Page 12 of Darkest Game (The Dark Mafia #3)

“If you’re going to shoot me, just get it over with.

” Jack laughs but there’s no humor to it.

“But you can’t shoot me, can you? It will draw too much attention.

You’re out of fucking luck, Liam. You don’t care about the girl.

Just let me fuck her and then you can have her.

I’ll make a compromise with you. I won’t give her to any more men. How about that?”

“You see, if I don’t kill you right now, you’ll kill me later. And I’m not dying because of you.”

“You wouldn’t die to save the girl?” Jack throws me a look. “Shows how much he cares about you.”

I know Liam doesn’t care. But even if he’s doing this for himself, I’m fine with it as long as I don’t have to be raped.

“Stop talking to her,” Liam snaps.

“Or what?”

“Interesting you taunt me when I’m the one with the gun. You’re so fucking arrogant, Jack, that you can’t even believe, in a moment like this, that you could die. That your actions have consequences. Fucking me over the way you have is a consequence.”

“And if you kill me, there will be a ton more consequences you have to put up with.”

“The mob appreciates men who take power. If I kill you, that leaves open a spot for me to take it.”

Jack’s eyes widen before they narrow. Liam’s words seemed to have struck a nerve in him. “You will never be the true boss. You may play at being a boss in your little corner and that’s fine. But you’ll never be me.”

“And thank fuck for that. Why would I want to be the sort of man who has to rape a woman just to feel better about myself?”

“You would be lucky to be me.”

“Fine. Once I kill you, I will be.” Liam throws the gun at Jack’s head, surprising Jack enough that he stumbles back. That allows Liam the chance to grab the knife from his pocket and stab it right into Jack’s throat.

Jack clutches at his throat where the knife is, his eyes wide like he never believed this would actually happen. He drops to his knees and scrambles at his throat. Fear is plastered in his eyes.

I’ve never been one for violence. I could never watch scary movies growing up while Sasha would obsess over stuff like that.

But in this moment, I don’t feel scared at all. I feel vindicated. Jack thought he could treat me terribly and not face the consequences of it. Now he knows what it’s like to be afraid.

Liam grabs the knife from Jack’s throat and his blood gushes out onto the walls and on Liam’s face and even on my dress, dirtying it even more.

Jack falls to the ground and scrambles for Liam but Liam only backs away. One more groan leaves Jack’s mouth before he stops making any sound at all.

Liam nudges him onto his back. Jack’s lifeless eyes stare up at the ceiling.

He’s officially dead.

Liam turns to me with a look of pure hatred and anger, it jolts the emotions right back into me. No longer numb.

I tense. Is he going to attack me himself despite the fact that he told me he doesn’t rape women? Was it all a lie?

“Put your panties back on,” he growls. “We’re getting out of here.”

There’s no love or care in his voice, though I don’t know I expected there to be. Liam has made it perfectly clear he doesn’t want me.

With shaky hands, I grab my white underwear off the ground and slip it back on. Liam looks away when I have to pull my dress higher around my waist to get the underwear in place.

He nods once I’m fully dressed. “We have to get out of here.”

“We?”

“I just killed him for you. We’re in this together.”

“For me or for you?”

“Does it matter right now?” he snaps.

No. No it doesn’t.

“There’s no time to clean his body up. I need to get somewhere safe where I can assemble a team of men to protect me and showcase my strength. Then I’ll take over as boss. But right now, next door is a reception hall filled with some of Jack’s most loyal followers. They’ll kill us both on sight.”

“You have a plan in place.”

“Yeah, a shitty one.” He reaches for the door when I stop him.

“Liam, before we leave, I just have to know. Why exactly did you kill Jack tonight?”

“We don’t have time.”

“Please.” I grip his arm. “I need to know.”

“He made a fool out of me and I couldn’t stand for it.”

Slowly, I lower my hand. That’s what I figured but for some reason, it stings. “Right. Of course.”

He sighs and runs his blood stained hand over his face. “And I couldn’t stand the idea of that fucker raping you. It made me feel… guilty.”

My breath hitches. What does that mean exactly? That Liam would feel guilty over what almost happened to me.

“Now we need to get out of here,” he says, wrenching the door open…

Where we come face to face with Elaine.

She smiles when she sees Liam covered in blood. “So you did it. You killed the girl before my husband could take her?”

That’s when her eyes flit to me… clearly alive. And then her eyes move down to Jack, dead on the floor.

A wail escapes her mouth. “You killed him? You killed him! You weren’t supposed to kill him.” She begins wailing her fists against Liam but he grabs her by the shoulders and shoves her back. “You’re going to pay for this.”

Liam pulls out the knife he used to kill Jack with. “I am sorry, Elaine. You got fucked over.” He lunges at her with the knife but she backs away and that’s when I hear voices down the hallway. People are coming. Whether its guests or guards, it doesn’t matter. We’ll be caught.

“We have to run,” I say, grabbing Liam’s shoulder. Elaine is in a ball on the floor, sobbing her heart out. “There are probably cameras in this hallway.”

“I already killed one guy,” he says with a nod at the dead guard slumped in the corner I hadn’t noticed until right now.

“Let’s just go.”

But before we can move, the people talking round the corner. It’s a few of the guests from the wedding. Jack’s men.

They freeze when they see what’s happening. Liam and I covered in blood. Elaine sobbing on the floor. The dead guard. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened to Jack.

There are three men of Jack’s from the party and their wives, all staring at us with wide eyes.

Liam stands up taller and slips the knife into his pocket. “You’re wondering what happened. I killed Jack.”

They all gasp.

“He was going to take my wife for himself. I couldn’t stand for that so I killed him. And I now have the right to take over as leader. As boss. I’m taking it.”

One of the men scoffs. “You can’t be serious, Liam. You can’t just take over after you killed Jack. You’re going to die for this.”

“No. I’m not. Because I know a lot of you hated Jack. Hated how controlling he was. I won’t be a controlling boss like him. You guys know me. You know how laid back I am. Usually. I’ll offer you more freedom if you make me the boss.”

“No,” Elaine snaps, standing up. “He needs to pay for killing Jack. That little Russian slut needs to pay.”

“Irina didn’t kill Jack. I did. She doesn’t need to pay for this.”

“It’s clear she’s involved in this too,” another guest says. I don’t know any of their names despite them being at my wedding.

“But she was taken as a prisoner and forced into this. She is not to blame. If you want to blame anyone, blame me.”

I stare at Liam in shock. He’s actually trying to protect me right now.

“There needs to be a trial,” Elaine says. “Grab them. Lock them both up. They need to pay for killing my beloved Jack.”

Liam snorts “Beloved? You were fucking pissed a moment ago that he tried to fuck another woman over you. You have no love for him.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Seize them!”

The three other men hesitate.

“We’re not really looking for a fight,” one of them says.

“They killed Jack. They have to pay.”

Liam lifts up the gun he stole from the guard. I didn’t even realize he had grabbed it after he threw it at Jack. “I will shoot everyone in this hallway if you try to attack me.”

“You do have to face the punishment,” one of the men says. They all look the same to me. Pasty white skin. Same dark hair. All around the same age.

“Do you want to die trying to stop me?”

The three men exchange looks then turn to their wives.

“No,” they say.

“Good. Let us through.” Liam grabs my hand and tugs me along as he leads me to the elevator. No one tries to attack us.

Once we’re inside the elevator, he slumps against the wall. “Fuck. None of this is going to plan.”

“Did you even have a plan?”

“Honestly, no. I just knew I had to save you. I had to kill that fucker. Fuck.” He runs his hands down his face. “I don’t know what the fuck to do.”

“Can I help?”

“How can you help? You’re the reason I’m in this mess.”

I flinch from the hardness in his tone. “I didn’t ask for this, Liam.” My tone isn’t angry. Just matter-of-fact.

“I know you didn’t. I just meant that you’re the reason I went in there. I had to stop him from hurting you.” He won’t look me in the eye, I notice. Whatever Liam is feeling doesn’t make sense to me. He doesn’t care for me and yet he’s willing to kill a man to save my life?

The elevator doors open and we’re confronted with Jack’s guards. They all have their guns trained on us. Five of them in total.

“You’re coming with us,” a guard says, before punching Liam in the face and stomach and taking his gun from him.

I’m grabbed by one of the guards and dragged from the elevator. No one in the lodge asks any questions. Not the bellhop. Not the hotel clerk. Not the maids.

“Did Elaine fucking call you guys?” Liam asks.

“You know she did. She told us you killed Jack. We’re taking you to a location of her choosing.”

Liam and I are placed inside a car. Our hands are bound together and bags are placed over our heads. Then the car begins to move.

I can feel Liam beside me, vibrating from anger but there’s nothing I can say or do to comfort him. Not when I need comfort myself.

The car eventually stops and I’m pulled from the car with the bag still over my head. I have no idea where I am but then I feel something soft underneath me as I’m forced to sit down and my bag is ripped off.

I’m in some dingy basement of sorts. My hands are tied to a chair. A quick glance to my side shows that Liam is in the same predicament as me. His bag is gone too, letting me see his handsome face, which is full of worry. We’re going to die here, I realize.

Liam was just trying to save my life and we’re going to die for it.

He’s trying to tug against his binds but it’s pointless. We’re not going anywhere.

The five guards are in the room, their guns all pointed at us.

Elaine walks into the room with some of Jack’s men behind her. “I said I wanted a trial. You need to suffer for the crime of killing my husband.”

“I killed him because he was going to fuck my wife. I did you a favor, Elaine. You can take over now yourself. You don’t need a man in control of you. A husband who would fuck another woman and not care one bit how you feel about it.”

Elaine nods at one of the guards and he smacks Liam across the face.

“Shut up,” she hisses. “I loved my husband despite everything. I never wanted to see him dead. I just wanted him loyal to me. Now he’ll never get the chance since you took his life. Now, I’m not heartless. We’ll discuss what to do with the two of you. Come to some sort of arrangement.”

Despite Elaine’s words, there’s no kindness in her eyes.

She wants me and Liam to suffer and she’s going to get her way.