Page 2 of Gangster's Empire: Leeza & Havel

Again, there was a flash of worry… and maybe guilt… in Dasha’s expression. It was weird for a woman who ordinarily had confidence in spades.

Dasha looked up, her eyes suddenly blazing with purpose. She took Leeza’s hands in a tight grip and leaned toward her, dropping her voice low as she spoke. “I need to tell you something about your father.”

But before she could finish, something caught Leeza’s attention over her mother’s shoulder. Havel was striding toward them, his face set in grim lines. His expression was always some combination of forbidding, serious, angry, and annoyed. It didn’t matter to her though, his face was a beloved image burned forever into her mind, heart and soul.

Without thought, she stood as he approached, a moth drawn to the light of his flame. Havel nodded toward Dasha before saying to Leeza, “Your father sent me to find you.”

“I know,” Leeza said with a smile. “I’m going to tell him.”

A frown creased Dasha’s brow, but Leeza ignored her. She would confess her feelings for Havel to her mother later, after she spoke to her father and secured his blessing.

“Your father wants …” Before he could finish, the door behind them opened and Krystoff filled the frame with his broad-shouldered, arrogant presence.

It didn’t matter who was in a room, when Krystoff entered, all eyes went to him. He was the kind of person who could command an army with only a few words. Everyone on the estate both loved and feared him. He was brutal, but fair in his dealings, which gave him a reputation among his fellow mafiosos.

Krystoff’s gaze slid across Havel, as cold as a glacier, then fell to his daughter. His stare was different. It was not at all the loving indulgence she was used to, but cold calculation and… hate. But why would her father suddenly hate her? It’s not like she was an expert in reading people. She’d grown up on the estate, and except for a few years of boarding school in the UK, she’d been mostly isolated from children her age. But she knew her father and there was hate in his eyes.

A trickle of trepidation went down her spine as she looked back at Krystoff, stepping toward him as he tilted his jaw toward her. Leeza placed a light kiss against his bearded cheek and quickly stepped back.

“Father, I — ”

“Call me Krystoff,” he interrupted coldly, refusing to meet her gaze as he stepped aside and waved her into the office. “It’s time you addressed me properly.”

Tears pricked her eyes at his cold tone and stiff posture. There wasn’t a hint of the parent she loved and respected. This man was the head of the Koba empire, not her father. She didn’t understand. He’d never treated her with such chilling indifference.

As she stepped through the threshold and into his office, Krystoff closed the door behind her, cutting her off from Havel, whose worried gaze followed her. He knew what was going on and he knew it wasn’t good. Oh god, what if Krystoff found out they were planning on getting married and he didn’t approve? What if Krystoff fired Havel? It would be her fault for getting involved with her bodyguard when she wasn’t supposed to.

She prepared to defend Havel, turning to her father and opening her mouth, but her attention was caught by a man wearing a business suit, standing next to the fireplace mantle, a crystal tumbler filled with amber liquid clutched in his beringed hand.

He wasn’t a particularly good-looking man and easily dismissed at first glance, but there was something about his unwavering stare as he unabashedly took in every inch of Leeza, starting at her feet and travelling up her body. She shivered and crossed her arms over her chest.

She didn’t like his unsettling stare.

“Come,” Krystoff said, waving her toward the fire. “I want you to meet Adam Horácek. He arrived this morning to ask for your hand in marriage.”

“What?” Leeza gasped as the room tilted around her.

“I have granted permission; the wedding will take place in July, shortly after your twenty-first birthday.”

Leeza looked desperately at her father, but the gaze reflected back was a mask of pure evil. He knew she was thrown off balance and horrified by his declaration, but he was enjoying her upset. It was as though he’d orchestrated this moment to punish her.

“Is this because of Havel?” she whispered urgently for her father’s ears alone. “It’s not his fault. We wanted to talk to you first.”

Thunder reflected in Krystoff’s expression, and he took a step toward her, gripping her arm so tightly she feared he would crush the bone. She winced and squirmed, trying to ease the pressure. There was going to be a bruise, caused by a man who’d never once laid a finger on her in anger. What had she done that was so grievous the father she loved suddenly looked at her as though he didn’t recognize her?

“If you dare speak his name to me again, I will have him taken to the shed where he will die a particularly terrible death.” He spoke in a low voice, but it was loud enough for Adam to hear. He didn’t care about their audience, he only cared about hurting Leeza. “You will do exactly as I say and greet your future husband with a smile, then you will conduct a polite conversation while we negotiate the terms for your marriage. Do you understand?”

She understood from the look he was giving her that if she refused to accept Adam, Havel would pay the price.

“I understand,” she whispered, her shoulders bowing under the weight of her grief. She was about to lose the best thing that ever happened to her before it even happened.

“Smile,” Krystoff ordered.

Leeza lifted her chin, stared straight ahead, and forced some semblance of a smile to her lips. A tear trickled from her eye, down her cheek, to drip off her jaw and splash on her chest. Slowly, she turned, her heart turning to stone as she faced her future husband.

CHAPTER ONE

Eight Years Later

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