

"Bella– Valentina?!" He tried to shake some life into her.

Nothing moved. Nothing changed.

She remained lifeless. Her breath, stolen away wickedly.

"No, no no no!" He protested against the evidence in front of him.

Wrapping his hands on her waist for easier movement, he glided through the waters, back to the shore.

Nature, as if laughing at him, calmed the storm. Telling him that despite everything he had accomplished, he was still just a man.

Not a God. They controlled fate, and destiny.

And at the moment, Valentina’s destiny looked to be—

"No!" He wrestled against the voices in his head, and doubled his body movement.

His muscles burned with pain and fatigue. But when he thought of how light she was in his arms, it was all the motivation he needed to continue.

She wasn’t supposed to be that light. "Please," he breathed out.

Finally, he felt sand beneath his feet, and he dragged her to the shores.

Dante ran to him.

"Carpo!" He called out.

Luciano didn’t respond. His eyes were glued to Valentina’s lifeless body.

The stubbornness in him refused to let him give up.

He would play God, and by all means, he would win.

It was that thought that pushed him to lean over her.

Disregarding the rain that had upped its tempo again, and now flogged his back mercilessly, he pressed his palm against her chest.

One compression.

He wrapped his mouth over hers, and breathed life into her.

Two compressions.

He repeated the process again, and again, and again.

"Please Valentina! Please!" His voice rang louder to the heavens.

The words were pleading, but the tone was commanding.

He wasn’t just asking for her to return to him, he demanded it..

Still, nothing changed. Nothing happened.

Nature mocked him one last time by slowing down the rain.

The only thing he heard was the sound of his heart breaking, little by little.

"Carpo. I think she’s—"

"Don’t you fucking dare! Shut the fuck up!" He silenced him with fury that burned his own chest.

The energy he used in pumping her chest began to wane.

Even his breath into her mouth did not go in with much conviction anymore.

"Valentina," he called out her name one more time.

What could have been? He would never know. She would never know.

He covered her mouth with his for the last time.

But as he was pulling away, she suddenly coughed.

Water gushed out of her lips, and she began to gasp for air.

His head doubled back, but it lasted for just a fleeting second, as he swiftly wrapped his arms around her jerking body.

"It’s okay," he pulled her up, so he could comfort her more with his body. "It’s okay, Valentina. You’re safe. You’re alive."

He pulled her back when her rattling body began to settle. "Diomios, bella! You fucking scared me."

Valentina blinked. "It’s you," she whispered, her voice hoarse and lightweight. "You saved me from destiny."