Page 78 of Darkest Game

“I just pushed you out of the way. But you still got hurt.”

He narrows his eyes at me. “You did it on purpose.”

“No. Just funny timing.”

He coughs and blood spills from his lips. This isn’t good. Mikhail is seriously hurt if he’s bleeding from the inside.

“Just stay still,” Nico says. “An ambulance is on its way.” He stumbles over to the window and looks outside. All the glass is gone from it. “Shit.”

“What?”

“Denis Petrov is outside. Across the street.”

Chapter Fifteen

Liam

Istumble over to the window and look out. Nico is right. Denis is outside, smiling gleefully in our direction.

“Did he have something to do with this?” I ask.

“I would assume so. Who else stands outside a blown up building, smiling like a fucking madman? He wants me and Mikhail dead. It’s why he went into hiding after we became allies.”

“You don’t think he’s working with Elaine, do you? Or did he do this himself?”

“I have no fucking idea. But I’m going out to ask him.” Nico charges to the large hole in the wall where the door once was and something inside of me tells me to stop him.

I grab his arm.

“What are you doing?” He tries pulling away but I hold on too tight.

“If you go out there, there’s a good chance you’ll be killed. We were just in an explosion. Denis is probably mocking you to go out and meet him. Who knows how many people are out there that could have guns, ready to shoot you down? Now, normally I’d be fine with you dying but we promised to work together to bring Elaine down and Mikhail is hurt, which means I need you. So don’t do anything stupid.”

Nico stares back at me for a moment before sighing. “I hate it when people I hate are right.”

“We need to get Mikhail to the hospital. We’re all at a weak point and we need to be there for our wives.”

“Do you honestly care about Irina?”

“Do you honestly care about Sasha?”

Nico puffs his chest out. “Of course I do. We’ve been married for a year now. I love her more than anything. But you… you’ve only known Irina for about a week or so.”

“I don’t have to justify my feelings to you. And we’re not about to have some close, vulnerable discussion about our feelings for our wives. Just trust me when I say I do care for her. It doesn’t matter how long I’ve known her for.”

“Fine.”

The ambulance shows up and the paramedics are quick to get Mikhail inside of it and take him to the hospital. Nico and I drive behind, keeping an eye out for any other ambushes. Denis is gone, I realize by the time we drive away.

I always hated the fucker, even when Cillian wanted to work with Denis. I never agreed with it. I only went along with it because that’s what Cillian wanted.

Now, Denis is back and causing trouble. If he’s somehow working with Elaine… Fuck. I can’t even go there. The less alliesshe has the better. She’s closing in on me and Irina and I’ve had enough of it.

Who knew trying to kill a middle aged woman would be this fucking hard.

Mikhail is taken straight into the ER when we make it back to the hospital so it’s up to me and Nico to tell Natalya about what happened.

We find her inside Irina’s room, chatting away, happy that her sister is alive and with her.