Chapter 16 - The Drop into Darkness
"The detonator!" Rose shouted.
Nathaniel lunged for the switch, but Julian, half-blinded and bleeding from his face, hurled his entire body weight into Nathaniel, tackling him against the shattered balcony railing.
The ancient stone balustrade groaned, cracking under the impact of the two massive men.
Metal screeched. Concrete crumbled.
With a sickening snap, the railing gave way entirely.
"NATHANIEL!" Rose screamed, diving forward across the slick glass.
She threw her body over the edge, her scarred fingers plunging into the empty air—and caught Nathaniel’s wrist just as his boots slid off the crumbling stone.
Nathaniel dangled over the dizzying, terrifying abyss of Manhattan at 3:00 AM, sixty stories above the pavement. His other hand held Julian by the collar of his suit jacket, the older man dangling beneath him, kicking wildly in panic.
The strain on Rose’s arms was unbearable. Her old scars tore open, hot crimson blood running down her palms, lubricating her grip, making Nathaniel’s wrist slip millimeter by agonizing millimeter.
"Rose... let go!" Nathaniel choked out, looking up at her with eyes full of absolute love and total despair. "You can't hold both of us! The concrete is giving way!"
"I WONT LET YOU FALL!" Rose shrieked, her veins bulging in her neck, her muscles tearing as she dug her knees into the edge of the floor. "I WILL NEVER LET YOU GO!"
Beneath Nathaniel, Julian’s silver cane slipped from his fingers, tumbling into the endless dark.
Julian looked up, his face twisted into a demonic grin of absolute malice. With his free hand, he pulled a razor-sharp tactical blade from his boot.
"If I burn, nephew..." Julian hissed, his blade gleaming under the moonlight, aiming directly for the tendons in Nathaniel’s wrist, "...we all burn together!"
"NO!" Rose screamed.
Julian slashed upward. A spray of blood hit the stone.
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The timer in the room behind them reached zero.
A blinding, earth-shattering flash erupted from the lower levels of the mansion, the floor beneath Rose’s knees buckling violently—and as the world exploded into fire and thunder, Rose’s bloody fingers slipped entirely from Nathaniel’s grasp.
