Chapter 48
Chapter
Forty-Eight
Sage
Anton and Isla are pulled away by distraction as more of Chet's men come for us.
Alexei takes my hand and tugs me along behind him, pulling me away from the fighting and away from everyone else.
My heart pangs, begging me to reach out and stay.
To fight alongside my family. To make sure they get out of this.
While my head reminds me there is no way I could possibly help them even if I tried.
He keeps me close to his body as we weave throughout broken tables and chairs, only letting me go once we reach the front entry.
Alexei puts all his weight behind pushing through it, using his shoulder to bang against the door several times in an attempt to force it open.
Despite the strength behind him, the door is well barred from the outside and there is no getting through it.
Alexei grunts, cursing as he slams his palm against the sealed door.
"Come on, we'll have to find another way."
He takes my hand again and we're back to running, dodging fists and trying to stay out of the way of the fighting.
People fly past us, some bodies sailing through the air while others twist unnaturally through sprays of blood as they fall.
We step over more bodies than we push past. Some barely alive, some long dead.
Some of them Chet's people, but mostly they are Angie's who are failing to keep up with the vicious assault and the unrelenting power that Chet has behind him.
I can see us slipping, and I wonder how long it's going to be before we all go down. But I imagine it's soon.
"Alexei!" I scream, grabbing his arm to stop him, my fingers curling around his biceps as I point to where Isla is being subdued by a team of Chet's people.
Two of them are pulling at her arms to bring her to the ground while another one holds her face down as she struggles to regain control with an angry frown on her face.
Alexei stops, frowning with indecision at what he sees.
Though he still just watches. Even as she struggles and even as they bring out their knives.
His face twists, telling me he is torn and pained and yet he makes no move to go towards her.
Chet's men aren't making any moves to kill Isla, and I've no doubt Alexei would interfere if they were, but it's more alarming that they aren't going in for the kill.
I know from experience that it's far worse when Chet toys with you.
"Alexei?" I say, wide eyes looking up to him.
His jaw hardens. "We have to go."
He tugs at me again, leading me away to find an escape. He rips open the first door he can see, shoving us both inside and slamming it behind us. He rests both palms on the back of the door as he breathes heavily, his chest heaving with the weight of it.
He flips the light on and we find ourselves inside a utility closet with an exit that will hopefully lead to the street.
Alexei pulls the handle, but that too is locked.
Once again, it doesn't matter how long he barges against it, how hard he smashes his shoulders, it won't budge. There's no way through here either.
Panic races inside me. Once I'd made the decision to run, I didn't expect to not be able to.
For all the time Alexei spent trying to convince me otherwise, maybe there is only one choice here.
Maybe it is kill or be killed. Maybe we do have to go for Chet while we have the chance.
Or maybe, there is no way to stop him from taking me.
"Fuck," Alexei mutters under his breath as he stops to rest from trying to break down the door. "They've got something on the other side to block it."
"We're not getting out of here, are we?" I say, my voice dejected as my heart sinks in acceptance of what has to happen here.
"No," Alexei says, coming to me and sweeping me into a hug. He buries his head in my neck. "Don't start thinking like that. We'll get you out." He steps away from me and takes my hand again. "I promise."
"Alexei, about our other promi-"
"I don't want to hear it."
He takes my hand again and frantically leads me out.
He squeezes me almost to the point of pain as he throws open the door and brings us back out into the main bar.
Things are looking far worse than they were just moments ago.
My face pales as Dad and Anton get taken down now as well, being held in prone position on the floor while they struggle to get back up.
"We have to help them, please," I beg, hysteria in my tone. I hate to watch them suffer. "We can't just leave them there."
Alexei ignores me, pulling on my hand but I won't go. He turns to give me an aggravated look.
"We have to help them," I beg again.
He grips me by the elbow and pulls me along with a force that I can't fight against. My feet slip under me as I try to follow him all the while watching my family get captured one by one.
I don't want them to go down in my place.
Alexei slams the bathroom door open and we head inside. He barricades the door behind us, checking each cubicle with precision to make sure we're alone in here.
"What are we going to do about the others?"
Alexei closes his eyes and rests his head against the door.
"We need to-"
"We can't do anything to help them," Alexei says, ignoring me as he scopes out the bathroom for possible exits. He checks each wall and then fiddles with the tiny bathroom window that I definitely cannot fit through, no matter how well versed I am in escaping places.
"What do you mean? They're falling out there? And you don't want to do anything?"
"They are all going to fall Sage. Even me."
He can't even look at me as he continues trying to pull the window off its hinges.
"What do you mean? We're all going-"
He pins me with a deadly serious look. "This was never about getting us out, it was about you. Making sure you were safe."
I take a step back with a hand over my heart.
"The rest of us… we're not getting out of here," Alexei says, rubbing his fingers against his temple. "Your uncle knew that. The only chance we have is to make sure Chet doesn't get you."
He pins me in his gaze and tears well in my eyes. How could I possibly run away to leave them like this? Isla is already down. So are Dad and Anton. I didn't see Freddie. Now Alexei tells me he, too, is going to break.
"No," I say, my voice breathy, mind searching endlessly for a better plan that doesn't end in the gut wrenching way that he says it will.
Alexei finishes his work with the window and manages to get the screen off.
"I'm not going to fit through there," I say, my voice shaky and my vision clouded by tears.
He ignores me.
Suddenly, there is banging on the door behind us. When the first crack forms, it becomes quickly obvious that they are much better at breaking down doors than we were hoping to be.
"Shit," Alexei says. He abandons the window plan and starts looking around, as if he hasn't already seen everything. His eyes catch on the ceiling. I follow his gaze and am nervous at the idea I see forming in his head.
"I'm not getting into the vents!" I argue, arms swinging wildly. "Half the ceiling fell out in there."
"You have to," Alexei says as he stands on the toilet and starts toying with the grate.
Several more loud bangs remind us of the clock ticking down. More cracks form in the door as Alexei works with a rushed reverence to get the grate off. It comes off with a click and Alexei peeks his head inside to look around.
"It's clear," he says. He ushers me over with a wave and I go to him, taking his hand as he makes me stand next to him. "Go to the right, that should lead you to the back of the building, into Angie's office. There's an exit there I've seen it."
"What about you?"
"They're going to take me too."
"No," I say, my face crinkling as my heart aches.
"I told you we'd all fall, princess. It's up to you."
"What if I can't get out?"
"Then hide. Stay up here until it's all over."
The door breaking gets so loud that we both remember we don't have time to waste. Alexei's eyebrow crinkles as he looks towards the incoming intrusion and then back to me, indecision warring at his features.
He closes his eyes for a moment, but when he opens them they are raw and wanting. The storms in them like lightning as he grips the back of my neck, pulling me aggressively towards him and smashing his lips against mine.
It is a beautiful, desperate, kiss. So full of passion that in it I find a confession. One that feels more real than anything we've said to each other with words. One that makes me want to confess, too. To tell him I feel the same. That I lo-
He rips away from me just as quickly as he came. "Go!"
He urges me and before I can take stock of what's happening, he lifts me into the vent. The cover is replaced behind me, leaving only the slight light slipping through the grate to help me make my way.
I hear it as the door is finally broken down completely, and Alexei fights valiantly. But in the end he is right. They all fall.