Page 109 of Goodnight, Sinners

As he passed his men in the hallway leading to the elevator bank, he jerked his head. They’d relieved Koba’s men of their guns. Not their fault. They’d been ambushed. Hadn’t time to react to men used to moving stealthily through the bush before they were surrounded.

Radik’s men fell into step behind him, and the trio waited until the elevator dinged the arrival of the car that would take them to the ground floor. They got on and Radik turned just as Saskia came running around the corner, her shoes screeching as she turned on the spot and sprinted for the elevator.

He got a full view of her in person and, again, his heart stuttered in his chest.

She wore jeans that were torn at both knees, a baggy black T-shirt under a short jean jacket and red high-top runners. Her chestnut brown hair was spiked on top and pinned back at the sides. Her ridiculously huge earphones were still on.

One of her bodyguards grabbed her as she tried to pass them and pressed her back against the wall, covering her with his body.

Radik nodded. If the man hadn’t done that, he’d have gotten off the elevator and put a bullet in him. He was pleased the men were competent, if a little slow. He knew Koba would quickly whip them into shape.

The elevator doors began to close and Radik sought the small, compact woman struggling against her bodyguard. She froze as their eyes met, and he could tell her heart was beating as hard as his. The doors closed, blocking his view of her.

He would find her again when the time was right.

Chapter Fifty

Jozef sat in the window of his hut, looking out at the incredible cerulean blue of the ocean beyond. When Shaun had found out that Jozef had never spent time near the ocean, except briefly when he was on mission, she’d insisted they choose an oceanside setting for their honeymoon.

It had been four months since Jozef had murdered his aunt, and he still thought about that moment. Her confessions, her reaction to his being there. He felt intense anger when he thought of her killing his parents and her attacks on Shaun, but time had given him a better perspective. She’d grown up in the mafia. She’d been highly intelligent and motivated. Like Jozef, like his uncle, like the best in the business.

Perhaps if she’d been born a man, given her own organization to play god with, she might have channeled her abilities into better use.

Her death made him think long and hard about himself. He wasn’t much different. He killed too. She used death and destruction to manipulate while he used it to make money and further his goals.

It was through skill, force of will and chance that he’d made it onto the winning team, while she’d lost the game. The game was mafia, the prize was life, money and power. The loser died.

His gaze drifted from the ocean to the woman sprawled naked across the bed.

Shaun had kicked the covers off during the night, the hot Filipino night giving her skin a beautiful sheen. Her face was turned away from him so he could only see her mop of messy hair, her fragile neck, the delicious curve of her back, an ass that made his hands itch with the need to fill and squeeze, to long curvy legs. One was straight, while the other was bent.

She was his saving grace.

Her love for him made him want to be better, made him more thoughtful, more careful.

If she asked him to quit the Bratva tomorrow, he thought he might.

He would do almost anything for this woman. The weapons, the money, the power. None of it meant anything if he didn’t have her. She was his prize in a lifetime of death and destruction.

Though he was certain she would prefer he quit being part of the mafia, he was also certain she understood the dangers involved. No one left the mafia. Not alive, anyway. If they wanted to leave, they would have to leave everything. Their families, their lives. They would have to go on the run, looking over their shoulders until the day the Bratva caught up with them.

So, instead of asking him to quit, Shaun adapted. And she did it beautifully. She did it by integrating herself into the organization as much as he was, while still keeping her hands clean.

She was the Bratva angel, the doctor who saved lives.

She’d saved the life of Ivan Siberia’s great grandson by referring him to a top cardiologist, giving the old man three more months with his pride and joy before dying in his bed at 99. Now, word had gotten out that Shaun could solve almost any medical problem and members of the Bratva were flying her all over the place.

She was doctor to the Bratva now.

At first, Jozef had been concerned. What happened if she couldn’t fix someone? Would she be sacrificed? Jozef had stepped in, negotiating an ironclad contract with Ivan before he died, signed by both Alexei Ivanov and Yuri Antonvich. Shaun could choose her patients and she would be allowed safe passage no matter where she went, who she saw, or the outcome of the treatment. Jozef and his men would act as her bodyguards.

So far, she’d treated two Bratva wives, one very stubborn Bratva elder who suffered from sleep apnea and a child with a broken leg. Though Shaun was specialized as a neurologist, she always seemed to either know the treatment or know who could help. The gifts of thanks Shaun had been given were absurdly over the top. She’d been given a yacht, which she hadn’t known what to do with. It was still docked near St. Petersburg.

She continued to work at the hospital in Prague, working closely with her doctor friend. The two women were updating the neurology department, using a generous donation from Jozef to the hospital, earmarked for neurology. She was busy, but she was happy, and her happiness made Jozef content.

He was quite busy himself, though Shaun would always be his priority. He’d filled out two teams of mercenaries and sent them on frequent missions. Havel was head of the elite team, which also included Halil, who’d fully recovered, Terek, Ayaan, and Cooper. Jozef occasionally joined them for missions, but now that he was head of the Koba organization, he was forced to stay home more often than not. Shaun made an excellent consolation prize.

Havel and his team were on a mission now, which was what had Jozef up early. This one was personal and he didn’t want to sleep through the call, confirming they had their target.

---