Page 80 of Darkest Game
My vocal chords are still sore but it’s already getting easier to talk. But that doesn’t mean I say a word to my mom on the drivehome. She made Liam leave when I know he didn’t do anything wrong. Mikhail and Nico agreed to help him take down Elaine for all of our sake’s.
I cannot believe that the explosion was Liam’s fault. I refuse to believe it.
“There,” Mom says when we’re back at Mikhail’s house and I’m in the bed in the guest room. She fluffs the pillows behind me. “Just rest more today, ok?”
“I can walk fine, Mom,” I say, not having to push my words out as much.
“I know. I just want you to be safe. You went through a trying ordeal. Not just yesterday but for days now. I don’t even fully know everything you’ve been through.”
“And if you did, you wouldn’t have judged Liam like you did.”
She flinches. “What does that mean?”
“He’s my husband. He had the right to stay.”
“I know you think you care for him. But he put you into this position in the first place. You cannot trust him. It doesn’t matter if he’s working with Mikhail and Nico now. He’s just trying to save his own skin. He’ll hurt you. You’ve already been hurt because of him.”
“I’ve also been spared pain because of him. He has good in him, Mom.”
She pushes a piece of my hair behind my ear. I resist the urge to pull away. “I know you think that because you see the good in everyone but I don’t trust him.”
“You don’t trust anyone. I know you don’t fully trust Nico and Mikhail but they’ve proven themselves capable of caring for Sasha and Natalya. Why can’t you think the same of Liam?”
“Because you’ve only known him for a little over a week. Whereas Natalya has been married to Mikhail for two years now. Sasha and Nico have been married for a year. They’ve shown me that they can protect my daughters. Liam hasn’t.”
“But if you never give him the chance, then he can never show it to you.”
“Enough talking. Rest your voice.” She leaves the room before I can say more. My mom always did have a good job of ending a discussion when she wanted to, not caring if you had more to say yourself.
I can’t just sit here and wait. Liam is out there and he’s the one I want to spend time with. I love my family more than anything. But they’re not the ones that make my heart race. They’re not the ones who make my face flush. They’re not the ones I could potentially have a future with.
They’re the ones that are going to hold me back, even though they have good intentions.
I want to see Liam again. I know I can trust him. He’s more than proven that to me.
So, I change into a pair of jeans and a simple crop top and grab my sneakers and quietly leave my room. I need to be wearing something comfortable in case I need to run for my life.
I know this is risky and dangerous but my mind and my heart will not let me forget about Liam. Not when I know he wasn’t to blame for Mikhail getting hurt.
The issue is Mikhail’s house is surrounded with guards out front. I can hear my mom and Ana in the kitchen, talking away. I know it means a lot to them to just be able to talk since Denis didn’t let them talk much during the years he held us captive.
But I’ve never been a huge talker.
I know where Liam’s safehouse is. Hopefully he’ll be there and we can… can what? Talk some more? Or do… more?
My body gets excited at the thought. When Liam kissed me before, it lit my entire world on fire. I need more. I need to feel like a woman. I need to become my own person away from my family.
I decide to go out a side window near the back of the house. There’s no guard on this side. Even though it was only my throat that got hurt, the rest of my body is still fairly weak from everything I’ve been through in the past week. My strong ballerina body is gone from my years in captivity. I’m tired of people breaking me down.
I want to be strong again. I want to have my own voice. I want to be powerful.
And I believe with Liam, I can be.
I run over to the fence and jump to reach the top. My body still remembers jumping as high as I could when I would practice dance forever. It’s muscle memory.
I manage to get myself over the wooden fence and onto the other side without any of the guards seeing me. I run down the street until Mikhail’s house disappears from view.
It takes around twenty minutes of walking before I find a cab I can flag down. I give him the address to Liam’s safehouse.
