Gigi, I’m coming for you baby.
The wind howled as if it were echoing my rage, sweeping through the cemetery’s trees and rattling the snow off the branches like a warning.
“How the hell are we supposed to find her in here?” Matteo asked looking around the cemetery.
“Did the message say anything else that could lead us to where she’s buried?” Alphonse asked.
Matteo shook his head, and my heart sunk to the depths of the Atlantic. Just as the weight of hopelessness threatened to drown me, many thoughts pierced through my mental fog. My thoughts bounced around in my head like a game of Plinko until one finally hit its mark.
“We need to split up,” I said. “We have to look for any soil that seems disturbed.”
“I agree,” Alphonse replied, as he stood beside me.
“Hold on a sec,” Lo interjected, his brow furrowing. “If the ground’s frozen, we’ll need jackhammers or something to break through.”
“That would depend on the depth of the frost line, which can fluctuate,” Luca replied, his breath visible in the crisp air as he rubbed his gloved hands together.
Lo let out a derisive snort. “What are you, some kind of meteorologist now?”
“No, dumbass,” Luca shot back. “Trust me, the snow’s soft enough to dig through. It won’t be a problem.”
“Nico, these are actual graves. Are we seriously going to dig them up?” Lo asked.
“I don’t care,” I snapped.
The thought of my angel being buried alive was far worse than the horror of what we were about to do.
I turned to my men, already gripping the shovels in their hands. “Start digging.”
Without hesitation, we ran down the path and began searching the grounds for any graves that seemed to have been recently disturbed.
The sky decided it was the perfect time to shower us with a mix of rain and snow, making it much more difficult to dig as the mixture flowed down the graves.
My shovel's edge hit the packed snow with a heavy thud. I pushed it forward, feeling the resistance as it penetrated the frozen ground, then lifted it with a grunt, tossing the snow aside.
Minutes stretched into what felt like hours, each impact sending jarring vibrations through my arms. My muscles screamed at me to stop, and a dull, numbing pain throbbed in my fingers, yet I pushed on. Nothing was going to stop me from finding my angel. Even if the cold threatened to freeze me to death, my love for her would warm me and set me free.
I drew quick, labored breaths, the cold air stabbing at my lungs like a thousand tiny needles. With every swing into the ground, my hope chipped away.
I cursed under my breath, feeling the swing of the shovel as it dug deeper into my soul, reminding me of my failure to protect the one person who owned my heart, soul, and mind.
The snow- and rain-soaked ground became a battleground as we desperately dug for Gigi. Grave after grave, we worked furiously. A sinking dread settled in my stomach. Each body we uncovered that wasn’t her felt like another dagger to my heart.What if we were too late? Was this just a diversion, another one of the Puppet Master’s fucked-up games?
I glanced down at my watch, my heart pounding, and froze. “She only has eight minutes of oxygen left!” My desperation grew as time slipped away. I kept digging, and as soon as I saw a body wasn’t Gigi, I pushed forward.
We were soaked from the cold, shivering, and covered in snow and mud. We moved on to one grave after another, each hole revealing nothing but despair.
Luca roared as he drove his shovel into the earth with a violent thud. Dirt and snow flew up around him. “She’s not fucking here!” he shouted, his voice echoing through the stillness of the cemetery.
“Where is she then?” Alphonse shouted frantically. His cheeks and nose, bright red from the biting cold, dripped with snot, mirroring how the rest of us looked.
I hurled the shovel to the ground. Dropping to my knees, I buried my fingers in my hair, gripping it tightly as a guttural, animalistic sound tore from my throat. Where the hell was she? If she was dead, I wouldn’t be able to survive. I’d follow her into the abyss. But only after I killed the Puppet Master.
“Nico,” Lo murmured, clutching my shoulder. But there was nothing that could subdue the fury from drowning me. I unleashed the beast from its cage.
I sprang to my feet, snatching the shovel back up, and swung it wildly at the gravestones.
“Nico! Stop!” Lo shouted, but I continued on the warpath until thick arms encircled my chest, restricting my movements.
