Page 47 of Dangerous Promises

I falter, looking around as my men fall to Chet's. They fight gallantly, there's often two or three men to my one. Far more than is reasonable to expect them to fight against alone.

Out of nowhere, I'm attacked, and one of Chet's men reaches for me with his knife. I bare my teeth as I grip his neck to stop him from reaching me. I'm about to violently snap his neck when his head explodes right in front of my eyes, spraying blood and brain matter on the grass.

"DeMarcos!" Chet's men shout, trying to warn the others. I breathe a tense sigh of relief as I hear the roar of backup finally making its way to me.

I drop the mans neck and let what's left of his body fall to the ground, finding Freddie standing in my view, aiming the gun that fired the bullet. He comes sauntering up to me with several DeMarco men in tow and a smirk on his face.

"Took your fucking time," I growl.

"Yes, yes, very good to see you too," Freddie says, flipping a knife in his hand as he jumps into the fight like fighting is his only passion.

I whistle again, shouting so my men can hear me through the fighting. "Fight to kill! Don't let a single one of them get away."

I raise my gun and join the others in this fight. Herding them away from the house and out to the lawns to face us, feeling far more optimistic that this might actually end up okay now that we're working together.

I fight the urge to vomit. Together. Yuck. How annoyingly effective. Yet, together, we will make a mess of my Uncle Chet.

Chapter

Nineteen

Sage

Anton wakes me early in the morning. There's been some kind of incident involving Chet at the Rushkoff estate and we need to meet Freddie there. It's a good two-hour drive but what I see when I get there shocks me in one way and fills me with pride on the other.

The place has clearly seen a good fight. But this time, it looks like they won. In fact, we won. There's people littered everywhere, DeMarcos and Rushkoffs alike, putting the finishing touches on what's left of Chet's men.

I hold in a smile as the car pulls up in front of the house.

Anton exits first and opens the door for me. Standing in their driveway I immediately spot Alexei, standing not too far away. He's imposing in his black clothes, spattered like paint with tiny drops of blood. His hair is slightly out of place, and his forehead holds the memory of dried sweat from their fight. His sleeves are rolled up, and he folds his tattooed arms while he looks downupon one of Chet's men, who is on his knees with his hands bound.

Like we are made to seek each other out, Alexei immediately spots me too.

I jump when he quickly shoots the guy in the head and walks over to us while pocketing his pistol in the back of his pants. As if it's no bother, and like it happens every day.

I don't even notice when Freddie shuts the car door behind me, and I am embarrassed to be caught in a state of distraction.

"Impressive," Freddie says when Alexei comes up to us.

"Brought you here cos we got a live one. Chet's second in charge."

"It looks like the joint efforts have been fruitful," Anton says, looking around to acknowledge the DeMarco men that greet him. "Did you lose any men?"

"A few," Alexei says, gritting his teeth. "But we took out far more than that."

They share a look and oddly I can tell that this loss affects Alexei, too.

"Come," Isla says, appearing from out of nowhere, but looking more like sunshine than ever. I'm sure she was part of the fight too but it shows less on her than it does on the others. Not a hair out of place in her blonde ponytail. "Thought we'd interrogate him together."

"No," Alexei says, stopping the others who were making a move to walk away. "Just me. And her."

"Her?" Anton asks, sending a questioning look my way. "Why?"

Alexei doesn't answer, only gesturing his head for me to follow. My steps are hesitant but my body obeys and I follow.

"Alright then," Isla says, also out of the loop of what is going on.

We must trust Alexei again, because nobody follows me. In fact, they let Isla direct them wherever she wants as I disappear into the house with our worst enemy and the man who's spent the past year trying to kill me.