Chapter 45
"We need to set up a defensible perimeter!" I shouted to the boys as we all ran hell for leather toward the blaze.
A dense copse of trees between the villa and the winery facilities were engulfed in flames.
Thick smoke and ash carried on the wind, burning my eyes and increasing the danger of the fire spreading through flying embers.
With my arm shielding my face from the blast of heat as we approached, I yelled out, "Assessment."
Enzo coughed then called out, "We've already moved half the barrels into the wine caves where they'll be safe, but we still have about five hundred barrels racked."
The rack room was the first building in the blazes path. Five hundred barrels was over twelve thousand cases of wine at risk. That was about a hundred and fifty thousand bottles, half this year's inventory. We couldn't let that happen.
While the barrels themselves would be able to withstand a degree of heat, the physical wooden racks they were stored on would not. If they were compromised, the barrels could crash to the stone floor and break open.
I covered my mouth with the crook of my arm. "Vines?"
Cesare spoke through his shirt which he had lifted to cover his face. "They'll withstand the worst of the heat blast because of the water content, but it's the drip hoses I'm worried about. Thank God we replaced the north and west quadrants with steel pipes, but if the wind shifts and the lower southeast acres get hit, we're done for."
Fuck. Centuries worth of vine growth.
The Cavalieri legacy.
It all could be wiped out in an instant if the older irrigation pipes ignited. The plastic would melt onto the vines, killing them.
Then there were the stables, bottling facility, and other buildings to worry about, not to mention the main villa and Cesare's home.
With my forearm, I wiped the soot from my eyes. "All right. We all know what to do."
Sebastian Diamanti threw off his suit jacket. "Where do you need me?"
"I need to dig a ditch between the fire and the winery buildings."
He nodded. "Done."
As he raced toward my men, he held out his arm, snatching the handle of a shovel from one of them as he shouted orders and gathered a team.
Benedict gestured to Alfonso. "We need to move the horses out of the stable and clear the sheep to a lower pasture."
Instead of using a masticator to mulch and to control erosion, we used sheep to clear all the brush and grass from between the vines. There were about three hundred head that had just been let out into the northern acreage.
Enzo gestured to the winery buildings. "There isn't enough heat to trigger the sprinkler systems. I'm going to go do it manually. If we soak the barrels and racks that will give us extra time."
I patted him on the shoulder to show my agreement before sprinting toward Amara and Liliana who were struggling to drag a coil of canvas hose across the yard. Leaning down, I hefted the coil onto my shoulder and ran to the water pipes.
Dropping the cumbersome hose in the dirt, I yanked on the open end, unfurling it. "Hook it up nice and tight, dolcezza, then get back to safety."
As I ordered her, I realized Milana and Bianca were struggling with the second hose coil. My head pivoted in a semicircle, but all my men were occupied with digging a defense perimeter or hooking any exposed vegetation piles to pull them away from the inferno.
Just then, one of our Range Rovers roared into the courtyard.
Before the vehicle had even come to a full stop, Matteo had thrown open the driver's side door and jumped out. Seeing Bianca and a heavily pregnant Milana wrestling with the hose, he ran over to them.
He lowered his knees and hefted the coil onto his shoulder before racing for the other water pipe. "Girls, get back! Get back!" he ordered as he ran.
By now Gabriella had appeared. Wrapping her hand around Bianca's forearm, she yelled, "We'll turn on Matteo's water." She then pointed to Milana. "Take the Range Rover and drive to the gate to direct the villagers."
Smart woman.
The villagers would have seen the smoke by now and would be coming in droves to help. We needed someone at the gate to control the situation. Plus it got Milana and her unborn baby as far away as possible from the toxic fumes and heat blast. With Cesare occupied securing the lower fields with another defensive perimeter, he would expect us to watch out for his girl.
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 Id 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 horses 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.
Gabriella was on her knees in the dirt, desperately clutching at a still burning wood beam.
Alfonso was pinned face down underneath it.
"Help me! Help me!" she cried out.
Benedict and I pushed her aside so we could each wrap our hands around the massive support beam. The sickening smell of burnt hair and scorched flesh made me gag and choke as I fought my body's primal instinct to release my grip.
I opened my mouth in a silent yell, straining with my brother to lift the heavy beam off our friend.
Matteo yanked on Alfonso's feet as soon as he was clear, pulling him from under it.
Gabriella turned him over. "Alfonso? Alfonso!"
Her hands frantically moved over his chest and face.
Ignoring the searing pain in my burnt hands, I bent down and shouldered Alfonso's right arm as Benedict did the same on his left side. We dragged his unconscious body to a clearing upwind of the blaze.
The moment we laid him on the grass, Gabriella fell over him. "Alfonso! Open your eyes! Please, open your eyes!"
Her tears made dirty tracks down her cheeks through the soot.
Benedict and I exchanged a look as we stared down at Alfonso's slack features.
Enzo returned with Dr. Pantona in his wake.
Benedict wrapped his arms around Gabriella's middle and forced her away from him.
"Let me go! Let me go!" she shrieked, her arms straining to reach out to Alfonso.
Benedict held on firmly. "Give the doctor room, love."
He turned her in his arms and clutched her to his chest.
I fell to my knees beside Alfonso and grabbed his hand in my injured one as Dr. Pantona pressed his fingers against his neck, searching for signs of life.
Tears blocked my vision and burned my previously heat-dried eyes as I tightened my grip on Alfonso's hand. The scorching pain in my palm and fingers anchoring me. "Come on, old friend. Stop lazing around. There's work still to be done."
Shrill sirens and a trucks horn blast signaled the arrival of reinforcements. With the added manpower of the fire brigade, I knew the already waning fire would soon be under control.
Dr. Pantona leaned over Alfonso and pressed his ear to his chest.
Everything stopped.
All the chaos around us stilled.
It seemed as if even the flames froze in jagged spikes as they reached for the now darkened skies.
We all waited, holding our breaths, willing him to hear a heartbeat.
Leaning back, the doctor met my gaze and slowly shook his head.
Gabriella broke free of Benedict's grasp as she threw herself over Alfonso's lifeless body. "Nooooooo!"
Her heartbreaking sobs ripped my soul to shreds.
"Do something! Save him!"
Dr. Pantona tried to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Gabriella, he's?—"
She bared her teeth at him. "Don't you say it. Don't you dare fucking say it!"
Her palms gripped Alfonso's face, before she raised her arm and slapped him. "Alfonso! Wake up! Don't leave me! Wake up, damn you!"
Then her small hands curled into fists as she pounded on his chest, in a desperate attempt to get the heart she loved, the heart that was so strong and brave, so loving and loyal, to beat at least one more time. Her signature gold bangles rattling with each strike to his unresponsive chest.
"He's not dead! He's not dead! He's not dead!" she raged through her sobs.
Her black hair was in a tangled disarray, whipping across her face as she turned her head, looking at us with wild eyes. "Help him! Please!"
My throat tightened, making words almost impossible as I reached over and placed my larger hands over her fists, stilling them. "He's gone, Gabriella. Let him rest."
She pulled her hands free and gripped her hair, throwing her head back and wailing before falling forward over his body, burying her face against his neck as she clutched at his shirt.
Benedict went down on his haunches and tried to pull her back. "Come away, love. We need to move him."
She rounded on him. "Don't you touch him!" She then cradled Alfonso's head in her lap and bent over his body, holding him close as she rocked back and forth, sobbing.
Another cry pierced the air. Despite her advanced pregnancy, Milana came running toward us.
Before she reached Alfonso's body, Cesare intercepted her, sweeping her up into his arms. Milana stretched out her arm over his shoulder as her face contorted with grief. "Alfonso! Nooo!"
Despite their relatively short acquaintance, I knew she'd shared a special bond with Alfonso.
This shock could endanger her already risky pregnancy.
I shared a look with Dr. Pantona, who nodded. "I'll go to her. Then I'll see to the other injuries."
Dammit. My men. The winery. My responsibilities.
My head rose in time to see Sebastian taking control in that ruthlessly efficient, cold manner of his. He caught my gaze and nodded before raising his arm and shouting out more orders.
With that, my gaze returned to my old friend. Disbelief fighting reality.
He couldn't be gone. He just couldn't be. Shock wouldn't allow me to accept it.
For as long as I could remember, Alfonso had been my closest friend. Always supporting me, no matter what, with solid, quiet determination and his own brand of dry wit.
There wasn't a single stretch of grass over all the Cavalieri lands that we hadn't trodden together a thousand times, side by side.
And now he was gone.
And nothing would be the same again.
I swiped at my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt. Through a haze of tears, I saw Amara sprinting toward us. Catching her against my body, I pressed her close and stroked her wet hair.
"I know, dolcezza. I know," I murmured against her temple as I moved my hand in circles over her back, letting her sob against my shoulder.
Matteo followed closely behind her. He stared down at Alfonso's body in silence but the pain in his eyes spoke volumes. He curled his hand into a fist and turned first to Benedict, then me. "This wasn't an accident. The fire was deliberate."
My arms tightened around Amara's quaking shoulders. "This means war," I growled.