A Silent Reckoning: Sinner's Empire by Nikita Slater (ereader iphone .txt) 📗

stricken look on her face. Impatience rose up in Jozef as he strode across the floor of the club, bypassing the dancing patrons and ignoring the few who called out to him. He wanted to know what woman was so fearsome that his highly trained and armed men couldn’t handle her.

He strode up the VIP stairs and flung the velvet curtain open. The sight that greeted him would’ve been laughable if it didn’t strike a note of terror into his heart. The woman on the other side of the curtain was none other than Fatima Patterson. Shaun’s mother and his future mother-in-law.

She sat at the table, sipping a glass of wine and looking bored. On the table next to her was a plastic crate with metal bars. Jozef had a suspicion that the crate contained Shaun’s cat, Fitzy. On the ground next to Mrs. Patterson was a suitcase, which was bursting at the seams. When she caught sight of Jozef, her bored expression evaporated, fury replacing it.

He watched in shock as she clambered to her feet, the wrinkles in her travelling suit remaining as she stood to her full height, which wasn’t much. She was much shorter than Shaun. Her skin was lighter, and her hair was smooth and straight, unlike Shaun’s mane of wild curls.

Jozef tried to back up as she catapulted herself toward him, her finger shaking and her round face creasing with anger. Jozef backed into Havel who, immediately recognizing Shaun’s mother, turned tail and ran away, leaving Jozef alone. The big bald bodyguard was having nothing to do with the tiny volatile mother.

Give me back my daughter this instant, she signed, her lips pulling back into a ferocious snarl as she wagged her finger in Jozef’s face.

Rather than being insulted or angry, Jozef melted. She hadn’t even tried to communicate verbally with him, which meant she knew about him. Shaun had told her mother about him. He didn’t know how much, and he didn’t really care. In that moment, he loved the mother almost as much as he loved the daughter. They were special. They were fierce and beautiful, and they could communicate with him.

Jozef wanted to hug the woman but thought it might be too soon. The look on her face told him if he tried to touch her, she would tear out his heart with her bare hands.

You may see your daughter, he signed to her.

She stopped short and gaped at him for a few seconds, then she dropped her face into her hands and allowed her shoulders to slump. “Thank god.”

He realized that she hadn’t really had a plan upon entering the club. Her entire focus had probably been on getting to the Czech Republic as fast as she could and tracking down the man who’d taken her daughter. His heart melted further. She was a fighter.

He risked his life and gingerly took her arm, guiding her back to the table. She jerked it out of his grip and sank back into the booth. Jozef chose a seat across from her. He despised having his back to the curtain, with an entire room filled with people on the other side, but he was willing to make an exception.

When she looked at him, her eyes still glowed with anger, but her face and posture were composed once more.

How did you find me? Jozef signed.

She seemed to mull over whether to answer him or not, then she said, Shaun told me some things, but most of the information I got on you I got from following your trial. She picked up her glass of wine, her hand shaking, and took a long sip. She sighed as she replaced it back on the table, appearing steadier. After I found your name, I did some digging and discovered that you owned a nightclub in the city. I wasn’t sure which one, so I tried a few before I was directed here.

Her ingenuity amazed him, especially since she’d pieced together his whereabouts from across the world. It was her recklessness that surprised and chilled him. If the wrong person had gotten wind of her inquiries, if anyone guessed her connection to Jozef’s fiancé, she could’ve found herself in grave danger.

As if sensing the direction of his thoughts, she defended herself. I was discreet and careful. I’m not a dummy, Mr. Koba.

J-O-Z-E-F, he signed the letters of his name.

“Jozef,” she repeated his name.

He was transported back in time to the day he met Shaun. She’d asked him for his name, he assumed so she could forge a connection with him and use it to convince him not to kill her. She’d whispered his name to herself, much the same way her mother had just done. Though the two women didn’t look a lot alike, except for their radiant beauty, he could easily see the resemblance in personalities.

“You may call me Mrs. Patterson,” she said primly, frowning her disapproval at him.

Jozef let out a barking laugh that was loud enough to startle the creature in the crate. It let out a disgruntled growl that vibrated the box and shoved a fuzzy orange paw through the bars. Jozef was fascinated. He’d never had a pet before, never thought much about them, but this one belonged to Shaun and she clearly loved the beast. Which meant he would love it too.

Would you care for another drink? Jozef asked, turning to tell his men to call the waitress. There was no one inside the VIP area. They were too afraid of Shaun’s mother to remain at their positions.

Jozef shoved the curtain aside, scowling in annoyance. Halil and Terek stood at the bottom of the stairs looking up at him guiltily. They knew they were supposed to be closer to their principal. Jozef couldn’t bring himself to be truly angry with them. A confrontation with his future mother-in-law had not been on his list of things to do for the evening either.

He snapped his fingers and pointed at the bar.

“Yes, boss.” Halil took off,