Jozef stared at Vasiliy.
He had to make some decisions and Vasiliy wouldn’t like any of them.
Why did you tell me this? Jozef asked.
He almost wished Vasiliy had kept the information to himself. Though Jozef had ordered his cousin’s death, it didn’t sit well with him. When Leeza escaped with her son, Jozef had been relieved. He could let her go; let her live her life somewhere else, away from the mafia world they grew up in.
Now, Jozef was faced with a much worse scenario. Leeza had been building her own empire, her own army over the years, using her biological father’s resources. Jozef couldn’t allow her to live. She was more of a threat to him than ever.
Vasiliy watched Jozef work through his thoughts and emotions. When Jozef finally looked him in the eye, Vasiliy spoke, but instead of answering Jozef’s question, he asked one of his own. “Why did you come here?”
Jozef wanted to rage at Vasiliy, demand his answers, kill him on the spot. His upbringing, his training, was clashing with the man he’d become in the past year, outside of the Koba influence. It confused him, made him feel off-balance. His legendary calm, his ability to assess all situations and see a way through was failing him. Everything was murky when it should be clear. He felt lost, felt like a failure.
He couldn’t keep Shaun happy. Had traumatized her yet again with his family and his way of life.
Why had he come to Vasiliy?
Their last meeting should have been the last time they saw each other. Jozef had spared Vasiliy’s life, and in return the old man was supposed to remain in hiding, away from the politics and power of the Bratva influence.
Vasiliy had done his part. The only thing he was guilty of was omitting the truth of who his daughter was.
Finally, after a few minutes of introspection, Jozef told Vasiliy the truth. You got out. You forged a life away from the mafia, the life you were born into.
Vasiliy watched Jozef, his expression sad. Jozef could’ve hated Vasiliy if he’d looked at him with pity or knowing arrogance. Instead, he looked at Jozef with compassion. A compassion he sorely needed.
“This life destroys our children, Jozef,” Vasiliy said heavily. “They’re raised with the privileges of the mafia, but it’s not a happy life. All the power and money in the world won’t buy what you’re missing. You’ve just taken on an enormous burden by taking over the Koba holdings. You need allies, the right kind, to have your back.”
Jozef nodded his agreement. He’d been raised to become the family guard dog. The position had held pride and power, but it hadn’t fulfilled him. He’d created his own team, a brotherhood, in search of whatever elusive thing he’d been missing. While his men were like family, they never quite filled in the missing piece. Not until he met Shaun.
As if reading Jozef’s mind, Vasiliy said, “She loves you, the same as your family did. The difference is, she also cares about you. She loves you deeply, not because of what you do, but in spite of it.”
Jozef’s heart was pounding and his eyes burned. He should hate Vasiliy, the failed mobster who was lecturing him on what he needed in life, but he knew better. This was why he had come. He needed to see another way to live, make some decisions.
Jozef stood and looked steadily at Vasiliy before signing, thank you for being so forthcoming, as well as accommodating my wife and myself. We appreciate your hospitality. I will take all that you have told me into consideration before making any decisions about your daughter.
Without waiting for a reply from Vasiliy, Jozef strode away from the other man, through the makeshift tunnel and back into the house. He slipped quietly into the bedroom and sat on the bed next to Shaun.
He looked down at her face, which was bathed in the moonlight pushing its way through the crack in the curtain. She looked peaceful, much more so than she had since their lives exploded all around them. Her mouth was open slightly and she was breathing heavily, one arm flung over her head while the other was curled against her neck.
Jozef wanted to give her the world, because she deserved the world, but what kind of world did she want to live in? What kind of world was best for her?
Jozef curled on his side on top of the blanket, facing her so he could watch her as he drifted into sleep. For the first time in a long time, he fell asleep with his back to the door.
They stayed with Vasiliy for two-and-a-half days. Jozef had only intended to stay for one, but the peace Shaun was finding in spending time in the cottage, the woods and with Vasiliy was worth the extra days. She slept without nightmares, heartily ate whatever food Vasiliy put in front of her, and smiled more than Jozef had seen her smile in months.
The time spent with Vasiliy was good for Jozef as well. Though Jozef knew he had to get back, that the Bratva were watching him carefully, waiting for him to misstep, he couldn’t bring himself to regret their impromptu vacation. The problems of his new empire melted away and he was able to spend time in his own head without the clutter of a lifetime of responsibility.
It was their last day with Vasiliy. They would walk out of the woods in a few hours, timing their departure with the setting of the sun. They would have daylight until they reached their car and made their way back to the highway. Jozef would have to drive through the night, while Shaun slept in the passenger seat, but it was worth giving her as much time as he could in the peaceful setting.
She was on her hands and knees next to Vasiliy, pulling weeds from his small garden with a trowel. It was winter, and the air was chill, but Shaun was determined to spend as much time outdoors as she could. Once they finished clearing the patch they were working on, Vasiliy would insist on filling Shaun with cider and cookies until she was warm and pleasantly stuffed.
Vasiliy laughed loudly at whatever Shaun had said to him, and she grinned at him. She was telling him an anecdote about her mother’s garden in Montreal. Something about Fitzy chasing a squirrel through it and breaking every sunflower stem as his chubby body smacked them on the way by.
She glanced over her shoulder at Jozef, her dark eyes dancing. His lips quirked and he winked at her. She looked startled and laughed. He supposed it was the first time she was seeing him so carefree.
After they shared cider and snacks with Vasiliy, it was time to go. Shaun hugged the older man tightly, murmuring her thanks to him for his hospitality. He patted her back and told her to come back any time, with or without Jozef.
Jozef didn’t comment. There was no chance Shaun would travel anywhere without him, let alone through a forest to meet a retired mobster.
Jozef was startled when Vasiliy reached out to grip his shoulders, then pulled him in for a hug. He stood with his arms dangling at his sides as Vasiliy held him.
Outside of Shaun, it was rare for anyone to touch Jozef. The embrace was uncomfortable, but not terrible. Finally, he lifted his arms and thumped Vasiliy’s back before stepping quickly away.
Before Jozef could fully extricate himself from the hug, Vasiliy took him by the shoulder and said seriously, “You will find your path, son. You’re a strong man. Your parents would be proud.”
Jozef nodded and glanced away, catching Shaun’s gaze. She took his hand and squeezed.
They left Vasiliy and the cottage behind and made their way back through the woods. The setting sun lit the surrounding forest, turning the bed of leaves beneath their feet into an array of bright yellows, greens and reds. Shaun reached down to pick up an oak tree leaf and held it against her nose, inhaling.
When they reached the car, they discovered a gift sitting in the passenger seat. Jozef frowned. The car had been locked and the area was crawling with his men.
The car also had an alarm that would send an alert to his phone if it’d been broken into. Whoever left the small gift-wrapped package had used keys to get inside; Jozef’s keys.
It had to be Vasiliy.
Jozef unlocked the Buggati and reached inside, picking up the package.
“What’s that?” Shaun asked curiously, peeking over
Jozef’s shoulder.
He shook his head.
The old man was enigmatic. Caring, but crafty. Whatever Jozef was holding was a message. The placement had been carefully orchestrated to show Jozef that Vasiliy might seem innocuous, but the retired mobster still had some tricks up his sleeve.
“Is it safe to open?”
Though it saddened him that because of his lifestyle Shaun had to think in terms of what was safe and what was not, he was proud of her for asking instead of simply reacting to a gift.
He thought about it and then nodded, handing the package to her. The placement of the package was a somewhat sinister message to Jozef, but if Vasiliy had wanted to hurt them, he’d had two-and-a-half days to do it.
Shaun tore the wrapping paper, revealing a wooden box, about a foot long and half a foot wide. Jozef suspected he knew what was inside, and Shaun’s sharp intake of breath, along with her exclamation, “It’s so beautiful!” told him he was correct.
Jozef looked down at the open box. Nestled in a bed of red velvet was a doll. It was rounded with the traditional shape of Russian nesting dolls. The body was painted in a red and white dress with brown clog shoes. Its face was a deep mahogany with lighter brown circles painted on the cheeks. It had beautiful chocolate brown eyes. The curly hair was created with short black swirls, outlined in white to make them seem almost real.
Despite the doll being a caricature, it looked remarkably similar to Shaun.
She set the wooden box down on the hood of the Bugatti.
Jozef wondered if Havel was watching them. He would be appalled that Shaun was using the hood of Jozef’s high-end car as a table. Jozef didn’t care. He’d buy a new one if she scratched it. He’d rather buy a thousand cars than say anything to wipe the expression of wonder from her face as she lifted the top from the first nesting doll to reveal the one beneath.
Shaun laughed out loud and pointed at the face. The second doll looked very much like the first, but this one was wearing a dress of blue instead of red, and one of its eyes was closed in a mischievous wink.
Shaun lifted the next doll, revealing the last one. Both eyes were half lowered, and it was wearing a white lab coat. Shaun laughed when she noticed a stethoscope around the doll’s neck and hugged it to her chest.
It was worth it. Bringing Shaun to Poland was worth leaving his post for a few days. If he was being honest with himself, Jozef had to admit he was more relaxed too, refreshed, and determined to make their new life work in a way he despaired of a few days earlier.
Chapter Eleven
“You can’t take off like that.”
Jozef stared across his desk at his second-in-command.
The moment Jozef was back in the mansion, Havel hunted him down and insisted on a meeting. Though he’d kept his distance while they were in Poland, he’d been furious at Jozef’s impromptu vacation.
Jozef understood. They were in the middle of a takeover, the Bratva were breathing down their necks, the Koba women were in the wind, probably scattered across Europe looking for allies. Jozef had abandoned his responsibilities to give Shaun some time away from the pressures surrounding them and the grim reality of living in the mansion again.
“We need to talk about this,” Havel snapped when Jozef failed to react to his demand. “I can’t protect you if you go off on your own. Our enemies could’ve been sitting at the gate, waiting for you to emerge without your usual entourage. Hell, you didn’t even try to cover your tracks into Poland. We were on your tail almost the entire way. The only reason we didn’t catch up right away is that damn Bugatti is faster than anything else we have.”
Jozef let out a growling laugh. When Shaun had fallen asleep, he’d let the car fly, opening it up to its full potential as it ate up the highway.
Instead of addressing Havel’s concerns, Jozef signed, my cousin is the Phantom.
Jozef watched Havel’s face closely. Havel was loyal to a fault. He was the one person besides Shaun that Jozef would rely on without a second thought. But Havel loved Jozef’s cousin with an unrequited longing that could twist his loyalties. Jozef knew, because he loved Shaun the same way. Though she returned his love, Jozef knew she didn’t feel the obsessive pull he did. If she asked him to kill Havel, Jozef wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. Of course, part of the reason he loved Shaun was because she would never ask him to do such a thing.
Jozef knew he was fucked up inside. Accepted it in the way he accepted the mafia life as his only course of existence. It was the same for Havel. They were mafia through and through. They were brothers, but they were also twisted.
If Havel loved as deeply as Jozef, then their friendship and partnership could be in jeopardy. It was why Jozef was being blunt with his second-in-command and watching the other man’s reactions closely.
Though Havel had stood by when Jozef ordered Leeza’s death a few weeks earlier, Jozef had felt the other man’s resistance, his pain. It was the same thing Jozef had felt when he’d put a gun to Shaun’s head. The pull between worlds. To kill the woman he loved or to let her live.
“It makes sense,” Havel said, his face still in the same hard lines they’d been in when he confronted Jozef. “Saskia has been a sneaky thorn in the side of this family for years. She must’ve started young, though. The first rumours we had that the Phantom was active started a few years ago. She would’ve been around fifteen.”
Jozef was amused at Havel’s assumption. He hadn’t thought of Saskia, but the brat certainly had the potential to cause the havoc the Phantom had caused in the Koba family.
Jozef shook his head. Not S-A-S-K-I-A.
Havel stared at him. “Impossible.”
Jozef stared back, giving Havel time to absorb the new information. It took Havel about as long as it had taken Jozef to connect the dots. Leeza’s withdrawal, her secretive nature, her trips to the gun range. Her shopping getaways that failed to produce the expected purchases.
“I don’t understand,” Havel said, his voice low. “I thought I knew her.”
Jozef thought Havel was talking to himself rather than Jozef, but he caught Havel’s attention and began signing, telling the other man everything, including Leeza’s parentage.
The two men discussed the recent development at length, piecing together the story until they thought they came up with the complete picture.
“Why do you think she kidnapped Krystoff?” Havel asked.
It’s only a guess until we can get our hands on her, but I think it was for two reasons: to see if she could infiltrate the family with her newfound resources, and for revenge.
“Revenge?”
Jozef nodded. My uncle pushed her into a marriage she hated. We all thought her withdrawal was from a bad marriage, but I now believe it was so she could build her new empire.
“She was always smarter than we gave her credit for,” Havel murmured, still looking like he’d been struck with a bat.
Jozef couldn’t disagree. Leeza had been the quiet, obedient one. She didn’t get in trouble like her sister. As a result, she was often overlooked, left to her own devices. Even as a child.
Jozef remembered back to the day he accompanied her on a trip to the gun range and discovered she could easily out-shoot any man on the property. When Jozef had commented, she’d laughed it off and said she’d played too many video games with Saskia as a child. Jozef knew better now.
Havel asked the million-dollar question. “What are you going to do?”
Jozef made a decision that he’d been contemplating since discovering who Leeza really was. He couldn’t leave her to run loose. She was too dangerous now, and she carried the genes of her mother. Dasha had shown how the intelligent women of their family could go wrong. It would be a deadly mistake to underestimate Dasha’s daughter.
You can have her, Jozef signed.
Havel stared at him in disbelief. “Come again?”
I will give her to you in marriage, if you want her.
Jozef observed his friend, watching hi
s face for signs of rejection. Rather than immediately shutting down Jozef’s idea, he nodded his head slowly.
“Yes, I’ll take her.”
Jozef felt immense relief at Havel’s acceptance. He hadn’t wanted to put his cousin down. He’d grown up with her, protected her, even played with her when she was small. It had gutted him to order her death a few weeks earlier. This moment felt like redemption for that decision. He didn’t have to kill a beautiful, intelligent, and resourceful woman. He would put a leash on her and hand her over to his best friend.
Ensure her widowhood before you take her in marriage.
“Not a problem,” Havel said easily, a gleam in his eyes as he thought about taking out Leeza’s abusive husband.
Closeted in the office, they discussed every aspect of their new enterprise, taking on the Koba organization. It wasn’t something Jozef had wanted or prepared for. He’d been happy making a success of Guard Dog Securities, and now the ground beneath his feet had shifted again. He was happy to have a staunch ally and friend in Havel, who understood everything Jozef was dealing with and supported him.
The two men agreed that Guard Dog Securities would run as is, though Havel would replace Jozef as lead on the missions. Jozef was needed at home. He would organize their people in the city and throughout the Czech Republic, then make moves to take Ukraine, since Vasiliy had left a leadership vacuum that had yet to be filled by a powerful organization.
It was while they were discussing Jozef’s upcoming responsibilities that Havel finally spoke his mind.
“It’s time to take your head out of your ass and look around,” Havel said in his usual blunt manner. “Appear strong if you wish to keep everything that has fallen to you. You cannot question yourself, or your place, or the Bratva will step in.”
Jozef narrowed his eyes at his second-in-command but didn’t shut him down. This was why Jozef was an effective leader. He listened to what his men had to say, particularly Havel, whether they were imparting good information or bad information. As long as they had something valid to say, he would listen.
Goodnight, Sinners (Sinner's Empire Book 3) Page 7