Page 80 of Ruthless Riches
“I guess you don’t know for sure. You’ll just have to trust me and Alexis when we say we’ll support you,” Nate said.
Sascha looked back at him. “I… I can’t do that,” she muttered. Her hands were trembling even more now, and the knife was swinging perilously close to my neck again. “I can’t trust you.”
“Try to think about it this way,” Nate said. “The three of us have already lost so much. All we have now is each other, and we don’t want to lose that too. That means we need to stick together. It’s what a real family does. Right?”
“Yes,” Sascha whispered.
“Do you think you can do that?” Nate asked. “Let us be there for you?”
Sascha’s eyes brimmed with tears. She didn’t drop the knife, but she lowered it again, enough to stop it from going near my jugular every time her hand shook. “Do you promise you won’t leave me?” she asked in a choked-up voice, staring right into my eyes. “Ever?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
She turned her attention back to Nate. “You really think I’ll end up in a hospital?”
“Yeah, I do.”
Sascha sniffed and wiped her face with her free hand. Then she dipped it into her jacket pocket and fished out a key. “I’m sorry, Lexie,” she said in a broken whisper. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“I know,” I said, heart pounding as she undid the handcuffs and let them fall to the floor. “I knew you’d do the right thing.”
Truthfully, I didn’t know that at all, but I couldn’t tell her that right now. She was still in a dangerous state, and it wouldn’t take much to push her back over the edge again.
“Are you ready to go?” I said softly, reaching out to touch her arm.
“No.” She sprang back, eyes suddenly bulging. “You’re lying, aren’t you?”
“About what?” I asked, brows dipping in a frown.
She shook the knife at me. “Don’t fuck with me! I saw that look on your face when I dropped the cuffs,” she said. “You’re both lying! You’re going to ditch me as soon as we get up there. You’re going to leave me to rot!”
Shit.She was losing it again.
“That’s not true, Sascha,” I said, raising my palms. “I promise, we’re—”
She cut me off. “Fucking liars!” she shrieked. With that, she charged at Nate with the knife held high.
He grabbed her wrist to hold her at bay, jaw clenched and eyes flashing with intensity as the tip of the blade hovered two inches away from his left eye. Then he used his other hand to chop Sascha on the same wrist, sending the knife flying out of her grip.
It landed with a clatter, right at my feet.
Sascha sprang toward the black bag to grab another knife. Nate followed her, but she got there first. She picked up a knife and raised it high, preparing to plunge it into Nate’s chest. “Fuck you,” she hissed. “Lying cunt.”
Adrenaline flushed through my system, making my heart hammer as I bent down and picked up the knife at my feet. “I’m so sorry,” I said.
Sascha whipped her head around. “Wha—”
Before she could finish getting the word out, I sank the knife deep into her right hamstring. “I’m so sorry,” I repeated in a hollow whisper. “This isn’t what I wanted.”
Sascha let out a howl of agony and fell to her knees. Blood spurted from the wound on her leg, and she rolled onto her side, still screaming.
Nate dropped down and grabbed her arms, pinning them behind her back. “Take my belt off,” he said, glancing up at me. “We can use it to restrain her.”
I hastily undid his belt and yanked it through the loops on his pants. Then, with trembling hands, I wrapped it around my sister’s wrists and pulled it tight. She sobbed and moaned, writhing on the floor and begging me to let her go, but I kept my jaw set and my eyes on the task. She wasn’t herself right now. She couldn’t be trusted.
“Leave the knife in,” Nate said softly, watching me as I secured the belt. “It’ll be worse for her if you pull it out.”
I nodded and slowly rose to my feet. Nate followed me. “You have no idea how fucking good it is to see you,” he said, staring down at me. His voice was gruff with emotion.
I tilted my chin up to meet his gaze, still scarcely able to believe that he was right in front of me. “Are you even real? Or is this just another dream?”
He leaned down and rubbed the tip of his nose against mine. Then he kissed the tip of it. “Pretty sure I’m real.”
The little peck on my nose had my heart fluttering like the wings of a hummingbird. “Thank you,” I whispered. “For coming for me.”
Nate stroked the side of my face as a faint smile tugged at his lips. “Always have,” he said, wrapping his free arm around my waist to pull me close. “Always will.”
I pressed my face into his chest and closed my eyes. “I love you so much.”
Nate leaned down and kissed the shell of my ear. “I love you, too.”
