Page 76 of Sin of Silence

Without looking up, Jozef signed,thank you.

Havel squeezed his shoulder and nodded.

The two men tried to stay out of the way as much as they could but Jozef refused to stop touching Shaun. He held her limp, clammy hand during the entire harrowing trip to the hospital. The paramedic ignored them, focusing entirely on Shaun while the other drove. Jozef’s heart pounded in fear as the man’s hands flew over Shaun.

When they arrived, Havel jumped out of the ambulance and reached for the stretcher. The paramedics looked concerned and tried to argue about protocol, but it was hard to argue with a man of Havel’s size and unmistakable air of deadliness. As Shaun was rushed through the bright front doors of the hospital, more personnel tried to stop the two gangsters from following Shaun’s stretcher down the hall. Jozef was about two seconds from shooting the next person who tried to limit his access to his fiancé, but Havel hung back, smoothing over the ruffled feathers they left in their wake.

Jozef could do nothing but watch helplessly as Shaun was transferred onto another bed and surrounded by doctors and nurses. The screaming in his head got so loud he barely noticed when a young nurse put her hand on his arm.

“Are you a member of her family?”

Jozef looked down sharply, about to shove her away, then looked at her face. The seriousness, the compassion, the kindness reflected there reminded him so much of Shaun he didn’t have the heart to reject the woman. He nodded, his gaze fixating on the bed once more.

“Can you tell us what happened?” she asked kindly.

Jozef shook his head and, without taking his eyes off Shaun, signed that he was nonverbal. The likelihood of this nurse understanding the language was slim, but she would recognize the form of communication and hopefully realize that they wouldn’t be having any in depth conversations without an interpreter.

“Oh, you’re nonverbal?” she asked.

He jerked his head in a nod but was saved from having to make further efforts at communication when Havel finally made his way into the room. Clearly, he’d run into his share of obstructions, because the first thing out of his mouth when he arrived was, “I’m family.” When the nurse looked skeptical, he added, “Her brother.”

If Jozef hadn’t been so terrified for Shaun, he might have laughed. Havel was a big, ugly, broad, bald-headed Caucasian gangster while Shaun was a beautiful, delicate-featured black woman. They were so far from siblings even adoption was a leap.

“Uhh… and he is?” She gestured to Jozef.

“Her husband,” Havel grunted, standing next to Jozef with his bulging arms crossed over his chest.

“Can you tell me what happened? The more information we have, the better able we’ll be to treat her.”

“Poison,” Havel said steadily, his disturbed gaze sweeping Shaun’s bed.

The nurse looked alarmed, her gaze swinging to Jozef for confirmation.

Jozef nodded his agreement and reached into his pocket for the napkin.She was fine one minute, then after drinking some of her champagne she collapsed.

Havel interpreted what Jozef was saying to the nurse. “He says she was fine and then she had a drink and collapsed. When I arrived, she was already down, spitting up and convulsing.” He nodded his head to the napkin Jozef was holding. “He wiped up the leftover champagne with the napkin and brought it in case you need to identify the poison.”

The nurse rushed to the attending physician, speaking to him in rapid sentences. He nodded and replied, which sent her rushing back to their side. She pulled gloves from her pocket, put them on and reached for the napkin. “I’ll get this to the lab right away.”

As she left, Havel turned to Jozef, his back to the room so no one could see his lips as he spoke. “Who would poison her? There were dozens of people there, but they don’t know her well enough to want her dead.” He thought about it for a few seconds, then asked, “Giselle?”

Jozef shook his head. Eyes still on the glimpses he could get of Shaun as the hospital staff moved around her bed.Not her style.

“Then who?”

Jozef finally shifted his gaze to his second-in-command, but he didn’t speak.

Havel nodded his understanding. The only people who might gain from Shaun’s death all lived under the Koba roof. There was an enemy in their home. Havel placed his hand on Jozef’s shoulder and squeezed. “I’ll go hunting. You worry about your girl.”

Jozef hoped Havel could read the gratitude on his face. He didn’t doubt Havel for a second, and hearing the other man pledge his loyalty once more was exactly what he needed. He was too terrified for Shaun to think straight. He needed his men now more than ever. Needed them to have his back while he took care of his woman.

It was a strange sensation. For the first time in his life he was putting someone else first, someone other than his aunt, uncle and cousins. His entire life had been devoted to the Koba clan, yet in the course of a few short weeks, Shaun had come to mean everything to him. If his family had tried to have Shaun killed, he would destroy them.

A terrible beeping sound filled the room as Shaun stopped breathing and her heart rate began to plummet. Jozef and Havel were forcibly shoved from the room as Shaun was being intubated. The last glimpse Jozef was able to get was of her face, ashen and angelic in repose before the doors were slammed shut.

Chapter Forty-Four

Jozef did not get to see Shaun again before he was arrested for murder and kidnapping. True to Dasha’s words, the police arrived shortly after a relieved doctor came into the waiting room to reassure Jozef and Havel that Shaun had pulled through and was currently in a medically induced coma while they assessed her condition and researched the poison.

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