Page 106 of Dangerous Promises

I startle at the voice. "Angie?" I question. Anton and Freddie's heads snap to me where I'm on Dad's phone. "Why would you just call my father?"

She sighs as she speaks. "Look, I'm sorry, Sage." Her genuine use of my name throws me off guard. "Some new information has come up. And as entertaining as you and all your anticshave been this is getting out of hand now and I had to inform Dimitri."

My heart starts to beat double time.

"Do you know Alexei is here?" she continues, not waiting for me to respond.

"Why would that matter?" I ask, my voice stuttering as sweat beads my temple.

"He plans to hand you over to Chet, girl. He's gone too far this time. I had to stop it."

My breath hitches and anger rises inside me. I hit the speakerphone button and then slam the handle down.

"Say that again, Angie," I say, leaning on Dad's desk with anger as I let her repeat that to Anton and Freddie.

"Alexei is trying to make a deal to hand Sage over to Chet?" Anton cringes, voice squeaking in panic. "And you told Dimitri this?"

"Is Alexei is still at the bar?" I ask, interrupting all their pointless conversation, because this is the only question that matters if we are to keep our deal.

Angie stutters. "... Yes?"

I hang up on her and take a deep breath.

My heart sinks as my mind drifts to the thought of Alexei sitting in her bar. Staring at her from across her booth as he asked her to help him betray me.

I don't get time to think on it for too long.

The engine of a car roars in the front driveway. Anton, Freddie and I all rush to the window, making it there at the same time to see Dad's car roaring out of the estate. All at once we seem to realize where he's going and why.

Right towards where Alexei waits like a sitting duck.

"We need to go," Freddie says.

Chapter

Forty-Three

Sage

“He's not answering," I say, panic lacing my voice. I hang up the phone and resist the urge to throw it out the car window. I poke my head through from the back seat to the front, biting my lip as Freddie speeds through the city in pursuit of Dad.

"Sage don't stare at him, let him concentrate," Anton says from the passenger seat, urging me to leave Freddie alone.

"But we're losing him," I say, noting where Dad's car is getting farther and farther away in the distance.

"He's surprisingly fast given his condition," Anton comments and I could throw him out the window for being so calm.

We hit a bump as Freddie drives recklessly after my father.

"What do you think he's going to do?" I ask.

"Probably kill Alexei and then come back for the rest of us," Freddie comments casually as he swerves through traffic.

I groan when Dad's car races around a corner, out of sight now by quite a bit. My heart sinks as I realize we're not going to catch him before he gets to the bar. I won't get the chance to explain any of this away before he acts on bad information and does something stupid. Like father like daughter, I guess.

We turn the corner Dad just went past and I search in anticipation but don't see him anywhere. In the few seconds it's taken us to turn this corner he's gained more headway against us. "We've lost him," I say, slumping into the backseat.

"We know where he's going," Freddie reminds me. "Angie's bar. He won't beat us by much."