Page 118 of Dangerous Promises

My heart stops as I draw in a sharp breath.

There's glee in Chet's voice as he giddily saunters around the bar like we're only playing a game of hide and seek. He addresses Alexei, stepping into his face. "Did you hide her in here, nephew? Are you keeping her from me?"

Alexei says nothing, keeping his lips tightly sealed as he meets Chet's gaze with angry eyes. None of the others know where I am, but they don't make a move to look.

"Can she hear me?" Chet whispers to Alexei, looking around the room in playful surprise. I close my eyes in fear, because yes I can hear him and the way his tongue clicks with satisfaction.

Chet never shows himself unless he has the upper hand, which he obviously does here, but now he has so much of one that this is nothing but a bit of fun. All a game of the people I care about getting in his way as he plots his path to me.

Now would be the perfect time to actually run away. To not stick around for the ending. Choose to walk away and see what happens after.

But I could never do that.

"Oh, little Sage," Chet says on a singsong voice. "You are still here aren't you."

I hold my breath as Chet takes a pool cue and slams it against the furnishings. First the bar top, then under a table and behinda booth. He opens up cupboards, boxes and anything that looks even half my size.

I can tell he's enjoying this. I am a rat trapped in his cage.

"I can make you come out, you know," Chet says, still a smile in his eyes.

I know he can. It's what I expect him to do. So I'm not surprised at all when he takes a knife and goes to Freddie, pressing it up against his chin.

"The question is, who will it be?" Chet says, searching for me with his eyes. "Will Fallon here be enough to draw you out? Or do I need to kill someone else?"

I close my eyes so I don't see this. My resolve is already weak.

It has been weak for a year. I'm not afraid to die. In fact, I welcomed it. I'd always rather it be me. I didn't want anyone to die for me and there's no possibility that I'm going to let it happen again.

"How about dear old Dad?" Chet says as he holds the knife against Dad's neck. Dad's lips purse in displeasure and annoyance.

"You're such a spineless cunt," Dad says, shaking his head even as the knife presses up against his throat. I cringe at the same time as Anton throws Dad a look begging him to shut the fuck up.

"You should untie me and fight me like a man," Dad hisses.

Chet curls his upper lip and removes the knife, looking like Dad has robbed this moment of all its fun. "You'll get your turn Dimitri don't you worry."

He paces back around the bar and circles Alexei. "Is he the one, Sage?" He holds the knife to Alexei's throat, lifting his chin in the process and forcing Alexei to meet his eye. Still, Alexei says nothing.

"Will you watch as he dies?" He elevates the pressure, pressing the knife harder against Alexei's throat as he sneers. "Or will you give me what I want?"

"Don't do it, Sage!" Isla yells out, drawing everyone's surprised attention. The men holding her kick her down and subdue her, but Chet and Alexei don't take their eyes off each other.

"You will only get so many chances, little Sage," Chet says, slashing the knife over Alexei's cheek until it bleeds.

There are various other pleas from my family to run, hide, do whatever I can to get away. But we all know that's not what I'm going to do. I've always been a very good sacrificial lamb.

So I do what I was always going to, I climb down from the roof and drop behind the bar. I sacrifice myself, and I give Chet what he wants.

Chapter

Fifty

Alexei

My heart breaks as I hear Sage slip through the roof and land behind the bar. I drop my head just as Chet removes the knife from my throat to gleefully greet Sage. The others look just as grief stricken as I feel watching Sage make another sacrificial decision. We all know things are far worse now than they were only moments ago.

Chet has two of his men manhandle Sage into the chair across from mine, though her hands aren't bound like mine are. Possibly the only good sign that Chet is underestimating what she's capable of.