Chapter 34
Chapter
Thirty-Four
Sage
Ibang my fist on the metal door. It only takes me one hit to work out that banging my hand on solid metal fucking hurts and I'm definitely not going to do it again.
I scowl at the door as I rub my fist and walk away feeling like an idiot.
"Sage-"
I gasp as I whirl around in shock, clutching my hand to my chest. Sitting against the opposite wall with his hands zip-tied in front of him is none other than Uncle Anton.
He rests casually against the wall, even as his lip furiously bleeds, one of his eyes is swollen over, and his nose is raw and purple.
"Oh my God," I say, rushing to his side. "Uncle Anton?" I crouch down next to him and he reaches out and takes my hand.
"Sage, what are you doing here?" His voices croaks painfully and I notice the bruising around his throat too.
"Me?! What are you doing locked down here?"
"Victor was going to use me as leverage to get you," he says. "It seems that has worked."
I duck my head in guilt but I figure now isn't the time to tell him that I ran away from my bodyguard right into the arms of the enemy without thinking.
"I just saw you last night..." I say trying to piece it all together in my head.
"Victor ambushed me right after dinner," Anton explains. "Zip-tied me." He lifts his hand to show me exactly that.
I show him my identically zip-tied hands as well and give him a half-smile. It makes him chuckle.
"Does this hurt?" I ask, fingers reaching out to poke at his wounds before I think better of it.
"Surface wounds," Anton says.
I slide down the wall to sit cross-legged next to him. "It was certainly nice of them to room us together."
Anton chuckles, which turns into a full laugh. We sit in silence for a few moments when he cups both my hands in his, the limited movement all that can be allowed with both of our wrists fastened.
"You obviously figured out that Victor is behind all this?" Anton asks.
"Yeah, he kind of admitted it," I say. "I did get to stab him twice though."
He gapes at me in bewilderment. "You stabbed Victor?"
I nod proudly.
"That's my girl," Anton smiles, before raising a brow. "Fatal?"
I sigh. "Not likely."
"Shame."
"There's something else," I say. He furrows his brow as he watches me. Watches as my heart tears apart with the words I'm about to say. "Nic - he's... he's been lying to us. He's FBI."
I wait for the outburst. For the eruption. I watch a flurry of emotions cross my uncle's face. But the overarching one I see is not surprise. It's guilt.
Oh, fucking hell.
Anton drops his head. "Sage..." Regret fills his look, as well.
"Fuck, what have you done?" I ask.
"None of that matters, anima mia."
"Did you not hear me? He's FBI, Anton. Victor may be something but that's the real enemy. Feds? Absolutely not."
Anton gives me another pitying look. "Nic confessed everything to me a long time ago. Right after your engagement party."
My eyes widen.
"I'm not happy with him about it, obviously," Anton sighs. "But he laid down his head on the platter. All for the chance of having you. Of stopping Victor from taking you from us. I knew then that he was one of us. Regardless of where he started."
I shake my head and hold my eyes closed, as tears start to form and my throat burns with the effort to keep them in. What have I done? He told me to let him explain.
Jesus. I should've.
"He was FBI. But, he hasn't been with them for a while." Anton gives me a knowing look.
"Fuck! Why wouldn't you tell me that?"
"You have plenty of secrets we've kept from him."
"I told him about Dad," I say, throwing my bounds hand up. "And then I found his badge, freaked the fuck out and ran straight into Victor's arms. Because some asshole called off the fucking marriage contract and started a war without telling me."
"Oh, Sage," he says, using his bound fingers to stroke a lock of hair away from my face.
He purses his lips, sighing as he slumps back against the wall.
"What do we do now?" I ask. "Just sit here and wait for them to kill us?"
Anton scoffs. "They want you alive, at least."
"Why?"
"I wish I knew." Anton shrugs, before frowning. "Did you say you ran from Nicholas before coming here?"
I nod.
Anton smiles as he pats my knee. "Then sit tight and wait. There's nowhere on earth that he wouldn't chase you."
I smile too then. Because I know firsthand that is undoubtedly true.
Sometime later - what feels like hours, but I'm sure isn't very long - a heavy banging pounds from somewhere above us. Just on the verge of sleep on Anton's shoulder, I jerk awake, gasping at the jarring roughness of the sound.
"What was that?" I ask.
Anton stands, frowning up at the ceiling as he helps me off the floor too, pushing me behind him. "It's either Nic coming to our rescue..."
"Or?" I ask.
"Or..." he says. "It's Victor coming to kill us."
"Great, perfect. Love those odds."
The banging and screeching in the house gets louder. Closer. Preceded by footsteps pounding on the floor above us. Multiple sets of footsteps. But one pair stands out above the rest as it draws nearer, the sound beating down the stairs until they're right outside the metal door of our cell.
"Brace yourself," Anton warns.
The door bangs several times from the other side and a little kernel of hope sprinkles inside me. Hope that is crushed when the door clicks opens and the lock turns. A key.
As the door is pushed open, Anton straightens like he's readying himself for a fight.
The door bangs against the cold wall of the cell and Alexei stands on the other side, unmoving and unwilling to come any closer.
He blinks, only sparing a single look of surprise for Anton before he scoffs and narrows his eyes at me. "Come on, Sage," Alexei says. "Gotta take you to Vic."
"Fine by me," I growl, ready to take another shot at that motherfucker.
Anton reaches out and blocks my body. "What? Why?"
Alexei looks back and forth between us, surprising me when he actually decides to answer my uncle. "Victor's handing her over to Chet in exchange for his army," Alexei says.
I swear my very blood freezes.
Chet.
That's not a name I've heard spoken aloud in a very long time.
I shrink into myself. Oh, fuck. What was I thinking?
Victor is one thing. A big, scary thing.
But Chet is something worse. All of my fears, the reason I've been sheltered the way I have, the reason I've stayed inside my house, never leaving and never having friends.
They're all packaged up into the trauma that Chet gave me when I was only nine years old.
"I will fight you with my bare hands tied, Rushkoff," Anton says, going eerily quiet and scary calm. "Chet will never get his hands on my Sage again. I swear it."
Alexei's eyes shutter, like he was expecting just that answer. His eyes flick to me. Instinctively I know what he's saying. He wants me to come with him, or he'll have to take me and risk hurting my uncle.
"Stay here, Uncle Anton," I whisper.
"I am not-"
Anton charges forward but Alexei pulls out his gun and aims it at him.
"Come on, Sage," Alexei says and I slowly tiptoe around my uncle to get to him. When I reach him, Alexei takes me by the arm and backs out of the room slowly. The whole time watching Anton like he's about to charge at us.
When we exit the room, Alexei straightens, running a hand over his tired eyes as he takes a second to breathe. He pulls the door closed behind us. But I don't see him secure the lock. I don't hear it click.
I raise my brows at him, looking back the door. He gives me a withering look in return, daring me to challenge him, but I'm not going to say a fucking thing. I quickly look away.
Alexei places me in front of him and grips my shoulder to lead me through the house.
We start up the stairs until we're back on the main level.
Even as I'm being led to my slaughter in this place, I can appreciate its beauty.
Open floor plans with high wooden ceiling beams. Fireplaces galore. It's a heavenly retreat.
As a place to die? It'll do.
"So, this was about Chet this whole time?" I ask, gulping.
"It seems so," Alexei says.
"You didn't know?" I ask.
"No," Alexei confirms.
We move through more beautiful rooms, open-plan kitchen, living room, dining room before continuing up a flight of stairs to the second floor of the house. Alexei leads me through a maze of hallways until we stop in front of a closed wooden door.
Alexei moves from behind me to stand in front of me, torn eyes boring into mine as he grips my shoulders.
I open my mouth to speak but he stops me. A single tattooed finger against his lips signals me to be quiet. Then he shakes his head, like he's disappointed in himself.
He unclips a weapons belt from his waist and lifts the front of my shirt, revealing the litany of mutilated scars on my belly.
"Jesus Christ," he whispers, a horrified expression pinching his features as his finger traces the lines of raised flesh over my body.
The whole time, I watch him, feeling oddly comforted at the touches he gives as he surveys my darkest damage.
He takes the clip and secures the belt around my waist.
I go to open my mouth but he pins me with another hard look, telling me again to shut up. He slides a knife into the belt, his eyes warring with indecision as he unclips his spare gun, checks the bullets and then slides that into the belt too.
He pulls my shirt back down and slides around the top and the leggings until he seems sure that he's concealed what he's done.
I go to speak, but quietly. "What are you doing?"
His lightning storm eyes glare into me, a crease forming between his brows before he drops his gaze to his feet. I wonder if he's not at all sure what he's doing. He probably can't even tell me. Instead he says something very strange indeed.
"I'll do anything for my brother." Stormy eyes snap to mine. "Except, apparently, give him you."
My heart stills.
With a sudden rush that burns my wrists, he tightens the zip ties to the point of pain. I wince but still keep to only a breath when I say, "Psychotic Rushkoff."
Alexei's lips tip up at the corners before he grabs my arm and turns me so I'm pressed against his chest. The pose is not unlike he's been manhandling me the whole way here, but it's also not unlike he just wants to feel me against him.
"Don't let him take you," he whispers finally. "Vicious little princess."
He takes a deep breath, opens the door and then shoves me forward into the room.
"Here she is."