Page 32 of A Silent Reckoning

Jozef tried to back up as she catapulted herself toward him, her finger shaking and her round face creasing with anger. Jozef backed into Havel who, immediately recognizing Shaun’s mother, turned tail and ran away, leaving Jozef alone. The big bald bodyguard was having nothing to do with the tiny volatile mother.

Give me back my daughter this instant, she signed, her lips pulling back into a ferocious snarl as she wagged her finger in Jozef’s face.

Rather than being insulted or angry, Jozef melted. She hadn’t even tried to communicate verbally with him, which meant she knew about him. Shaun had told her mother about him. He didn’t know how much, and he didn’t really care. In that moment, he loved the mother almost as much as he loved the daughter. They were special. They were fierce and beautiful, and they could communicate with him.

Jozef wanted to hug the woman but thought it might be too soon. The look on her face told him if he tried to touch her, she would tear out his heart with her bare hands.

You may see your daughter, he signed to her.

She stopped short and gaped at him for a few seconds, then she dropped her face into her hands and allowed her shoulders to slump. “Thank god.”

He realized that she hadn’t really had a plan upon entering the club. Her entire focus had probably been on getting to the Czech Republic as fast as she could and tracking down the man who’d taken her daughter. His heart melted further. She was a fighter.

He risked his life and gingerly took her arm, guiding her back to the table. She jerked it out of his grip and sank back into the booth. Jozef chose a seat across from her. He despised having his back to the curtain, with an entire room filled with people on the other side, but he was willing to make an exception.

When she looked at him, her eyes still glowed with anger, but her face and posture were composed once more.

How did you find me?Jozef signed.

She seemed to mull over whether to answer him or not, then she said,Shaun told me some things, but most of the information I got on you I got from following your trial.She picked up her glass of wine, her hand shaking, and took a long sip. She sighed as she replaced it back on the table, appearing steadier.After I found your name, I did some digging and discovered that you owned a nightclub in the city. I wasn’t sure which one, so I tried a few before I was directed here.

Her ingenuity amazed him, especially since she’d pieced together his whereabouts from across the world. It was her recklessness that surprised and chilled him. If the wrong person had gotten wind of her inquiries, if anyone guessed her connection to Jozef’s fiancé, she could’ve found herself in grave danger.

As if sensing the direction of his thoughts, she defended herself.I was discreet and careful. I’m not a dummy, Mr. Koba.

J-O-Z-E-F, he signed the letters of his name.

“Jozef,” she repeated his name.

He was transported back in time to the day he met Shaun. She’d asked him for his name, he assumed so she could forge a connection with him and use it to convince him not to kill her. She’d whispered his name to herself, much the same way her mother had just done. Though the two women didn’t look a lot alike, except for their radiant beauty, he could easily see the resemblance in personalities.

“You may call me Mrs. Patterson,” she said primly, frowning her disapproval at him.

Jozef let out a barking laugh that was loud enough to startle the creature in the crate. It let out a disgruntled growl that vibrated the box and shoved a fuzzy orange paw through the bars. Jozef was fascinated. He’d never had a pet before, never thought much about them, but this one belonged to Shaun and she clearly loved the beast. Which meant he would love it too.

Would you care for another drink?Jozef asked, turning to tell his men to call the waitress. There was no one inside the VIP area. They were too afraid of Shaun’s mother to remain at their positions.

Jozef shoved the curtain aside, scowling in annoyance. Halil and Terek stood at the bottom of the stairs looking up at him guiltily. They knew they were supposed to be closer to their principal. Jozef couldn’t bring himself to be truly angry with them. A confrontation with his future mother-in-law had not been on his list of things to do for the evening either.

He snapped his fingers and pointed at the bar.

“Yes, boss.” Halil took off, not wanting to delay Jozef’s drink after screwing up.

Jozef let the curtain fall back into place and turned back to contemplate the problem which had just placed itself in his lap. What to do with a woman who would be determined to take the one thing Jozef was least able to part with. He couldn’t bring himself to hurt the mother of the woman he loved, so his usual method of removing the problem wasn’t going to work.

He groaned as he realized there would be only one solution to the problem of Mrs. Patterson; she would have to stay, whether she wanted to or not. If Shaun was mad at him before this, she was going to be livid when he explained what he was planning for her mother.

Chapter Seventeen

Shaun stared out the window of the apartment, desperately wishing she could see what was happening on the sidewalk. It had been thirty minutes since she was whisked up the back stairs of the club and into Jozef’s suite. She’d didn’t have a chance to ask what was going on when the door was slammed shut and she was locked inside. That was when Shaun discovered she could be locked in the apartment with some kind of lock that only the person on the other side could access.

Shaun decided she would be angry about it later once she determined that Jozef was safe.

With a sigh she moved away from the window. She couldn’t see anything from her vantage point. It drove her crazy that Jozef was doing something potentially dangerous while she was stuck upstairs. What if he was shot? Or what if he shot someone else? She should be down on the ground helping with any injuries.

She walked into the bedroom, reaching back to unzip her dress. She let it fall to the floor and stepped out of it. Changing into a pair of pink sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt from Jozef’s drawer, she walked back into the living room and stood looking around helplessly.

“Is this how mob wives feel?” she mumbled, sitting on the couch in a cross-legged position.

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