Madison chose the master suite on the main floor while Saskia chose the loft bedroom. As she set her backpack down on the queen-sized bed, she looked around in awe. Huge skylights filled the room with light, casting soft shadows across the fluffy white duvet. Warmth caressed her skin, softening the brittleness of the last couple of weeks. The loft was huge, the furniture sleek, the ambiance modern, all of which appealed to her.
Unable to resist, Saskia let the lure of luxury lead her into the soft covers of the bed. She was still wearing her travel clothes, but she didn’t care. Being surrounded by safety for the first time in weeks was a lullaby to her anxious brain.
She fell asleep almost instantly and slept heavily until something woke her up.
Saskia blinked into the gloom, trying to remember where she was as her exhausted brain played catch up. The shadows had shifted as the day progressed.
She yawned widely and glanced at the skylight over her bed. It was now dark out. She’d lost most of the day to sleep. She flipped the blankets back and shifted to the edge of the bed. That’s when her brain registered what had woken her.
Voices.
She heard an indistinct murmur from the floor below hers. Since the loft was open, she could creep close to the stairs leading down and hear what was being said.
“Let me talk to her first.” Saskia glanced down to see Madison talking to her father. She was about to interrupt them, when Madison said, “I don’t want her to hate me. I can make her understand.”
Lord Grayson, a tall, grey-haired man, snorted. “You think she’ll understand that you’ve betrayed her for a luxury trip to New York with your boyfriend? No, Maddy, she’s dangerous. Better to let me handle this. We’ll have her removed quietly and sent back to her family.”
Saskia didn’t have time to process the betrayal of one of her closest friends. The moment Lord Grayson finished his sentence, she flew back into the bedroom, scooped up her backpack and frantically looked for an exit.
There was nothing in the bedroom, and of course the windows were sealed shut since they were on the top floor of a high-rise.
She ran down the carpeted hallway as Madison and her father continued to argue. Finally, she found a door with an exit sign over it. The alarm would go off once she pushed the door open, but it wasn’t a problem. She just had to be smart and run as fast as she could.
She pulled her pack off her shoulder and dug through the contents until she came up with a can of pepper spray. She secured the backpack and took a deep breath. Holding the pepper spray in front of her, she shoved the door open and flung herself onto the landing of a stairwell.
Unfortunately, she flung herself into the arms of a very startled security guard. She lifted the spray and let loose on the man, searing his eyes with the noxious concoction. The spray drifted back toward her, so she squinted her eyes and slid past the screaming man.
Sadly, he wasn’t the only security personnel in the stairwell to the penthouse. There were two more men behind him, and though the first man was leaning against the wall coughing, his eyes streaming, his compatriots were in perfect control. They grabbed her, one of them smashing her arm into the wall until she let go of the cannister.
“Don’t you fucking touch me!” she shrieked as she was bodily lifted off the floor and dragged back into the penthouse.
She fought tooth and nail, but the men holding her had a good grip and she’d never really learned how to fight. Not like her mother and sister. She was more the laze-in-bed-and-read-a-novel kind of girl. Now she was paying for her lack of combat skill. Possibly with her life.
They marched her from the stairwell where their comrade was groaning in agony, back through the loft and down the stairs to where Madison and Lord Grayson were looking up at them.
When Madison realized what was going on, she yelled, “Don’t hurt her!”
“What the fuck do you care?” Saskia shouted furiously. “You lied to me. You told me I would be safe and I believed you.”
The years of friendship fell to dust on the floor as Madison’s face crumpled in guilt. Maybe if she’d betrayed Saskia for a better reason, like her father threatened her, Saskia might have been able to forgive her. But a trip to New York? No, after today, Madison was dead to her.
“Calm down, Ms. Koba.” Lord Grayson held a hand up as though offended by the commotion.
Saskia rolled her eyes. Was she supposed to go quietly to what might end in a bullet to the brain? Not fucking likely.
“What happened to calling me Saskia?” she demanded, disgust in her voice. “That’s what you used to call me when I would run barefoot through your garden, picking wildflowers with your daughter. You remember that?”
He flinched, and she felt mildly better that she’d scored a hit. When Madison had sent out messages to all of Saskia’s social media and email accounts, begging her to get in touch after the collapse of the Koba empire, Saskia had truly thought she had an ally in her childhood friend. The betrayal stung. Though not as much as Madison would sting if Saskia could get her hands on the other woman for a few seconds.
“You’ll be better off if you go back to your family,” Lord Grayson said, his voice low, as though he meant to be soothing. “They’re desperate to get you back.”
“I’ll bet they are!” she snarled. “My father is dead, asshole, and my mother is on the run, afraid for her life, and you’re going to send me back to the man who plans on killing her. Excuse me if I don’t thank you.”
He shook his head in disappointment. “I wouldn’t send you back if I didn’t think it was safe.”
“Maybe we should think about this…” Madison interrupted, indecision in her voice.
Saskia ignored her former friend. “How much is he paying you for my ‘safe’ return?”
The kindly expression melted away, leaving behind the calculating mask of a man who was putting money ahead of Saskia’s life. “You were always a clever little thing.”
“It doesn’t take cleverness to figure out your motivation for returning me to the man who killed my father and took over my home,” she countered.
“Spare me the poor child campaign, it won’t work.” He nodded at the men holding her. “Take her. Use the needle, she won’t go quietly.”
Saskia snorted. “You sound like a Bond villain.”
When one of the men pulled a syringe from his pocket and uncapped it, Saskia began the fight. It was useless, though. Both of the men holding her outweighed her by a lot and had far more experience restraining a person than she had in escaping.
“What are you poisoning me with?” she demanded, her voice becoming higher pitched as hysteria took over.
Lord Grayson looked pitying, but not enough to stop what he’d orchestrated. “It’s just a shot of GHB to make you more compliant. It won’t hurt you.”
Saskia fought as hard as she could and twisted one of her arms out of their grip. She swung her fist around, but Lord Grayson stepped up to help hold her while they stuck her in the arm with the needle.
They continued to hold her until she stopped fighting them. “Okay, okay,” she snapped. “Let me up.”
They’d wrestled her to the floor, but once she was calm, helped her back to her feet. One of them still held her arm in case she bolted. She rubbed the needle prick with her hand and glared at everyone.
“I hope your conscience gives you restless nights for the rest of your damn lives. You’re sending an innocent woman to her death.”
Madison gasped, but her father shook his head. “Enough dramatics.” His gaze shifted to the men. “You can take her downstairs. The drug will take effect in the next few minutes, which should help quiet her.”
Each man took an arm and started to haul Saskia away. Madison stepped into their path and reached out to touch Saskia.
“I’m so sorry – “ she tried to say.
“Get away from her!” Madison’s father shouted.
It was too late. Saskia slammed her forehead into Madison’s nose, producing
a satisfying crack and sending her former friend flying backwards into the arms of her father, blood spurting from her nose.
Saskia’s head hurt like a bitch and she felt blood drip onto her cheek. Her lips stretched into a feral grin.
“Have fun in New York, Maddy.”
“Get her out of here!” Lord Grayson snarled as he reached for his sobbing daughter’s face.
Saskia’s day might end in a bullet to the brain, but at least she had the satisfaction of knowing she’d fucked up Madison’s beautiful face. Bitch had always had more looks than sense.
Chapter Seventeen
Shaun woke slowly to the constant shaking of her shoulder. She mumbled and tried to roll away from the annoying thing that was touching her. The sound of a soft chuckle annoyed her further so she pushed herself up in the bed and glared around the room, trying find the source of her ire.
Of course, no one except Jozef was allowed in their bedroom unless there was an emergency, so it was his face she saw, lit by the soft glow of a lamp. She tried to blink away the heaviness of her sleep as she focused on him, the annoyance at being woken up falling away. Jozef didn’t wake her unless he had a good reason.
“What’s wrong?” she asked groggily.
He began signing and it took a moment for her sleepy brain to catch up and follow his signals.
“Saskia?” she asked, finally picking up on what he was trying to tell her. “Saskia is here?”
He nodded, his expression serious.
Shaun fought with the bedding until she could slide off the bed and stand, wobbling on her feet. As soon as she was steady, she rushed to the closet and pulled her bathrobe off the hook on the back of the door.
She tied the sash and looked expectantly at Jozef.
He escorted her through their suite with a hand at her back.
Shaun was anxious to see Saskia; to lay eyes on the younger woman and make damn sure she was okay. Two weeks earlier, when Shaun had asked after Saskia, Jozef had bluntly told her the truth. Saskia believed her life was in danger and had gone on the run.
Shaun had been shocked, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized it was a natural response. Jozef’s clear path to the Koba organization was through wiping out anyone with a claim on it. When Shaun had this realization, she’d demanded to know what Jozef’s plans for his cousin were, fearing the worst.
He’d assured her that he only wanted to find Saskia safe and sound and bring her home. He’d been so earnest in his worry over his young cousin that Shaun realized he had no intention of harming Saskia. Her relief had been short-lived though, the longer it took to track her. Saskia was intelligent and resourceful. Part of Shaun thought maybe Saskia’s best shot at a happy and normal life would be to disappear for good and have nothing more to do with the Koba family. But pain shot through Shaun as she imagined never seeing Saskia again. The two women had bonded while Shaun had been a captive and again when Shaun was brought back to Prague. If there was one truly innocent member of the Koba family, it was Saskia. She deserved the best of everything but kept getting the short end of the stick.
Shaun and Jozef walked swiftly down the wide, ornately decorated hallway to Saskia’s suite. It had been left untouched, waiting for its owner to reclaim it.
When a quick glance failed to produce Saskia, Shaun continued through to the bedroom. Sure enough, Saskia was laid out on her bed, one arm flung over her head and the other resting against her chest. It looked like she’d been dropped on the bed and left. Havel was standing on one side of the bed while Terek, another member of Jozef’s team, stood on the other. Both men looked relieved to see Shaun, who rushed to the bed.
Jozef stood watching from the doorway as Shaun checked Saskia’s pulse, which was strong and steady. Shaun sighed her relief and sat gingerly on the bed beside her.
“What happened to her?” she demanded, looking around accusingly at the men.
It was Havel who answered.
“She was picked up in London by a contact, but apparently fought the people hosting her so they drugged her.” Disapproval coloured his tone, which made Shaun feel more lenient toward him. “Idiots couldn’t handle one small girl with zero fighting experience.”
“Do you know what they gave her?” Shaun rested her hand on Saskia’s forehead. It was warm, but not unusually so.
“GHB,” Havel told her. “Two strong doses of it.”
“They gave her the date rape drug?” Shaun asked incredulously.
Havel nodded, then a smirk curved his lips. “Apparently she hit them with pepper spray and broke someone’s nose.”
Shaun spotted a faint bruise on Saskia’s forehead and wondered if that was how she broke someone’s nose. Good for her. Even if Havel insisted Saskia couldn’t fight, she was scrappy enough to make her hits count.
“Is she going to be okay?” Havel’s eyes were on Jozef when he spoke, though the question was aimed at Shaun. She suspected Jozef had been signing behind her.
“I think so, but we won’t know for sure until she’s awake.”
Havel and Terek quietly left the room.
Shaun tried to tell herself it wasn’t Jozef’s fault. When shit hit the fan a month ago, he couldn’t have imagined that the events would lead to his cousin being taken captive, drugged and returned to her family home.
Still, when Shaun finally looked up at him, she couldn’t help the accusation in her tone. “Why didn’t you just let her go?”
Jozef stepped closer to the bed. She’s a high value target. Always has been and always will be. She’s a member of one of the most powerful organizations in Eastern Europe. A prime target for kidnapping.
Shaun shook her head, still unable to let the lingering bitterness go. Saskia’s fate was too similar to her own. “She would’ve been happier if you’d let her find her own path.”
She would have found trouble. She belongs with her family.
“Her family isn’t the same family she knew.” Shaun tried to moderate her voice, but she felt the heat of suppressed anger licking at her. “Her father is dead, her mother and sister are gone, and you are responsible. I know you didn’t want this, but those are the facts. You’ve brought her home to a mess.”
Jozef couldn’t argue and didn’t try. Instead, he asked, does she need anything? Will she be okay?
“Physically, probably. Mentally? I don’t know.”
Jozef paced, gripping his head in his hands, his shoulders hunched. Some of Shaun’s anger melted in the face of his concern for his cousin. “I’ll stay with her until she wakes up, and then we should be able to tell if there was any harm caused by the shots she was given.”
Rather than leave, Jozef dropped into a chair.
Shaun made herself comfortable next to Saskia on the bed, leaning back against the headboard and brushing her hand down Saskia’s face. Shaun felt like she needed the comfort almost as much as Saskia. She couldn’t imagine how traumatizing it must’ve been for Saskia to be picked up and physically held against her will by a bunch of men. Actually, Shaun knew exactly how that felt, which was why she wanted to be there when Saskia woke up.
She settled more comfortably onto the pillows and wrapped her arms around Saskia.
Saskia felt weirdly fuzzy. Like she’d drank the entire Christmas party punch and was trying to sleep off a wicked hangover. Speaking of hangovers… the moment she tried to move, her head started pounding, and she felt like she was going to vomit.
She tried to shove the blankets away, only to find a pair of arms trapping her. Panicked, she tried to smack the arms away as bits and pieces of her memory returned and she realized she’d been kidnapped. Her hands were clumsy and she collapsed back against the bed. She would just have to throw up on whoever was holding her.
“You’re okay, it’s me.” The voice was quiet and soothing.
A woman. If it was Madison, Saskia was going to break her neck this time.
The face in front of hers swam and she had to blink a few times to clear her vis
ion. Shaun was leaning over her, a concerned expression on her face. Saskia reached up to touch her, to make sure she was real.
“You’re so pretty.”
She didn’t realize she’d said it out loud until Shaun’s concern changed to amusement. “I think you’re pretty, too.”
Saskia frowned. “Don’t do that,” she mumbled.
“Do what?” Shaun asked.
“You know….” Saskia licked her lips, they were so dry. “That thing when you don’t accept a compliment by turning it around.”
“Did I do that?”
Something in Shaun’s voice suggested she knew exactly what she’d done. Saskia tried to flick Shaun, but couldn’t coordinate her fingers. “You’re beautiful. As close to perfect as god could get.” She felt a burn of tears as her numb mind decided to compare Shaun’s body to hers. Shaun’s skin was flawless, her eyes sparkled and if that wasn’t enough to hate her, she was also tall and skinny. The exact opposite of Saskia.
“You’re pretty and that’s final.” Her words slurred.
Shaun laughed and leaned over to hug her. “I think you’re going to be okay.”
“Was I ever not?” Saskia asked, confused, then remembered the kidnapping. “Oh right, those assholes drugged me.”
A growl from the corner of the room drew Saskia’s attention, and she swivelled her head to see what kind of dog got in her bedroom. When she spotted Jozef, her heart leapt into her throat and fear radiated out of her like a beacon.
She scanned him and was relieved to see he was wearing a T-shirt and jeans with no visible holster. Still, she scrambled up in the bed and pressed herself against Shaun. He was far less likely to shoot her if she was wrapped around his girlfriend.
Shaun slipped her arms around Saskia, which made her feel like they were a united front against the threat of Saskia’s own family.
Jozef stood and slowly approached the bed, his eyes on her. His expression was one of concern, the same as Shaun’s had been. He didn’t look angry or like he had any intention of hurting her. Still, Saskia had to be sure.
Goodnight, Sinners (Sinner's Empire Book 3) Page 11