Chapter 52
Chapter
Fifty-Two
Sage
The first thing I do with the knife is use it to try and cut Chet's throat.
I tighten my fist around the handle and grit my teeth as I swing it in a wide arc towards his neck.
His hand slaps against my wrist with a steady grip as he grabs me and leans back, missing my hit and stopping me before I can do any damage.
"I knew you'd try it," Chet says, pulling me close as he wraps the knife in my hand, squeezing to the point of pain before giving me a warning look and turning his back to me to walk away.
"I'm not going to kill him for you, you fucking psycho," I say.
Chet jumps up to sit on the bar. "This is only the beginning. You will see the plans I have for you. Starting with this. And before we are out of this bar, you will use that knife on him."
I cock my arm back and throw the knife, but Chet dodges, moving his head out the way and instead catching the knife in his hand. He angrily jumps off the bar top and storms back towards me, grabbing me as he slams the handle back into my hand and resumes his position on the bar.
"Try again," he says, looking like his patience is wearing thin.
I look down at the knife in my hand, honestly considering how many times I can launch it at Chet before he tires of this and takes away my control.
Though I know losing control is not the smart thing to do.
I did make a promise to kill Alexei Rushkoff.
But not like this. I always considered that Alexei might get the better of me and be the one to end my life instead.
I never considered that I would fall to the point I would willingly let him.
That he would become someone that I would run into the line of gunfire for.
So there really is only one thing that I can do. It's with that knowledge that I make my decision.
I lift the knife and hold it against my throat.
The whole room takes in a collective breath, including Chet who jumps off the bar, stopping himself short of approaching me and tensing as if I'm a wild animal.
"Sage, what are you doing?" Alexei very carefully says, his voice trembling and slow.
"Sage, be reasonable," I hear Anton's voice from behind me but I don't turn to look at him.
I'm locked in Chet's gaze as I hold the blade to my throat and narrow my eyes. Even as there's a struggle I don't look away. The sound of smacking flesh and footsteps are loud behind me. Freddie breaks free of his hold and rushes towards me on unsteady feet. To help me or stop me, who's to be sure.
All I know is he doesn't make it.
He gets close. Almost close enough to grab my hand. But Chet pulls out a gun and fires, huffing in annoyance as the shot goes off and goes sailing into Freddie's stomach. I scream as Freddie clutches at his wound, dropping to his knees in front of me.
Instinct takes over and I drop the knife, arms reaching out for Freddie but quickly being snatched back and held hostage by one of Chet's men. The room gets louder as Dad, Anton and Isla all shout and struggle, even though they can do nothing to help.
In one click of Chet's fingers, guns are pointed at Dad and Anton's heads. I look over to find that Isla now has a gun to her head too.
Chet stalks towards me and rips the knife up from the ground, placing it in my hand once again.
"I'm growing tired of this. This is your last chance, little Sage," Chet says. "Do you want your whole family to die today? Or are you going to follow through with your promise to my nephew?"
Chet takes a few steps away, folding his arms to watch me more closely this time.
Tears form in my eyes as I stare down at the glint off the blade, sobbing over this impossible choice.
"I can't," I whisper, the world going blurry with heartbreak.
"This only ends one way!" Chet shouts, head shaking and eyes wide as he smiles like a madman, reveling in the chaos he's created. "Finish this here! Or all of you die!"
"Sage, come to me," Alexei says, imploring me towards him with those intense stormy gray eyes that I can't seem to ignore.
Chet laughs maniacally in the background but all of it fades away as Alexei draws me into his orbit in the unspoken way that only he can.
Even now there is nothing I can do against the pull he has on me.
I drop to my knees in front of him, eyes downcast on me from where he sits.
"Just finish this, princess," Alexei says, his voice smooth like a caress. "We made this promise. End this for us."
I drop my head, tears flowing freely as my silent sobs threaten to drown me.
Why does this feel so much like losing something great? Like losing something big?
All I know is that I won't survive it this time.
One time was too many. Whatever Alexei and I are…
whatever we had. It is different. Electric.
Like a flow of current that pulses through my body just to keep my blood pumping and my body alive.
Cutting it off and stopping it would be like asking my heart to stop beating.
Alexei jiggles his foot against me, and I look up at him.
"I'd rather it be me than you," Alexei says.
"I'd rather it be me," I say, whispering through the tears.
"But it isn't," Alexei says, calmly staring me down. "It's me."
His eyes are satisfied in resolve. He isn't unsure at all. He looks at me like this is the only place he wants to be even if it all ends here for him now. In the end, we did make a promise. In the end, one of us must die.
"Do this," Alexei says. His face barely moves, but I can tell it is a sad smile, a finality in which there is peace. "Finish it."
"Listen to him, Sage," Chet says, chuckling and biting his lips in frenzy.
"You shut up!" I yell, throwing my words towards him. "Just shut up."
I stay sobbing on my knees even as everyone stays quiet around me.
Not Dad or Anton, Freddie, or Isla, or even Alexei right now, dare so much as to move or speak until a decision is made.
Though it is silent enough to hear a pin drop, the air is filled with tension and pressure.
Everybody waits for me to make my next move.
I know from experience how this must go. There is no getting out of this. And once again I am forced to finish something that I didn't mean to start.
"There's nothing else to be done, princess," Alexei says.
He knows as well as I do what must happen and his face drops in relief when I finally wipe the tears from my eyes and stand over him.
I flip the knife in my hand and stare at it, at the sharp blade, remembering just how hard you have to push to cut into flesh. Alexei is the one who taught me to cut, after all.
"Do it," Alexei says. "Just how I showed you before." I nod as I look at him. My hand shakes when I brace it on his shoulder, but still I hold him steady. I look deep into his stormy gray eyes, hoping to say everything I'm too scared to verbalize with just a single look.
Our eyes hold.
I take the knife and slide it into the flesh of his stomach.