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

on who she was talking with, the direction of the conversation, which direction she was facing when she was talking. Her transitions were becoming smoother and smoother, her signs less clumsy.

I’m not a soldier, Jozef argued.

You’re a soldier of fortune, Shaun countered.

Jozef grinned, picked up his backpack, and slung it over one shoulder before reaching for her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and dragged her in for a lingering kiss.

Shaun melted as heat filled her belly and the ever-present butterflies winged their way through her chest, her pulse quickening. If she and Jozef could bottle their chemistry, they would become billionaires. Maybe Jozef was already a billionaire.

When he broke the kiss, she leaned back in his arms. “Are you a billionaire?”

He looked surprised, then tipped his head back and barked with laughter. She grinned as his Adam’s apple bobbed and the tattoos on his neck stood out stark against his pale skin. Despite their harsh origins and the depictions of death, she loved them, particularly the rose peeking from the top of his chest. When he was shirtless, the rose extended down, across his heart, crisscrossing with the Koba family crest. Her name was written in cursive across the top of the rose, which was only partially open, its petals peeking out in delicate supplication.

I’m not a billionaire, Jozef signed. Are you disappointed?

Shaun shook her head. “No, I’m relieved.”

Why? he asked. It would be more of my money for you to spend.

She smacked his arm. “You’re the idiot who gave my mother a credit card. How exactly did you think she was going to take her revenge for kidnapping her daughter?”

He grinned at her and kissed the frown between her eyes. I wish you would spend as much of my money as your mother does.

“Don’t say that around her; she’ll take it as a challenge to spend as much as she can.”

He stepped back from her, adjusting the strap of the backpack on his shoulder, then signing, she’ll have a difficult time spending it all.

“You said you’re not a billionaire,” she said suspiciously.

I’m not, he assured her. I’m somewhere in the mid multi-millions. Not sure exactly how much. I’d have to ask my accountant.

“Millions?” she said with a squeak.

Bet you wish you hadn’t fought so hard against marriage a year ago. You could own half of my assets if you weren’t so stubborn.

She could tell by the barely suppressed grin and the boyish sparkle in his eyes that he was joking. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t care about the money. I never have and I never will. I’d rather you stay home and stay safe.”

Jozef sobered, his eyes taking on a look she was becoming familiar with. It was stubbornness combined with the need for her to understand his choices. It was getting harder for her to resist that look, to push his reasoning aside and stubbornly stick to her principles. Love was changing her, but would she still like the person she was becoming if she allowed it to change her completely?

I know you don’t care about the money, he signed. But I have to do this, as well as the other jobs. This is the life I was born to. This is what I’m good at.

“You can find something else, do something else. You’re talented and highly skilled. There are thousands of things you could be doing that aren’t illegal. Why does it have to be this?”

She finally spoke the words she’d been holding in since Jozef took her from Montréal. The words she’d tried to keep inside. Though she was trying her best to understand the mafia, she couldn’t bring herself to condone Jozef’s business activities. He terrorized, intimidated, killed. He used violence.

Jozef looked annoyed, then disappointed. She hated that look. Hated that he was disappointed in her, that her lack of understanding was causing a rift between them.

I don’t want to fight with you, he sighed. Not before I leave.

“I don’t want to fight either,” she admitted.

He lifted her hands and wiggled them, the corner of his lips lifting.

Shaun laughed and pulled her hands away so she could sign, you’ll never change, will you? She meant both his career and his preference that she speak to him in sign language.

He shook his head and opened his arms. She walked into them, cuddling against his chest and inhaling his scent. He hugged her tight; a warm hug meant to give her some semblance of reassurance, and it worked. She did feel better.

When he untangled himself, he stepped back and stared at her, his expression torn. Finally, he signed, I’m not ready to leave you. Come downstairs with me?

Thus far, Shaun had managed to avoid the floor that belonged to Jozef’s men and their offices. She didn’t want to see anything she would regret, but the way Jozef formed his request as a question instead of a demand made it impossible for her to refuse. She reached out and took his hand.

“I want to be with you too.”

Together they left the apartment, Jozef nodding at Karl while Shaun said a cheery hello to her big, gruff protector. He fell in step behind them, following them to the elevator. When he got on with them, Shaun sent him a questioning look.

“I’m paid to protect you, Dr. Patterson. Doesn’t matter where you go, what you do or who you’re with, I’m your shadow.”

Jozef grunted his approval while punching in the code to the third floor of the building. Each floor had a separate code, which Jozef had given her. She’d seen it as a sign of trust that he was giving her the passcode to get to the main floor, the club floor. She could take advantage of the potential escape route, but she wouldn’t.

For one, if she ran away, Jozef would find her, bring her back and lock her down tighter than a pearl in a clamshell. Second, she wanted to be with him, wanted to work on their issues, which seemed less