Page 19 of Dangerous Promises

My eyes shift to Alexei's, where he's more concerned with watching me. His eyes drop as he brushes my hair over my shoulder, revealing the small scar at my collarbone that leads down to the bigger deformities beneath my shirt.

"This is where he did that?" Alexei asks. "Where he kept you?"

"Yes," I confirm. "He had a wine cellar in the b-"

"I remember it," he says, looking away and shaking his head. "I used to play in there as a kid. That's where he did it?"

"Yes," I say. "I lost count of how many times."

The silence feels tense. Neither one of us moving to either kill or comfort. We haven't spent this long together without trying to hurt each other since… Well, since I put my hand in his tattooed one and begged him to run away with me.

"Place has gone downhill," I say on an unsure laugh, but Alexei cracks a smile.

"Why is it so busy?" I ask, looking up into his gray eyes, which for now, seem calm.

"Chet has amassed himself an army."

"He's a threat," I nod. "Well, he always has been to me."

Alexei nods and sighs too, it feels like there is more to say but we run out of time. I am both saddened and grateful for the interruption.

"Alexei!"

The voice comes from somewhere close. We both look towards the sound, but don't make a move towards it or to reply.

"Sage!" Another voice calls out.

I hear the footsteps getting closer, but we are entranced in each other's gaze, neither of us able to move. I'm not sure I want to be the first to do so.

"This is his car." This time it's clear the voice belongs to Isla.

"If he's done anything to her, I swear I will-" And that one belongs to my uncle.

Branches crack underfoot as we are discovered. To my surprise, Isla, Anton and Freddie come stepping out of the thick of the woods.

"Oh." Isla startles when she sees me. "You're actually here too. And you're both alive." She gives an awkward smile. "Sage. Good to see you."

"God dammit, Sage!" Anton shouts. "Disappearing again in the middle of all that's going on!"

"What's going on?" Alexei asks, his voice deathly serious.

"You missed the second wave," Isla explains. "The DeMarcos were hit too, it seems."

Anton's jaw grinds as he spares a scathing look at her. I find there is part of the conversation that I'm missing. Information that everyone else is privy to that I am not. Seeing the place I was hurt lit up like that, as if Chet has the resources to do it all again, deeply unsettles me. I don't want to believe Chet is still out there, hunting me.

"No guesses who," Alexei says, indicating over his shoulder where Chet's people still celebrate.

"Chet," Anton says, taking a deep sigh and looking more annoyed at me for stumbling upon Chet's territory than for chasing Alexei out here.

"We need to go," Isla says, stepping up to Alexei and nudging him. "There could be hundreds of them watching these woods."

She's not wrong. We were just attacked by a few of them already.

"We need to leave now,bella," Freddie says, in a far more gentle tone than my uncle would have used.

Isla takes Alexei's arm and Freddie takes mine, pulling us in opposite directions. But I can't help the look I chance over my shoulder to see Alexei. Only to find that he is watching me, too. Eyes stormy again as we both disappear away into the night.

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