Sophia felt an overwhelming fear rising from the depths of her heart, nearly drowning her. She wanted to embrace the person in front of her to feel a little braver, but she couldn't free the hand that was handcuffed.
Capone leaned in to hold her tightly, wishing he could merge her soul with his and then jump into the sea to take her away.
"I should have let you go sooner; I'm sorry!"
Sophia shook her head in his embrace. No matter when he would choose to let her go, it was all fate, something they couldn't escape.
"Why don't you leave, you big fool!"
"I never wanted to let you go in the first place, and of course I'll stay to accompany you now!"
Hearing those words at that moment left Sophia unsure whether to feel joy or sadness.
The timer suddenly started ticking again, moving at double the speed from before, approaching its climax!
Capone wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes, firmly saying, "Remember what I look like; don't forget! Not even in the next life!"
"Okay, I'm afraid of the cold…" She nestled closer into his embrace. She never imagined dying with him on the same day, but at this moment, it felt nice to have his arms around her.
The timer ticked rapidly. Capone mumbled three words, which Sophia couldn't catch in time before he kissed her with all his might, stealing her breath away.
3, 2, 1… 0!
Capone held Sophia tightly, pressing her head into his shoulder, still doing everything he could to protect her until the last moment…
It felt like a century had passed, but the anticipated pain never came. Both of them were drenched in cold sweat, feeling icy all over, while the warmth of their embrace was scorching.
Capone gradually lifted his head, looking at the bomb, which was now a dark mass, calming down as if the earlier terrifying moment had never happened.
"Are we dead?" Sophia asked softly in his arms.
Unable to feel pain and hearing no sounds, but the warmth of their embrace lingered—were they in heaven?
They hadn't entered heaven; they were still wandering in the complicated world, moving from the land to the island, then to the sea, making a large circle, and finally trapped on an abandoned ship, docked in the middle of the ocean.
Capone carefully checked the bomb and confirmed it was not equipped with a detonator, meaning it would not explode at all.
They had been toyed with by Lucas.
However, this was still the dilemma set up by Lucas. If he abandoned Sophia Diaz to jump into the sea and escape, even if the bomb didn't explode, neither of them might survive.
"It's okay now; I'll try again to help you get the handcuff off!"
Capone knelt beside Sophia, using his Swiss Army knife to pry at the lock of the handcuff. The keyhole was small, designed intricately like a safe's lock; with careful probing, it could be opened—it just required patience and time.
Strangely enough, after facing life and death, it felt as if they could entrust their lives to each other; now that they were safe, it felt somewhat awkward.
Sophia's face was burning, her mind in a chaotic mess, and she couldn't recall what they had just said.
Capone leaned over her hand, patiently listening to the subtle sounds in the lock. He was so close that his familiar breath brushed against her hand, ticklish and warm, like a feather gliding by.
Sophia's face reddened even more, and she instinctively shrank away, her eyes involuntarily drawn to his injury.
"What's wrong? Are you cold?" Capone noticed her shiver. The cold sea breeze was still blowing in, and he thought she was as afraid of the cold as she had just mentioned.
Sophia shook her head, nodding toward his wound, "Your injury hasn't been treated; you're bleeding a lot. Let's bandage it up first!"
"Yeah, let's get this handcuff off first!"
In case any danger arose again, his heart couldn't bear the unbearable pain he had just experienced once more.
Capone heard a faint click by his ear, applied a bit more force, and the lock opened. He let out a sigh of relief as he carefully released her wrist. A ring of abrasions marred her skin, and when his fingers brushed against it, Sophia frowned and cried out in pain.
It seemed necessary to find a way to treat their wounds, but the priority was to escape from this empty ship's cabin.
"Wait for me here for a moment; don't be scared!" Capone comforted Sophia, then swiftly flipped himself out of the broken window and onto the ship's deck.
The ship wasn't large, and the deck was quite narrow. When Capone reached the deck, he found that the cabin door was indeed wrapped with chains and locked with a large padlock. Destroying the lock with his knife would likely take some time.
So, he decided to go down to the ship's hold, which was connected to the cabin. Any supplies, like food and water, should be found there.
Sure enough, although the door to the hold was locked, it wasn't the kind that was too difficult to open. Capone was grateful that Lucas had left behind a powerful Desert Eagle handgun; he aimed at the wooden door lock and fired a shot, causing the door to swing open.
After rummaging around, he discovered that Lucas and his group hadn't taken the ship's supplies when they left. There was enough food and water for two people to survive at sea for a while.
Frowning, Capone realized that Lucas hadn't fully intended for them both to die from the beginning.
By capturing Sophia and leading him there, it seemed he was more interested in playing tricks and frightening them, likely trying to lure him away.
Of course, after everything that had just happened, surviving was already a stroke of luck.
As for the other matters, they could wait until they reached shore!
"Hang in there; it might hurt a bit!"
Capone returned to the cabin with the necessary items to treat Sophia's wounds. It took some time to open the door between the cabin and the hold, so he climbed back through the window.
High-proof vodka became a disinfectant at that moment; he poured it over the wound on Sophia's wrist, causing her to suck in a breath sharply and quietly exclaim, "Ouch, that hurts…"
Capone's lips curled into a slight smile, and she playfully hit him, "What are you laughing at? It really hurts!"
Her wound was shallow, but her delicate skin was unaccustomed to injury, making her particularly sensitive to pain. Capone moved gently as he applied powder and bandages to her wound, then let go of her wrist, saying, "I know it hurts; I'm in more pain than you are!"
He was referring to the wound on his arm, but to Sophia, it sounded as if he were speaking of their intimate connection, causing her cheeks to flush red again.
Capone was quite calm, tossing her the powder box. He naturally started to remove his shirt and said, "Now it's your turn! Do you understand now why I had to unlock your handcuffs first? If your hands aren't free, how can you help me with my wounds?"
Sophia looked at the dried blood on his shirt, her heart twisted with pain. She had wanted to retort with a snappy comeback, but the words failed her as she knelt beside him, gazing at his injury like a pitiful creature.
The layers of flesh torn apart by the hot bullets were flipped outwards, and the dried blood, when rubbed, appeared a deep, blurry red—an agonizing sight.
In the past, Sophia wouldn't have dared to look; even the slightest whiff of blood made her stomach churn. But now, as she leaned in close to observe his wound, she felt no disgust or fear—instead, she felt a surge of heartache!
"Does it hurt a lot?" she asked, cautiously touching the wound, only to pull her hand back in fright when more blood seeped out.
"It's not that painful; it's a bit numb now. But later, you'll have to help me get the bullet out, and that might actually hurt!"
Sophia's eyes widened in shock. "What… what? You want me to dig the bullet out? We should wait for rescue and let a professional doctor do it in a hospital!"
She could hardly imagine how she could remove a bullet without any necessary medical facilities here, especially with so few supplies in the first aid kit and no anesthetics.
Capone looked at her and said, "Listen to me. I checked the control panel just now; the ship's navigation system is completely wrecked. It's impossible for us to set sail! Lucas doesn't want us dead, but he also doesn't want us to get rescued too quickly. We'll likely be adrift at sea for a while before my people find me. If we're lucky, it might be a day or two; if not, it could be a month! If the bullet stays lodged in my muscle for too long, it could cause inflammation and tissue necrosis, and my arm will be useless. So we have to remove it!"
"Aren't there phones?"
Capone chuckled bitterly. Not only was his phone in pieces, but the signal here was already poor. With the wind direction, they would continue drifting further into international waters, making it unreliable to count on the phone's GPS system.
He believed that his friend Karl, who had spoken to him earlier, would understand his situation and contact the other brothers to initiate a search and rescue. However, that would take some time, and he really couldn't predict how long it would be.
"Don't be scared; the bullet isn't embedded deeply. I can feel it! Just disinfect the knife with the alcohol, dig out the bullet, clean the wound afterward, and wrap it up, and it'll be fine!"
"I can't do it… I'm too scared…"