Page 33 of A Silent Reckoning

She picked up the remote and turned the TV on, switching to streaming service. She used the voice recognition to command the TV to find “Mob Wives.” She’d never watched the show, but maybe there would be some tips on how to handle a man determined to imprison her in the name of protection.

She was completely engrossed in the show when she heard the lock on the door click. A rush of apprehension hit her, and she felt dizzy as she pictured Karl or Havel coming in to tell her Jozef had been shot and killed on the street below. Tears sparked in her eyes and her breathing grew shallow. She knew she was overreacting, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.

The door opened and Jozef strode inside. She launched herself off the couch and rushed toward him, throwing her arms around his neck. He seemed startled, but quickly recovered, his strong arms engulfing her in one of the best hugs she’d ever had. Relief flooded through her as she held him.

He was okay. He wasn’t dead.

She pulled back to demand he tell her everything, but her gaze strayed past his shoulder.

“Mom!”

She couldn’t believe her eyes. Fatima in Prague? It didn’t seem possible. Yet, there she was, standing next to a suitcase and a crate with orange fluff sticking out. Fatima’s expression looked just as surprised. Shaun thought her mother was shocked more by the hug she’d given Jozef then from actually seeing Shaun.

“How did you get here?” Shaun extricated herself from Jozef’s arms and stepped past him to hug her mother, her expression one of bewilderment.

Fatima hugged her tightly and then held Shaun away from her, her eyes roving over her daughter, looking for any scratches. “I flew over the day after you were taken, and I’ve been searching since I got here. Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay,” Shaun assured her.

“Are you being held against your will?” Fatima demanded. “Did you request this man come pick you up in Montréal and bring you here? Did you ask for any of this? Because if your answer is no, then you are not okay.”

Fatima turned the full force of her glare on Jozef, who stood casually aside, his arms crossed over his chest, his gaze neutral.

“You will release my daughter immediately so I can take her home.”

Shaun appreciated Fatima’s bravado, but she knew her mother. As fierce as she was, Fatima had to be shaking in her shoes. She hated confrontation, and Shaun suspected that would go double for confronting a man like Jozef; someone who made a living off the lives of others.

N-O, he signed.She stays with me.

Fatima glared at him. “I will involve the authorities. Give her up now and you won’t go back to prison. We’ll walk away like we were never here.”

Shaun’s heart pounded faster as she saw the hard expression on Jozef’s face. He was becoming impatient with Fatima, and in Shaun’s experience, that meant he was about to get violent.

You will not call the authorities.

“And how do you propose to stop me?” Fatima said furiously, her arm tightening protectively around Shaun’s waist.

Jozef’s gaze followed the move and his expression softened again.

Shaun answered Fatima’s question. “He’ll keep you here.”

“What?” Fatima said sharply. “He can’t do that.”

“Of course he can.” Shaun let some of her frustration show as she paced away from her mother. “He’ll keep you here the same way he’s keeping me, the way he kept me a year ago. He has the manpower and brute force to make sure two women stay hidden away. God, mom, why did you come here?”

Fatima looked first shocked and then hurt. “I came for you.”

“And you didn’t once consider that you were walking into the home of a known gangster?” Shaun argued. “I love you, and I love that you want to protect me, but you had to know this was dangerous. What if he just had you quietly shot, rather than bringing you to me? I wouldn’t have known you ever came, and I would never have known what happened to you. Do you understand what you’ve done?”

Fatima blanched and Shaun could see Jozef’s arms jerk out of the corner of her eye. She refused to look at him though. She didn’t want to read anything in his gaze. What if he’d thought about killing her mother? It would shatter her, so she refused to contemplate the thought.

“I wasn’t thinking about anything but getting to you,” Fatima spoke quietly, the weight of her decision settling around her. She looked at Jozef. “Will you really keep me here?”

Jozef stared at her, then answered with his own question,Will you leave quietly?

“Not without my daughter,” she said swiftly.

Then you both stay.

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