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Christian adjusted the gun against his shoulder. “Step back!” he yelled.
But Mihai took another step forward, and another.
Christian pulled the trigger and another loud shot exploded through the woods. Olivia covered her mouth with her hands in horror as she watched Mihai slowly stumble backward, all the way against the well. His eyes were wide in fear as he lost his balance and fell backward down the well. His screams echoed for a moment before suddenly silenced by a distant thud.
“Christian!” Olivia shouted and threw herself into his arms. He gasped and dropped the rifle into the grass, breathing hard. She hugged him, burying her face in his chest as she sobbed. He held her close.
“You saved my life.”
“I guess that makes us even,” he responded, kissing her head.
.
CHAPTER sixteen
It was already getting dark when the gloved hands of the young male paramedic carefully moved along Olivia’s head in the back of the ambulance. The pain at the back of her head had somewhat subsided at this point. A paramedic offered her an injection for the pain, but she’d declined, taking off her bloody, dirt-covered jacket.
Olivia looked in awe at the police cars parked around the castle, the blue lights flashing across its towering, dark walls. It had been a mad rush soon after they called for help and the police and ambulances finally drove in, with uniformed people jumping out and moving around like busy ants. Voices crackled over radios, people spoke loud in the local dialect, and sirens blared.
“Wow,” she muttered to herself as the paramedic finally let go of her head. “What a vacation.”
“Your head is fine. You just need rest,” the paramedic informed her, speaking slowly in a thick accent. “We can still take to hospital for the night, to watch you.”
“That’s all right. I think I’m okay,” she said. The man nodded and left.
“My Lady,” someone called out and she smiled without having to look up. Christian strode over to the ambulance. He had a bandage wrapped around his right arm where the bear had wounded him. His hair was wild and his white shirt was stained with blood and mud.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
Olivia touched the bandage around her head and shrugged. “I’m not inside a well.” She rose and stepped to the edge of the ambulance. Christian helped her down from the ambulance, taking her hand in his.
“Me neither.”
They both smiled in relief, sharing that subtle dread that came with the realization that either of them could have died.
“This has been one crazy day.” Olivia rested her head on his shoulder, watching the police come in and out of the castle and getting search dogs out of their cars, most likely to find Elena.
“And one hell of a tour,” Christian said.
Another police car pulled up and the door opened and Christian’s mother rushed out. Olivia recognized her instantly, and thinking about it now, she understood how she’d mistaken her for his wife. Christian’s mother was a beauty, even with the mix of worry and relief on her face as she limped toward them with a cane.
Olivia stepped away to give her room to embrace her son, crying and squeezing him as if trying to make sure he was real.
Still crying, she said something in Romanian, then turned to Olivia. A bright smile filled her face. There was something else in her eyes that Olivia couldn’t quite place. A sort of familiarity she didn’t understand.
She leaned forward and hugged Olivia too. “Thank God you are okay,” she said softly in a thick Romanian accent. “Maria must be watching over you.”
Olivia’s mother’s name on this woman’s lips was disorienting. Olivia stared at her in confusion, wanting to ask if she’d known her mother, when the sound of barking dogs and yelling officers distracted her.
“They found her,” Christian translated the hollers for Olivia as a group of officers, all dressed in dark blue, came out of the woods. A German shepherd with a harness that had the wordsK-9written on it was leading the way. Shortly after, two more officers appeared from the thick brush of the forest. They held Elena by the arms, her hands in handcuffs. She kept trying to shrug away from the officers, muttering what Olivia assumed was a string of curses. Olivia couldn’t help but feel betrayed; all those nice smiles and tender words were nothing but despicable, evil lies.
One of the officers, a young, skinny guy who looked barely eighteen, announced something and jabbed a finger back toward the forest.
“I think it’s about to get crazier,” Christian said, gritting his teeth, his eyes hard when he looked at her. “They said they need a medic team at the well. Mihai is still alive.”
Olivia sighed, relief and anger flowing through her veins. “That’s good. I don’t want him to die.”
Elena grunted and spat again, her eyes flashing like a caged animal. Her hair stuck out in all directions, covered in dirt and leaves. Her clothes were dirty and torn, like she’d been rolling around in the dirt for hours.
