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68
IRINA
Aoife clutched my hand in hers, holding on to me tightly as we left everything behind. Ivory led the way with Don at her side, the dim, flickering lighting of old electricity the only thing we had to light our path.
I wanted to turn back, needed to go back, for Scar. If he was going to die, if I was going to die, then I wanted to be at his side.
Fuck.
“I have to go back,” I said, watching as the thought settled over Aoife. As much as she wanted to claim that she hated Yavin, something I’d seen in her gaze as he sent her off to save her life hinted at more. She’d never been put first, and the fact that Yavin would sacrifice everythingfor her prioritized things quickly.
“We can’t,” she whispered, watching as Don glanced over his shoulder at us. The man was on high alert, waiting for the moment when I would do something he disapproved of. He’d witnessed far too much of my suicidal ideation in those first weeks I’d spent at the Bellandi Estate.
What was walking into a shoot-out compared to leaping face-first off a railing?
Terrifying. That’s what it fucking was.
“I don’t want to say it,” she started, screwing her eyes shut as moisture gathered in her eyes. “But they’re probably already dead, Irina.”
“I refuse to believe that,” I snapped, tugging my hand away from hers. My breath caught in my throat when Don pinned me with his stare, the aging man and I both knowing he wasn’t capable of stopping me if I disobeyed the men’s orders.
Not without hurting me.
I turned, taking the first few steps back toward the estate we’d left behind us as we navigated the tunnel that wound beneath the suburbs of Chicago.
Boom.
Debris fell from the ceiling as the tunnel trembled, the walls seeming to lament with the pain from the earth itself.
“What was that?” Aoife whispered, her voice tinged with the same panic coursing through me.
I looked over my shoulder at her, the two of us moving in sync to hurry back toward the house. Consequences be damned. If Scar was alive to be furious with me, I’d take my punishment with a smile on my face.
The second explosion rocked the very bedrock. My legs trembled beneath me as I dropped to the ground, everything in my body shaking as the world seemed to fall around us. It echoed through the ground, the vibration sinking into my bones.
Oh God.
“You can’t go up there,” Ivory said, taking a few steps back to hold out her spare arm for me to take. She pulled me from the ground. “Think about what Scar would want.”
“What does it matter, if he’s gone?” I whispered, her gaze snagging mine. Ivory dropped her eyes, her own fear for her husband she hadn’t seen since he left the estate lurking in her gaze.
“Don!”Aoife screamed at my side. Ivory and I both spun, watching as a man emerged from the shadows further down the tunnel.
Everything in me pulled taut. Recognition flared inside me, threatening to reduce me to a shriveling mess of fear.
Time slowed.
His features became clear as he emerged more fully, raising the gun at his side and crashing it down against Don’s head before he had time to spin to face the new threat.
Don crumpled, falling to the ground in a heap. Ivory backed away slowly, Luna clutched in her arms as Aoife and I exchanged a glance.
I swallowed, nodding my head when Darragh snatched Don’s gun off the round and took his first steps toward where Ivory and Luna stood. The menace on his face, the cruelty stamped into the lines of his features, left little doubt as to what he planned for the two of them.
The wife and daughter of Matteo Bellandi were worth more than I could even possibly imagine on the black market if he chose to sell them, but breaking Matteo might be worth even more.
Sucking back a ragged sob, I watched as Aoife darted forward first. She put herself between Darragh and Ivory, acting as a human barrier that wouldn’t last long while I stood frozen to the spot.
My legs wouldn’t move, the memories of my agony crashing over me, leaving me paralyzed.
“Murphy will be very happy to see you, sweetheart,” he murmured, tilting his head to the side. “I was expecting Matteo’s prize bitch and my sweet pet. You, on the other hand? That’s a bonus. I’ve seen what he has planned to punish you for your betrayal. I’ll enjoy watching.”
“Fuck you,” Aoife snarled, spitting at his feet.
Darragh’s face twisted, the back of his hand lashing out to crack against Aoife’s cheek so hard she spun, then I heard her head thunk on the ground when she fell. Clutching her cheek, she struggled to get to her feet despite the pain.
Darragh reached for Luna, his fingers closing around open air as Ivory slipped out of harm’s way. Luna screamed, snapping me free from the terror that had gripped me.
I would die before I allowed that man to touch that girl.
I moved, darting across the space between us as adrenaline fueled me. I ducked low when Darragh turned to reach for me, closing my hand into a perfect fist that I slammed into his balls with all the force propelling me.
He bent over, a wheezing breath rattling in his chest as I shoved myself to my feet. Ivory hurried away, running to Don’s side and trying to wake the older man who didn’t move.
I grabbed the back of Darragh’s head with both hands, sinking my fingers into the inky, scraggly hair there and using it to grip him. He struggled, wrapping his bruising fingers around my wrists, but I slammed him face first down onto my knee before twisting my arms and pulling away.
The skin on my arms bloomed with pain, the bruising forming almost instantly as I spun away and helped Aoife to her feet. Scar’s repeated lessons, where he’d worked me to exhaustion learning to defend myself, taught me to survive long enough for him to find me.
I just had to pray that he was up there, making his way through the rubble to do what he’d always said he would.
To come lay Darragh’s head at my fucking feet.
But if he wasn’t, then I’d do it my goddamn self. I’d make him proud of me before I joined him on the other side.
Blood gushed out of Darragh’s nose as he straightened to full height, brushing it away with the back of his hand. The crooked set to it brought a grim smile to my face.
“I see I have to break you again,” he said, tilting his head to the side as he took a step toward me. I sidestepped, keeping myself between him and Ivory. Protecting Luna, our future, at all costs.
Aoife bent down, lifting a rock from the ground as Darragh tucked the gun into his waistband. We all knew he couldn’t use it, not if he wanted to walk out of here with the four of us alive.
“Come to your owner, Pet,” he snarled, snapping his fingers at me like I would obey the command.
“Go back to your cage, Dog,” I taunted, picturing the new one Scar would put him in given the chance.
Aoife slid the rock into my palm, swaying on her feet as her eyes rolled back. The blow to her cheek had already bruised, swelling within just a few moments. She staggered, pressing her hand to the wall to try to support herself. Although she would help where she could, the obvious dizziness made her far more likely to get hurt.
I clutched the rock in my grasp, the stone heavy in my palm as Darragh’s eyes dropped to it. “Do you remember the fire poker?” he asked, as if this was a moment to reminisce on.
“I should have shoved it up your ass,” I snapped, holding my ground when he took a single, menacing step toward me.
