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

Jozef or the Kobas. They were on opposite sides of a family feud neither of them wanted.

Nikolay had decided to go with Jozef, which made him loyal to the guard dog.

Saskia’s loyalties were split. She’d never known anything other than her family and though she knew they were completely fucked up and amoral, she owed them her loyalty. Didn’t she?

They’d let Jozef go without a fight. They’d let him go to prison, then let him split from the organization and she didn’t understand why.

But she would find out.

She would find out all of her family’s secrets. Then maybe she would finally understand the people who’d made her life a living hell since birth.

“You have to go,” she whispered, her heart wrenching at the thought.

Nikolay pulled away, kissing her forehead, and then pulling himself up onto the counter.

He turned to look at her with a grin. “Stay safe, Juliet.”

She grinned at him. “Don’t fall on your ass on the way out, Romeo.”

Chapter Twenty

Shaun stood next to Karl in the elevator, her fingers twining in the skirt of her dress; a slim fitting royal blue sleeveless sheath that covered her from neck to knees and emphasized her height. With her three-inch silver heels she would be as tall as Jozef. She tried to control her breathing as best she could. She was nervous. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible was going to happen. The club had featured in her nightmares more than once over the past year. She would dream of men being tortured on the tables and women shot in the head.

She jumped when Karl touched her shoulder.

“You’ll be fine. I won’t let anything happen.”

She looked at him, absorbing the kindness in his eyes. She jerked her head in a nod and tried to smile.

“The boss doesn’t want anything to happen to you and he knows you don’t like the club. He’ll be on his best behaviour.” Karl spoke earnestly, turning his big body toward her. “And you have me. I’ll be watching you every second.”

“Thank you.” A real smile touched her lips. “That makes me feel better.”

“It should. I won’t let anything happen to you, not after….” he trailed off, his body language going rigid again.

Shaun frowned. “After what? The poisoning?”

He nodded. “It shouldn’t have happened under my watch.”

She touched his arm and waited until he looked at her, his expression one of self-condemnation. “You didn’t let anything happen to me. I was surrounded by strangers from catering staff to guests, and if the poison came from inside the mansion, you wouldn’t have known. It was a very subtle poison. Easy to access and difficult to detect.”

He looked unconvinced. “Krystoff blames me.”

She gave him a grim look. “Krystoff doesn’t want to accept any responsibility. I think it’s probably easier to blame you than it is to look suspiciously at his family and closest allies.”

Karl looked marginally better.

“Besides,” she continued. “Jozef wouldn’t have hired you to act as my personal bodyguard if he didn’t trust you completely. Your life is here now, so try to forget about what happened at the mansion.”

As the words left her mouth, she realized their significance. Her life was there now too, not at the mansion and not in Montréal. Did she need to forget what happened a year ago in order to move forward? Did she need to forget about the kidnapping, forget that Jozef had killed people in front of her, forget everything? And if she did put it behind her, what next?

She was so preoccupied by her revelation that she barely noticed the bump of the elevator stopping on the club floor.

Karl punched in the code to open the elevator and, when the doors opened, they stepped out together. Karl escorted her down the hall to the floor of the club, sticking to her side as she walked into a roomful of glittering strangers.

Shaun quickly scanned the club, taking in the dancers, the drinkers and the general air of merriment.

“This way.” Karl took her arm in a light hold and used his body to shield her right side, his other hand hovering over the butt of his gun. “He’s in the VIP area.”

They wound their way through the throng, making their way up the steps to the VIP section. Karl pushed the velvet curtain aside and waved Shaun inside. She gave him a grateful look and stepped through the curtain.

She smothered a gasp as saw the men assembled.

There were three of them, huge men, dark skin, shaved heads, wearing uniforms. One seemed more important than the others. He sat while the others stood to his side, hands clasped behind their backs, gazes fixed on Shaun. Or perhaps past her, staring at the opening that would lead onto the club floor.

Jozef stood and walked to her, covering her view of the terrifying men. He took her arms in his hands, warming her and leaned in to press a kiss against her lips. It was a light kiss, but it sent arrows of heat straight through her, warming her chest and belly. He led her to the table where one of the biggest men she’d ever seen stood, his eyes sweeping over her in a cold, calculating look. The medals on his uniform rattled as he reached to take her hand.

Shaun usually prided herself on a firm handshake, a necessity for her profession. Her hand felt like a limp noodle engulfed in his much bigger hand. He held her hand for a second too long, squeezing, then let go.

Jozef introduced him. I would like you to meet my new client, R-A-D-I-K. We’ll be doing a job for him in a few weeks. He’s taken great pains to come here as it’s difficult for him to leave his home country. He doesn’t speak sign language so we will need you to interpret.

Shaun was surprised that Jozef was giving her so much information. Did she need it in order to properly translate? It made her feel uneasy but elated at the same time. She