Sin of Silence (Sinner's Empire #1) - Nikita Slater Page 0,16

shook his head. You’re a liability now. You must stay with me. Permanently.

“But how can I do that? Eventually I have to go home.” She understood what he was saying, but she wanted to deny it.

If she wanted to live, then she would have to become his captive. Forever. But how could she possibly do that? Never see her mother again? Never go back to her surgery at the hospital? What kind of life was that? She couldn’t wrap her mind around it.

He reached out and shook her arm, regaining her attention. Choose now, dead witness, or stay with me and stay alive.

She was still shaking her head, but reality was sinking in. She wasn’t going to choose death. So she would have to choose life… as his captive. Or at least until she could either convince him to let her go or escape. She stopped shaking her head and bowed it instead.

“Okay, I’ll stay with you,” she whispered.

He tipped her chin up and signed, you must marry me.

Dread swept through her. She shook her head. “No.”

Yes, you will become my wife.

“Or die?” she demanded.

Yes.

She pressed herself back against the van. It was too much. He could keep her with him, he didn’t have to marry her. To make it so… official. Shaun had never given marriage much consideration. She’d dated a little, but never anything serious. Work consumed her every waking moment until the men just drifted away and she forgot they were ever there. Somehow, she couldn’t imagine Jozef ever drifting out of her line of notice. He was too commanding, too electric and powerful.

“Why do I have to marry you?” she asked, clinging desperately to the hope that she could convince him otherwise. She wasn’t ready to commit herself to him, a man she suspected was mob affiliated.

He narrowed his eyes at her, his gaze flicking down her body. She was wearing her basic sky-blue scrubs, nothing enticing. He seemed to be debating with himself on what to say to her, or maybe how much to say to her. Then he gave a sharp nod. My uncle will not allow you to live. You are a witness and witnesses don’t stay alive.

“Your uncle makes decisions like that?” Her throat was dry, and she had to swallow. She was definitely dealing with the mob, which took things to an even scarier level.

Jozef nodded, my uncle is head of the family.

If the head of the family was Jozef’s uncle, then Jozef was probably his enforcer. The muscle behind the man at the top. Though Jozef seemed high up in the organization, his uncle would have final say. Including over her life. If the old man gave the word, her life would end, and probably by Jozef’s hands. But if she were Jozef’s wife, then maybe the uncle would allow her to live.

Jozef watched her as she worked it out in her head. She was going to have to marry the man who'd kidnapped her, threatened and hit her, and then almost shot her. The man who went against every ethical belief she held as a doctor. She would essentially become his property. Nausea nearly sent her back to her knees. She gripped the doorframe.

He slapped her arm again, and when she looked at him, he signed, answer.

She shivered and whispered, “Okay, I’ll marry you.”

Chapter Seven

Kiev, Ukraine: One day later

Jozef didn’t have a lot of time to plan the rescue of his uncle. Gustav, the man they had beaten for information, had told them where to find the kidnapped head of the Koba family and who was holding him. A rival mafia family located in Kiev, headed by Vasiliy Stanovich, were holding the Koba patriarch in their family estate, located in Kiev.

Once Jozef had identified Krystoff’s kidnappers, he was able to quickly research the family. Ferret out their weaknesses and a likely reason behind the abduction. The current global economy hadn’t been kind to the Stanovich family, as they hadn’t updated technology and techniques to move with the changing times. They were living in the past, hoping to make bank off the old ways; drug sales and extortion. As their family gradually sank into the lower ranks of the Vory, the head of the family had gone to Krystoff three years ago for help and had been refused. Jozef suspected the family took Krystoff for either revenge or to force his hand.

Jozef found a significant weakness in the Stanovich’s armour. A drug-addicted son who liked to brag about his family’s