Page 57 of Sin of Silence

“He was just out here skipping around the stone path. He’s fine,” Krystoff assured her. “He took a rougher tumble than usual, and it scared him. He’ll be back to normal once the cast is off.”

Shaun was relieved that the injury was as minor as she’d thought. She imagined there would be hell to pay if any member of the Koba family came to harm. She wondered if their fierce loyalty would one day extend to her. Maybe it already did.

Krystoff squeezed her hand again and stood. He looked down at her, his eyes squinting against the sunlight. “One day you will find your normal again. It might seem difficult now, but you are resilient.”

He reached behind the bench and, using the gardening shears he pulled from his baggy pocket, cut a red rose. He held it to his nose for a few seconds, enjoying the simple pleasure of a fragrant flower. Then he handed it to Shaun and walked away.

Chapter Thirty-Three

The moment Shaun walked out of their suite, Jozef sent his fist flying into the nearest wall. Luckily it wasn’t one of the stone walls. A thought that didn’t occur to him as his hand sank through the plaster, sending dust flying in the air. He growled and yanked his fist out.

He’d never been so emotional that he couldn’t hang on to his temper. His uncle had raised him to make calm, cool and logical decisions so he could always do what was best for the family. Emotion was a liability and therefore stamped out of him at a young age.

So why couldn’t he control himself around one particular woman? Women were for fucking, not fucking with his head. Shaun made him feel out of control. Yet he couldn’t consider a life where she was dead, especially by his own hand. He had no choice but to keep trying with her.

He was starting to realize his lack of control with her wasn’t his only dilemma. Her inability to settle down and accept her new position was problematic. Jozef had been naive in his belief that bringing her home and forcing her to accept her place at his side was going to work. He’d yet to meet a woman who wasn’t compliant with him, but then again, he’d never really thought about women at all, except in fantasy when he was jerking off.

Maybe he did have prejudices toward the weaker sex. Maybe he shouldn’t think of them as the weaker sex. Shaun sure as shit wasn’t weak. She was the strongest woman he knew. Not physically, but mentally, she won every skirmish they had, persuading Jozef to do things that were out of character for him.

Maybe Shaun was right. Maybe they shouldn’t be together. Jozef knew nothing about how to treat a woman of Shaun’s caliber. She was no whore, but her responses in bed were utterly intoxicating. Addictive. For that reason alone, he didn’t want to let her go. But aside from sex, there was so much more to her. She had dignity, a sense of responsibility, she had solid morals. She made Jozef feel deficient in every way. Yet he liked it. He liked the challenge she presented.

He frowned. Was he a closet masochist?

No, definitely not. He didn’t enjoy pain himself, just enjoyed inflicting it. He leaned more toward sadist, but he had no desire to hurt those who didn’t deserve it. Was selective sadism a thing? Yeah, he was a selective sadist. For the right kind of guy, he was willing to pull out his tools and set to work.

Jozef decided that brooding, pacing and scowling at the hole he'd put in the wall wasn’t getting him anywhere. He needed to find Shaun and try to talk through some of their issues. It seemed like the sort of mature thing Shaun would do. Jozef would try his best to play by her rules without losing his temper. He would also find a servant to patch the hole in the wall, so Shaun didn’t find out he'd already lost his temper before going to find her.

He jerked the door to his suite open and was surprised to find Havel on the other side, his fist raised to knock on the door. The expression of surprise on Havel’s face was enough to draw a slight smirk from Jozef.

Jozef raised a brow in greeting and waved his hand inside, indicating Havel should come in. Havel dropped his hand and walked past Jozef, heading straight to the mini bar. “Got some news.” He picked up a bottle of Jozef’s Scotch and raised an eyebrow.

Jozef thought about it and shook his head. It was common for the two men to meet in the afternoons to discuss business and security. They usually had a few drinks while they talked, but today Jozef couldn’t get the image of Shaun out of his head. If he was going to find her after his meeting with Havel, then he should do it with a clear head. She hadn’t liked it when he took those lines of coke; her expression clearly shocked and disapproving before she’d run off to the restroom. Jozef didn’t usually care what people thought of him and his habits, but for some reason the look on her face, the disappointment, was enough to make him rethink a few life choices that had seemed so automatic before.

Havel poured himself a generous glass of Scotch, replaced the lid on the bottle and settled his large frame on the couch. Jozef joined him, sitting in the chair next to Havel.

Jozef opened the conversation.What news?

Havel took a long swallow of his drink and licked his lips appreciatively before setting it down on the table in front of him. He leaned back in his seat and crossed an ankle over his knee. He looked relaxed, as though the jobs of security specialist for the Koba family and Jozef’s second-in-command were a breeze. Jozef knew better. He knew how seriously Havel took his position.

Havel had been a rescue from another organization that had erroneously fingered him as a traitor. They’d beaten him to within an inch of his life and left him to die. Havel was stronger than death, though, and had made it out of the situation. Once he’d healed, he’d gone to the Koba family in retaliation and handed them their competitors on a silver platter. Jozef had been fourteen at the time and Krystoff had appointed Havel as his protector and mentor.

“Vasiliy wants a meeting with Krystoff. He says he has information that will explain his motives for kidnapping your uncle.”

What do you think of this development? Jozef asked his second-in-command. Part of their job was keeping Krystoff safe at all times. While Krystoff was head of the family, he made no real decisions without Jozef’s backing, since Jozef would provide the skill and muscle.

“I think it’s bullshit,” Havel announced, taking another sip of his Scotch and leaving a wet ring on the glass table. He never used the coasters, despite Jozef having plenty to go around. “Vasiliy hasn’t shown his face. It’s as though he wants to stay hidden while his men do the work. I would almost say it was his son acting in his name, rather than the old man pulling the strings, but the lad is a complete incompetent. He couldn’t plan his way out of the bottom of a pint glass. And now Vasiliy wants a meeting? I’m tempted to agree to one just so we can finally get him in a room. I want to ask him what the fuck he was thinking. Clearly whatever he was attempting to do when he took Krystoff didn’t pan out, as there were no demands.”

We still don’t know what he wanted with my uncle? Jozef asked, knowing the answer.

“No, we never figured out a motive. It’s like he came out of thin air to poke your family. There’s a lot of history though… with your mother.” Havel paused to see if Jozef would add anything, but he remained silent. Havel continued, “Over the past several years, Vasiliy has lain low and avoided your uncle. It seems strange that he would come out of nowhere to kidnap Krystoff, cut off his finger then allow him to be taken back without resistance.”

Jozef nodded. Everything Havel was saying jived with his impressions of the situation, right down to the ease in which they’d rescued Krystoff. There had been very little security on the property and Jozef would have been surprised if Vasiliy himself was at the house. He’d likely been tucked safely away at one of his vacation estates.

You think they knew we were coming?

Havel nodded. “They had to. Either that, or they’re by far the most incompetent kidnappers I’ve heard of. They let us walk right in unmolested and leave with the only leverage they had. It works with our theory that someone inside our circle was involved. We had Krystoff locked down tight; he should never have been taken while he was visiting Kiev.”

They fell silent for a few minutes as they contemplated the strange and bungled kidnapping. Finally, Jozef signed,I think I take the trophy for worst kidnapper. My victim hates me, is refusing to marry me and is now likely plotting her escape from the rose garden.

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