Page 37 of Goodnight, Sinners

“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 vision. 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?”

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