Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 118245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 591(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 591(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
I tightened my grip on the water hose and raised my fist in the air to signal to Amara.
The hose jerked and vibrated in my grasp as over thirty bars of pressurized water rushed through the oiled canvas.
Through the corner of my eye, I saw Benedict burst through the stable doors riding one of our horses bareback while holding the reins of three others.
Alfonso shielded his face in the crook of his arm as he ran toward me right when the water burst forward onto the flames.
He gestured wildly toward the villa then made a shoveling motion.
I nodded as I directed the water into the belly of the beast.
Matteo circled to my left with his own stream of water as we tried to quell the flames from two different angles.
Gabriella shouted out orders from behind me to the women. “Girls! Liliana and Bianca, go help Rosa with setting up an infirmary for any injured. Amara, get on the phone and find out what’s taking the fire brigade so long.”
As we were in the mountains and had an extensive amount of land, we didn’t entirely rely on the village fire brigade for our first response. It was expected for us to have several lines of defense in place like water pipes, hoses, and sprinklers. But we would definitely need them in case the wind shifted, or worse, one of the main buildings caught fire.
Gabriella called out to Ella, Matteo’s girl. “Ella! Antonella!”
The girl seemed to be transfixed by the flames. She stood unnaturally still, the glow from the fire flickering across her dangerously pale face.
Finally, she shook her head and blinked as if coming out of a daze. “Yes! Yes, what can I do?”
“Milana is sending the villagers up. The ones with buckets.” She threw her outstretched arm to the left. “Direct them to the sand pits. The ones with shovels, divide them between Sebastian and Alfonso’s ditch crews.”
Ella nodded and took off in a run toward the gate to meet the villagers who had already begun to arrive.
A gust of wind sent the flames higher. “Get back! Get back!” I roared over the deafening thunder of the fire.
It wasn’t the flames that killed, it was often the heat blast from the six-hundred-degree air which could travel farther and faster than the fire itself. It would scorch a person’s lungs and melt their clothing to their skin before they even saw the flames.
Matteo yelled out to me as he gestured violently. “The supply barn!”
Fuck.
In that instant, Matteo, Alfonso, and I all came to the same conclusion.
With the wind shift, the old barn we had converted into an inventory building was now at risk.
Housed inside were over fifty sintered titanium filters. Titanium was a highly combustible metal which would not only react violently to the heat, but the water we used to put the flames out.
An explosion would be deadly.
Shoving the water hose into the chest of one of my nearby men, I took off toward the barn. My lungs burned from the hot air I was forced to breathe as I pushed every muscle in my body to the limit.
Matteo was on my heels as Alfonso approached from the right flank.
We were too late.
A spark had already ignited the roof. It went up like a tinderbox.
The explosion mimicked the sound of a sonic boom. A rush of fast-moving air, wood shards, and flames rolled over us in a wave, knocking Matteo and me off our feet. My body was suspended in the air before slamming into the ground several lengths away from where I'd been standing. Knocking me out for a moment.
Dazed, at first I thought the high-pitched bell was my ears ringing from the impact.
Then I realized it was screaming.
Amara’s slight body fell over mine as she threw herself over my chest. “Barone!”
Wrapping my arms tightly around her, I rolled my body, shielding her as I pressed her into the ground.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Matteo doing the same for Ella. Curling his body over her shaking and crying one.
The second blast sent out another wave of hot air and more wood shards. I clenched my jaw and growled as several lodged in my back and shoulders.
The ground vibrated with the pounding of an approaching horse's hooves.
Benedict appeared through a plume of thick, pitch-black smoke. He had covered the horse’s eyes with his torn shirt.
Another piercing shriek lost somewhere within the thick clouds rent the air.
Gabriella.
My God.
With his fists clutching at the horse’s mane, Benedict propelled the beast forward, galloping toward her screams.
Cesare and Enzo fell on their knees before us, smothering Ella and Amara with drenched wool blankets before lifting them in their arms and running to safety as Matteo and I followed in Benedict’s wake.
Benedict jumped off his horse and smacked its ass, sending it running in the opposite direction, away from the fire, just as we arrived on the other side of the barn.