Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
Sage
The next weeks are a blur of déjà vu and hatred.
For the second time, the Rushkoff empire descends on our estate.
My uncle lets not only Alexei and Isla, but several of their men, through the front gates like they're old friends.
It's like he learned absolutely nothing from what happened with Victor.
Even though Anton was the one who was sure we shouldn't trust him in the first place.
Yet Anton does his best to keep me as far away from the Rushkoffs as possible.
Whatever they're doing to get their shot at Chet I am left well out of it.
Because Alexei is necessary and I am expendable.
And there is no such thing as concentrating when Alexei and I are in the same room.
Still it feels like a slight. A reflection of how they used to view me.
While I try my best to maintain composure, watching Alexei walk through here like an honored guest still just… hurts.
Hurts in the way that when I see his face I can only picture how he looked right before he pulled the trigger.
Hurts in the way that when his stormy gray eyes sear into me, my body heats and I feel sick at my reaction.
Like a reminder that once upon a time, before all of this, there may have been something there between us.
As per routine, I make my way from the kitchen to Dad's room, faithfully carrying the toast and coffee that will inevitably end up in the trash.
I knock and wait for the guards to let me in.
At least there is some distrust of the Rushkoffs since Anton has beefed up security in here and is loath to ever leave the door open.
The guards let me in, nodding as they return to their posts next to the door.
Leaving me in my limited privacy as I walk over to Dad's bedside and sit down on the comforter next to him.
A pang of sadness takes me for a moment, looking at him with tubes hanging out of his mouth and wires connecting him to machines that keep him alive.
It's such a juxtaposition to who he was before all of this.
You'd think seeing him day to day, I wouldn't notice the subtle changes that signal him fading away.
But I do. Every day he stays like this the worse he looks.
The more sunken his eyes become, the circles darker.
The lines in his cheeks grow deeper.
Hair thinner and grayer.
It's been long enough now that I don't remember what it was like when he was alive. Really alive.
I sigh, forcing myself to remember the person he used to be.
Tall and imposing. Forceful. Giving out orders more confidently than Anton ever does.
We're more gentle with Anton in charge. Entertaining the Rushkoffs, either Victor or Alexei, is something my father would've never done. No matter the stakes.
I hold on to his hand and watch his chest rise and fall predictably.
"I miss you, Dad," I say, patting on his hand. "If you were here, this never would've happened."
I check over my shoulder to make sure the guards aren't listening to me. But I can tell from their looks of pity that they've heard it all.
I lower my voice.
"I'm angry, Dad," I say, waiting for a response that will never come. "Angry in the way that you always used to be. What does that mean?"
I tuck my hair behind my ear. I am both proud and terrified to be following in my father's footsteps. Anger was always his weapon. Perhaps a curse.
Anton lost Aunt Emma and he devolved more into sadness than anything else. Always the more gentle of the two between him and my father, and he never wavered even with everything he lost.
My monitor beeps and so I go about the rounds of administering my dose for the day. Second nature muscle memory takes over my injections as I keep talking to Dad.
"I'm telling a lot of lies, too," I whisper to him. "If you wake up…"
I pull back and wait, smiling to myself when nothing happens other than the rising and falling of his breath. I dispose of the needles into a sharps container while Dad's coffee and toast go untouched, sitting wasted again.
There's a lot of noise outside this morning. Lots of Rushkoffs spread out on the lawn, mostly packing up supplies and leaving to do something I'm not allowed to be involved in. They will be back. They always are.
I've kept as much distance from Alexei as I can while he's been invading my property.
Staying away is the only option when getting close to him is out of the question. The closer I get the more likely I'll be to do something stupid. Like try and kill him in plain sight. I need to be smarter than that.
Which is why anything I chose to do had to be from a distance.
Something that could be labeled a coincidence.
Something that they might not know was me until it had already happened.
A knock on the door steals my attention. One guard takes a message before speaking. "Sage, your uncle wants to see you."
I poke my head through the door into Anton's office to see what I'm in for.
Anton paces the floor and fitfully shakes his head while Freddie stands stoically behind the desk.
He spots me first and gives me a cringed expression, which tells me I'm in for an uncomfortable chat.
I briefly consider running away instead.
It's been a while since Anton called me into his office to admonish me. So this should be interesting.
I enter, closing the door gently behind me and approaching Anton's desk with my hands clasped behind my back and sporting my best innocent smile.
"Uncle Anton?"
Anton looks up once and narrows his eyes. He seems both startled by my presence and like he was expecting it.
"Anton, you're pacing," Freddie says, reminding him with a hand to stop and calm down.
Anton throws him a confused expression before nodding. He takes a deep breath that seems to focus him, and then he looks at me.
"I'm just going to jump to the point," Anton says. Walking behind his desk, he retrieves an empty brown package from a drawer and places it on the desk with a slam.
Ah, shit.
My panicked eyes go wide, darting to the package and then back up to my uncle, hoping my face hasn't given away my thoughts. But Freddie looks even more embarrassed for me so I assume that it has.
Lesson: throw things away in the big bins outside.
"Want to explain this?" Anton asks, tapping a finger on the package.
"I don't know what that is," I lie. I can't play dumb and hold this innocent expression for very long. My lip already trembles trying to fake a smile.
Anton's jaw tenses. "I'm only going to ask one more time," he says, remaining calm as he tries to stare me down. "Do you want to explain this?"
No way am I giving in. The only choice is to double down. Hope they can't pin this on me. Well, not just yet anyway.
I shrug. "And I'm being honest with you, uncle, when I say I've never seen that before." My voice is saccharine and sweet. Something I'm usually not. So that's probably what gives me away.
Anton breaks, grabbing at his hair as he cries out.
"Sage, for the love of God!" He drops into his seat in frustration.
"After that scene at their house, I cannot afford for you to be going rogue again.
" He grunts while biting his lip. "You are not supposed to be fighting this death promise.
I can't have you attacking him in broad daylight on his property, and I can't have you luring him into traps on ours. I have made that perfectly clear!"
I almost consider giving in out of pity, but since I'm trying to lay low until this plays out I decide it's better to play dumb. "I wouldn't do that."
"We're not stupid, bella," Freddie says. "I know an empty explosives packet when I see one."
"Well I don't," I say, maintaining the cover story.
"This is from Angie," Freddie states matter of fact. "Just tell us where you put it."
Never.
I shrug. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh my God," Anton sighs. "Freddie, for the love of God, please go and find that thing before they do."
"Who?" I ask gently, knowing that they mean the Rushkoffs, but I can't help the little smirk that kicks up the side of my mouth.
"Well you have your father's poker face," Freddie mumbles under his breath as he picks up the package and walks away, heading out in search of the explosive.
When it's just Anton and I alone, I kind of assume we're done here. Freddie will either find it in time or he won't, and we'll all get to see this fun little mystery play out in front of us.
"May I go?"
"No," Anton immediately responds, voice tense. I sigh, doing my best to wait patiently and not roll my eyes while he decides how long this is going to go on for.
"Sage tell me you didn't buy an explosive from Angie," Anton says, resting his arms on the desk and steepling his fingers.
"I didn't."
"So you didn't buy this from her?" he asks, raising his brow.
"No."
"And you didn't plant it somewhere to try and harm Alexei?"
"I did not plant it somewhere to try and harm Alexei," I announce proudly.
Both Anton and I jump as a loud bang sounds from somewhere in the distance. Smoke fills the air outside the windows, where a fire starts to burn near the front gates.
Anton swivels in his chair to look, his jaw dropping in pure shock while I cringe, holding my eyes shut. I open one eye, only to find Anton staring at me with malice.
"So you have no idea what that is then?"
I shake my head innocently. But I have a good idea what it might be.
I'd hazard a guess that it's Alexei Rushkoff's car exploding.
Anton sends me to my room for the rest of the day.
Yes, like a child I am sent to my room as punishment and have been warned not to come out.
The longer I'm left here the more disappointed I feel.
If my silly little car bomb had even injured Alexei, my family would've been here to rip my head off already.
But they haven't done that. So I have to conclude he's still alive and I am in a world of trouble.
Unable to sleep I jump out of a bed in a huff and go to the window. The moon lights the paths around the estate but I see nothing out of the ordinary. Just the quiet of the night since the fire from my bomb has long since died down.
I haven't seen anyone come or go from the estate. Not even a single Rushkoff.
What the fuck are they all doing while I'm locked up here?
I feel breath against my skin before I can react.
A hand slams onto my neck from behind and forces me to look out the window. I grimace at the pain.
"Proud of yourself, princess?" Alexei says, fiery rage in his tone. When I don't answer, he grips my neck tighter, as if demanding an explanation. He pushes my face right up against the glass.
I groan. "Not particularly. You're alive."
Alexei's breath quickens, and he growls before he throws me back on the bed and I land with a thud, curling up so I can keep my eye on him as he paces at the foot of my bed.
"That car was more expensive than this whole fucking house!"
My words come out far breathier than I intend them to. "Would have been the perfect resting place."
Alexei stops pacing and his eyes snap to mine. He stalks towards me at speed, but still with a grace that is nothing short of calculated. I scurry back on the bed but he continues his pursuit.
I hit the headboard and fold my knees in on myself, concealing my nipples hardening just from the fact that he's nearing me. My eyes shutter.
Not again. Fuck's sake, please not again.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to dodge your uncle? To try and convince them I decided it was a faulty wire instead of what it really was?"
He maintains eye contact the whole way across the floor. Even as he mounts the end of my bed and continues towards me through the sheets on his hands and knees. A deep sigh escapes his lips as he slams forward, closing his eyes while his hands curl around the headboard.
My breath quickens as I hold my body together. So close again that I can smell him. I definitely feel threatened, though I'm not sure in what way. Either way I always end up losing something to Alexei. Mostly dignity. One day maybe my life.
Alexei's eyes snap open, and I try not to jump at how intense he looks again. His slick black hair is wet from rain, his muscles straining from his grip on the headboard. His gaze travels down my body and back again. Like he's sizing me up for a meal and wants to devour me.
"They want so badly to believe we're safe here," Alexei starts, his voice coming out as nothing more than a whisper. Cigar smoke and vodka leech from his breath and I tighten my legs to stop from reacting. "Which means whatever I were to do to you right now, nobody would be around to stop me."
I shutter my eyes, turning my head to look away from him. "I would stop you."
Alexei leans in, a sinister smirk on his face, mouth open just enough to show me his sharp teeth. I clutch the sheets next to me.
"But you wouldn't. Would you, princess?" he smiles. "You wouldn't stop me from touching you. Whether I was to have my fingers wrapped around your throat," he wraps a gentle but firm hand around my neck and forces me to look back at him again, "or pushed deep inside of you."
To my disgust, I'm so lost in his stare that I can't even breathe when his erection presses against my thigh. I can't even move enough to jolt. I am prey caught in a trap and all I can do is submit, hoping he lets me go with a shred of myself left this time.
"See," he says, only whispering as he leans in to my ear. On their own accord, my eyes close and my head droops into his touch. "You want it, don't you?" There's a smile in his voice as his hand drops from my neck to touch me, reaching out and making continuous loops around my sensitive nipple.
"You want everything," he whispers. Still circling. "You can't decide whether you want me to kill you, or fuck you."
I'm so lost in this moment that I've forgotten myself. There's somewhere in the back of my mind that knows I'm going to want to die after this, but still I can't seem to stop it.
"Isn't that sad, princess," Alexei says, the tone in his voice changing from a playful smile to a sharp sting. "You claim you want to take my life and yet you are always just one step away from crawling into my bed."
Everything I felt moments before goes away in an instant and all I see is red.
I want to scream.
The horror must show in my eyes, because when Alexei pulls away he looks sick and satisfied. I wish he couldn't see my temper snap in two.
"Get out," I whisper.
Alexei doesn't move, instead he reaches forward again, grabbing my chin in his hand and forcing me to look at him. "You're so very lucky that we saw that bomb before getting in the car. After all, I take this as a message that you want to play this game with me."
I reach for him but his other hand grabs my wrist to stop me, reminding me how easily he can overpower me. "I can play, princess."
He releases me and I fall down to the bed once again weak at his hand.
"Consider the invitation accepted."