Page 59 of Sin of Silence

There was no point in alienating the people living under the Koba umbrella. She needed them if she was ever going to get back to her real life. They’d made sure escape was impossible and most likely dangerous. Shaun’s best play was to appeal to their human side. The family’s interactions with each other proved that they had finer emotions, even if they were cold and calculating toward the outside world. If they were prepared to embrace Shaun as part of their family, maybe she could eventually appeal to them to send her home.

It was long shot, but it was all she had at this point.

Dasha seemed to accept Shaun’s response, her face creasing into genuine happiness. “I just know you’re going to make an excellent part of the family.” She gave Shaun a quick hug. “Now, back to the drapery.”

Shaun would rather give stitches to an injured grizzly bear than try to choose drapery with Dasha. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve had a long day. I’d like to go back to Jozef’s… to our suite.”

“Of course.” Dasha’s face took on a look of concern that Shaun was becoming quickly acquainted with. The woman was a master of her emotions, arranging them for whatever was most appropriate in the moment. “I’ll have a tea setting sent up for you. You just need a little snack and some caffeine, and you’ll feel fine.”

Shaun smiled wanly, backing toward the dining room entrance. “Thank you, you’re probably right.”

Shaun turned and left, relieved to be out of Dasha’s energetic presence. Shaun couldn’t pin down the other woman’s motives. Sometimes she seemed sweet and understanding and other times she was the hardened matriarch of a mafia dynasty. Was she both? Neither? The entire family made Shaun feel like she was standing on quicksand, shifting around and trying to find where she belonged.

She stopped walking when she realized she had no idea where she was going. She didn’t want to see Jozef, which meant their suite was out of the question. She smiled in amusement when she realized Jozef was about to get an unexpected tea setting. She thought about the garden, but there was little to do out there other than contemplate her strange new Alice in Wonderland life. Besides, she didn’t want to run into Krystoff.

She was standing in the hallway undecided, when the decision was taken from her hands. Saskia came rushing down the hall toward her, her pace so fast that Shaun took a step back, thinking the younger woman was about to walk right into her. Instead, Saskia took her arm and tugged.

“Come with me, I have something for you.” Her words were rushed, her face was flushed, and she was glancing around as though someone was after her.

Shaun was intrigued. “What do you have for me?”

“Come on, we can’t talk here.”

She dropped Shaun’s arm, spun around and walked rapidly in the direction she came from.

“Uh, sure…” Shaun followed after her, both confused and amused.

Saskia climbed the wide staircase, her high-top running shoes noiseless against the hardwood flooring. Shaun was wearing heels again, since it was expected that she dress appropriately for a meeting with Dasha. She struggled to keep up and almost lost sight of Saskia when they reached the top of the staircase. She looked both ways down wide opulent hallways, completely lost. She rarely came up to the second floor, as Jozef’s suite was on the main floor at the back of the house. She knew Dasha and Krystoff’s rooms were on the second floor, and Leeza’s family occupied a cottage on the estate grounds.

Shaun guessed that Saskia was leading her to her own suite.

She stopped abruptly at the top of the stairs, looking around and trying to figure out which way to go. Saskia’s head popped out from one of the doorways. “Come on!”

Shaun entered the suite and stared in bemusement. Considering Saskia tried to pass herself off as some kind of badass, Shaun was not expecting a suite that looked like the girly girl’s pink monster vomited all over it. Wherever she turned there were frills, pillows, stuffed animals, dolls and gold, white and pink striped wallpaper. The whole effect was chaotic, disorienting and over the top.

It felt human.

“This is your room?” Shaun asked as she stared around.

“Uh huh,” Saskia said, grabbing a stuffed unicorn and dropping onto a pink couch covered in so many frilly, flowery pillows that Shaun wasn’t sure where she should sit. “I know it looks like a little girl’s candy shop, but I like it. I feel comfortable in here.”

Shaun couldn’t image why. The creepy porcelain dolls were arranged in lifelike poses behind the glass walls of their cage, their soulless eyes following her every move. But what she thought didn’t matter; this was Saskia’s sanctuary, and after experiencing the chaos of the Koba family, Shaun didn’t blame her for creating her own version of paradise.

Shaun tried not to look at the dolls as she lifted a few pillows off the couch and carefully set them down next to the coffee table. She sat gingerly, lifting one of the oversize teddy bears and setting it on her lap. She tugged its ear, enjoying the super soft faux fur against her skin.

“What did you want to show me?” Shaun asked.

“You have to promise not to tell anyone.” Saskia’s words came out in a rush and she glanced guiltily at the door. “This house has ears and it’s impossible to keep anything a secret. My parents can’t know. Jozef definitely can’t know.”

Shaun frowned, her concern growing. “Maybe you shouldn’t show me then. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

She looked at Shaun, her eyes wide with excitement. “It’s not me I’m worried about. Well, not as much.”

“You’re worried about me?”

“Yes, no, sort of. This surprise is definitely not allowed, but you deserve it and I don’t want to see you suffer anymore.”

Shaun blinked, trying desperately to decipher Saskia’s words. Oddly, she was comforted by Saskia’s declaration that she didn’t want Shaun to suffer. In a family whose staunch loyalty to each other made Shaun feel like an outsider, Saskia was the one she felt most comfortable with. Perhaps it was the other woman’s blunt honesty, her youth, or her ridiculously over-the-top suite, but Shaun didn’t think she would lie. She was not nearly as carefully calculated as the other members of the family.

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