Page 29 of Gangster's Empire: Leeza & Havel

“That you married a monster and it was a pity your family didn’t allow you to marry Havel.”

“Who are you?” Leeza used the wall to support her as she picked herself up off the floor. “I mean why are you here, helping Babi?”

Anne smiled warmly. “I’m Havel’s second cousin through marriage. My family is gone, same as Havel’s, so I stay here with Babi. She keeps me sane.”

“Do you know what happened to Havel’s parents?” Leeza asked.

The smile fell from Anne’s lips and she looked melancholy. “His mother died of cancer when Havel was a child and his father died shortly after of a broken heart. The official story is suicide, but a broken heart sounds more romantic. Don’t you think?”

Leeza thought it was weird that Anne could see romance in such a tragic story but kept it to herself. Her heart ached for Havel, and the orphaned child he’d once been. She wanted to know more. His age when they died, how he coped. If someone helped him. But that was a discussion she would have with Havel.

“I should rejoin the others,” Leeza murmured.

Anne walked out of the washroom ahead of her, then paused and turned. “I…” Anne hesitated, looked down, then locked eyes with Leeza. “When you marry Havel, will you put in a good word for me?”

Leeza frowned. “Why do you ask? Isn’t he providing for you and Babi?”

“Of course he is.” She smiled again, but this time, it didn’t reach her eyes. “But it’s easy to forget the poor cousin and Babi’s all I have left.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Leeza tipped her head back against the seat and closed her eyes, sighing deeply as her body relaxed into the leather. A gentle tugging on her hair caught her attention and she turned to look at her son who was strapped into his car seat.

This time Ayaan was up front with Cooper and Havel was next to her. Havel was a lot bigger than Ayaan, so he took up more room, his shoulder and thigh pressing against her making the space feel even smaller.

My tummy hurts, Kris signed to her.

Where does it hurt? she signed back. Is it a sharp pain or more of an ache?

He patted his stomach and explained that it was an ache, that he felt like throwing up.

“Right now?” She sat up straight in her seat and began searching for something for him to vomit into.

He shook his head. “No.” Then he signed, not like that. Just like I have to, but I won’t.

She nodded and gave him a sympathetic look, reaching over to gently rub his stomach.

“Too much ice cream.” Havel’s deep voice sounded from next to her. She ignored him, but he continued, “We’ll stop at a pharmacy. Get him something for his stomach.”

Leeza kept her gaze on Kris. “He’ll be fine until we get to the estate. There’s plenty of medicine there.”

“We’re not going to the estate.”

She looked at him. “Where are we going?”

“Zmatek. We live there now.”

“What?” Except for a few years of boarding school and the past few months on the run, Leeza had never lived anywhere except on the family estate. The thought of living at Zmatek seemed foreign to her.

She felt conflicted and by Havel’s expression, he knew it. “You burnt down our only other option.”

With good reason, Leeza thought. “Where were you living before? Why can’t we go there?”

“The barracks.”

She’d given no thought to Havel’s living situation after their breakup, but she’d assumed given his high rank within the Koba organization he would have lived someplace nicer. The barracks had cell-like rooms, each one containing a cot, a shelf, a sink and a toilet. They were meant for staff who wanted to live on the estate, but they were no good for families.

Havel continued, his voice icy, “Zmatek is the best choice. It’s my place of work and most of my employees live in the same building or close by, making it highly secure.”

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