Page 23 of Darkest Game (The Dark Mafia #3)

But I shoot Elaine in the shoulder, making her drop the knife. With a savage scream, Elaine takes off running further into the house towards the back door.

Irina drops to the ground.

I hesitate. I need to kill Elaine but I want to make sure Irina is all right. Never have I worried about a woman like this before.

“Go,” Irina gasps out, holding onto her throat.

“Did she cut you?” It’s then I notice blood seeping between Irina’s fingers.

I kneel down beside her and move her hand away. Her neck is bleeding. Not bad enough that she’s at risk of dying but enough that it will be a problem if she doesn’t get to the hospital right away.

“Here.” I rip off a piece of my shirt and press it to her throat. “Hold it there.”

“Go after her,” she rasps out.

“…no,” I finally say. “Not when you need me. You were willing to sacrifice your life to save my mom. I’m not going to leave you now.” I quickly untie my mom from the chair, removing the rag in her mouth. “Are you hurt?”

She shakes her head. “No. I’m fine. We need to get her to the hospital.”

I scoop Irina up in my arms and run to my car, my mom following. “Stay in the backseat with her,” I tell my mom. “Make sure she’s fine.”

I drive as fast as I can to the hospital.

My mom murmurs encouraging words to Irina.

Guilt hits me in the stomach. I threw Irina at Elaine in the hopes of distracting her.

I never thought Irina would actually get hurt.

Fuck. This is all my fault. It would just be easier if I didn’t care about her at all.

The hospital comes into view and I slam on my breaks once I reach the ER entrance. “Come here.” I pull Irina into my arms and carry her inside. “I need help!”

A nurse comes running right over to us with a gurney. “Set her on. What happened?”

I place Irina onto the gurney but she grabs my hand, not wanting me to go. “I’m right here,” I tell her. “She got her throat cut. Someone hurt her.”

“Ok. We’ll take care of her.” The nurse brings Irina into a room covered in clear glass, letting me see inside. A team of nurses and doctors surround Irina. I try to enter the room but another nurse stops me.

“It’s for the best,” she says. “Stay out here. We’ll come get you. Someone will come by to talk to you.”

I ignore the nurse and head for the room until my mom grabs my shoulder and stops me.

“Let them help her. Stay back.”

With a sigh, I slump into a nearby chair and drop my head into my hands. “This is all my fucking fault.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Mom, you don’t even know what’s been going on.”

“So tell me. You said… you said you were married?”

“Yeah. She’s my wife. Jack Finnigan forced us to marry. That was Jack’s wife, Elaine. She went after you to get to me and Irina. She hates us.”

“For what?”

I lower my voice. “For killing Jack.”

Her eyes practically bug out of her head. “Why would you do that?”

“Because he was going to hurt her, Mom. He was going to rape her. I… I had to stop it.”

“So, you saved her.” Her eyes soften. “You’re a hero then.”

I scoff. “I’m no fucking hero, trust me. I just knew I had to save her. But now Mikhail Novikoff and Nico Bernardi are coming after me. They’re married to Irina’s sisters. They think I hurt Irina. I did… I did initially take her because Jack asked me to.”

“Oh, Liam. What have you gotten yourself into?”

“I never tell you these things because I know you worry. I always wanted to keep you out of it. I never expected Elaine to go after you. I’m sorry for that.”

“I’m just glad that you’re ok. So… you and Irina? How long have you been… married?”

“Just a few days. She went back home with to be with her family. I can’t keep her with me.”

“Why not?”

“Because her family wants me dead. And neither of us wanted to be married.”

“But you’re fighting for her. I’ve never seen you more scared than when you picked her up in your arms. When you saw that she was hurt. You might not have wanted this marriage, Liam, but it’s clear to me that you care for the girl. For your… wife. God, I’m still not used to saying that.”

“I know. I’m sorry for keeping this from you. I was hoping to fix it all but everything keeps getting worse. And now Irina is hurt… Fuck.” I slam my hands against the chair. It makes a few people nearby look at me with concern. Mom gives them a smile and a hand wave that says ‘don’t worry.’

“Liam.” She wraps her arm around me like she did when I was a kid. “Liam. It will be ok.”

“I did this to her. She wanted to protect you, Ma. She had never even met you and she wanted to protect you. She wanted to sacrifice herself to save you. I mean, who does that? I never would have even thought to do something like that before I met her. I was always… selfish. Even keeping things from you were selfish. I told myself I was doing it to spare you. To not make you worry. But I also did it because I never wanted you to judge me. I never wanted to make you ashamed of me. I’m a fucking selfish man and I’m somehow married to a woman who’s the most selfless being I’ve ever met. ”

“Oh, Liam.”

“She was kept in a kennel, Ma.”

Her eyes tighten. “What?”

“When I first brought her to Jack. He made her stay in a kennel. A dog kennel. He had these two dogs in another kennel. They were being treated horribly. But Irina wanted to protect them. She even tried to barter with me for them, saying that she would go along with marrying me if it meant saving the dogs. How many people have you met who would give themselves over to be hurt just to spare the lives of two dogs?”

“Not many people.” She smiles, tears in her eyes. “You really care for her. You might have only known her for a short time but you care for her. Deeply. I can see it on your face and hear it in your voice.”

“I can’t care for her. She needs to go back to her family.”

“What do you want?”

“I don’t want to be killed by her family for keeping her.”

She clucks her tongue. “No. I mean, what do you want for you and Irina?”

“Ma…”

“Come on. Tell me.”

I sigh. “I want… I want to keep her. I want to save her. Protect her. I want her to be mine but she can’t be.”

“Why not? Other than her family hates you?”

“Isn’t that a big enough reason to not be with someone?”

“Sure. It is. But if you want her to be yours, Liam, then you fight for her. Does she know how you feel?”

I snort. “Fuck no. I don’t talk about these things with people. You’re my mom. You’re the only one good enough in getting these things out of me.”

“She’ll make it through this. And then tell her how you feel. Tell her you want her to stay with you. Can you talk to her family? Make them see how much you care for her? How much you want to protect her?”

“I mean… I can try. But there’s a good chance they’ll just shoot me in the fucking face before I can get a word out.”

“I don’t like that language.”

“Well tough shit. This is how I speak.”

She cups my face. “You’re no longer my sweet boy I remember.

You’ve grown into a man who… who has a lot of darkness in him.

But I can tell you still have sweetness in you.

I know it’s in there. Make sure Irina knows this.

And convince her family that you’re not a danger to her.

” She pauses. “Who is her family exactly?”

“She’s connected to the Russian and Italian mafia. So, big time people. Big time people with a lot of fucking power.”

“I don’t want you to die. So if you think it’s worth it to let her go, then I understand. Only fight for her if you think she’s worth it. I don’t want to lose you. But if I am going to lose you, then I would want you to die for love. No other reason.”

I stare at her in shock. “How can you speak so calmly about all of this?”

“Because I know what you’ve done over the years.

The people you work with. I never wanted to be a part of it.

Hated that life for you. But I’ve accepted it.

Doesn’t mean I like it. But I have gotten used to the idea of you in that world.

And… every night before I go to sleep, I prepare myself for the reality that you might not be alive when I wake up.

That every moment of the day, I might get a call, telling me you’re dead.

So I’ve come to terms with the notion of you dying.

So only die for love, Liam. Die fighting for what you believe in.

And if she’s not worth it to you, then let her go. And live.”

There’s so much I want to say to her. How I’m sorry for making her so worried. How I’m the worst son in the world. How I wish I could be a son she was proud of.

But before I can get a word out, a doctor approaches. She’s a woman in her late thirties or early forties. Tired lines are on her face.

“You’re the ones who brought Irina in?”

“I’m her husband,” I say, shocking myself how natural it is to say that word, standing up to face the doctor.

“Good news. Irina can still speak. We had to stitch up the bleeding but she didn’t lose much blood.

You got her here in time. But her vocal chords will be rusty for a while and she needs to take it easy to rest and heal.

But she got real lucky. The cut wasn’t too deep.

We called the police about the incident since you told one of our nurses that someone had cut her. ”

“Uh… yes.” Shit. The police. It’s never a good thing to involve them in mafia business.

“You can go into the room to talk to her. We’ll be moving her to another room for the night for observation later.”

“Thank you.” I turn to my mom.

“Go,” she says. “I’ll wait out here.”

I hurry into the room and stumble to a halt. Seeing Irina on the gurney, her throat stitched up, and an IV in her arm, makes her seem even more vulnerable. God, I want to protect this girl so fucking much.

Slowly, I approach her side. A nurse moves out of my way so I can grab Irina’s hand.

“Hey,” I say.

“Hey,” she rasps out.

“Rest your voice,” the nurse tells her. “No talking for a little while.”

Irina nods and turns her eyes onto me. They’re filled with hope and sadness and anger. Tears spring to her eyes and spill down her face.

“I’ve got you,” I tell her, squeezing her hand. “I’m here.” I have no idea if my words are any comfort to her but I have to believe they are. I want them to be.

The door to the room is banged open, making me look up.

“You can’t be in here,” a nurse speaks to the two men who have just entered the room.

Mikhail and Nico. And they look fucking pissed.