“Well, don’t just stand there,” he barked, losing patience. “Let’s get this over with. Everyone out. Jozef and the girl can stay.”
Shaun hated being called a ‘girl’. It was demeaning and completely inappropriate for a woman of her education and profession. Ordinarily, she would correct him by telling him she preferred her name, or if he must use a noun, then woman. She kept her silence though, not ready to antagonize him.
Jozef pushed Shaun farther into the room, making space by the door for the others to leave. The woman who had brought food and water to Shaun earlier in the day glanced at her as she passed. Her expression was pitying, which made Shaun wonder what exactly she was in for. She stiffened her spine. It didn’t matter. She was a medical professional, and she would treat Jozef’s uncle as she would any other patient. What happened to her after was irrelevant.
She was a doctor; her job was to heal.
Once everyone had left and the door was closed, she walked to the fireplace. She glanced around and, spotting a stool, pulled it closer. As she sank down, seating herself in front of him, she asked softly, “What’s your name?”
He stared at her; his sharp gaze somewhat malevolent. She hoped this was his default expression and that he wasn’t using it on her in particular. Because if he really felt toward her the way his expression was leaning, then she wouldn’t survive the night.
“You do not need to know my name to look at my wound, divka.” His voice was deep and guttural as he stumbled over his English.
She shrugged, and said in slow, halting Ukrainian, “I ask the names of all my patients.” She reached for his hand, going for his obvious injury first. “It makes it easier to ask them how they feel, where it hurts, how they were injured.”
He didn’t pull away as she unraveled the gauze bandage, pulling it first away from his hand, then his finger. She sank her teeth into her lip to stop the gasp that tried to fly out when she saw the damage inflicted on him. She lifted her gaze to meet his and was awed by the blank look he was giving her in return. They could have been at a tea party for all the indication of pain he was giving. He did not have the look of a man who had been tortured within the last several days.
“You are very brave,” he said mockingly, switching to Ukrainian. “You speak Ukrainian badly and are not shy to put me in my place. You must be very sure of yourself.”
“I’m completely terrified, actually, but as you are now my patient, I want you to be comfortable while I treat your injury. I thought you would be more comfortable speaking Ukrainian.”
He inclined his head toward her, his deep blue gaze taking on a thoughtful look.
She tugged his hand further away from his body, resting it on her knees, and inspected it in the firelight. She twisted around and said to Jozef, “I need more light, please.”
Jozef nodded and reached behind himself to flick on the light. He strode to the window to draw the heavy curtains across, blocking any view of them from the street. The wound on her patient’s finger was straight and even, as though it had been cut with scissors or hedge clippers. The cut was infected though and most likely quite painful. Puss oozed from the stump and the skin around the wound was white instead of a healthy pink. The instrument that had taken the finger had probably been dirty and the wound most likely hadn’t been sterilized after.
“Your wound is closing, but it’s infected. You need antibiotic ointment, a fresh bandage and a round of strong antibiotics.”
Shaun jumped as a bag landed next to her on the floor. She leaned over and opened it, immediately recognizing an array of medical aides. She glanced up at Jozef, who stood behind her chair, his arms crossed over his chest. He’d taken his leather coat off. She could now see the tattoos that ran all the way up his corded arms. The sleeves of his T-shirt were stretched taut across the muscles of his arms. She’d seen firsthand the strength those arms carried when he lifted the man from the basement off the floor.
She refocused on her patient, opening the first-aid kit wider and inspecting the contents. She pulled out a tube of antibiotic ointment, a gauze bandage, some tape and a pair of gloves. Pulling the gloves on, she set about tending to her patient. She was careful and methodical, making sure the man who might hold her life in his hands would have no complaint about her care of him. At first, the room was silent while she worked. After a few minutes she felt his gaze lift from the top of her bent head to Jozef, who was still standing behind her.
“You intend that we leave tonight?”
She felt the air stir behind her as Jozef answered the question. She desperately wanted to turn and look, to watch the graceful movements his strong hands were making, but she stayed concentrated on her job. Judging from the older man’s next words, Jozef’s response had been an affirmative.
“All of us, or will you leave anyone in the city to keep an eye on Vasiliy?”
Again, she felt, rather than saw, Jozef communicate with his uncle.
“Ah, yes, Havel is a good choice. Trustworthy and measured. He will make sure things here are settled. Have him follow us home in a few days. By then we should have prepared a response to this action taken by my enemy.”
Shaun glanced up at her patient and he looked down at her. She didn’t like that they were talking business in front of her. She was supposed to be a bystander ‒ just a stranger who'd gotten caught up in their drama. If they weren’t afraid to discuss important matters in front of her, then that meant she was either family, or collateral damage. And she certainly wasn’t family yet.
“You will tell our hosts to lay low until the dust settles. We can’t be positive that Vasiliy won’t come after anyone who helped with my rescue, though I am still unsure of his motives. If he wanted me dead, then he would have done it while he had me under his control. He had to know that you would come for me.” Her patient spoke almost as if he was speaking to himself. His gaze seemed far away, and she didn’t think Jozef was responding, though she couldn’t be positive since she couldn’t see him from her position.
“Perhaps he wanted you to die a slower death,” she muttered.
The older man didn’t pretend not to hear her. “Why do you say that, girl?”
“My name is Doctor Shaun Patterson, not girl,” she said crisply and straightened her spine as she looked up at him. “And if this infection was left for even one more day, you would be looking at gangrene and blood poisoning. An extremely painful way to die.”
He waved his good hand through the air negligently. “These people do not think this way. If they were to have me killed, they would do it quickly, and yes painfully. They did not intend for me to die, even if that was the outcome of their stupidity. No, they intended to hold me only and threaten my family.”
Jozef made a short growling sound that made Shaun turn around to glance at him. He was signing at his uncle with movements that were so rapid she was having trouble catching them all.
“Don’t talk that way, boy,” the other man said sharply. “I trust all members of my family, especially you. I never once doubted your loyalty while I spent a week locked in that cell. In fact, I simply counted the hours until you arrived. There was no doubt in my mind that you would come for me.”
She glanced back down, finishing the bandage and securing it with medical tape. Had Jozef just implicated himself? But why? Especially when it was clear he had nothing to do with his uncle’s abduction. She stayed silent, watching their exchange, trying to pick up as much as she could from the strange one-sided conversation.
“This is not a path we will go down, my boy. We are a solid family and I will not doubt a single member. Vasiliy must have another motive for making such a stupid move. You will find out the truth and we will move forward with his punishment.” He paused, watching as Jozef bowed his head in acquiesce. Then his gaze moved to Shaun. “What about this girl, what is her purpose for being here?”
Jozef explained to his uncle that she had been needed to patch up their detainee so Jozef and his team could ascerta
in his Uncle’s whereabouts. Shaun was grateful when she realized Jozef wasn’t telling his uncle that she’d failed to revive the man in the basement.
When Jozef finished speaking, his uncle looked at her for a long time. When his gaze turned from thoughtful to regretful, Shaun realized which side of collateral damage she was about to land on. It was what she feared would happen. She was a loose end that needed tying up. She dropped her head, tears rushing to her eyes.
“You have helped me, and I am grateful,” he said to her, leaning back in his chair and resting his bandaged hand on his lap. “Jozef will make it quick.”
At least he didn’t do her the disservice of pretending he wasn’t ordering her execution. Shaun lifted angry eyes to his. “You’ll excuse me if I don’t thank you, I’m not quite ready to die.”
The older man tipped his head and gave her a cool half smile. “You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t have the instinct to live.”
Shaun opened her mouth to tell him he could go fuck himself, when Jozef’s hand dropped heavily onto her shoulder, pinning her in place. She glanced back at him, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at his uncle, and, though he wasn’t speaking, or even signing, whatever he was communicating to the other man seemed to be eloquent enough that words weren’t required.
“You wish to keep this woman?” he asked, surprise lingering in his voice.
He looked at Shaun, his eyes running from the top of her wild curls, down her body to her sneaker-clad feet. She shuffled them under her stool, feeling almost naked after that heavy perusal.
“You’ve never asked me for anything.” The words had an edge of wonder. “Not once in all these years.”
Finally, after several more seconds passed, he reached out and picked up Shaun’s hand, holding it briefly in his good hand, and squeezing. “Welcome to the family, Ms. Patterson, I am Krystoff Koba.”
Chapter Nine
“Your aunt will want to plan the wedding.”
Jozef’s uncle looked over at him, the glint in his eye somewhere between serious and teasing. Jozef’s aunt was well known for her love of parties. She would insist on planning every detail of the wedding right down to the brand of toilet paper rolls in the guest washrooms.
Jozef glanced down at his fiancé of only a few hours. She was sound asleep, occupying the seat between Jozef and his uncle. Her head was resting on Jozef’s shoulder, the tiny huffs of breath escaping her lips skittering across his skin and the puff of hair on top of her head tickling his neck. He wanted to touch the tiny black curls, see what they felt like, what the skin of her cheek felt like, but he couldn’t. Attachment was weakness. If Jozef showed tenderness toward this woman, others might decide she could be used as a weapon.
Jozef might love and admire his uncle, but he knew better than to trust the head of the Koba family.
“Your women friends will hate her,” Krystoff commented, pushing his tired body down in his seat and closing his eyes. “They will be jealous of the foreigner who has managed to capture your attention. Your work will be cut out for you with this one.”
He was referring to Jozef’s various lovers. As the enforcer for the Koba family, Jozef came into his fair share of feminine attention. He was not one to say no to a quick fuck, but he didn’t particularly care for any of them. Never enough to fuck more than a handful of times. His last lover had lasted longer than the others but had ultimately bored him. Giselle had been a fun distraction, but he’d cut her loose months ago.
Krystoff turned his head to look at Shaun, his gaze trailing her features in the dim lighting of the back of their car. Though it was the middle of the night, they were driving back to Prague. The patriarch of the Koba family had been away from his post for long enough.
Krystoff, Jozef and Shaun rode in the back of the spacious car while Terek and Halil rode in the front. The rest of their men were in the car behind them. Havel stayed in Kiev to ensure no one came after the family that’d harboured them.
"I hope you know what you're doing with this one." Krystoff’s voice was thoughtful, his gaze still on the slumbering woman. Jozef wished Krystoff would stop looking at her with such intensity. “She could be a threat to everything we’ve worked for. Yes, she's very beautiful and the idea of killing an innocent and a doctor is not an easy one. But in this business, we must put family first."
Jozef understood what his uncle was saying. He should have killed her in the clearing. He hadn’t been able to pull the trigger, and he wasn't sure why exactly. Something about her was different. As his uncle pointed out, she was beautiful, but Jozef had met beautiful women before and even killed them when it was warranted. Gender and beauty meant nothing to him when it came to family, loyalty and business.
Perhaps it was because she was a doctor. She had devoted her life to studying medicine and helping others. That kind of unselfish personality was non-existent in the mob. Jozef couldn't bring himself to destroy a person like that. At least not until he understood her draw.
He didn't try to sign his thoughts, but he gave his uncle an eloquent look.
Krystoff shook his head and chuckled. "Smart move declaring that she would become your wife. Make her part of the family so we can't outright kill her."
Though it had been a smart move, deciding Shaun would become his wife, Jozef didn’t actually need to marry her. He could’ve driven her back to the hospital and then disappeared from her life. He could have forced her promise of silence. No, his desire to marry her was purely selfish. He was fascinated by her. He wanted her and couldn't come up with a better way of having her. Marriage would bind them together and keep her safe from his family.
As if echoing his thoughts, Krystoff said, "Be sure, boy. This marriage will be for life. There is only one way out of the family.”
Krystoff's words didn’t faze Jozef. He wanted to tie Shaun to him, keep her by his side. Those brief moments they'd spent together in the woods had cemented a bond that transcended the very different lives they led. Though he knew Shaun felt it too, Jozef was not a naïve man; there would be many hardships in their path forward, but his desire for the woman was not one of those difficulties.
He traced her features with his eyes. She had smooth, flawless brown skin. The colour was lighter than her springy black hair but darker than her pretty golden irises. A long straight nose, eyes that tilted slightly inward at the corners and lips that he longed to see curved in a smile. Though she was tall, she was quite thin, as though she’d missed too many meals. She had slight curves packed into ugly scrubs.
Jozef enjoyed women; it was one of the perks of his position. When he went out to the clubs the bounty was plentiful. He could pick up any woman available to him. Despite his lack of voice, his scarred, tattooed skin and abrupt manners, women flocked to the power and mystery surrounding him.
Yet, Doctor Shaun Patterson put the model-like beautiful women he was used to fucking to shame. It wasn't her looks, though she was indeed just as beautiful as them. It was something more. It was her altruism that made her different. That made her shine like a beacon of goodness in the night. Despite her fear, she’d still attempted to help the dying man in the basement. She’d also helped Krystoff knowing that he could easily order her death.
Maybe that was it ‒ she was new and shiny. He wanted to touch her goodness and see what it felt like to a man who had known only violence and crime. When his fascination waned, as it inevitably would, he might be more ready to let her go.
Despite this last thought, he couldn't tear his eyes from her. Somehow, deep down, he knew that he would never want to let her go. There was something about her that told him she was his for life.
"She won't adjust easily to our lifestyle," Krystoff mused, reading Jozef’s thoughts. "A woman like her, someone who chooses to work in a war zone out of the goodness of her heart will not settle into a life of crime easily."
Though the car was dim, Jozef signed to his uncle, she will not commit any crimes.
Krystoff caught eno
ugh to understand his nephew. He shook his head, a grim smile hovering about his lips. "Don't be stupid, nephew. She may not be committing the crimes, but you certainly will. If you think that she will condone her husband's activities, I can tell you now that you are wrong.”
Josef’s signs were swift and decisive. She will settle into a new life. There is no need for further discussion.
Krystoff raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "You are touchy with your new woman. A good sign for a good marriage, I hope.”
Jozef didn't say anything, but settled into his seat, pulling the slumbering woman closer against him. His uncle might be head of the Koba crime family, but Jozef was a power unto himself. Everyone revolved around him, including his uncle. They had no choice. Jozef was the power, the muscle, the brains behind the crown. Though Krystoff’s words held weight, if he wanted to keep his seat of power, he would align himself with Jozef’s desires.
Jozef closed his eyes and prepared to sleep. They were still a few hours away from Prague. He curved his hand over her leg, resting it there, a sign of his possession. Shaun belonged to him and any man who tried to remove her would die a swift and painful death.
“I never saw Vasiliy himself while enjoying his hospitality, but one of his men spoke to me when I was in the cellar.” Krystoff's tired voice filtered through the darkness.
Jozef tilted his head to look at his uncle, showing he was listening.
“He let slip that the Prizrak was responsible for my abduction. Perhaps a nickname for Vasiliy, since he is not often seen in public.”
Prizrak… or phantom.
Jozef frowned as a thought tickled his memory. A recent shipment intercepted. He’d lost a man and then the authorities had descended, picking up the rest, as though they’d been tipped off. When Jozef had gone to meet his guy on the inside, after the dust had settled, he’d said they were ambushed in a coordinated attack. Then he’d muttered the word ‘prizrak’ before being taken back to his cell.
Sin of Silence (Sinner's Empire Book 1) Page 6