Page 8 of Gangster's Empire: Leeza & Havel

They waited twenty minutes for the driver to come back with a child seat. It was still in the box, but he had it out and set up in record time. Havel placed a compliant Kris in his seat and belted him in, then got out of the car to wave Leeza in.

She slid into the seat directly next to her son. As she reached for her seatbelt, Havel’s fingers knocked hers aside. He took the belt from her, stretched it over her torso between her breasts and clicked it into place. Her skin tingled where his thick fingers brushed her and she had to look away so he wouldn’t see her blush.

Married.

He’d made it sound like it was all but decided, yet that was impossible. Obviously she didn’t want to marry the angry mafia enforcer mercenary, but she knew he could force the marriage if he wanted to and her denials wouldn’t matter. The main reason she couldn’t marry Havel was because she was already married to Adam.

She hadn’t seen her husband in over four months. At best, he’d always been a nuisance to her. At his worst, he was a psychopath who enjoyed torturing his wife. She hadn’t seen or talked to him since the night she ran away.

When they reached the Koba mansion, Leeza unbuckled a sleeping Kris and reached to pull him from his seat, but before she could, the door next to Kris was yanked open and he was pulled from the car.

“Wait!” Leeza scrambled over the car seat and launched herself out the door, ready to attack but before she could take the offender down, she found herself seized in a hug so tight it took her breath away.

“Oh my god, I thought something terrible had happened to you!” Saskia screeched loud enough to surprise Kris who was smashed between his mother and her sister. “You are such a bitch for not even calling once to tell me you were okay. I’m never going to forgive you.”

Leeza stopped fighting the hug and wrapped her arms around her Saskia, hugging her back. Tears were streaming down Saskia’s face and Leeza felt the responding ache of tears in her throat, but they refused to spill. Leeza hadn’t cried since the day she was forced to marry Adam. She didn’t know how to cry anymore.

“Hush, sweetie, I’m here now, safe and sound,” she murmured, touching Saskia’s hair. Until this moment, she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed her nuisance of a younger sister.

“You’re such an asshole,” Saskia choked, finally unlatching herself from Leeza and stepping back. She buried her face in Kris’s shoulder and held him against her.

“Take care of him,” Havel said to Saskia as he approached. “I’m taking your sister in to see Jozef.”

A significant look passed between Saskia and Havel. “Sure, I’d love to.” She nodded at Leeza. “I’ll take him up to my suite. Come get him when you’re done.”

It was strange hearing her sister act as though no time had passed. Back before their family had been blown to pieces, Saskia used to take off with Kris all the time. The pair could usually be found in Saskia’s suite playing with her dolls and stuffed animals.

Leeza watched as they walked away, her heart sinking. Things weren’t the same and, depending on what Jozef wanted to do with her, this could be the last time she saw her son and her sister. Was she being dramatic in thinking that? Maybe, but she was, at least on paper, the eldest child of Krystoff and Dasha Koba. She had a legitimate claim to the Koba estate, lands, inheritance, and organization. All of these reasons made her Jozef’s top rival.

She wasn’t going to be a problem though. She wanted nothing to do with her stepfather’s organization. She would walk into Jozef’s office and tell him. Then he would let her go.

She squared her shoulders and climbed the steps to the front doors of the mansion.

Havel took her arm and she jerked away from him, glaring. “I don’t need help.”

He held her eyes as he reestablished his grip on her arm, this time tighter. “You’re my prisoner and you’re damn well gonna enter this house as such.”

She was no longer the beloved daughter of one the most powerful couples in the Czech Republic. Still, she didn’t have to act like a prisoner, even if Havel insisted she was one. She lifted her chin, stared straight ahead and walked with as much dignity as she could.

Leeza’s heart hammered in her ears as they approached Jozef’s office. Would he have her killed right away, or would he have her taken to the Shed and tortured first? What would happen to Kris? Would Saskia look after him or would Jozef punish Kris for being Leeza’s son?

Havel knocked once on the door before pushing it open without invitation. She supposed Havel was the one person besides Shaun who wouldn’t have to announce himself. He’d been Jozef’s closest friend since they were little more than children.

Leeza felt shaky and dizzy when Havel finally presented her to her cousin. When she was in hiding, she’d played through this scene in her head a thousand times, practicing her words. She’d planned on going in with an attitude of humble remorse. She would explain that she never meant for any of what happened to happen, then she’d beg him not to kill her.

But words failed her when she found herself facing him. Every pretend scenario she’d imagined got caught in her throat. This was the man who held her life in his hand.

That man, now directing a fierce frown at her, came around the side of his desk, striding purposely toward her.

Her mouth went dry with terror. She squeaked and took a step back, but bumped into Havel. She was about to beg for her life, when Jozef took her into his arms and hugged her.

He held her for several long seconds, rocking her against his chest, his hand on the back of her head. Surprised by the reception, her arms hung stiffly at her side and her gaze darted around the office, landing on the chair next to the fireplace. Shaun, Jozef’s wife, was sitting with her ankles crossed, a tissue crumpled between her fingers, tears jeweling in her eyelashes. She stared back at Leeza, her gaze concerned.

Shaun stood and approached Leeza, pushing Jozef to the side and giving Leeza a brief hug. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

Leeza couldn’t be more shocked. Why didn’t they hate her? Want her dead? Well, she understood why Shaun didn’t want her dead. Shaun wasn’t mafia. She’d married into the family. She was a civilian and the death surrounding mob life disgusted her.

But why was Jozef being so welcoming? He knew she was the Phantom; knew she was the one to set off the chain of events that ended in the destruction of the Koba family. She’d spent months on her own, thinking over each and every moment that brought about the downfall of house Koba. She had been the one to light the flame that set off a powder keg of destruction.

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