Italian Tycoon, Secret Son

In moments the others had uncoupled themselves from her and hurried away. Up ahead, Mandy could see Henry beginning to ski down until he reached Renzo. Even at this distance she could tell that he was on a ‘high’.

She began to move up to join them, arriving just in time to hear Henry say, ‘You’ve got no sense of fun, man.’

‘The thing about fun is that you need to be alive to enjoy it,’ Renzo said, quietly firm. ‘Now shut up and come down with us.’

Henry made a face behind his back, looking to Mandy for silent support. But she shook her head. He glared and when Renzo tried to hook him up to the rope that would connect them he backed off hurriedly.

‘No way. I’ll go down but I’m damned if I’m going to be tied to you.’

‘Stop fooling about,’ Renzo demanded.

‘I mean it. Just keep away from me.’ He said the last words on a shout, skiing away fast.

‘Let’s go,’ Renzo muttered.

He connected her to the rope and they began the descent. Mandy heard the swift rushing noise of the skis on the snow. The sound seemed to build up in her ears, growing more ominous until she realized that she was listening to something different-something terrifying. The snow was moving.

Suddenly the movement was everywhere-behind her, beside her, around her, growing louder.

‘Renzo!’ she shrieked.

‘We must get ahead of it,’ he shouted. ‘Quick as you can! Don’t do that!’

The shout was jerked from him as she glanced over her shoulder and saw the snow sweeping down on them, faster every moment, thundering, threatening. She knew in that instant that they would never escape it, but she skied on, still roped to Renzo, feeling him draw her forwards in a frantic attempt to outrun the danger.

Then thought stopped, sensations ceased to be separate and blended into one storm of fear and horror. The whole world was white, above and below her, behind and in front. Nothing but white existed. Nothing ever had or ever would again.

She didn’t see the wall that loomed up behind the white, didn’t know it was there until she slammed into it. Her skis hit first, saving her from some of the impact. Even so, she was left breathless and half stunned. A scream of fear and dread broke from her and she looked around frantically.

‘Renzo! Renzo! Where are you?’

‘Here.’ His voice reached her from a few inches away but she couldn’t see him underneath the snow.

‘Where are you? Oh, God!’

To her desperate relief, she felt his hand groping out of the snow to touch hers, seize it firmly.

‘It’s all right,’ he said hoarsely. ‘Don’t panic, we’re at the hut I showed you. If we can get inside, we’ll be safe. Try to move towards me.’

It was hard to move with her skis impeding her but, with him drawing her towards him, she finally managed it, parting the snow until she could just see him.

‘The door’s just to my left,’ he said. ‘Let’s hope it isn’t locked.’

For once, luck was with them. After rattling the door for a moment, Renzo managed to get it open, but at once snow began to pour in through the gap.

‘We have to get in fast,’ he said, almost dragging her sideways and through the door. ‘Push!’ he yelled.

Together they shoved hard, pushing the door closed with agonizing slowness, forcing the threatening snow back and back until they had defeated it, at least for the moment.

‘Thank God!’ he gasped. ‘It’s a heavy door. It should hold.’

‘Does that mean we’re safe?’

‘Of course we are. We can hole up here until they find us, which shouldn’t be long.’

As he spoke he gave her a bright smile, and its very cheerfulness told her that he didn’t believe a word he was saying. They were trapped, perhaps for days, perhaps for ever.

But this wasn’t the time for talk. There was too much to be done.

‘Let’s get these awkward things off,’ he said, beginning to pull at his skis. ‘Mandy? What’s the matter?’

‘Just a minute,’ she choked. ‘I just-’

‘Here, sit down,’ he said, guiding her to a sofa, making her sit down and kneeling to remove her skis. Then he sat beside her and put his arm around her. ‘All right, give yourself time.’

She was shaking violently, tears pouring down her face.

‘They’re dead,’ she cried. ‘They must be dead-Joan and Peter, Henry-they’re out in the open-they must be swept away-’

‘We don’t know that,’ he tried to soothe her. ‘Mandy, Mandy-’

Renzo pulled her against himself in a big hug, then rocked back and forth, murmuring soothing words and stroking her hair. But nothing could stop the tears. Submerged in agony, she flailed her arms, thumping him fiercely.

‘They’re dead-they’re dead-’ she screamed. ‘Let me go.’

Mandy was struggling to free herself, taking him by surprise so that she was out of his arms before he could stop her. Now she was running here and there in an agony of grief and guilt, colliding with walls, recoiling, running again she knew not where, anywhere if only she could flee the horror inside her head.

He reached for her but she evaded him, heading for a door that led she knew not where. In her blind urgency to escape, she flung it open, not hearing Renzo’s hoarse cry of, ‘No!’ and was halfway across the floor of the room before she realized that the far wall had completely vanished.

Something thundered into her from behind, knocking her to the floor, landing on her, keeping her pinned down while she peered over into the abyss.

‘All right, I’ve got you,’ Renzo said. ‘Just edge back slowly.’

She couldn’t move. Her eyes were fixed on the endless drop into which she had nearly pitched headlong.

‘Gently, gently,’ Renzo urged, pulling her inch by inch until she was a little way back from the edge. Then he seized her suddenly, yanking her to her feet and back through the door, which he slammed shut, then stood leaning back against it, holding her.

‘That…was a very silly thing to do,’ he said in a voice that shook.

‘I…didn’t know…’

‘No, you can’t see that side from where we were. I should have warned you.’

She began to calm down. ‘How could you have warned me? What chance did you have? I was the idiot.’

‘Mandy,’ he murmured against her hair, ‘are we going to pick this moment to argue about who’s the idiot?’

‘No, I guess it’s not a very good idea,’ she whispered.

‘Come on, let’s go somewhere safer.’

He drew her away into another part of the hut, where they could no longer see that the building was half gone, could almost pretend that it wasn’t so.

The place was small and basic, but looked as if it had once been comfortable, and the rooms at the back were still serviceable.

‘Everyone got out six months ago,’ Renzo said. ‘When they knew the place was unsafe they started removing furniture, but then there was a sudden lurch closer to the edge and they ran for it. Since then some more of the land has fallen away and taken the front of the hut with it. But we’ll be safe here for a few days.’

‘But how will we get out? We can’t go forward or back.’

‘When something like this happens the rescue service sends out helicopters. It may take a while but they’ll find us, because I’m going to use the radio to let them know we’re here. I’d better contact them now and tell them to look out for the others.’

But when he took the radio from his pack it lay useless in his hands, refusing to respond as he urgently pressed buttons.

‘It’s dead, isn’t it?’ she asked gently. ‘But we each have a cellphone.’

‘Let’s try them, although I’m not sure if the signal can get through here.’

He was right. Neither phone was any use.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Renzo said firmly. ‘The ones who went down ahead of us will tell them our rough direction.