Count To Ten And Jump

"Seriously?" Lina was shocked. "So, we are not leaving the country at all?"

"Right. Whatever I told you in the SUV was to let Donaldson give the Ciminos inaccurate information." Michael stood up and walked towards the cockpit. "Let me inform the pilots."

Lina turned around and looked at both Rachel and Monica, "The pilots will do whatever he asks for? Really?"

Both girls nodded, "Of course. Their payroll is way above other pilots. And, with the extra $1 million, they will jump gladly!"

As Michael was inside the cockpit, Lina took the opportunity to dig further information, "Just curious, who is this Amber person? Your boss actually risked his life just to see her?"

Rachel let out a sigh, "They were childhood friends, grew up together, went to the same school and college."

Monica added on, "Everybody thought that they would be childhood sweethearts, but, no. They grew apart when they grew up. Nobody really knows what actually happened. Boss never leak a word!"

"Worse still when Amber met and fell in love with Albert Cimino!" Rachel kept shaking her head, "I mean, they are two competing families who do not see eye to eye. I know boss wanted to see Amber but it was no longer appropriate for him to see Albert Cimino's girlfriend!"

"Then, why all of sudden, he sneaked out to see her?" Lina was getting more and more curious.

"All we know is boss received a call from that Amber and then he got extremely worried. He wanted to go and see her but his mother stopped him." Rachel elaborated further.

"Patricia Carlito?" Lina had heard her name many times since she moved to LA a few years back. Patricia Carlito was the Matriach of Carlito Family, the uncrowned queen of Los Angeles underworld. The ruthless queen who took over and expanded her husband's business empire after his death. In summary, a very powerful woman. A legend of her own right.

The girls nodded with respect. "We thought he would listen to her. But, no. The next thing we knew was Albert Cimino tried to shoot him and you saved his life by driving under influence."

"Right... right... I saved his life by DUI and now my life is fucked." Lina said, with a resigned look. 

She wanted to ask more but Michael had already come out from the cockpit. 

"Get ready!" He instructed the girls, "We shall jump in ten minutes' time!"

He then noticed that the girls were chitchatting. "Alright, what are you girls gossiping about?"

"Just girls talk!" All the three girls replied in unison.

"Okay, whatever. Just get ready now!" Michael kind of have guessed they were talking about him but he did not really care.

After Michael and his two bodyguards had put on the parachutes, he opened his arms and signaled Lina to come close. "Ms Connelly, please come over. Rachel and Monica will tie us together."

"Why can't I hold Rachel or Monica instead?" Lina was not too willing to hold someone she just knew a few hours ago, even though he was a ruggedly handsome man.

"Ms Connelly, I have carefully considered this before making my decision. As you can see, I am a huge man. I can cover you completely. Should we land on some dangerous spots, I am able to ensure that you will be completely unharmed."

"Alright... alright..." Lina hesitantly walked closer to Michael, but not close enough for him to hold her.

Rachel had no choice but to give Lina a push on her back, "C'mon, Boss won't eat you!"

With that push, Lina finally fell into Michael's arms. And Michael did not hesitate to press her tightly against himself, with literally no space in between them. Rachel and Monica went ahead to tie them up with belts, ensuring that Lina was secured onto Michael.

Lina could feel Michael's muscular body underneath his suit and his breathing on her face. She thought she would hate his body odor and would be disgusted when he embraced her. But, in actual fact, she did not have such feelings. 

"Well... I have no choice. I need to cooperate with him to land safely..." She managed to find reasons or excuses for her reaction. 

"Okay, we are ready to jump!" Rachel's voice brought Lina back to reality. Both Rachel and Monica were standing right in front of the cabin door, all set to leave the plane.

Michael nodded while giving his bodyguards an okay sign. Upon seeing that, Rachel quickly opened the cabin door and Lina immediately felt the outside wind blowing in. 

"See you down there, boss!" Rachel and Monica jumped out of the plane after waving goodbye to Michael. 

Lina saw both girls disappeared into the cloud and started to get worried. After all, she had never even tried bungee jump in her life, let alone jumping from such an height.

"Ms Connelly, you look worried." Michael definitely noticed her anxiety. 

"Nope. I'm fine. You go ahead." Lina was just too proud to admit it.

"Why not like this, we count from one to ten, and we jump at the count of ten?"

"Whatever." Lina tried her best to put on a brave face.

"Okay. I start counting now?" Michael made sure Lina nodded before he began. "One, two, three..."

Lina's heart began to beat faster as Michael started the counting. Deep inside, she was really afraid to hear the number ten.

"...four, five, six..." Michael continued counting slowly.

"Four more numbers to go..." Lina started to get more and more nervous. She was hoping that Michael would count slower. But, to her surprise, Michael suddenly ran towards the cabin door.

"...seven, eight, nine, ten!" He counted as fast as he could and shouted out loud as they jumped out of the plane.

"Ahhhh..." Lina definitely did not expect this and screamed her heart out as they fell off from the plane. She closed her eyes and held Michael as tight as she could, as if he was the only one she could cling to in her life. Then, she felt both of them descending really fast. 

"Am I going to survive this??" She could help but thinking about her fate.