Page 66 of Goodnight, Sinners

Jozef wore his heart on his sleeve when it came to Shaun. He was one scary motherfucker with almost every other aspect of his life, but for Shaun, he was practically psychopathic. His need to have eyes on her, his desire to murder anyone who came within feet of her, his obsession, it consumed him. Yet, it also somehow made him better at his job. He had a focus now that he’d never had before, and it made him brutally efficient.

Havel hadn’t understood Jozef’s attraction to the doctor when they’d first picked her up more than a year before. Hell, he didn’t totally understand it now, but he knew enough to keep his mouth shut and show respect for the lady of the house.

“She’s smart. If she finds herself in trouble, she’ll think her way out of it.” Havel tried to sound reassuring. “And if that fails, she has her gun. She can shoot her way out.”

Havel had been impressed with Shaun’s willingness to learn how to shoot. He hadn’t thought she would have it in her. He thought a weapon would interfere with her precious ‘do no harm’ rule. It surprised and pleased Havel to see her accepting her position as the wife of a mobster in a way he hadn’t thought her capable of.

She can’t hit the broad side of a target, Jozef signed, disgust clear in his expression.We’ve been out shooting three times and I think she’s getting worse.

Havel chuckled. “I saw her last target sheet. She hit the edge of the outline. Maybe if she unloads her weapon, she’ll get her attacker in the arm.”

Both men chuckled over the image of Shaun shooting an entire clip at a guy and missing anything vital.

“I checked in with Cooper before we started our match. He says she’s inside the surgery with her patient, three nurses, an anesthesiologist and her doctor friend. She couldn’t be safer.” Havel left out the part where Cooper had also told him the identity of Shaun’s patient. He didn’t think that knowledge would make Jozef feel any better about letting Shaun out of the house. They could have that discussion later. “All of them have been thoroughly vetted and passed our checks. Not even a speeding ticket among them.”

Jozef nodded, though he didn’t look any happier.

Any news on our missing Phantom?Jozef changed the subject.

“No,” Havel said shortly.

The subject of Leeza being the Phantom irritated Havel all around, though he understood Jozef’s interest. Leeza was Jozef’s cousin and a potential threat to his new position as head of the Koba family. Until they found her and locked her down, she had to be considered a wild card.

Havel probably knew Leeza best, yet he hadn’t had a clue as to her true identity. He hadn’t known that her father wasn’t Krystoff Koba, hadn’t known of her alternate identity. Hell, he hadn’t even known the extent of her combat skills until he heard details of her escape from the mansion and, later, once they figured out what the hell had gone on at the hospital, of her rescue of her mother.

Havel was both impressed and infuriated by this new Leeza. The woman he’d known intimately several years earlier no longer seemed to exist. Yet, in his heart, he knew she was in there somewhere. The wide-eyed, vulnerable girl who’d loved him as passionately as he’d loved her.

When she’d broken his heart by choosing Adam Horácek over him, he’d been too furious to look deeper into her decision. He’d allowed his hurt masculine pride to guide his actions, turning his back on her. Now, he was discovering that she’d had a secret life and a shitty marriage.

He felt responsible for allowing her life to crumble to where she felt desperate enough to invent the Phantom. He’d been in love with her, obsessed with her, and though those feelings never died, he’d shoved them so far down into his black heart he couldn’t see a way to reach her. Didn’t want to bother.

It wasn’t until Jozef had ordered her to be killed along with her mother and father that Havel realized he still had feelings for her. Strong feelings. He’d buried them and accepted that she would have to die.

Now Jozef was handing him the opportunity to take the one thing he’d always wanted: Leeza Koba on a silver platter.

What do you have so far?Jozef persisted.

Havel scrubbed a hand over his face, flinching when his boxing glove touched an open cut on his cheek.

“Before you discovered her other identity, she was using Vasiliy’s resources to travel and make trade deals throughout the underworld. She was small scale enough that we didn’t notice her until recently. Then she took your uncle and set all this in motion.”

Jozef nodded thoughtfully.Why do you think she took my uncle? She cut off his small finger, but that was all. She didn’t torture him or try to get information.

Havel shrugged; he had an idea.

Leeza had always been passionate, full of life, intelligent and driven. When Krystoff had brokered a deal with the mob accountant for her hand in marriage, the life had been sucked out of her. Or so it had seemed. Now Havel wasn’t so sure. Perhaps, like he had buried his feelings for Leeza, she’d buried her joy for life. Carefully hiding and nurturing it until she could bring it back into the light. Perhaps her creation of the Phantom was a combination of her passionate nature and her desire to be seen and heard in the world where she grew up. A world that could be hard on the women who were negotiated for and traded like commodities.

Of course, this was all speculation. Until he got his hands on her, he would remain clueless. Instead of giving away his suspicions to Jozef, he gave him a version that was still probably true. “Revenge. Krystoff sold her into a shitty marriage, and she wanted to show him he wasn’t an invulnerable god sitting on his throne. He was fallible and she wanted to make him feel weak.”

That would explain why we were so easily able to release him from Vasiliy’s prison.Jozef’s gaze was laser sharp as he stared at Havel, as if trying to divine his thoughts. Havel, who was used to hiding his emotions, didn’t bother with Jozef. Jozef had a sixth sense for the emotions and intentions of others.You will question her when you capture her. I want answers to these questions.

“Yes, boss,” Havel assured him. He’d intended to interrogate Leeza the moment he got his hands on her. Well, perhaps after he’d had his own revenge for the suffering she caused both of them years earlier when she’d chosen her father’s wishes over Havel’s heart.

I’m having her father’s place watched, but it’s unlikely she will go back there.

“Too smart,” Havel agreed. “She would know that you’re monitoring Vasiliy.”

Maybe we should threaten the father.

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