Chapter 53
Chapter
Fifty-Three
Sage
Chet laughs.
Isla screams.
I go silently postal.
Alexei's jaw hardens as the knife goes in, nostrils flaring with deep breaths but he doesn't react otherwise. Not enough anyway to give Chet any kind of satisfaction at his pain. My hand shakes as I let go of the knife and leave it in his stomach, covering my mouth in shock as I back away.
Inside my head I scream in terror. I want to yell that I'm sorry and cry for him to forgive me. But I don't, I just stay wide-eyed and frozen staring at the spot that the knife sticks into his flesh.
Alexei takes a shuttering breath and slumps down into the chair, succumbing to the injury. Isla screams wildly but it's just background noise to the screaming in my head. So loud but yet so silent that I can hear my own breath.
The world comes rushing back as Chet wraps his arm around my shoulder. "Oh fuck, little Sage," he says, bending over in hilarity. "That was fucking brilliant."
I make eye contact with Dad for the first time since this started.
He looks more confused than ever, looking back and forth between Alexei and I like what we share is visible between us.
I've never seen him look so uncertain. Even he looks dejected at what was just done.
Maybe now he sees how much Alexei is willing to give up for me.
Maybe now he sees why we trusted them in the first place.
"That's an excellent start," Chet whispers, his lips pressing against my ear. When he pulls back and looks me in the eye, my heart sinks. His face tells me that everything is far from over. That this is just the beginning.
I feel nine years old again as a terror that I never really recovered from starts to claw its way up my throat. Far older, but no more equipped to handle whatever Chet has planned for me.
"Now for the others," Chet says, smiling at me with glee.
"The others?" I say, mad at myself for thinking there wouldn't be more.
Chet steps back with a chuckle and fakes surprise. "Oh did you not hear me say excellent start?" He smiles again. "It's now time for you to take the others as well, Sage." Chet makes his voice hard and his jaw grinds as he says, "starting with dear old Dad."
A tiny frown forms on my brow as I stare back and forth between Chet and my father.
Begging my mind to come up with some explanation as to how I've surely just heard him wrong.
Dad shakes his head in disappointment, rolling his eyes at Chet and bracing himself like he's ready and willing to take it.
My jaw drops in horror and I hold my hand over my mouth, gasping for breath. I can't hurt anyone else. This is my worst fear come to life. Not only am I about to lose everything important to me, I'm about to lose it by my own hand.
It will be all my fault. And I'll never be able to escape all the destruction I leave behind with my reckless and haphazard ideas.
I should've stayed in the fucking vent…
Chet walks over to Alexei, pausing as a gentle hum begins to sound somewhere in the distance. "What is that noise?" Chet says, suspicious eyes darting to the front door.
A moment later there is a roar, of both people and engines, as the door is broken down and wood goes splintering in a heap. A swarm of gun-wielding, trigger-happy men pool into the space with a bang. Both Rushkoffs and DeMarcos, working together to come to our rescue.
Chet's face drops just as it goes hard. He pauses where he was about to take the knife out of Alexei's gut and instead comes running for me.
"You belong to me now," Chet says. "There's no way I'm letting you get away again."
"What? No!" I shout. He takes my hands and binds them as I struggle.
I'm surprised to find that even though I fight back his strength is far too much for me.
My feet slip underneath me as Chet drags me away.
I push as hard as I can, digging my heels into the floor, trying to get back to Alexei. Trying to get back to Dad.
Chet grits his teeth in annoyance as his hand tightens around my arm, forcing me along beside him like my best efforts are nothing more than a nuisance.
"It'll be just you and me now," he says, tongue clicking in my ear. "Like old times."
I kick and I scream. Pounding against his back, chest, whatever I can come into contact with. Nothing seems to work. Nothing seems to be a match for him.
I lose sight of the others, of anyone who can help me, as the fighting breaks out even more violently than it did the first time. Our people are pouring inside in more numbers than I can fathom, fighting to free us.
It is not too late for them.
But it is far too late for me.
I take a final look back at Alexei, still slumped in his chair and not moving.
It's the last thing I see before Chet, along with several of his men, manage to pull me into Angie's office and I lose sight of them for good.
I kick, I struggle. I do whatever I can.
I send papers and office supplies flying with my flailing legs. All of it to no avail.
Freedom is close and yet so far. Chet will get what he wants, he will take me. I will not make it easy on him.
They pull me through the back door into the parking lot, with several of his men in tow.
There's a car waiting.
I know I'm going to lose, and that I'm going in that car. That Chet will whisk me away and all those fears I had about being his prisoner again are going to come true.
It was always going to end this way. Just as I had planned.
If Dad was ever going to agree to work with the Rushkoffs, he needed something bigger than just Chet to fight against. If Alexei was ever going to put everything he had into killing Chet, he needed something to fight for.
The only thing that will bring them together is me.
I am stiff and catatonic in my acceptance as they push me into the backseat of the car.
My forehead beads with sweat as Chet slides into the seat next to me.
Even though this is exactly what I planned when I sent Alexei away to make a deal, I gulp in regret.
Wishing that I had been smart enough to think of something more clever than this.
Now, I only have solace in the fact that we stopped it. Whatever he had planned. Maybe I played into it. But backup is here now and there is a fighting chance. Nobody else has to die today. Dad. Anton. Isla. Freddie.... Alexei.
My heart stings.
Maybe now they will have time to get him help.
"Glad to see you've finally accepted your fate," Chet says, pleased with my stillness. "Still, can't give away everything can we?" Chet moves agile like a cat as he places a needle in my arm and I gasp, sinking as everything goes black.