A Silent Reckoning: Sinner's Empire by Nikita Slater (world best books to read .TXT) 📕

Jozef touched her face, cupping her head and holding her. He breathed with her, one long breath in and a longer breath out. She fell into the deep pools of his velvet blue eyes, unable to concentrate on anything but his touch, his face and the energy he was pushing into her.

After another minute, the constriction in her chest eased and she was able to draw in a deep breath without feeling choked. She blinked the tears back and gave Jozef a tight smile. He seemed to realize she was better. He slid an arm around her back and eased her to her feet. She let out a strangled yelp when he lifted her off the ground, holding her in his arms.

“Jozef…” Her voice trailed off hoarsely as he began descending the stairs at a dizzying pace. He didn’t look down at her but kept running.

“Jozef.” She forced some strength into her voice and this time when he glanced down at her she was able to say what she needed to say. “I know what you’re doing and I won’t go along with it. Put me down and leave. Please.”

Her heart tore as she spoke. She didn’t want him to leave without her, but she couldn’t go with him. If he forced her to leave then she would resent him for taking away her free will. She would never be able to forgive him for once more taking her away from her mother and her career. There were extenuating circumstances the first time he kidnapped her; he’d done it for his uncle. This was different. He was taking Shaun because he wanted her.

When he ignored her and continued running, Shaun began to struggle, pushing against his chest and trying to get him to let her down. Again, he didn’t pay any attention to her struggles, but held her tighter. She wanted to scream for help, but if she did, it would attract unwanted attention and someone might get hurt.

If Shaun wanted to avoid another kidnapping, she was going to have to do something and do it quick. She twisted violently in his arms and flailed her arms, striking him in the head. He tried to hang on to her, but he couldn’t keep his grip when she started thrashing in earnest.

It became clear that he was trying to avoid hurting her, which Shaun appreciated. She didn’t want to hurt him either, but she was going to have to do something extreme to get out of the situation. If she had to use his desire not to hurt her against him then she would.

As she started to tumble to the ground, Shaun punched him in the leg, directly over his femoral artery. It wouldn’t cripple him, but it would cause a fair amount of discomfort and the leg would go dead for a few precious seconds. Jozef was forced to release her as his leg collapsed. Shaun blindly reached out, trying to catch herself, but hit the concrete steps hard and rolled down to the next landing.

Pain radiated through her body, but she didn’t have time to take stock of her bruises. She didn’t think anything was broken. She shoved herself to her feet and, without a backward glance at Jozef, who was recovering from her strike, she launched herself down the stairs, running as fast as she could.

She’d learned in that clearing in the woods outside of Luhansk that Jozef could run fast. Faster than she could. She pushed herself harder than she’d ever done before, hoping the head start she had and the fear pushing adrenalin through her body would give her enough of a boost to escape him. She had no idea what she would do after that. Turn him in to the authorities? Go into hiding until he lost interest? She would have to figure it out later. At the moment, she needed to concentrate on escape.

She didn’t dare turn to see if Jozef was behind her, and she couldn’t hear anything over the thundering of her own heart. She knew Jozef though; he would be close behind. She’d cleared the last two flights of stairs to the main floor and was heading for the door leading to the parking garage when the dark shape of a man stepped through. She opened her mouth to scream at him to get out of the way, flashbacks of Jozef shooting at people in the Luhansk hospital filling her mind. The guy looked up and she realized she was running toward Havel.

Shaun stopped abruptly, thinking to turn around and head back to the first-floor door. She was too late though. Before she could whirl around and run in the other direction, arms closed around her and she was lifted off her feet.

“No – ” Her scream was abruptly cut off as Jozef’s hand landed over her mouth.

The smell of leather and aftershave filled her head. His arms, hard but yielding, were familiar. She struggled, kicking out at him, her running shoes making contact with his shins as he hauled her off the floor and carried her toward Havel.

“Told you she wasn’t going to be happy.” Havel gave Shaun a grim smile as Jozef carried her past him. “Good to see you again, Doc.”

Jozef grunted as the heel of Shaun’s foot got him in the knee. His arms tightened in warning, but she only fought harder. A dark SUV loomed in front of them, the rear passenger door open. Hands reached for her as Jozef lifted her into the vehicle.

Shaun braced her feet on either side of the door, pushing back hard enough to make Jozef stumble. He didn’t drop her though and Havel reached out to grab her legs so she couldn’t brace and thrust back again.

The hands reached for her again once she was in the vehicle, pulling her further into the interior so Jozef could climb in behind her. The moment Havel slid into the