Chapter Thirty-Four
Jozef shook his head as he strode away from the master suite, trying to cast off the anger. He knew his response was over the top, but he couldn’t help the sense of betrayal that he got every time he thought of Shaun deliberately placing herself in danger to trap his aunt.
He’d gone in to talk to her, to tell her that Dasha had been taken into custody. He’d been determined to keep his temper, but every step that brought him closer to her reminded him that yet another person he loved had betrayed him. He tried to tell himself that Shaun didn’t understand his world, didn’t understand the loyalty that was expected of her.
Then he’d seen her and forgotten everything except how it could have easily been her instead of Ayaan staring down the barrel of Dasha’s gun that morning.
If her bodyguard hadn’t been quick in both thoughts and actions, Jozef might not have known what was going on. Dasha was highly intelligent and had been coming and going from the hospital pretty much from the day after Krystoff’s death onward.
Jozef had gotten his hands on the hospital CCTV tapes and had traced her every step. Dasha was good at hiding, very good. She was also aware of where every camera was and the angles they could reach. She’d carefully maneuvered through the hospital like a dancer on a stage. Sometimes Jozef would lose her only to pick her back up again when she reappeared on a different floor, unable to avoid all the cameras.
Of course, he could have gotten to Dasha at any time. She was staying in an apartment in the city, and though she did her best to cover her tracks as she moved through Prague, Havel was the best tracker on staff. He’d pinpointed her location almost from the moment she’d started using the tiny apartment as a home base.
Jozef had chosen not to grab Dasha for a few reasons. Though he wanted her dead, he appreciated the poetic justice of forcing her to take the fall for the entire Koba family. He wanted her to languish in prison, knowing that if she hadn’t betrayed Jozef, he would have protected her until the day she died. She had helped raise him, turning him into the protector he eventually became. But rather than taking advantage of his protective instincts, she turned on him.
Now, he would turn on her. He would allow others to torture her with confinement until he was ready to strike.
The second reason he didn’t outright kill his aunt was the more important one. He didn’t want Shaun to look at him differently. Interpol had alerted her to Dasha’s presence. If Dasha disappeared and Interpol came after Jozef, Shaun would find out.
She thought he couldn’t live with Dasha’s death on his hands, but she was wrong. Dasha’s death would satisfy the beast in him who craved justice. A twisted version of justice, yes, but justice, nonetheless.
What he couldn’t live with was knowing the woman he loved above all else would look at him and see a killer. Somehow, miraculously, she did not see him as a murderer now. Though logically she knew it was true, she still allowed his hands to touch her body, allowed his love to live in her heart.
If he killed his aunt and Shaun found out, her feelings would change.
Like her body, he was also responsible for protecting her heart and her soul. As angry as he was with her, he wouldn’t do anything to shatter her feelings for him.
Instead, he would bide his time and allow Dasha to rot until he was ready to make a move that wouldn’t involve Shaun or his cousins.
His anger gradually dissipated as he reminded himself of the reasons he’d allowed Shaun her subterfuge at the hospital. He despised her lack of trust in him, but he couldn’t fault her. Not really. He kept secrets too.
Havel met him at the car, which was idling out front of the mansion. Havel’s gaze was irritated as Jozef descended the stairs.
“Can’t you make a single move with this woman that doesn’t mean disrupting the entire household?” Havel complained.
Despite his anger with Shaun, Jozef grinned. You’re just angry because you won’t get to throw the bachelor party.
“Fuck you,” Havel grumbled. “I was getting my ass handed to me by your recruit when you texted. I didn’t even get to change out of my gym clothes. It’s on you if your new bride isn’t happy with your best man’s lack of tuxedo.”
Havel was wearing sweatpants and a sweaty T-shirt that clung to his broad chest and muscular arms. His bald head was shiny and beaded with sweat. He held a leather jacket in his hands, too hot from his recent workout to put it on, though they were firmly in winter with snow on the ground.
Jozef frowned, maybe he should send Havel to his suite in the barracks to change.
Before Jozef could do that, Havel’s eyes went past him and landed on something behind Jozef. Or someone.
Jozef turned to look at his bride-to-be.
She was stunning, radiant, beautiful, though she looked much the same as she did any other day. She wore one of the dresses Jozef had handed her and a puffy winter coat. It wasn’t the way she looked but the knowledge that they would finally tie themselves together in name, spirit and love, that captivated Jozef, making her shine with a new beauty.
Shaun was holding a small bouquet, likely taken from one of the vases that filled the mansion, a holdover from Dasha’s reign. His aunt used to ship in flowers from all over the world to brighten the mansion and give it a floral scent.
The flowers told Jozef that Shaun had worked out what was about to happen.
She glided down the stairs, graceful in her heels, and stopped in front of Jozef, glaring at him. They were eye level.
“I decided weeks ago that I wanted to marry you, so don’t think I’m doing this because you told me to.” She poked him in the chest with the flowers. “You’re a bully and it’s a lucky thing that I’m in love with you or I’d be setting fire to this mansion rather than marrying your sorry ass.”
She turned to climb regally into the car, but Jozef gripped her arm and swung her around. He forced her back over his arm and kissed her, taking her lips in a passionate kiss that he would normally save for the bedroom.
Every ounce of the anger he’d felt earlier dissipated as their lips met. She loved him, and that was what mattered. She’d kept secrets from him to protect him. It was something he couldn’t allow her to do in the future, but he appreciated the motive behind her secrecy.
“I think you’re supposed to speak the vows first, then kiss.” Havel’s voice was dry but amused. “Not that I’m an expert on marriage.”
Jozef set Shaun back on her feet, sliding an arm behind her back to steady her when she swayed. He helped her into the car and took the seat next to her. He picked up her hand and kissed the knuckles.
The bridal car left the mansion with the groom, the bride, the best man and a bodyguard. The car behind them held several more guards. Jozef wouldn’t take a chance on Shaun’s safety, especially not on their wedding day.
“My mother?” Shaun asked as Havel maneuvered the car onto the freeway.
Her bodyguard has informed her of our upcoming union. She’s agreed to meet us at the church.
Shaun sighed. “Well, I suppose that’s something. What about Saskia?”
I texted her. If she makes it to the church, then she makes it.
“I don’t want to get married without her in attendance,” Shaun argued.
Jozef took her face in his hands and kissed her lips before dropping his hands. Then I will have her guard pick her up and bring her to the church.
He picked up his phone and started texting. Shaun snatched his phone away from him. “Would you stop kidnapping people!”
Shaun unlocked his phone, using the passcode he’d given her. He suspected she didn’t want to use her own phone because she was worried Saskia, who had been avoiding her, was still angry over the incident with Adam.
Jozef had kept out of their relationship and wasn’t sure where they stood with each other. He was pleased by their attachment though and hoped they would work it out.
Shaun texted: Please come to the church to attend our wedding. Sorry for the shor
t notice.
A few seconds later Saskia sent her response.
I know this is Shaun. If it were Jozef, he’d have just demanded I show up, then send his bodyguards to make sure I complied.
“She knows you well,” Shaun said with a laugh.
Okay, yes, this is Shaun. Please come. I want you to stand up with me.
Her response was quick: really?
Of course. We love you and want you with us when we get married.
If it was an important occasion, you wouldn’t be doing it last minute. I’m on my way. Don’t get hitched without me.
“She has a point.” Shaun looked over at Jozef who was reading the texts along with her.
No, she doesn’t, he signed. Our wedding was always going to be like this. I would never put you in the vulnerable position of being out in the open at my side during an important event.
Shaun stared at him. He suspected she was thinking over the past month and realizing he hadn’t been going out in public with her. When he left the house, Shaun was at home. When she was at the hospital or her mother’s, he was at home.
Jozef had learned the tactic from his uncle, who rarely left the house with his family members, except Jozef. Jozef had taken the risk with Shaun when they’d first gotten together, before he realized the depth of his attachment to her. He’d wanted her to love Prague as her attachment to him grew, so he’d taken the chance of taking her out on a date and to the club.
Jozef explained, I am a target. My uncle was a target. When he was taken by V-A-S-I-L-I-Y’s people, had my aunt been with him, she might have been killed or taken along with him. In my heart I want to be with you at all times, ensuring your protection. In reality, I put you in more danger when I’m seen with you. You are far safer with your bodyguards than with me.
Shaun blinked rapidly. She switched to sign language. Is this it then, the rest of our lives? Married, but never able to leave the house together? What about children? I can’t imagine never going out together as a family. No picnics, no restaurants, no shopping. I don’t know if I’m ready for this.
She dropped her head into her hands.
Jozef rubbed her back, waiting for her to think her way through this fresh problem. She had grown in leaps and bounds over the past few months, in her knowledge, understanding and acceptance of his mafia life. But sometimes, like now, she learned something that was more difficult to accept.
He understood. He wanted all those things. Picnics, restaurants, shopping, vacations. He wanted everything. But from the moment he became old enough to understand his place in the world, he knew he was different.
Unlike Shaun, he’d never known the things she mentioned. He’d never in his life gone on a picnic, except for the one he arranged for her on the floor of his apartment, a suggestion he’d gotten from her mother.
But Shaun made him want picnics. She made him want everything he’d never known before.
He touched her face, bringing her gorgeous golden eyes back to him. Worry wrinkled her brow and her pulse fluttered in her throat, giving away her nervous tension. She may have decided she wanted to marry him, but she wasn’t without reservations.
You will be happy with me.
She laughed, the sound fragile. “Is that an order?”
Her voice was husky and low, meant for his ears only.
That is a promise.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Shaun had never really been one of those girls who pictured her wedding day. No poufy white dress, no church filled with guests, no reception with speeches and clinking glasses. All of her fantasies had been directed at her career path. Even as a little girl, in her mind, she wore the white doctor’s lab coat, a stethoscope and held a clipboard. Her teddy bear patients would get a diagnosis and then they would take the medicine she administered.
As she hit her teen years, she began dissecting her teddy bears, carefully pulling the fluff out, examining their insides, then putting them back together. Her father had taught her how to make stitches, so she’d meticulously suture each of her teddy bear victims, giving them horrific scars in the process. Her mother had been concerned by her preoccupation with cutting into her toys, but her father had stood by watching proudly, declaring he had a future surgeon on his hands.
Now, as Shaun stood at the head of the church, next to the man she was seconds away from marrying, she realized that despite her lack of vision for her wedding day, that this was exactly what she would have imagined. The man she loved looking at her as though she were the only person on the planet. Her mother in the front row next to Cooper. Saskia standing next to her, holding her bouquet.
Saskia was outfitted in what could only be described as maid-of-honour gothic. She wore black leggings under a black dress with a corset bodice and crinoline skirt. Her hair had been spiked across the front and pulled back in a tight ponytail in the back. She looked beautiful and very out of place in the sixteenth-century church.
Shaun barely heard the priest as he spoke. Her eyes were on Jozef. The ceremony was more old-fashioned than she thought it would be. Jozef wasn’t religious and neither was she, but the ceremony had an elevated religious tone to it that felt both very official and somewhat oppressive. Maybe this was the best Jozef could do on such short notice, though he’d told her he’d been planning it for a while. The church was small, tucked out of the way, on the edge of the city.
Jozef must have caught her looking around the church as the priest spoke, because when she looked at him, he signed, H-A-V-E-L suggested it. I have no particular attachment to any church or place of ceremony, but he is a brother to me and it’s my honour to use his family church.
Shaun was glad he was explaining to her, but he could have picked a better moment. She almost laughed out loud at the disgruntled expression on the priest’s face as he continued to speak.
She caught Havel’s eye and he winked. She smiled back. It had taken time, but they were warming up to the idea of friendship, their mutual love of Jozef thawing them.
When it came time for the vows, Jozef spoke first, using his hands to express his love. Shaun did laugh out loud this time, when he refused to repeat a single word the priest was saying, but came up with his own vows. The priest sent her a sharp look and continued speaking.
Shaun quickly sobered, her smile wobbling as tears flooded her eyes. She blinked them quickly away so she could read every single sign.
From the moment I saw you, I knew we were connected. Your kindness toward the child on the streets of L-U-H-A-N-S-K, your giving soul, it shone so bright it nearly blinded me. You have forced me to examine my existence, to find what was lacking and empty, then you helped me fill the wound with love and sunshine. I give myself to you, heart, body and soul. Just as I take you, heart, body and soul. I will love and protect you, as you will love and protect me.
He finished by giving Shaun the special sign of their love.
Fatima let out a watery sob, the sound echoing in the church. Saskia reached into her skirt pocket, pulled out a pack of tissues and lobbed them at Shaun’s mother. Then she used her sleeve to wipe her own face as tears trickled down her cheeks.
When it was Shaun’s turn, she followed suit, handing her bouquet to Saskia. Ignoring the priest’s instructions to repeat after him, Shaun used Jozef’s language to profess her love and dedication.
J-O-Z-E-F. She deliberately signed each letter of his name, though the two had found shortened signed versions of their names to use with each other. You have given me a life I never could have imagined, and, while sometimes I doubted you, you’ve shown me how much I was missing. You have given me yourself and a love that I would never have found on my own. Now, I am giving myself to you, heart, body and soul as I am taking you for myself, heart, body, and soul. I will love and protect you as you will love and protect me.
She finished by signing her love to him.
Fatima was now openly weeping while they exchanged rings.
Jozef slid a simple gold band over Shaun's finge
r, trapping his mother’s engagement ring. Saskia handed Shaun a matching band that was slightly thicker. Shaun took it and slid it onto Jozef’s finger.
She wasn’t sure what the priest said next because Jozef lunged for her, gripping her face and staring into her eyes for long seconds before smashing his lips down on hers. In those seconds she knew his utter devotion to her and it stole her breath.
With his lips, he told her of a love that would last for a lifetime.
Images rushed through Shaun’s mind as she remembered their first meeting. She had been so focused on the boy that she hadn’t remembered walking into the handsome stranger in the leather coat.
Now she remembered. The power of his gaze as it touched hers was like the physical meeting of their souls. They’d recognized each other before they met. That meeting had led to this moment, when they made official what they’d never been able to deny; that they would love each other long after they left the earth.
Saskia let out a whoop as Jozef finally released Shaun.
Jozef decided they would have the reception at the mansion where the wedding party would be safer.
He’d already told their chef to prepare a large meal with their favourite dishes. Rather than eating at the large formal dining table, they ate in the kitchen with many of the house staff and Jozef’s men dropping in to the congratulate the couple. After greeting each of them, Shaun realized she had gotten to know many of the people who worked for Jozef… for both of them.
As the evening progressed so did Shaun’s exhaustion.
She’d had a long a day and wanted nothing more than the softness of her own bed at her back. Looking at Jozef though, she didn’t think she’d be allowed to sleep any time soon.
She felt a little like she was standing on quicksand with him. She could tell by the hard glitter in his eyes that he had not yet forgiven her for her transgression. Shaun had learned from Cooper that Dasha had been captured by Interpol. The relief that Shaun felt at hearing that told her that, while she shouldn’t have kept a secret from Jozef, her intentions had still been good. Dasha was safely behind bars, and Jozef wouldn’t be forced to make a grim decision regarding his aunt.
Goodnight, Sinners (Sinner's Empire Book 3) Page 23
