"I just… you know why I'm here, right?" Shaun’s voice was hushed so that they wouldn't be overheard by the men in the front of the car.
Leeza stared at her for a moment as though gathering her thoughts. When she spoke, her voice was slow and cool. "Tell me, why are you here?"
Shaun frowned. Maybe the eldest Koba daughter didn't know about her situation. "Jozef abducted me out of the hospital in Luhansk while I was mid-procedure. He pointed his gun at a child and then killed one of the RN’s in front of me.” When Leeza’s expression remained the same, Shaun continued, her voice low and urgent, her eyes darting to the front seat, “He wanted me to save someone’s life just so he could kill them. Now, he's forcing me to marry him. You can’t be okay with that."
Shaun stared at the other woman pleadingly, hoping maybe she would be shocked by what Shaun was saying, maybe help her escape. Leeza’s next words confirmed Shaun’s earlier assumption, the entire family knew what was going on.
"My cousin is saving your life," Leeza said coldly. "If I were you, I would accept his gift and never again speak of your reason for becoming a part of our family. You will live a longer, happier life if you forget your reasons for marrying Jozef."
Shaun turned in her seat to face Leeza, speaking with a desperate passion, attracting a glance in the rearview mirror from Karl, who was sitting in the front passenger seat. "You don't understand, I didn't choose this. A choice between life and death isn't really a choice, is it?"
Leeza let out a sharp laugh. "If you believe that, then you've never been hurt so bad that you wished you could die."
Shaun was taken aback by the other woman's words. Had Leeza experienced something so terrible she wished to die? Or was she talking about someone else?
"You're right, I haven't," Shaun said quietly, acknowledging that there were things in the world worse than death. "But I'm a surgeon, a good one too. I worked hard to get to where I am, I can't just give that up. My life has meaning."
Leeza stiffened, her gaze becoming even more glacial. She glanced out the window on her side of the car, her jaw tense. After a few minutes, the tension ebbed and when she looked at Shaun her face was once again bright and smiley. She reached out to squeeze Shaun’s hand.
"And so your life will continue to have meaning. It might just be another kind of meaning than you planned on." Her words were warm, though her gaze was vaguely threatening. "You’ll be fine, you just need to dig deep and find a way to accept your new life."
"And if I don't?" Shaun’s voice was barely above a whisper.
Leeza shook her head, her gaze softening as she stared at Shaun. "You don't want to know."
Chapter Sixteen
"Do you think burlap will be in again next season?" Saskia asked, running her hand over a row of silk scarves.
"I don't think burlap has ever been in." Leeza picked up a scarf with a price tag that made Shaun feel a little faint and slung it around her neck, turning to pose in the nearest mirror.
"That's because you get your fashion sense from drugstore catalogues," Saskia said tartly, snatching a dress off a rack and stalking to the change rooms.
As the day progressed, Shaun became more and more convinced that the Koba crime family was trying to break her will through shopping. They wouldn't have to kill her if she killed herself just to escape the tediousness of going to multiple stores and listening to the two sisters bicker constantly.
At each store they visited, the bodyguards insisted on sweeping the premises before posting a man at every exit. Not a single one of them cracked a smile during the entire shopping trip.
The process was tedious, and Shaun was becoming progressively more tired. She fulfilled Jozef’s wish by purchasing enough items to fill a wardrobe. She also picked up some toiletries and accessories. After each tour through a new store, one of the bodyguards was sent back to a vehicle, his arms laden with packages.
Though constantly vigilant for an opportunity to escape, Shaun hadn't once come up with a reasonable way to ditch her escort. The guards were always near. Even when she was in a change room, she could see the polished shoes of a man on the other side of the curtain.
Leeza constantly hovered near her, never entering the change rooms herself. It was as though she thought the moment she turned her back, Shaun would bolt. Shaun was going to give the other woman the benefit of the doubt though and say that she was hovering out of concern rather than a desire to keep an eye on Shaun.
"It's almost five.” Leeza looked down at the time on her phone. "We'll have to hustle back to the house so we can get ready for our evening meal."
"Does the entire family eat all together, like this morning?"
It was Saskia who spoke from the other side of the curtain, where she was changing out of a burlap inspired dress. "Every single evening. Daddy insists. Though we don't usually do breakfast together. Today was a special occasion just for you." The last part was spoken in a snarky tone.
Leeza rolled her eyes toward Shaun, but Shaun shook her head. It didn't matter if Saskia was slow to warm up to her. She wasn't going to be around for long anyway.
If they were headed back to the mansion after the shop, this was her last chance to act. She glanced around and snatched up the first item she saw, then reached out for a pair of shoes.
"I think I'll try these on," she said quickly. Too quickly. Dammit.
Leeza gave her a penetrating look but then smiled and nodded. "Come out when you're done so we can see what it looks like."
"Judging from what she's already bought today, I can tell you what it'll look like," Saskia piped up from the other side of the curtain.
"Okay, brat, not all of us want to look like homeless tramps." Leeza shook her head and stepped to the side as Shaun walked around her toward the changing room.
Shaun chose one on the end, but she knew she wasn't going to be able to escape from it. There were people everywhere and even though the change rooms were off to the side, the whole row of cubicles were in the main part of the store.
She frantically looked around the tiny room, trying desperately to come up with a plan. She could smash the glass mirror and cause a distraction, maybe enough of one to run past everyone. But she knew that wouldn't work. Even if she managed to distract a few people, not all of the guards would react slowly. They acted as security for an elite crime family for a reason. Their reflexes would be fast and they likely never let their guard down.
She quickly changed out of her borrowed skirt and shirt and tugged on the dress she’d grabbed off the rack. She didn't even look in the mirror, she was so frantic to find a way to escape.
Shaun snatched up her purse, one that she'd bought earlier in the day, and grabbed a tube of red lipstick, purchased at a pharmacy. She tried to be as quiet as she could while taking off the cellophane wrapper. Then she dug through her purse for anything she could use for notepaper. She came up with nothing.
She bit her lip and stared at the curtain, wondering how long she could stay in there before they came looking for her. No doubt Leeza would be concerned in less than a minute. She was the one who’d stayed closest to Shaun throughout the day, either out of a sense of loyalty to her family or concern for Shaun.