A Silent Reckoning: Sinner's Empire Nikita Slater (smart books to read .txt) 📖

“Giselle?” Shaun asked, somewhat unsuccessfully keeping the snark out of her tone.

Saskia laughed and shook her head. “He might’ve tapped her before he met you, but he wanted nothing to do with that clingy bitch. Did you know she actually tried to visit him in prison? Oh my god, you should’ve seen the outfit she wore!”

Both women laughed for several seconds as they pictured the glamorous Giselle showing up at a prison in her heels, slinky dress and fur coat only to be turned away by the very person she was there to see.

“She is persistent,” Shaun choked out.

“Also delusional, psychotic, and desperate.”

They laughed again and Shaun had to wipe tears from her eyes. It felt good to laugh like that. She hadn’t found much to laugh about in the past year.

“Maybe Giselle tried to kill me.”

“Too obvious,” Saskia said shaking her head. “And too stupid. Whoever did it planned well enough not to get caught.”

They sobered and stared at each other.

“They wouldn’t let me see you when you were in the hospital.” Saskia looked away, her eyes dimming with the memory. “My parents refused to let me visit in case the police tried to pick me up for questioning, but I was able to get away from my security team when I was in the city and I went to check on you. I couldn’t even get onto your floor.”

Shaun looked at the young woman, her heart cracking over the distress she heard in Saskia’s voice. Though they hadn’t known each other long, they’d formed a solid bond. Shaun suspected she was one of the few fairly ‘normal’ influences on Saskia.

“Between Havel and the police, I was locked down so tight I don’t think the Queen of England could’ve gotten into my room,” Shaun said apologetically.

Saskia picked at the edge of a hole in her jeans. “Why didn’t you contact us after you got out of the hospital?”

Shaun was surprised by the question and didn’t immediately know how to answer. She’d thought of Saskia and the rest of the family often over the past year. She would give the best answer she could though, to try to alleviate some of Saskia’s sense of abandonment.

“When I went back home, I felt lost and lonely. I was barely able to function. My mom was with me all the time, protecting me but also.…” Shaun didn’t want to say that her mother had also smothered her with worry. It felt like a disservice to the woman who’d sacrificed so much to be there for Shaun. Shaun looked Saskia in the eye. “I did miss you, very much. Our friendship meant something to me. It helped me get through the ordeal of being kidnapped and forced into an engagement with a stranger.”

Saskia looked thoughtful, then brightened. “I thought about you too.” She glanced down at her phone and then gasped, hopping up to her feet and rushing to the door. “I have to go, my class started a few minutes ago. If I run, I can make the last half.” She grabbed her bag, which she’d dropped by the door, and rushed out while Shaun sat with her mouth open. Saskia stuck her head back in. “I’m taking linguistics at the University and I’m acing it!”

Chapter Nine

Good work, Jozef signed to Havel as they toured the new operations center that had been set up on the third floor, above the club. He’d asked Havel from inside the prison to direct the removal of Jozef’s belongings and his team from the Koba estate. He’d also asked Havel to create an operations center that would rival what the men were used to when doing jobs for Krystoff.

Havel had exceeded expectations.

The space was designed to look like a high-end office with board rooms, cubicles and desks. The entire floor had been opened up, the removal of walls creating an open concept. One end of the floor was dedicated to their tech equipment and the two men who operated from the office while the teams were in the field.

There, the similarities to an office ended. A locked and coded cage contained their weapons. His men carried personal weapons at all times, but the heavy stuff was kept in the cage. Next to the cage was a sparring area covered with rubber matting. Along the wall was a number of hand-to-hand combat weapons. There was also a fully equipped gym with weight and cardio equipment located on the same floor as Jozef’s apartment.

The only room in the office area that was walled in was the main board room. This was where Jozef and Havel would have their private conversations before the team was invited in.

Meetings with clients would occur in the club as they always had.

Jozef called a meeting for 10:00 AM with his entire staff. It was time to meet his new hires and reacquaint himself with the men who’d been acting on his behalf while he was in prison.

He checked his phone, 9:54. Everyone on the premises was expected to attend except for a select few who would keep watch on the club, and Karl, who’d been stationed outside Jozef’s apartment to keep an eye on Shaun. Jozef still wasn’t sure if he was keeping her in or any potential threats out. He didn’t trust her not to run if opportunity presented itself. It was a problem he would have to address in the near future. They couldn’t live the way they had a year ago when she’d spent most of her time plotting her escape.

Jozef had been alerted twenty minutes earlier that Saskia had shown up for a visit. He allowed it, wishing he could also see his little cousin. It had been over a year.

Jozef’s team filed in first: Havel, Halil, Terek and Nikolay. They’d already had their jubilant reunification on the plane, but the boys made it clear as they shook his hand and talked over each other, that they were