Sin of Silence (Sinner's Empire #1) - Nikita Slater Page 0,122

on outside, Leeza grabbed the nearest servant and snapped at them to close the patio doors and draw the curtains. She told another to ask the orchestra to play a livelier tune. Her concerned gaze met Jozef’s as the doors were closed and the curtains drawn, leaving Jozef, Dasha, Krystoff and Havel outside with Shaun.

Jozef touched her face, but she’d passed out. Her cheeks felt like fire and her skin was ashen beneath the rich brown tone. He could feel her life slipping away beneath his fingertips and he was helpless to stop it. Their entire relationship flashed in front of him: the moment he took her, put a gun to her head, the feeling he had when she communicated in his language, the incredible mind-blowing sex, getting to know the kindness and compassion in her heart.

He could not allow her to die. She was a true innocent, too delicate for their world, but too entwined in their lives to set free. And then it hit him. Someone in his own organization had poisoned her. It was the only explanation. She was a threat to everything they stood for. If she somehow managed to escape and give her story to the authorities, she could bring down a multi-generational crime family like they were a house of cards.

Jozef stared at his aunt, anger building in his heart as she dropped next to him and touched his arm. He thought it was for comfort, but then she spoke. “There will be only one end to this evening, Jozef. She will be recognized at the hospital; the authorities will be called in and an arrest will have to be made.” When Jozef didn’t react, she dug her nails into his sleeve. “Don’t you see, they’ll have to take someone into custody.”

Jozef shook her hand away with a growl but didn’t lift his gaze from Shaun’s face. If he did, she might die while he wasn’t looking and he wanted to be with her to the end, if the end was coming. He didn’t care what happened when the ambulance came, didn’t care about the authorities. If there was any chance of saving Shaun then he was taking it, no matter the consequences.

Later, he would do some digging. Find out who had poisoned his beautiful fiancé. If someone on the inside had betrayed him, then he would take down the house of cards himself one card at a time until their entire legacy was dismantled.

The ambulance arrived less than five minutes later, waved onto the garden terrace by Krystoff himself, who’d discarded his jacket and opened the gates. Jozef refused to move back for the paramedics until Havel gripped his shoulder and pulled him away. He understood on one level that the two medics needed to stabilize Shaun so she could be moved, but he had this terrible feeling if he stopped touching her, took his eyes off her, she would disappear.

As he moved back, his hand landed on something. He picked it up and looked down. It was the delicate necklace he’d given Shaun, the delicate chain likely broken in the panic. Jozef shoved it in his pocket.

A few minutes later Shaun was loaded onto the ambulance, Jozef climbing in behind her. Havel followed Jozef and when the paramedic told him he’d have to leave, Havel set him straight. “I go where he goes and he’s not leaving her side.” When it looked like the man would continue to argue, Havel interrupted. “Besides, he needs an interpreter.”

Not wanting to waste another second of the critically ill woman’s life, the medic simply nodded and slammed the door shut between the two men.

Without looking up, Jozef signed, thank you.

Havel squeezed his shoulder and nodded.

The two men tried to stay out of the way as much as they could but Jozef refused to stop touching Shaun. He held her limp, clammy hand during the entire harrowing trip to the hospital. The paramedic ignored them, focusing entirely on Shaun while the other drove. Jozef’s heart pounded in fear as the man’s hands flew over Shaun.

When they arrived, Havel jumped out of the ambulance and reached for the stretcher. The paramedics looked concerned and tried to argue about protocol, but it was hard to argue with a man of Havel’s size and unmistakable air of deadliness. As Shaun was rushed through the bright front doors of the hospital, more personnel tried to stop the two gangsters from following Shaun’s stretcher down the hall. Jozef was about two seconds