Chapter 35
Chapter
Thirty-Five
Sage
Ifall to my hands and knees. When I look up, Victor smirks at me from where he stands near the window. The playful facade he built while we were in my mansion is gone. He looks every bit like I expected him to when we first met. Powerful. Terrifying. Out to hurt me.
Not the playful, charming person he pretended to be. In hindsight, it's obvious, and I'm an idiot for not seeing through it.
I look around the room. We're in a lounge.
Plush green sofas and armchairs line the space.
There's a fireplace on the wall with a stupidly big TV hanging over it.
I know why we're in this room, though. The view is over the front of the property.
You can see the lake and all the way up to the front gate.
If we're waiting for someone, this room has the best vantage points to make sure Victor can see them coming.
There's a variety of Victor's men about the space too. Which I only notice for the first time when one of them grabs me and pushes me into a chair. Alexei, like usual, slinks to hide in the shadows.
He's given me everything he can at this point. That's the best I'm going to get from him. I'm on my own now.
"What am I doing up here?" I ask.
Victor's jaw clenches, but he doesn't answer me.
One of his men comes up to give some sort of report. "They've ambushed the whole side gate. We've directed Chet through the front."
"What's going on?" I ask.
"Your fucking family," Victor seethes, "have somehow worked out exactly where you are and launched an attack. You didn't want me to start a fucking war?" He shakes his head. "Too late. They're already starting it."
I breathe out a sigh of relief. Nic is here, and probably Freddie. They just have to get to me before Chet does. I just have to use the tools I have to defend myself until they get here. I just have to not let myself be taken by Chet.
Victor's minion clears his throat. "The, uh, the blonde girl is with them."
Victor whips his head around. "Isla? Isla is fighting with them?"
"It appears so, sir."
Victor sends a scathing look Alexei's way. He obviously thinks that's his fault.
There's a rumbling sound from somewhere nearby. Victor scowls as he grabs a remote and turns on the compensating-for-something-TV, folding his arms as the security footage shows.
Live, I have to assume.
The camera sits on the side of the house above a wooden deck with a view over the lawn. DeMarco men are launching a siege on the compound, taking out every Rushkoff that comes in their sights.
I let out a soft whimper of relief which Victor shoots me a scathing look for.
Leading the charge is Freddie, Isla and my Nicholas.
They fight like they were born to fight. Nicholas doesn't hesitate with every bullet. Every person he takes down. Every man he kills. He's not thinking about morality or the consequences on his conscience. He's coming for me.
They breach the house. Isla doing the bulk of the heavy lifting as she takes an axe and shatters the floor-to-ceiling window, signaling the others and they begin to pour inside.
"They're coming for me." I smile to Victor. "Or you."
Victor's jaw grinds as he checks his watch.
We both know what this means.
If they get to me before he can get me to Chet, he's done for.
Victor signals at his men. "Go! Stop them from getting to us."
The countdown begins.