Page 46 of Dangerous Promises

"Fair enough," Isla says. "But it couldn't hurt you to get closer to our people Alexei. They trust you. They want to follow you. They support you working with the DeMarcos in order to protect us. It was a brave call. You put all your personal shit aside and you made that call for them. They see it."

There's not much else I can say to that. I wasn't born to be a leader. This was never a role I was supposed to play. I didn't have the training and preparation that Victor did. I don't have his mind. I'm impulse. He was strategy.

I stand up straight, frowning, when I notice lights coming up the road that leads to the house. Isla follows my eyes in curiosity and her face goes hard when she sees it too. The lights get brighter and as they draw closer a convoy starts to appear. A uniform row of cars, and the noises of angry men shouting getting louder.

I go to my bedside table and grab my phone, dialing Anton's number.

"Rushkoff, what-"

"Chet's men are here for a little visit. Doesn't look friendly."

"Fuck. Okay. That's the fifth one this week," Anton says on a sigh. "Where are you?"

"The house."

"That's bold," Anton says. "Freddie is in the area with our men. We'll get him there quickly."

"Thanks."

I hang up and throw the phone away, going back to the balcony just as the convoy is starting to arrive. I put two fingers in my mouth and whistle, getting the attention of the men. They look up to where the cars are arriving, just as one begins to ram the front gate. My men rush to get weapons while Isla returns with a gun for me. I sling it over my shoulder and take my pistol too.

Bracing myself on the railing, I throw myself over the balcony, landing on the ground with perfect balance as I head towards the gate.

My gun goes up just as the invaders swarm out of their vehicles. The main car continues to ram the gate.

"We have a message from Chet!" The man at the front shouts.

"Oh really?" I say, rolling my eyes. All this stupid show is doing is giving my people more time to prepare. So I allow them to draw this out, watching in my periphery for my men to arm up and be ready.

"He is coming for your blood," the man says. "And you do not have the power to stop us."

Their car makes an awkward ram against the gate that isn't enough to break through. I turn away with a growl, walking back up the path to Isla and two men who I recognize as senior in my empire but who I don't know well enough to know their names.

"Shoot them," I command. "Gun the fuckers down while they waste time trying to get through the gate."

"There are a lot of them," one man comments. "Will we-"

"We'll have backup," I promise, ignoring the rest of what they have to say as I trudge up the path back to the house, barking commands at my men on where to stand to best thwart this ambush. It's fucking annoying how much harder it is to lead people than it is to just worry about myself in a fight.

I watch in satisfaction as the gunfire begins at the front gate, dropping several of their men and sending the others fleeing back into their cars.

A bang sounds behind me, and I startle towards the noise. I rush up the path around the lake, stopping in my tracks when I see the side entrance has fallen. We are breached and Chet's men are pouring their way into the property.

I squeeze my fists, rage boiling up inside me as the front gate succumbs to the assault and falls, landing with a crash on the ground. My own men surge past me, meeting the attack from the side gate at the same time that fighting breaks out on the front lawn.

With a growl I throw myself into the fight too, gun up as I headshot the last ones coming through the gate. Next, I pushpast one man, slitting his throat and rescuing one of my men by grabbing the hair of his attacker and snapping his neck cold.

Isla fights right alongside me, face tense as she fires single shots of her rifle, expertly taking down an opponent each time she does. But their resources are never ending, and no matter how many we take down more are appearing in their place.

I shoot a few more down before wiping some sweat from my brow as Isla comes to my side. "They've broken down the west gate now, too," she says, relaying a message from her phone that she then pockets. "Sergei says they've nearly reached the house."

I shake my head, no time to ask who the fuck Sergei is.

"We have to group them up, stop them from attacking too many places at once. We don't have the people to hold them across multiple sites."

Isla gives me an exasperated look. "I mean, I'll try," she huffs. "Don't have a lot of control over the situation."

She goes back into the fight, shouting things at our people as I rely on my instinct to do what I do best. Fight unfair whilst only worrying about myself. Threads of responsibility gnaw at my bones, telling me to help my people and warring with myself at the fact that I don't really know how to work anything other than alone.