Sin of Silence (Sinner's Empire #1) - Nikita Slater Page 0,93

his side was going to work. He’d yet to meet a woman who wasn’t compliant with him, but then again, he’d never really thought about women at all, except in fantasy when he was jerking off.

Maybe he did have prejudices toward the weaker sex. Maybe he shouldn’t think of them as the weaker sex. Shaun sure as shit wasn’t weak. She was the strongest woman he knew. Not physically, but mentally, she won every skirmish they had, persuading Jozef to do things that were out of character for him.

Maybe Shaun was right. Maybe they shouldn’t be together. Jozef knew nothing about how to treat a woman of Shaun’s caliber. She was no whore, but her responses in bed were utterly intoxicating. Addictive. For that reason alone, he didn’t want to let her go. But aside from sex, there was so much more to her. She had dignity, a sense of responsibility, she had solid morals. She made Jozef feel deficient in every way. Yet he liked it. He liked the challenge she presented.

He frowned. Was he a closet masochist?

No, definitely not. He didn’t enjoy pain himself, just enjoyed inflicting it. He leaned more toward sadist, but he had no desire to hurt those who didn’t deserve it. Was selective sadism a thing? Yeah, he was a selective sadist. For the right kind of guy, he was willing to pull out his tools and set to work.

Jozef decided that brooding, pacing and scowling at the hole he'd put in the wall wasn’t getting him anywhere. He needed to find Shaun and try to talk through some of their issues. It seemed like the sort of mature thing Shaun would do. Jozef would try his best to play by her rules without losing his temper. He would also find a servant to patch the hole in the wall, so Shaun didn’t find out he'd already lost his temper before going to find her.

He jerked the door to his suite open and was surprised to find Havel on the other side, his fist raised to knock on the door. The expression of surprise on Havel’s face was enough to draw a slight smirk from Jozef.

Jozef raised a brow in greeting and waved his hand inside, indicating Havel should come in. Havel dropped his hand and walked past Jozef, heading straight to the mini bar. “Got some news.” He picked up a bottle of Jozef’s Scotch and raised an eyebrow.

Jozef thought about it and shook his head. It was common for the two men to meet in the afternoons to discuss business and security. They usually had a few drinks while they talked, but today Jozef couldn’t get the image of Shaun out of his head. If he was going to find her after his meeting with Havel, then he should do it with a clear head. She hadn’t liked it when he took those lines of coke; her expression clearly shocked and disapproving before she’d run off to the restroom. Jozef didn’t usually care what people thought of him and his habits, but for some reason the look on her face, the disappointment, was enough to make him rethink a few life choices that had seemed so automatic before.

Havel poured himself a generous glass of Scotch, replaced the lid on the bottle and settled his large frame on the couch. Jozef joined him, sitting in the chair next to Havel.

Jozef opened the conversation. What news?

Havel took a long swallow of his drink and licked his lips appreciatively before setting it down on the table in front of him. He leaned back in his seat and crossed an ankle over his knee. He looked relaxed, as though the jobs of security specialist for the Koba family and Jozef’s second-in-command were a breeze. Jozef knew better. He knew how seriously Havel took his position.

Havel had been a rescue from another organization that had erroneously fingered him as a traitor. They’d beaten him to within an inch of his life and left him to die. Havel was stronger than death, though, and had made it out of the situation. Once he’d healed, he’d gone to the Koba family in retaliation and handed them their competitors on a silver platter. Jozef had been fourteen at the time and Krystoff had appointed Havel as his protector and mentor.

“Vasiliy wants a meeting with Krystoff. He says he has information that will explain his motives for kidnapping your uncle.”

What do you think of this development? Jozef asked his second-in-command. Part