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

Jozef’s brows drew down in a thunderous look and he shook his head, telling her not to lie. She suspected Jozef didn’t want her taking the fall too, if there were any charges laid after the incident with Simon.

Fatima unknowingly answered the question for them. “Do you realize you’re wanted for questioning over the assault of a doctor at the hospital?”

A flutter of guilt went through Shaun. “Is Simon okay?”

“Of course,” Fatima said impatiently. “He was barely tapped on the head. I think he wants to press charges for his ego more than his head, but he said you were upset, that the man who accosted him was there for you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Shaun lied again. She hated lying to anyone but lying to Fatima felt like she was trying to swallow a bagful of acrid rocks.

“Don’t play with me, Shaun Soraya Patterson.” Fatima pulled out her mom voice and included Shaun’s middle name, which made Shaun smile in spite of her situation. “I know something’s going on and you’re going to tell me exactly what it is. I won’t have my daughter disappearing again without a word.”

“I’m not disappearing without a word,” Shaun tried to assure her mother. “I’m calling so you know I’m okay. I have to go away for a while, but I don’t want you to worry.”

“Where?” Fatima demanded.

Shaun sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She should’ve anticipated Fatima’s reaction. Her mother was a fierce defender of the people she loved. She wasn’t about to allow Shaun to disappear again without making damn sure she knew what was going on.

“I can’t tell you where I’m going,” Shaun said quietly. “Please don’t ask me again or I will hang up.”

When she glanced up at Jozef, he nodded his approval.

Then Fatima threw a wrench into the conversation. “It’s him, isn’t it?” she asked. “The guy who kidnapped you before. Does Jozef Koba have you?”

Shaun looked up at Jozef, but he didn’t give her any indication of what she should say. He simply looked at her grimly.

As if she was able to divine the entire situation from the few facts she knew, Fatima guessed what was happening.

“He wasn’t able to let you go, was he?” she demanded, anger making her voice louder. “He’s obsessed with you. He came back for you and now he’s taking you away forever, isn’t he? Answer me, Shaun. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Tears filled Shaun’s eyes and she bowed her head, stifling a sob. “No, mom.” Her voice cracked as she spoke. “You’ve got it wrong.”

“I don’t,” Fatima said sharply. “Somehow he got out of prison and came after you. I know it. God, Shaun, how is this possible?”

Shaun couldn’t speak anymore, and Jozef, sensing her distress, took the phone from her limp fingers. Before he could hang up, Fatima addressed him directly.

“Did he let you use a phone? Put him on,” she snapped, her rage igniting with every word. “Jozef Koba, if you’re listening, you bring my daughter back. She doesn’t deserve this. You’re destroying her life by doing this to her. Do you hear me?” Fatima’s voice cracked as the words rushed out in short desperate sentences. “Just bring her back to me.”

Jozef hung up the phone and tucked it into his pocket. He reached for Shaun, but she shoved his hands away, the tears now streaming unchecked down her face.

“Don’t touch me.” She pulled her legs up onto the seat and curled in on herself, letting the sobs flow free. “Don’t ever touch me again.”

Chapter Seven

Shaun spent the rest of the flight in silent misery, guilt eating her up every time she thought of her mother. Maybe she shouldn’t have called. But then, the call hadn’t been for Shaun, it had been for her mother. Fatima knew her daughter was alive, which was the only thing that mattered. If Shaun had to feel shame and guilt so her mother could rest easy, then so be it.

She couldn’t explain why she was in love with a man who was more monster than human, and the tailspin of emotion was eating her up. The darkness that had shaped most of Jozef’s life had also shaped their relationship. For him, kidnapping, beating people, killing them, it was all part of his job. For her, it was unthinkable.

How on earth did he think they could be compatible together? She would be utterly miserable if she were forced to accept the type of life he lived. She would become a shadow of herself. All her convictions, values, her life’s work, would mean nothing. She would be trading it all in for the wealth Jozef could provide. Which, in her opinion, wasn’t good enough.

She could console herself with the fact that she had no choice. She hadn’t chosen to leave the Montréal hospital in the back of a tinted SUV, nor had she agreed to get on an airplane and leave immediately for Prague. Or at least that’s where she assumed they were going.

How long could she use kidnapping as an excuse? When she stopped trying to run away? When she admitted that she loved her captor and couldn’t bring herself to turn him in or testify against him? Her guilt lay in Danilo’s coffin.

The moment that she relaxed in Jozef’s presence and accepted the things he wanted for her, she would become an accessory to his criminal life. And she simply couldn’t agree to that kind of life. She was raised better than that.

“Where are we going?” Her voice was hoarse.

They’d been in the air for two hours, but she’d only recently stopped crying. Her head was swimming and she felt like she had a bad cold. She held a wad of crushed tissues in her hand. Jozef had quietly handed them to her while she cried.

Home.

She blinked the tears away so she could see his signs.

“Where is home?” she asked quietly. “The mansion?”

He shook his head. I no longer live with my aunt and uncle. I have a place