Sin of Silence (Sinner's Empire #1) - Nikita Slater Page 0,49
to the smell of disinfectant cleaning solutions and antibacterial soaps that when she found a scent appealing it really drew her. Despite the danger of the situation she wanted to close the distance between them, press herself against his body and bask in his scent.
She’d felt a connection to him from the very beginning. They’d gone through several emotionally charged moments together and now they were bound to each other. It was a strange feeling. She was still terrified of him, still hyperaware of the danger of her situation, but a part of her wanted to be there, with him. Shaun was so used to taking control in the operating room that having it taken from her was a strange feeling, but not wholly unappealing.
He was standing very still, staring down at her, his expression smooth and inscrutable.
She lifted her chin. “I’m not sorry I did it.”
She wasn’t exactly going against Dasha’s advice. She wasn’t apologizing.
Jozef stiffened and his hand dropped to the holster at his waist. He wasn’t wearing a jacket so his holster was visible.
Shaun saw a splatter of blood on the cuff of his shirt. She didn’t think the blood was his, which meant he’d hurt someone since she saw him that morning. The idea made her shudder. She was so far out of her element with these people. Her entire world was geared toward preserving life, and now she found herself in the midst of a group of people who thought nothing of murder.
As his hand landed on the butt of his gun, Shaun lifted accusing eyes to meet his. “You promised you wouldn’t point a gun at me again.”
He didn’t move.
“If you shoot me, you’ll always know you broke your promise.”
He growled; a ferocious sound torn from deep in his throat. His hand snapped out so fast she didn’t have time to move out of the way. He gripped her by the throat and shoved her backwards onto the bed. She landed with a bounce, pinned to the mattress by his hand at her neck. She gripped his wrist with both of her hands as he kneeled on either side of her hips.
He squeezed until she could barely breathe and tears jumped to her eyes. She choked on a cough and struggled beneath him for a few useless seconds before forcing herself to calm down. She tried to breathe, slow and even, taking in as much air as she could.
His cold gaze didn’t leave her face. She could feel his struggle as he held her. The same struggle he’d had in the forest. Kill her, as he would kill any other witness, or allow her to live. Make her disappear or keep her locked up and force her to marry him.
She had to help him make the right choice.
Shaun took her hands away from his wrists and did her best to sign to him in the tiny space between them, using short, quick signals.
Please, I don’t want to die.
Chapter Nineteen
Jozef stared down at her, blinking until he was able to focus on her hands. She was saying, I don’t want to die, over and over. He’d had tunnel vision when he’d entered the room. From the moment Karl had told him of her escape attempt, all he’d been able to think about was getting to her, setting eyes on her. He didn’t know why, but he needed to make sure she was real and still under his care.
Once he saw that she was safe, the fury had set in. Like an inferno raging through his body, he hadn’t been able to douse the flames of his anger. He wanted to take hold of her, shake her, demand she tell him why she wanted to escape.
He knew exactly why she would want to leave. He’d be deeply surprised if she actually wanted to stay. She was everything he was not. Her life was so different from his that they never would have met in the normal course of things. Yet, Jozef had found her and taken her; now she belonged to him.
He wasn’t going to kill her. After that moment in the forest when he hadn’t been able to pull the trigger, he knew that he would never be able to follow through with killing her. She was safe from him. If he was being honest, she was safe from any other harm, too. He couldn’t stomach the thought of anything happening to her, but she did need a reminder of his possession.