Chapter 54
Chapter
Fifty-Four
Alexei
Ilift my head just in time to see Chet take Sage.
My ears ring as the sounds of fighting surround me, weak enough that I'm considered as good as dead and left mostly out of it. I hiss at the sting of where the knife still protrudes from my gut.
Sage screams and I can only watch, struggling against my restraints, as Chet drags her into the back rooms. I know if we lose sight of her for real then she is gone forever. If Chet takes her, we will never find her again. I cannot let that happen.
Our backup has arrived at possibly the best or the worst time. I will make that assessment later. Early enough to save our lives, but late enough to lose Sage?
Moments later, Isla is freed, and she screams as she runs for me, patting down my face to try and keep me awake as she makes it to me.
"Isla, stop," I grunt. "She left the knife in, I'll be fine. Just fucking untie me."
Isla sighs in relief and does as I ask, going to my restraints to free me.
There's enough of us here now that we look like we actually stand a chance against the number of people Chet has.
Our people know well enough how to work together and it looks like we're getting the upper hand, finally starting to win a fucking fight.
Proving that we were right to join forces, as against us both Chet doesn't stand a chance.
While Isla unties me I fight the urge to tell her how fucking slow she is being.
Dimitri and Anton are all freed now, too and someone helps Freddie up off the floor.
He makes an impressive comeback into the fight as he nurses his gunshot wound.
They must have lost sight of where Sage disappeared with Chet because while they look panicked and grief stricken, none of them seem to know where he took her.
As soon as my arms and legs are free, adrenaline takes over and I push up, likely shouldering Isla out of the way in the process as I run towards the back exit.
My wound drips blood lazily in a trail, stinging and pulling as the knife writhes with my pace.
People block my path with their own battles but I push them aside.
Jumping over two people fighting on the ground and violently shoving aside anyone who gets in my fucking way.
I don't stop to look at the chaos I leave behind me, there is only one goal that matters.
"Sergei, gun!" I say, and he throws me a gun which I catch as I keep running. Feeling validated in learning his name and working better with my men than my brother ever could have.
I cock the gun and kick down the door to Angie's office.
By the time I push my way inside it is completely ransacked, and my heart drops when I see the back door wide open.
I make it outside just in time to see Sage being loaded into a car. I raise my gun and fire blindly at them. The bullets pierce the air with a bang, smashing the back windshield and ripping off their side mirror.
The door slams shut as Chet joins Sage and the car engine makes a roar to life.
I haven't done enough.
My chest pounds as the tires burn rubber in an attempt to hurriedly speed away. I run for the car, I can't let it get away. Once Sage goes, she's gone for good. I will never see her again. Once that car drives away, Sage is as good as dead. At least, she's going to wish she was.
The car squeals through the parking lot and I fire, bullets puncturing the rear tire and sending the car on a spin. Veering out of control, it comes to a violent stop in front of me.
I don't get a chance to act before the car starts again, shooting forward and barreling desperately towards me.
I dive out of the way with only a second to spare, crouching as I continue to fire even while the wheels clatter and it heads back for the road.
No. No. No.
Jumping over the fence I run for the exit, standing in the cars path as it speeds towards me while I fire.
I am not getting out of the way. My heart pounds hard enough to match my breath and my shots are shaky as panic overwhelms me.
My adrenaline rush starts to fade and all the pain from my injuries begins to pulse back into my body.
The car doesn't slow, even with all the firepower I've put into it.
I brace my shoulder as the car hits me and I roll over the hood down and over the roof, smashed against the pavement. I grunt as I hit the hard concrete, pushing up on my hands to see the car as it peels out of the parking lot, stinging my heart.
He's getting away. He's taking her. He's taking her from me.
I chase after them as much as I can, falling to my knees in the middle of the street when the pain in my stomach and new injuries in my shoulder and thigh take me down.
There's nothing that I can do but hopelessly watch as the car grows smaller and smaller, disappearing along the horizon.
And taking Sage with it. I am useless and nothing but a failure, staring into the spot where it was supposed to be.
The tearing ache inside me hurting far more than the stab wound.
He has her now.
I know that if she doesn't survive this then neither will I. How have I gone from being so sure I could not live without killing her, to being so certain it is really living without her that would kill me?
Anton and Dimitri make a far too late appearance as they come sprinting, guns in hand, to my side. Anton gives us cover as Dimitri's eyes scan me with a frown. "Where's Sage?"
I expel a huff of air, unable to speak as I hang my head in a labored sob and clutch at the gaping wound in my stomach.
Isla joins us now, running out of the bar only to slow her steps when she sees me cowered on the ground. She covers her hand with her mouth.
"Answer me, boy!" Dimitri demands, kicking senselessly at the dirt.
"Chet got her," Isla says, tears in her eyes as she correctly surmises what has happened. "You couldn't stop it," she says, gently addressing me. I look up to her and am met with sympathy that only makes me feel worse. I shake my head.
"Don't fucking mind me," Freddie says, groaning as he hobbles towards us. "I've only been shot." Nobody pays him notice as it's clear he'll be just fine and I can't think about anything other than that a car carrying the love of my life just drove away.
"You let her get taken!" Dimitri says, barreling for me, but Anton wraps his arms around his brother's shoulders to hold him back.
Dimitri continues to struggle and argue against Anton's hold as Isla kneels down on one knee to comfort me. She meets my eye level as she places a hand on my shoulder. "She is smarter than they give her credit for. She knows what to do."
Isla nods, the tears in her eyes bringing one to my own. I can't even move. I am stuck in this limbo knowing that the second I step up from the ground this is all real.
"She knows how to stay alive," Isla assures me again, though it's of no use.
"Not for long enough."
"Then you have to find her."
Isla meets my gaze with a hard, imploring stare.
Not as a command but as a belief, that even though Chet is more cunning and dangerous than before, it is still no fucking match for me.
I have always been the best. Always had plenty more fight than anyone else.
And that was long before I had something worth fighting for.
"We should go," Anton says, letting go as Dimitri slumps in his arms. "Try and chase them down."
"He'll have gotten too far by now," Freddie says.
"Well somebody do something!" Dimitri demands, clearly as distressed as we all are.
I take a deep breath and suck the air through my nose. Channeling everything that I know I am. And I get off the fucking floor and I act like the scary motherfucker I have always been.
"I'll find her," I vow, holding onto Isla's arm for support to pull myself up.
Everyone looks to me as I stand tall, pulling the knife out of my belly and grunting as I throw it away like I feel nothing.
"I'll hunt him down, I'll tear strips of skin off his back and I'll make him pay for everything he's ever done to us."
Dimitri's lost gaze finds me. There's not an ounce of fight left in him. He doesn't even look at me in anger. He looks at me in hope, like he is praying that everything I'm saying is true. Like every fiber of his being wants to believe that I am capable of everything I am promising to him now.
His devoted stare is what makes it finally snap into place. My heart sinks at the same time that it all clicks for me.
Sage may not have planned for this to happen in this way, but she did plan for this to happen. I pressured her. I'm the one that told her only she could show her father that we needed to work together.
I'm the one that convinced her only she could bring us all together. This was it.
The only thing that can bring us together is… her. I close my eyes on a breath, heart breaking.
"I will find her," I promise. "I'll tear every inch of this city apart if that's what it takes."
Dimitri straightens up, jaw hardening as he gives me a respectful nod. "Do it," he agrees. "Whatever you need from us, it's yours. You have my word."
His word. It's bittersweet now. A promise I've needed from him coming much too late.
He waves his hand in compliance as he saunters away. Anton's saddened face meets mine as he nods, too, and follows Dimitri away.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes as I look to the sky, channeling something deep and raw inside of me. Because when I open my eyes again, it will begin and I will not stop or break or rest until she's back to me.
Chet wants a fight, he's going to get one.
I'll give him the worst of me. I will be every bad thing that I've ever been accused of and I will be worse.
I will make all the things I did to earn the label 'psychotic' look like child's play.
When I am finished, there will not be a corner of this earth that Chet could go to escape me. There will only be blood.
I steady my breathing and ready myself.
Then I open my eyes.