Page 88 of Goodnight, Sinners

As always, Jozef read her mind.They won’t kill us here. This place is far too nice to stain with our blood.

Shaun laughed but glanced at the footman who remained by the door pretending not to look at them.

You need to be careful what you say. We must assume that everyone here understands sign language. Nothing we say is private.

Jozef’s expression changed. Not to one of surprise, but to one of satisfaction.My wife is both beautiful and intelligent.He looked toward the footman, signing,isn’t she?

The footman looked Jozef in the eye and spoke in deeply accented English, “Indeed she is.”

That one sentence told them everything they needed to know. Their communications would not remain private while they were in the palace, no matter what language they used to communicate in.

“You can leave,” Shaun said coldly in flawless Russian.

Shaun held the man’s gaze as he stiffened and fought to keep the expression of surprise from his face. No doubt, the palace staff had been told that the foreigner wife of Jozef Koba spoke only English. Perhaps it was stupid to give away her new skill.

“I am to remain in case you need anything, Mrs. Koba.”

Shaun narrowed her eyes and rolled her shoulders back, straightening to her full height. In her heels, she was easily taller than the man standing across from her.

“It’s Dr. Koba, and we require nothing from you except your departure. Our flight was long and we want to sleep.” She gave him a hard stare and tried on her best mob wife voice. “You may leave.”

The footman held his ground until Jozef placed a hand on Shaun’s shoulder and stared at the man, promising him death if he continued to ignore Shaun’s commands.

The moment he left, Shaun flopped backward on the bed, covering her face with her hands. She bounced off the high mattress and slid to the floor.

Jozef grabbed her and dragged her up the bed while she giggled at the ridiculousness of it all. “I feel like I’ve time travelled a few hundred years into the past. I’m the only woman of colour living among the aristocracy and fighting my way up the ladder to the top while dodging servants who treat me like I’m nothing more than a bug to be squished.”

Jozef climbed onto the bed, straddling her legs and staring down at her.You will shake the aristocracy to its core.

She stared back at him. The moment should be playful, but it felt serious. They were deep in Russian Bratva territory, guests at the palace where meetings deciding their future were about to take place.

Yes, I will, she signed.I will fight for us.

Jozef kissed her, pushing his hands into her hair and anchoring her head. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, pouring her heart into the kiss. It was their one flawless method of communication. Both of them spoke as one when their lips met.

Finally, Jozef broke the kiss, staring down at Shaun with love and lust in his eyes.

“You have a meeting,” she whispered.

Jozef nodded, gave her one last kiss, then climbed off the bed and strode from the room, straightening his suit jacket as he walked away.

A shiver ran through Shaun. His switch from loving husband to deadly mobster was instant. She knew without a doubt that the man leaving their room was not the man she married, but the one who’d kidnapped her nearly two years ago.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Havel’s steps were muffled as he navigated the path from the mansion to Leeza’s cottage. Leeza and Adam’s cottage, he corrected himself. The home that they’d built together. The place where they’d created a family.

After Adam’s discovery in the closet safe room, six months earlier, it had been decided that he wasn’t a threat. He was allowed to return to his cottage, allowed to resume his work.

Or so Adam believed.

In reality, Jozef and Havel had decided that no decisions would be made about the other man’s fate until Leeza was found and brought home. Jozef thought perhaps she would try to contact her husband and they could trace her.

Havel knew better. Leeza wouldn’t contact Adam. She hated the man. No, that wasn’t true. She used to hate him. Now, she didn’t think enough of him to hate him. She wouldn’t contact Adam because she wouldn’t think of it. As far as she was concerned, the man she married all those years ago was useless to her.

Havel knew how her mind worked, had always known. He’d allowed bitterness over her choice to break up with him to cloud his judgment, but the fog was clearing and once more he could see her again. See the woman he loved for who she was. Strong, capable, frightened.

Havel had avoided visiting Adam until now. Though Jozef had asked his second-in-command if he wanted to interrogate the accountant, Havel had declined. While Leeza felt nothing for her husband, Havel felt everything. He wasn’t sure he could contain his rage.

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