Page 12 of Darkest Game

“I’m a married man. Even though my wife annoys the fuck out of me, I’m still loyal to her. So it can’t be me who makes her one of us.”

“I don’t understand.”

“One of you needs to marry her.”

All the air is blown right out of my body. “Marry her? A fucking Russian?”

“A pretty Russian. I’m sure you noticed. You have eyes, Liam.”

“Of course I noticed. But that doesn’t mean I want to marry her.”

“Who said it had to be you?”

Slowly, I sit down in the seat across his desk. “You’re going to give her to one of the men out there?” I know those men. I know how rough and rowdy they can be. A lot of them have women on the side who they beat and fuck around with. Something in my gut doesn’t want that for Irina. She may be the enemy but for some reason, I would hate for her to lose her innocence.

Not that I care about her. I’ve never given a damn for any fucking Russian.

“I would prefer it if it was you,” he says. “I need you kept in line. I need you to pay for taking over Cillian’s job when I never gave it to you. Think of this as your punishment. You will marry that girl, make her one of us, and that will drive Mikhail and Nico insane. Their sister-in-law now an Irish mobster’s wife. That will be sweet revenge, don’t you think?”

“It is,” I admit. “But I don’t want to marry her.”

“I’m not giving you a choice. I’ve decided. It’s going to be you. Let’s go tell the girl the good news, shall we?”

Jack claps me on the back as he heads out the door. Slowly, I follow after.

It’s just the two of us as we go to Irina in the kennel. She’s sitting down, her legs drawn into her chest. I can just spot the white of her underwear peeking out and it makes me a little hard. She is a beautiful woman, I’ll give her that. A woman whose body I would love to touch.

It would all just be better if she didn’t belong to the enemy.

“Girl,” Jack snaps, making Irina flinch. She pushes herself to her feet, shaking like she’s cold even though it’s a warm night out. “Welcome to your new home.”

She frowns. “Excuse me?”

“You’re going to marry this man right here.” He claps me on the back once more. Irina’s eyes widen. “You’re going to become the wife of an Irish mobster. How does it feel?”

She opens her mouth but no words come out. I’m sure it’s a shock for her. It’s a shock to me too.

“Cat got your tongue?” Jack mocks. “My. You do have a beautiful mouth. I’d love to stick my cock in it.”

She clamps her mouth closed.

“I have an idea. You will marry Liam. But I’ll get to have you on your wedding night. It’s an old school thing the English used to do to us poor Irish back in the day. Prima nocta as they called it. I’m assuming you’re a virgin. Speak, girl!”

“Y-yes,” she stutters.

“You’re a virgin?”

“Yes.”

Jack gives me an eager smile that makes my stomach drop to my feet. “Good. Then I’ll fuck you on your wedding night to Liam. Truly make you one of ours. And then he can have you all he wants. How does that sound?”

She only shakes her head as tears spill down her face.

Jack laughs again. “Cheer up, pretty girl. I’m marrying you to Liam. You’re lucky I’m not making you marry one of the ugly fuckers inside.” He leaves after that, whistling to himself.

I turn to Irina. “This wasn’t my idea, trust me.”

“I don’t trust you,” she whispers.