Kristina could not help herself but look back upon hearing the muffled cries of help from Bernardo, the only one among the four mafia rodents who treated her right ever since she got captured by Lucas.

Tears streamed from Kristina's face as both of her hands covered her mouth from the scene she was now seeing. No amount of dizziness could make her deny it anymore. The truth was glaring at Kristina; the truth was that they were indeed being hunted by a twelve-foot great white shark.Gaze transfixed to the horrid scene a few meters away from her, Kristina's surroundings seem to freeze as if the time had stood still.

'Are we going to die? Am I going to watch someone I know die again in front of me once more?' Kristina's horrid questions screamed at her from the back of her mind.

'No! I won't let death take away anything from me once again. Not now, not ever.'

Lucas's warm hands attached to her waist let go of her as Kristina pushed him away from her.

"What is wrong with you, woman?" Brows knotted together, he tugged his hair to stop himself from doing something that would be disadvantageous for him.

Instead of answering Lucas, Kristina swim away from him, leaving the Russian godfather dumbfounded for a fraction of a minute. Lucas snapped from his trance when Kristina stopped in her tracks and looked back at him.

"What are you waiting for? That great white is halfway done with Bernardo." Kristina's voice broke upon the mention of Bernardo. 

Though she did not particularly share anything special with the latter, Kristina experienced his kindness even when she was abducted by them. She knew that Bernardo did not deserve his fate, but he was dead and they were alive. Kristina could still save Lucas and his potty mouth from the jaws of the apex predators.

On cue, Lucas swam to where Kristina's direction was. Though she was swimming farther and farther to the pile of crates that he intended to go to, Lucas followed her. As she said before, she knew this place like the back of her palm – the very reason why he endured Kristina by not killing her or leaving her for good.

The crease between Lucas's forehead deepened upon seeing where Kristina was heading with rapid strokes paired with strong kicks. It was as if, she was racing with death. In a way, they were racing from death, no, more like they were racing from the twelve-foot great white shark.

Lucas reached for Kristina's left shoulder. "Are you seriously mad? You are going to the source of the water surge?"

Kristina swatted Lucas's hand. She did not stop nor did she look back at him. Kristina continued with her frenzied strokes and forceful kicks as she answered. "I am perfectly sane, thank you very much. Just follow me, will you? I don't need you to trust my intention, trust my capabilities, and my ethics. I am an employee here. It is my job to bring the Poseidon Hotel's customers to safety."

"Ethics. Let's see then," said Lucas. He followed Kristina after he risked a glance at his back. Profanities spewed as his eyes widened upon seeing the shark's dorsal fin coming straight in their direction. "Damn it."

On cue, Lucas began swimming. "Kick your legs harder, damn it! There's a shark in our trail!" A trail of swirls and bubbles in his wake as Lucas yelled towards Kristina who was on the verge of getting swept off by the continued surge of water.

For a fraction of a minute, Kristina took the courage to look behind Lucas. A gasp escaped from her chapped lips upon seeing how mere five to six meters separated them from the great white shark.

 "Shit," Kristina muttered under her breath.

Kristina's eyes reddened upon the constant exposure to seawater as the surge slapped her face twice in a row. As Lucas said, she focused her strength around her limbs. Since she was only two meters away from the room where the influx of seawater was coming from, the torrential waters kept on pushing her farther and farther away.

But Kristina needed to bring herself and Lucas behind those doors, lock it, and continue to the hatch. Since the door she was facing right now was once a storage room with access to the room where the hatch was situated, Kristina reckoned that it would be best to take the one percentile chance of survival rather than wait inside this room to be suffocated or to be eaten alive.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Kristina's veins around her neck and forehead protruded from the extra strength she was using only to move a mere half a meter and then to be pushed back by a bigger surge. A series of coughs escaped her lips upon gulping a hefty amount of seawater. She could not help but close her eyes as she tilted her chin upward to save room for her to breathe.

It was at this moment that a familiar warmth encased her waist, pulling her from being taken by the surge.

"Wake up or I'll leave you to be a damn fish food for that bastard over there!"

Lucas's all too familiar angry voice snapped Kristina from her reverie. On instinct, she doubled her strength and fought against the torrential waters without looking back at the twelve-foot great white shark which was now looming over them by a mere couple of meters.

"Come on!" Kristina held Lucas's right arm that was holding her waist. Together, they kicked and stroked against the current sweeping the room, their heads now only half a meter from the ceiling.

Lucas was the one who was able to hold the edge of the doors, an advantage for them.With a grunt or two, Lucas pulled Kristina first with the use of his right hand while his left hand held the edge of the door.

"Oomph!" Kristina yelped.

Because of this, Kristina was able to pass through the door before Lucas.

With widened eyes, Kristina's gray-colored orbs met a pair of sharp raven ones.

Kristina saw it all. She saw how Lucas slipped his left hand from the edge of the door as she held on to the emergency fire kit. On instinct, her widened eyes shifted to the fast-moving shadow behind Lucas.

"Lucas!" It was now Kristina's turn to scream for his name.

Their eyes connected as he slipped. His unbalanced body got easily swept by the torrential seawater.

'I will be damned before I witness someone dying in front of me again. I did it with my sister. And I did it with Bernardo. Even this man's soul is as black as his eyes; there will be no way that I will let anyone die in front of me ever again!'

With renewed vigor, Kristina's jaws clenched. Without thinking of the biggest possibility that she might get swept by the current, she extended her right hand towards his slipping form. At the same moment, Kristina used her right knee to shatter the emergency fire kit attached to the wall which she was holding onto with her left hand.

"What are you doing?" Lucas was now busy closing the door with his free hand. 

His back was against Kristina's direction as his attention was fixated on the nearing apex predator. Lucas could only hope that the damn fish would not eat his balls first, seeing that his ass was out in the open like some poorly chosen bait.

The water had arisen to a level that it was a couple of inches away from the ceiling.

Kristina had to dive down for a fraction of a minute to kneel the mirror encasing the fire extinguisher and an ax. Holding her breath, bubbles escaped from her body. Her right hand was still outstretched in a painful angle yet she refused to let go.

The neon paint of the emergency kit guided Kristina amid the darkness that cloaked her. Kristina's left knuckles turned white as she twisted her lower torso to gain momentum before she swung her right knee.

Muted by the raging influx of seawater, the shattering of the emergency kit's mirror did not resound which was a good thing for Kristina. After all, sharks were hypersensitive to their sensory abilities.

Upon the destruction of the case, Kristina swam up once more for her limit in staying underwater had almost come to its end. The tightening of her chest was a telltale sign that her lungs were on the verge of collapsing also known as suffocation.

Kristina gasped, sucking the air loudly. The sudden entry of oxygen into her airway made her cough twice in a row.

"Where have you been, woman?" Lucas barely glanced at her. His gaze shifted from one place to another now that the shark's dorsal fin had swum under after it entered the three-meter range.

Rolling her eyes, Kristina yelled her words. Her voice was raspy yet it did not stop her to make her plan comprehensive for Lucas. "Close the freaking door!"

"What?" "On the count of three, I will let go of your hand!"

Lucas grunted upon realizing that Kristina was not asking for his consent for her little plan of hers. Since he still got a free hand and the door was still within his reach all thanked Kristina's dainty hand that was holding his palm in a death grip.

"One, two –"

"I can't it is stuck down under!" Lucas coughed when the water level had reached the point that they had to tilt their chins just to get an ounce of air.

"Shit," Kristina muttered under her breath before she came up with a resolve. If they would die, at least they would die trying. She whipped her attention to Lucas who was pushing the door close, the only barrier that would separate them to the twelve-foot great white shark. "Just hide behind the door! Try to insert your body between the wall and the door!"

"What the actual fuck are you planning, woman?"

At the same moment, Kristina let go of Lucas's right hand before she dived straight to the emergency kit she was holding onto with the tips of her left fingers. Kristina did not have enough time to answer Lucas. The growing numbness spreading from her left hand was the least of her concern.

With her right hand free, Kristina was able to take the ax from the shattered emergency fire kit attached to the wall of the stock room.

It was at this moment that Kristina decided to look at the hollow darkness of the room they came from. Beyond the half-opened door laid an abyss with only a promise of death for them. The stench of blood and death lingered from its waters, reminding her who was lost to her again.

Upon the surge of gut-wrenching memories, Kristina's grip around the ax she was holding tightened. Her knuckles turned white before she squinted her eyes upon seeing an inconsistency of shadows two to three meters before her.

'Oh, no. Not this time, you freaking fish!' Kristina arched her body to dive deeper. She raced to the crate which was the reason why the door got stuck. The numbness helped her as it eliminated the soreness of her muscle as she stretched her limits, making her focus solely on the task at hand.

The tightening of her chest made her open her lips. Bubbles left her body and her gaze dimmed yet Kristina refused to use the last of her breath to save herself.

A gigantic shadow started to loom above her. Its intention was not Kristina, but the source of vibration, Lucas, who was right above her.

Since Lucas kept on pushing the door forcibly, it created a ripple. A hypersensitive predator would take it as an invitation for a free meal.

'Not in my watch.' Kristina hissed in her mind. 'This is for Bernardo, you son of a bitch!'

On cue, Kristina swung both of her arms in one powerful stroke, dismantling the wooden crates in the process in just one go. This created a chance for Lucas, who was still pushing the door forcible.

"Go screw yourself, you dumb fish!" Lucas spewed profanities as the door shook upon contact with the shark's snout.

Lucas, whose head was above the rising water, failed to see that his waist barely survived the death trap. Had Kristina been a second late from swinging the ax, Lucas would surely share the same fate with Bernardo. Perhaps, the twelve-foot great white shark was not as stupid as Lucas initially believed.

The combination of the force from Lucas's push and Kristina's ax swing did the trick.

"Woman, your damn plan did it!" Lucas turned around to compliment Kristina that she was due. 

"Kristina? Hey, woman!"

Silence welcomed Lucas along with the darkness.

'Did the damn fish take that woman? It is also the reason why the shark did not resurface to bite my ass off? Because it was damn busy chewing Kristina?' The first thought that came into Lucas's mind upon seeing the absence of Kristina made his chest clench from anger. 

His jaws clenched as he stopped himself from cursing so loud. The rapid rise of sea water level made the matter worse.

"Damn it! Damn that Mayan treasure." Lucas wanted to splash, throw punches, to destroy, but the dwindling air pocket made it unable for him to do so. 

Hence, Lucas could only tug his hair. He did save himself from the jaws of the twelve-foot great white shark, but he would also die either from suffocation or hypothermia.

"But when? I did not hear anything aside from the loud thud followed by the door being free from the –"

Upon hearing his own words, Lucas stopped his monologue and dove deep after he drew a breath.

If his thoughts were right, the one responsible for the door was free from being stuck not because of his sheer strength but because of a third-party interruption.

Bubbles and ripples surrounded Lucas. The single neon sign of the emergency fire kit under the water situated parallel to the place where the door got stuck a moment ago did not help at all. 

Though it was dark, Lucas could distinguish the neon lining of the diving fins with an equally neon-colored logo of the Poseidon Hotel.

'But where is that woman? Damn her! How dare she make me look for her? She is my damn hostage!' Lucas seethed upon realizing too late that he was risking his last shots of breath just to find a woman, or what was left of her.

Lucas lingered his gaze around. In his hand was the single diving fin. He swam around the area, hoping to see her corpse.

'And what then? It is not like I can breathe life into her.' Lucas decided to resurface.

His nose practically touched the ceiling. Lucas angled his neck at the limit of its capacity to tilt upward. The remaining oxygen in the air pocket available was dwindling. Splashes of water entered his nostrils now and then. "Damn it to hell!"

Before the water occupied the entirety of the room, a loud bang resonated beyond the door – an indication that the shark was persisting to enter the storage room he was in. Drawing his last breath with oxygen, Lucas tilted underwater. His gaze fixated on the banging door.

With every loud thud of the door, a strong ripple would resonate under the water.

The seconds ticked painfully for Lucas as he waited to die from suffocation.