Sin of Silence (Sinner's Empire Book 1)

by Nikita Slater

  Saskia hugged Shaun next. “Can’t wait for you to join our shitshow of a family.”

  Shaun laughed and shook her head. Instead of leaving to mingle among the guests, as the others had done, Saskia glued herself to Shaun’s side. She made it her personal responsibility to impart every piece of gossip she had on the assembled guests. Shaun laughed at Saskia’s unabashedly disrespectful opinions.

  “See that guy over there in that seriously out of date cravat?” Saskia pointed at a man, drawing the attention of several people surrounding them.

  Shaun laughed and pushed Saskia’s arm down.

  “He’s a prince, but he’s living in exile now. He became embroiled in a political shitstorm in his home country and the parliament asked him to leave. That woman standing next to him is his number one whore. He leaves his wife at home and brings his bimbos out to these things.”

  Shaun tried to stifle her peals of laughter, but it was useless. Saskia was the only true friend she had in the room. The younger woman was an unrepentant gossip, and even though she shouldn’t, Shaun ate it up with glee. Knowing the foibles of the super-rich people surrounding her made her feel more comfortable in their presence. She suspected Saskia knew it and that was why she was chattering nonstop in Shaun’s ear while Jozef looked on with amusement.

  After a few minutes, guests started to make their way over to congratulate the couple. Saskia maintained her position at Shaun’s side, continuing to whisper her judgments in Shaun’s ear. It was funny, but Shaun was getting the distinct impression that Saskia was trying to protect her. Shaun decided the younger woman acted just as much a guard dog as her older cousin.

  “Jozef, I’ve been dying to see you again!”

  Shaun turned in time to see Giselle from the club throw herself into Jozef’s arms. Apparently her near death experience at Jozef’s hand hadn’t had much of an effect. The look of disgust on Jozef’s face while he tried to disengage the heavily perfumed, scantily clad woman was enough to calm any jealousy Shaun might have felt. She knew the two had a past, but it was clear that Jozef felt nothing for Giselle now, except maybe annoyance.

  Despite his obvious rejection, Giselle wrapped her arm around his and wedged herself between Shaun and Jozef. Shaun stifled a laugh at the blatant desperation of the other woman. Saskia was less diplomatic.

  “Bitch… gross,” she drawled, wrinkling her nose at Giselle. “Why don’t you go hump something a little closer to your league.”

  Shaun choked on her laughter while Giselle looked like she was about to launch herself at them, claws out. Shaun decided to salvage the situation before they ruined Dasha’s fancy party by brawling next to the champagne fountain.

  “I need to have a private talk with Saskia,” she said, her gaze caressing Jozef. “Will you get me a drink?”

  Jozef dipped his head, his blue eyes sliding from Shaun to Saskia. He knew what she was up to. Shaun was worried he would try to stop them, but he simply watching as Shaun and Saskia slipped from the room together. Shaun looked around and caught sight of a storage closet.

  “In here.”

  “Ohhh…. I’m intrigued,” Saskia said with a laugh, following Shaun.

  The ‘closet’ was more of a utility room, stretching so far back that Shaun wondered where it ended. It was filled with spare furniture in a wide variety of colours and materials. Clearly Dasha’s party reject closet.

  Saskia hopped up on a pile of chairs and crossed her legs, showing Shaun that she was wearing a pair of knee length tights beneath her tulle-heavy pink ball gown.

  “What’s up, doc?” Saskia asked, then burst into a fit of giggles.

  Shaun raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Have you been waiting long with that one?”

  “Pretty much since the moment you arrived.”

  Shaun smiled at the joke, then grew serious. “I need to know where you got that burner phone from.”

  Saskia’s face straightened as well. “I told you, I can’t say.”

  “I know you did, and I hate to ask. I know how much of a risk you took getting me the phone.” Shaun paced the room, wondering how to get the information she needed without pushing Saskia into disclosing something she didn’t want to. “Okay, let’s try this another way. You don’t have to tell me who gave you the phone, but can you tell me, is it someone who works here?”

  Saskia chewed her lip, thinking about Shaun’s question. She must have decided it wouldn’t hurt to give Shaun what she was asking. “Yeah, I have a friend who works here, for my father. He’d be in really big trouble if it got out that he gave me a burner phone, so I won’t say who he is.”

  “I understand,” Shaun reassured her. “You don’t need to say anything else.”

  Saskia tilted her head, her sharp gaze on Shaun’s face. “Why are you asking me? Did something happen?”

  Now it was Shaun’s turn to decide how much to give the younger woman. She didn’t want Saskia to be left in the dark when she’d gone out on a limb to help Shaun, but she also didn’t want to pull Saskia further into her mess. Finally, Shaun decided that Saskia should be warned.

  “Jozef knows about the phone.” When Saskia gasped and looked alarmed, Shaun rushed to reassure the young woman. “He’s not angry, but he did talk to your father and found out the phone was a plant. Krystoff was trying to trap me with that phone call I made.”

  Saskia jumped down from the chairs and grabbed Shaun by the arms. “Did you say anything incriminating during the call?”

  The line could’ve been part of a bad detective film, yet it was directed at Shaun in earnest because both women knew if Shaun had taken a misstep in her recorded conversation she would be in big trouble. They likely wouldn’t be chatting cozily in a closet together.

  Shaun shook her head.

  “Thank god.” Saskia released Shaun. She frowned and paced up and down the storage room, her arms crossed over her chest. “It doesn’t make any sense though. The guy who gave me the phone wouldn’t betray me.” Her eyes lifted guiltily to Shaun. She’d said more than she intended to. “He… he cares about me.”

  Shaun’s understanding of the situation grew. Saskia had gotten the phone from an admirer, a man she trusted, but Shaun wasn’t so sure the young woman should trust a man under her father’s employ. She didn’t want to scare Saskia, but she wanted her to be careful around the person willing to give her a burner phone. A man who may or may not have manipulated her.

  “Saskia…” She wasn’t sure what she wanted to say, and finally settled on, “if you ever need anything, please come to me. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”

  It was a weak promise, considering she held no real power within the household, but she was intelligent and resourceful. If Saskia needed her, she’d find a way to protect her.

  “Should we go back to the party?” Shaun asked, reaching for the door. “Considering I’m the guest of honour, I should probably attend for at least a few minutes.”

  They were halfway out of the closet when Shaun found herself pushed back inside.

  “Hey!” She twisted around to look at her attacker and found herself face-to-face with Jozef. He winked at his cousin and slammed the door in her face.

  When he turned back to Shaun, his gaze was distinctly predatory.

  “What?” she asked, backing away from him.

  You left me alone with that soul-sucking witch. His eyes were gleaming with lust and mischief as he stalked her into the far reaches of the closet.

  “I figured you’d be okay in the claws… I mean hands of an old girlfriend,” Shaun said casually, feeling anything but casual. Sexual tension filled the closet, sizzling and snapping around them like a live wire, heating the air with their energy.

  She continued to back away from him, into the shadowy depths of the closet until her back hit something hard. Glancing over her shoulder she realized she was pressed up against a stack of tables. Jozef gave her a another charged look as he reached for her, dragging her into his embrace, his intentions clear.
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  “Don’t rip my new dress,” she told him breathlessly, right before his lips met hers.

  His kiss was seductive, immediately pulling her into the wild vortex of sizzling sensuality that constantly surrounded them. She never knew a man could taste so good, like heat, smoke and the forbidden. Jozef was every female fantasy come to life, impossible to resist for a mere mortal. Shaun didn’t even try. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he dragged her more fully into his embrace.

  They kissed as if time didn’t matter, as if the engagement party of the season wasn’t on the other side of the door, the orchestra now in full swing. Shaun realized the orchestra was playing a rendition of Don’t Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult. The wild, heart pumping music entwined them as they clung to each other, kissing as though they would never get another chance. Shaun’s heart beat with the music, with the sweep of Jozef’s hands, with the beat of his heart against her chest.

  She gasped into his mouth as he lifted her off the ground and set her ass on the table behind her. It rocked under her, but she trusted him to keep her safe. His skilled hands swept her body, caressing, touching, memorizing. He bunched her skirt in his fist and yanked it up past her hips. Shaun spread her legs and wrapped them around his waist, dragging him closer.

  Jozef reached between them, gripped the soaking crotch of her delicate lace panties and tore. She moaned into his mouth, the sting of the tearing fabric on her thighs driving her higher into exhilarating passion. He sank his fingers into her needy pussy, stroking her until she was so turned on she was riding his hand, thrusting her hips against him.

  “Please, Jozef, please….” Whimpers spilled from her lips, igniting the simmering blaze of his answering desire.

  He freed his cock from the confines of his pants, pressed the crown against her and thrust home. Their eyes met, soul-searing blue clashing with golden brown in a moment of total unity. Shaun had never felt such intense attraction before, and it was unlikely she would find it again with anyone else. They were a perfectly imperfect match.

  He hugged her to him and fucked her, at first slow and gentle, but soon his thrusts became ferocious. His hips slammed into the cradle of her thighs, bruising the tender flesh, the tiny bite of pain that sent her higher and higher. She tried to bite back the screams that threatened to erupt, but his wild lovemaking took her over completely.

  Shaun screamed as her orgasm hit with the force of a lightning bolt, slamming through her body and sending her into the stratosphere. He continued fucking his way into her as she tightened around him, strangling his cock with the force of her orgasm. He grunted against her throat and bit her neck, taking the delicate necklace into his mouth for a moment. She thought he might break it, but he used it to tantalize her, dragging the metal along her skin as he licked and nipped.

  As she floated down, surrounded by a cloud of utter bliss, Jozef reached his own peak. He thrust his tongue into her ear as he came inside her, his cock growing unbearably large. The sensation of his tongue in her ear and his cock slamming against her cervix sent Shaun spiralling over the edge once more.

  As they both drifted back to the present, Jozef pressed his forehead to hers, their breaths mingling in unison. Finally, he pulled out of her. Instead of stepping away, he ran his fingers through her folds, gathering their combined fluids. He brought his fingers up to her mouth, the scent of them reaching out to her in an erotic embrace.

  He held still, waiting for her. She leaned forward and sucked his fingers into her mouth, swirling her tongue around the roughened digits. He growled, the sound sending pleasurable shivers down her spine. Then he took it one step further and leaned in to take her lips, thrusting his tongue past his own fingers into the depths of her mouth, then finishing by sucking his own finger.

  Shaun was breathless and brainless by the time he stepped away from her. She was so fuck-drunk, the mansion could’ve caught on fire and she wouldn’t have noticed.

  “I’m a mess,” she said, with a breathless laugh. She was giddy from the endorphins rushing through her.

  You will not clean up; you will wear our love proudly on your thighs.

  She stared at him in shock. Not because he was asking her to walk around a room full of people with his cum dripping down her legs. He’d used the wrong sign for love. Instead of tapping his fist against his palm as if to say something was a symbol of love, such as their combined fluids, he used the crossed fists. Romantic love. Unless her sign language lessons were completely failing her, his words roughly translated to, “I love you and want the world to know.”

  He helped her off the table, lowered her skirt and took her hand, leading her from the closet.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  “There you two are,” Dasha scolded, though her tone was jovial. The party was turning into a spectacular success and it was clear she couldn’t be happier. “Come meet the Croziers, they flew in from New York just to be here for your special day.”

  Shaun and Jozef linked fingers, a united force, as they were paraded around the ballroom and introduced to a dizzying number of people. Shaun accepted a champagne glass somewhere along the way, and another as her empty one was replaced the instant the last drop slipped down her throat. She didn’t drink often and was beginning to feel the effects of the champagne. She became more relaxed, her responses to whatever inquiries came her way far more candid than they would have been if she’d been sober.

  For a shining moment, Shaun felt as if she belonged to this glamorous and wealthy family. She was one of them. She was able to talk about her career with their guests as if it were simply on hold while she and Jozef figured out their future together. No longer the kidnap victim, she could pretend that she and the man by her side were deeply in love.

  Dasha explained to Princess Amelia of Andorra that Jozef and Shaun had met in a hospital in Ukraine while she was treating him for concussion. Shaun laughed in all the right places as doctor-patient jokes became the norm for the evening. She smiled and faked her way through everything, pretending she was nothing more than a soon-to-be happy bride, while the slippery sensation between her thighs reminded her of her closet tryst.

  It wasn’t until she looked at her fiancé that she saw the truth in the shutter that had dropped over his face as she was paraded in front of dozens of crime families. It didn’t take Shaun long to realize that she was being shown off to all these people, not as a way to introduce her to the world, but to tie her more firmly to the family. Being known by everyone who associated with the Kobas would make escape that much more impossible. She was well and truly caught in their trap. Her introduction also had the added bonus of ensuring she looked like a happy, healthy and very willing soon-to-be bride if anyone recognized her as the missing doctor from Luhansk.

  Desperation rose up inside her, threatening to choke her. She felt suddenly hot and a little sick. She looked around for Jozef, finding him deep in conversation with Havel. He frowned as he caught sight of her expression and immediately made his way to her side, sliding his arm along her back. His warmth helped to steady her, but she still didn’t feel well.

  By the time a third glass of champagne was pressed into her hand, Shaun was done. She didn’t want to be there anymore. She looked up at Jozef, who was studying her with concern. “I… I…” She didn’t know what she wanted. She took a long sip of her drink to clear the cobwebs. “I think I’m done pretending.”

  Jozef didn’t ask her what she meant by ‘pretending’, he simply nodded. Do you want to leave?

  “Yes.”

  He took her arm and led her deeper into the room. At first Shaun held back, unsure why he’d be taking her further into the throng of guests when he was supposed to be getting her out of there. Then she realized he was guiding her toward the doors, which were opened into the rose garden. Relief rushed through her as the fresh air hit her heated skin.

  Giselle stepped in front of them before they could reach the door, cutting them off. Shaun was so annoyed at the other woman, that sh
e stepped in front of Jozef to confront her. This was one situation where verbal communication was needed. Bitch just wasn’t smart enough to understand Jozef’s less than subtle fuck off when he threw her into a wall at the club.

  “Leave,” Shaun said coldly.

  She was standing in front of Jozef so she couldn’t see his expression, but assumed it was something that would back her up.

  “Do you have any idea who I am?” Giselle hissed.

  “No,” Shaun admitted. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

  Giselle looked shocked, clearly having assumed Shaun was a nobody. Which of course she was when it came to the circles these people inhabited. Thank god for that. So far at the hands of their party guests she’d experienced a boatload of fake congratulations, some jealousy and a whole lot of speculation. She was pretty sure she didn’t want to be friends with a single one of them.

  “And who exactly are you?” Giselle eyed Shaun as if she might’ve missed something in her previous assessments. Maybe Shaun was the American heiress to a perfume fortune? Or maybe she was the illegitimate love child of a king.

  “I am Dr. Shaun Patterson of Montréal, Canada,” Shaun told the other woman, her voice strong as she defended her right to be there. “Six weeks ago, I reached into an open chest cavity and pumped a heart with my bare hands, the blood of my patient slipping through my fingers. I saved that man’s life. What have you done lately?”

  Giselle stared with her mouth open. She suddenly looked less glamorous in her low-cut black evening gown, her neck and wrists dripping in Cartier diamonds. Her eyes moved over Shaun’s shoulder; Shaun assumed to meet Jozef’s gaze. Whatever Giselle saw there crushed any last hope the tenacious woman might have had.

  Shaun was suddenly seized by a painful cramp in her stomach. It was everything she could do to remain upright and not ruin her grand moment. Eyes bright with tears, Giselle drifted away without saying another word.