Page 18 of Darkest Game (The Dark Mafia #3)

“Little girl. I lost my humanity after years of being married to a mobster. If you were me, you’d lose your humanity too. In another world, where you’re married to Liam for years, you would become like me. Take comfort in that fact as you’re hurt today.”

We arrive at the kennel house. For some reason, I thought Elaine would take me somewhere new.

After pulling up to the house, the two men drag me from the car and throw me back into the kennel I was once in.

The two dogs – the rottweiler girl and the pit bull boy – are still here.

They look like they haven’t been fed in days.

Their heads perk up when they see me but I can only offer them so much comfort. I need to save some for myself.

Elaine locks me inside. “You’re going to stay there for a minute.” She nods at the men and they head inside the house.

I sink to my knees beside the other kennel and lift my hand through the bars.

The pit bull is the first one to come to me.

He happily takes the head rubs I give him.

The rottweiler is more cautious. She doesn’t want to get her hopes up she’ll be saved and I don’t blame her. I don’t want to get my hopes up either.

“I’m going to get you two to safety,” I say. “One of these times. I promise.”

They both look back at me with innocent, wide eyes. They just want love and I can relate: love is all I want too. The love of my mom and sisters. The love of my father who I’ll never see again.

And the love of a husband. My husband.

In an ideal world, Liam and I could explore the connection between us. My body does respond to him and I know he likes how I look. He’s gazed at me too many times for me to think he finds me ugly.

Could we have more in another world? Love?

Liam has never been in love so I’m not sure. I’ve never been in love. Maybe I’m the one not capable of it.

Footsteps approach me.

Spinning around and standing up, I see that it’s Sean, the guy who peed on me when I was in this kennel before.

“Hey, pretty girl,” he says, giving me a wicked smile. “Back for round two?” His eyes fall right to my bare legs. I’m only in Liam’s white button down shirt from the wedding. It doesn’t offer me any protection. “I can’t wait to grip those creamy thighs as I fuck you.”

My throat seizes up. The bravery I found in the car is gone. Back in the car, I had a slight hope that I could get out of this situation but now that I’m back in the kennel, I know I’m not going anywhere. I can’t escape my fate.

And my fate is to be hurt by Elaine and Jack’s men.

“Cat got your tongue?” he mocks before pulling his penis out of his pants.

I scream when he begins to spray me with his pee once again.

Sean only laughs like a madman as he whips his penis around, spraying not just me but the entire kennel.

His urine reeks. I’m sure a man like him has a bad diet, judging from his body.

Liam clearly takes care of himself, given how strong and muscular he is.

It only makes me miss him more. Not just because I find him physically attractive but because his strength makes me feel safe.

He used to think he was invincible by jumping off stuff when he was younger but I believe his strength is the only thing that can keep me invincible now.

“Sean,” Elaine snaps, coming back with the other two men. “Stop stinking the place up. Now I have to smell your disgusting urine as I watch you men take the girl.”

“Can I have her first?” Sean asks. “Since you said she’s still a virgin.”

“I’m assuming she is. She and Liam spent the night in a motel together. He could have claimed her then.” Elaine looks me over in a scrutinizing way that makes me flinch. “Did you two fuck? Tell me now, girl. Are you still a virgin or not?”

“If I’m not?” I whisper.

Elaine shrugs. “Then it’s going to hurt less I’d imagine. But it’s still going to hurt.”

“Tell me,” Sean says. “I want to rip your virginity from you. So tell me.”

“L-Liam and I had sex,” I lie. I don’t want to give Sean the satisfaction of thinking he can have me for the first time.

Even though Liam and I didn’t, I can imagine we did and I’ll hold onto that.

I’ll picture myself making love for the first time when I’m being raped.

I’ll get through this. I have no other choice.

Sean frowns. “Fuck. That’s disappointing.”

“She’s lying,” Elaine says, gazing at me.

“No, I’m not.” I force my voice to be strong.

“Either way. This is going to happen.” She unlocks the cage and motions Sean inside. “Have at her.”

I try to run as far as I can from him but Sean quickly grabs me. The dogs growl at him but they can’t help me. They’re locked up too.

This is it, I think as I’m lowered to the ground. I tried to fight. I thought I had my freedom for once in my life.

And now, I’m going to die once Elaine finishes torturing me. There’s no way she’s going to let me live after this.

Sean shoves the shirt up around my hips. “White underwear. Sexy.”

I cringe.

He grips the waistband of my underwear when…

The sound of a car pulling into the driveway makes everyone turn around. Liam jumps out of the car, shirtless, a panic in his eyes, and starts firing off his gun. He lands a hit to one of the men, killing him instantly.

Elaine takes off running again. Coward that she is. I see her run into the woods.

The other man whips out his gun but Liam shoots the man in the head before he can get a shot off.

Sean tries to scramble to his feet but Liam steps up behind him and presses the gun to his head.

“Stand up,” Liam growls.

Sean slowly does as Liam instructs. His penis is now limp.

Liam’s eyes flick down to Sean’s penis and he smirks. “Looks like you can’t get it up. I have a wonderful idea.” He shoots Sean directly in the penis, making his blood splatter around the cage. The scream that leaves Sean’s mouth sends goosebumps over my skin.

Sean slumps to the ground as he holds his bleeding penis.

Liam turns to me and offers his hand. I don’t hesitate to take it.

“You saved me again,” I say in awe.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he says gently.

“Like what?”

“Like you could fall in love with me. I’m not a good man, Irina.”

“But you keep saving me.”

“Because you don’t deserve any of this happening to you. But that doesn’t mean I’m worthy of you looking at me like that. Now, let’s go. Elaine fucking escaped again.”

“I saw her go into the woods.”

He nods. “Ok. Wait in the car. I’m going to see if I can hunt her down.”

“What if there are other men?”

“If there were, they would have come running by now. Wait in the car. I’ll be right back. After I kill Elaine.”

He presses the key into my hand and lingers for a moment before letting me go. I give Sean one last look. He’s still screaming and bleeding. Good. He deserves it after how he treated me.

I shiver at the thought. I’ve never been one to have dark thoughts like this.

I rush to the car and watch as Liam heads into the woods.

My heart is pounding and my legs are twitching as I wait for him to come back. I know Elaine had a gun herself. What if she manages to shoot Liam?

A car pulls up behind me.

I gasp, only to see that it’s Mikhail and Nico who get out of the car. What are they doing here?

It doesn’t matter. It only matters if I’m safe.

I get out of the car and they instantly raise their guns only to see that it’s me. They both lower their guns and rush to my side.

“Irina?” Nico asks. I sob as I grab his shirt and burrow myself against him.

“Take me home,” I cry.

Nico awkwardly pats me on the back. “Of course.”

“Where’s Liam?” Mikhail asks.

“Why?”

“So I can kill him,” he says point blank.

I back away from Nico and stare at Mikhail in horror. “No. He saved my life. You can’t kill him, I promised him I would convince you to not kill him.”

“I’m sorry, Irina, but I don’t care about any promises you made. Liam is responsible for all of this. He needs to die. Where is he?”

“He’s not here,” I lie.

“Then how are you in his car?” Nico asks. “And why are there two dead bodies and a man screaming his head off inside a kennel?”

The kennel. The dogs.

I run back to the kennels while Nico and Mikhail follow me. “Let them out,” I say, pointing at the dogs. “Shoot the lock. They’re coming with me.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Mikhail growls. “Where is Liam?”

“I-I’ll tell you if you let these dogs out. Please.”

With a sigh, Mikhail shoots the lock and it falls to the ground. The poor dogs whine and back away from the door as I open it.

“It’s ok,” I tell them, holding out my hand. “It’s ok.”

Slowly, they both come to me and I grab their collars and lead them to Mikhail and Nico’s car. “Get inside.” I help them into the backseat.

“That’s fine Italian leather,” Nico grumbles.

“I need to save them. Please.”

“Fine,” Mikhail says. “We gave you the dogs. Now where is Liam?”

“Just take me home. Please. I’m scared and tired. I’ve been almost raped three times in the past day and a half. Just take me home. Please.”

Mikhail and Nico exchange a worried look before they both nod.

“Ok,” Mikhail says. “Get inside. We’ll take you home.”

I slump in relief. After the past few days I had, I never thought I would be safe again. Though, Liam was the only one to provide me a sense of security.

And now I’ll probably never see him again. That thought hurts my heart for some reason, but I need to return to my sisters and mom. I need to feel safe and being on the run with Liam is not safe, even if my heart doesn’t want to say goodbye to him.

It’s obvious that Mikhail and Nico want to see if they can find Liam but they decide to get in the car and drive away from the house instead.

Both dogs are nervous and shaking. My heart breaks for them.

It’s then that I spy Liam coming back out of the woods. Our eyes lock onto each other. I motion for him to hide and he disappears back into the woods before Mikhail or Nico can see him.

They’re taking me back home where I belong but it feels like my heart is somewhere else.

With Liam.

Liam

I can’t find Elaine anywhere in the fucking woods. She’s either good at hiding or a lot faster than I gave her credit for.

I need to get Irina out of here so after looking for a while, I decide to head back. Elaine is going to continue to cause problems for me until she’s dead. I just need to get Irina to safety and regroup my most loyal followers and take Elaine down.

But when I come back out of the woods, I see that another car is in the driveway. Mikhail and Nico’s car. Irina is in the backseat.

Our eyes catch and she motions at me to back away. She’s trying to save my life. If Mikhail and Nico see me, they’re going to kill me the second they get.

Yet, everything inside of me is itching to get Irina back, even if I do know she’s being taken to safety. I should just let her go.

But I know right in this moment, I’m not sure I can.