Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
Sage
Anton's limo rocks over the gravel when we come through the front gates of our estate and travel up the driveway. The night is still black, but lit up by little fires that are being doused throughout the property.
My heart sinks as I realize this attack was serious. Serious enough that it happened inside the gates. It all feels too familiar. Like Chet definitely is back, as much as I want to deny it. It looks just as bad as the nights the gates were breached before. Almost as bad as the night Dad was hurt.
This feels very much like the war I was trying to avoid.
My eyes shudder at the thought. I look over to my uncle, happy to find that he's not paying me much attention and will miss the guilty worry in my eyes. Freddie doesn't, though. And I jump when I find him watching me with a raised brow.
I shake him off, turning back to the window as our people extinguish lingering embers and sweep up glass. "This looks bad," I whisper.
"It is," Anton says, jaw tense and still unwilling to look at me. "And through it all I had to worry about where you were. Again."
I deserve that one. But I don't know how to apologize, because I'm not sorry. I'm never sorry for chasing after Alexei. If it's an apology Anton is looking for he won't find it. If it's sense he's trying to talk into me, well… that can't be done.
"Is Dad okay?" I ask, biting my lip. Perhaps we were stupid to move him back here. Do we even have the defenses to protect him? One day back and we're already fighting off attackers.
"Yes," Anton replies, his tone short. "They didn't find him."
"So it is Chet. No denying it."
Anton says nothing as the limo comes to a stop. I sigh as I get out, following Anton's hasty steps up to the front of the house. He and Freddie charge ahead, obviously intending to rush away and leave me out of this now that they know I'm home.
I jog ahead and stand in front of them, stopping them in their tracks and hardening my jaw. They're not going through this without me and they're not fucking keeping secrets from me again.
Anton looks at Freddie with an exasperated shake of his head. It's definitely a wordless beg for him to deal with me instead.
"We kept one of them for torture, bella," Freddie explains. "They're looking for Dimitri." He pauses. "And probably you."
"Okay," I say, pretending that doesn't bother me at all.
Pretending that I don't feel the need to hold a hand over my heart to stop it from escaping my chest. Chet has been after Dad for a while, and of course me, but I put him in a highly vulnerable position where he can't fight back.
He's a sitting duck now, because I made him one.
"Isla said-"
"We know," Anton replies, brushing me aside and continuing into the house. "I had also hoped that the lack of activity the last few months meant that Chet was giving up. Not that he was regrouping to become stronger."
The front door swings open.
The inside of the house looks far better than the outside, but not by much.
There's just as much destruction, requiring just as much of a clean up, but it looks more defensive than anything.
Like the fighting didn't make its way into the house.
That's probably the smallest of victories that I can take some comfort in.
My feet stumble and I look down to find that I've nearly tripped over a leg. The leg of a very dead man. A temple tattooed dead man.
"Oh," Freddie says. "Sorry about that." He hauls the dead man up by his feet and throws him out the front door, slamming it behind him. The man sails away and down the front steps. Body weightless just like those men that Alexei disposed of tonight.
My eyes flash back to stormy eyes staring into mine before we were dragged away. What would it be like to see the life drain away from those eyes? I've thought of nothing else for nearly a year. Looking around here now, there's clearly a lot going on that I've been willing to ignore.
I turn back to my uncle. "What are we going to do about Chet?"
Anton sighs, running his hands through his hair in stress. "I don't know yet, anima mia."
"How was he allowed to amass so much power?" Freddie asks, stroking his chin.
"I'd ask Dimitri," Anton says. "If I could. He always kept tabs on Chet, trying to find him for his own death promise." Anton takes a seat on the first stair and I join his exhaustion, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor next to the door.
"There were so many people at Chet's old house today. We even killed three that tried to attack us," I say.
My uncle looks up. "You killed three?"
I purse my lips in annoyance. No, it's not exactly true, but it was surely a team effort. Freddie's mouth goes tight as he tries not to laugh.
Anton brushes past it. "That's not his main base. If he has that many people there I hate to think how many he has at his disposal."
"Victor was planning to team up with Chet so he could use his army," Freddie reminds him. "He thought his own people plus Chet's would be enough to take us out. There must have been a reason he was so confident."
"And he's had almost a year to grow since then," I whisper.
Silence follows as my uncle sinks into quiet contemplation. Freddie patiently watches, while my eyes dart between the two of them to try and work out what it is we're supposed to do from here.
"Well... what do we do?" I ask.
"I don't know," Anton admits. "We may not have enough resources to fight Chet on our own anymore. The best we might do is bunker down and..."
"And?" I ask.
They look at each other before they're willing to look at me.
"We defend ourselves for as long as we can," Freddie answers, sadness drifting through the words.
It's an answer that ends the conversation, and leaves me with a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach that I know won't shake easily.
I've made it my routine to eat breakfast in my dad's bedroom since he's come back home. I make him a coffee and bring him a slice of toast. It sits untouched and eventually ends up in the trash. But still, I like pretending there's some normalcy that has returned to my life.
There may not be a day that I ever get to sit across from my father at a breakfast table again. This may be the best that we can have together. So I'll make the toast and the coffee and let it go cold and stale and try not to think about my father wasting away in that bed.
Every day that passes that he doesn't wake up, the less likely it becomes that he ever will.
I get lost in that dreadful thought just as the kettle starts to scream. I jump out of my head and begin to pour coffee for each of us.
"Sage," a sickly sweet voice says.
I shutter my eyes and purse my lips, trying not to groan, recognizing the voice without even having to turn around.
"Angie," I greet, though not with any warmth.
"For me?" she says, hand outstretched for the second coffee I'm holding.
I tug it out of her reach. "Um, no," I say, rolling my eyes.
She gives me a devilish smile and slowly retracts her hand.
I make sure my uncle or Freddie aren't lurking nearby before tightening my jaw and speaking. "You weren't supposed to come here, you know."
Angie smiles on a silent laugh, white teeth peeking through her red lips. "I can't exactly ship the kinds of things that you ask for can I now, Miss DeMarco?"
From her purse, she retrieves a parcel wrapped in a brown paper. I snatch it greedily and shove it under my arm, hoping she will get the hell out of here before my uncle suspects that I'm doing anything nefarious again.
"Why are you even here so much lately?" I ask, narrowing my eyes as I take a sip of coffee.
"Some of that is your business. Some of it isn't," she says, all with her signature smile as she throws her hair over her shoulder. Her eyes spring with delight. "But you certainly need a lot of things from me."
I stare blankly at her before succumbing.
"Yes, I appreciate you getting me to Alexei last night. And this package. And… all the other stuff." I take a bigger sip, allowing the liquid to burn my throat. Angie smiles again in amusement.
I have to wonder why everyone keeps looking at me like I'm a particularly entertaining sideshow.
I know she's a dangerous woman. I also know I forget that sometimes. I follow behind her as she exits the kitchen and heads into the front hall, heels clicking over the checkered tile.
"So you're leaving now right?" I ask, noticing that she doesn't seem to be heading for the door and instead is pausing in the foyer.
"Like I said," she says, eyes going hard as she folds her arms. "Some of this is your business, and some of it isn't."
"I think you're done," I say. I attempt to grab her wrist, but she spins at the last second to stop me, grabbing my hand instead and squeezing in a way that borders on painful.
"I have no intention of doing anything other than what I am paid to do. Do not test my patience and do not forget your place." She frowns for the first time since I've known her. Finally dropping the false exterior she always presents.
"Let go of my niece immediately," Anton says, appearing in the hall with us and looking very intimidating with his harsh stare, power pose and hands in his pockets.
Angie's jaw tightens as he flicks her eyes to my uncle. "Remember who you're talking to Anton."
"Let her go, Angie," Anton commands.
Angie pries nail after nail from my wrist and even though it stings I don't let it show. Her smile returns to her face almost instantly.
"Careful, Anton. You need me," Angie reminds him.
His eyes shutter. "I need allies."
"And where else would you find them other than with me? Chet has many friends. You could use a few."
Angie helps herself up the stairs to my uncle's office, and he follows after her with a resigned look.
"Trouble, bella?" Freddie asks, making me jump as he appears out of nowhere.
"Fuck," I laugh. "Don't scare me." I shake my head. "No, no trouble. Just don't see why she has to be here all the time. What do we need her for, anyway?"
"Well you certainly do," Freddie laughs. "She's done a lot of your dirty work."
I slap him playfully. "Really? Why can't we just leave her out of this? She gives me a bad feeling."
Freddie gives me a sad look.
"What?" I demand. "What am I missing?"
"We can't fight Chet ourselves, bella," Freddie replies, as we both watch the space where they disappeared to. "We need her."