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Damn it, Finn… Way to throw me under the bus.
“I don’t need your bullshit right now,” Natalia says, and I raise my eyebrows. “There is someone trying their best to destroy me, and I can’t be worrying about you going off and getting shot.”
“Mo ghrá…” I reach out for her so I can pull her to me, but she pulls away and shakes her head.
“I have a prisoner to torture,” she turns on her heel and storms back out the door.
“Can you work a little faster?” I snap at Eric who rolls his eyes at me.
“I’m going as fast as I can, Declan. Maybe you could try not getting shot next time?” He retorts back and I smirk. Any other person would be afraid to speak to me like that, but Erick has been around since I was in diapers.
He finally finishes the stitching and slides away on his rolling chair. “So, I’m good?” I ask, moving to get down off the table.
“Take these,” he throws me a bottle of pills, “and keep as much weight off it as possible. It will heal faster, and you won’t pop any stitches.” He stands and leaves the room for a moment. When he comes back, he’s carrying a cane.
“No,” I say flatly. “I’m not using a cane like a ninety-year-old.”
“Well, you should have thought about that before you went and got shot.” He thrusts the cane into my hands, and I groan.
There’s no way around it, so I take the cane and slide off the table. I grit my teeth and ignore the pain that courses through my leg as it hits the ground.
“Take the pills, Declan,” Eric calls after me as I leave the room.
Making my way to my bedroom, I grab a new pair of pants out of the closet. Getting my current pair off is easy. I just unbutton them and slide them off into the floor before stepping out of them. Putting the new pair on, however, is proving to be a challenge. After almost falling on my face twice, I sit down on the side of the bed and slide my feet into the legs and then shimmy them up the rest of the way. Who knew putting pants on could be such a workout?
Once I’m dressed, I grab my cane again and hobble down to the basement where Natalia and Finn are. At the bottom of the stairs, I am met with Jared’s screams. With a smirk, I continue my way down the hall, following the sound.
Opening the door, I slip inside the room quietly, not wanting to draw attention to myself just yet. The sight before me causes me to pause. Natalia has Jared chained up by his wrists in the center of the room. His wound has been cauterized and he’s littered with welts and cuts. Jared is slipping in and out of consciousness, but Natalia just keeps lighting into him. Any time she stabs him, she quickly cauterizes it.
“I-I don’t know who Siorc is,” Jared moans, hanging his head forward. At this point, Natalia has been torturing him for a few hours and he was already weak from the blood loss he suffered from the previous gunshot. “Maybe you should ask your husband,” his body slumps against the chains, almost like he has given up.
Maybe you should ask your husband. His words replay in my head, and I look at Natalia, keeping the panic I’m currently feeling inside, pushed down. Her eyes are narrowed and locked on mine. I can practically feel the rage burning inside her.
I thought I had more time. This is not how I wanted her to find out.
Chapter thirty-four
Natalia
My ears must be deceiving me, because there’s no way Jared just told me to ask my husband who Siorc is. He couldn’t know. He wouldn’t do that to me. Jared is just saying things to distract me from the real task at hand.
But, when I turn around to face Declan, it’s written all over his face.
“You knew?” The emotion is heavy in my voice, and I try to push it down. “You knew who Siorc was, and you didn’t tell me?” Before I even have time to think, my feet are moving to the table where my weapons are, and I pick up my gun. Jared moans from behind me and I glance back, before putting a bullet in his brain. Turning back to Declan I look at him expectantly, the feeling of betrayal creeping through my veins.
Declan’s face turns remorseful, and he holds up his hands, “Natalia. Put the gun down. Let me explain,” he pleads. His confession sends a wave of nausea through me and almost brings me to my knees.
Shaking my head, I step closer to him. “Who is he?” I grind out, aiming my gun at him. My heart is pounding in my chest, and I can feel pieces of it breaking with each beat. This man that I agreed to spend the rest of my life with, the man I love, has been lying to me probably since the day my brother was murdered.
“Nat.” Declan takes half a step toward me, his step faltering a little as he puts weight on his bad leg.
“I will ask one more time before I shoot your other leg.” My voice is dead. All the sadness and rage have been replaced by nothingness, numbness. It’s as if something snapped inside of me and all of my emotions disappeared. “Who is Siorc, Declan?” My hands steady as my finger moves to the trigger and I stare at him.
“It’s-” He begins to speak but is interrupted by Finn coming back in the door.
Seeing the gun in my hand, Finn’s eyes go wide and he puts his hand on his gun. Declan whips his head to the side and glares at him. “If you move that weapon aninch, I will kill you.” The surprise that crosses Finn’s face doesn’t go unnoticed.
“I’ll just give you two a minute,” he mumbles and slips back out the door. Declan has never spoken to Finn that way.
