Page 116 of Dangerous Promises

Alexei ignores me, pulling on my hand but I won't go. He turns to give me an aggravated look.

"We have to help them," I beg again.

He grips me by the elbow and pulls me along with a force that I can't fight against. My feet slip under me as I try to follow him all the while watching my family get captured one by one.

I don't want them to go down in my place.

Alexei slams the bathroom door open and we head inside. He barricades the door behind us, checking each cubicle with precision to make sure we're alone in here.

"What are we going to do about the others?"

Alexei closes his eyes and rests his head against the door.

"We need to-"

"We can't do anything to help them," Alexei says, ignoring me as he scopes out the bathroom for possible exits. He checks each wall and then fiddles with the tiny bathroom window that I definitely cannot fit through, no matter how well versed I am in escaping places.

"What do you mean? They're falling out there? And you don't want to do anything?"

"They are all going to fall Sage. Even me."

He can't even look at me as he continues trying to pull the window off its hinges.

"What do you mean? We're all going-"

He pins me with a deadly serious look. "This was never about getting us out, it was about you. Making sure you were safe."

I take a step back with a hand over my heart.

"The rest of us… we're not getting out of here," Alexei says, rubbing his fingers against his temple. "Your uncle knew that. The only chance we have is to make sure Chet doesn't getyou."

He pins me in his gaze and tears well in my eyes. How could I possibly run away to leave them like this? Isla is already down. So are Dad and Anton. I didn't see Freddie. Now Alexei tells me he, too, is going to break.

"No," I say, my voice breathy, mind searching endlessly for a better plan that doesn't end in the gut wrenching way that he says it will.

Alexei finishes his work with the window and manages to get the screen off.

"I'm not going to fit through there," I say, my voice shaky and my vision clouded by tears.

He ignores me.

Suddenly, there is banging on the door behind us. When the first crack forms, it becomes quickly obvious that they are much better at breaking down doors than we were hoping to be.

"Shit," Alexei says. He abandons the window plan and starts looking around, as if he hasn't already seen everything. His eyes catch on the ceiling. I follow his gaze and am nervous at the idea I see forming in his head.

"I'm not getting into the vents!" I argue, arms swinging wildly. "Half the ceiling fell out in there."

"You have to," Alexei says as he stands on the toilet and starts toying with the grate.

Several more loud bangs remind us of the clock ticking down. More cracks form in the door as Alexei works with a rushed reverence to get the grate off. It comes off with a click and Alexei peeks his head inside to look around.

"It's clear," he says. He ushers me over with a wave and I go to him, taking his hand as he makes me stand next to him. "Go to the right, that should lead you to the back of the building, into Angie's office. There's an exit there I've seen it."

"What about you?"

"They're going to take me too."

"No," I say, my face crinkling as my heart aches.