Shaun pushed her way past Jozef, not giving him a choice but to let her stand or end up with an elbow to the gut. Before she could stalk away from the booth, he caught her wrist, turned her on the spot and tugged her back until she was forced to face him again.
He let her hand go and signed, keep your bodyguards close and don't be gone long.
Shaun didn't respond but turned away and hurried from the VIP area, disgusted. She glanced around in frustration, looking for a doorway that might lead to a restroom. She spotted a shadowy hallway off to her left with a sign above it that she couldn't read. Assuming that she'd found the right place, she made her way through the throngs of people toward the hallway.
Before she made it though, a hand came down on her shoulder and stopped her. Shaun whirled around, bringing her hands up protectively. A woman stood behind her, beautiful, angry and ready to tear a strip off Shaun, which Shaun just didn’t have enough energy to face. She stepped out of the grip at the same time as Karl showed up, his massive bulk dwarfing the woman who’d touched Shaun. The woman lifted her hands in a gesture of surrender and stepped back.
"I just wanted to say hello to Jozef’s new woman." Her angry gaze assessed Shaun in a glance, her frown saying clearly that she found Shaun lacking.
The woman was stunning in what Shaun suspected was an extremely expensive red dress that clung lovingly to every one of her ample curves. Her throat, wrists, and ears were dripping in diamonds. She had long icy blond hair that waved artistically down her back, highlighting the honeyed tone to her flawless skin. As beautiful as she was, Shaun sensed a malicious underbelly to the woman. From her work in the hospital, Shaun was used to assessing people and situations quickly so that she could make snap decisions. This woman was not going to be worth her time.
Instead of responding, Shaun looked up at her bodyguard. "I just need a few minutes to myself. Which way is the rest room?"
He pointed her in the right direction, which indeed was down the hallway she'd been headed. His hand hovered protectively over the small of her back without touching. Shaun broke away from the two and quickly made her way toward the back of the club. Even though there were several stalls in the washroom, Shaun flipped the lock on the main door so she could have a few minutes of privacy. If another woman had to use the washroom she was just going to have to wait.
Shaun stared at her reflection in the mirror over the sinks. Far from the lovely confident woman she'd been when entering the club, she now looked like a shaken frightened lost girl. She didn't know where she was going, and she didn't know what she was doing. Jozef had narrowed her choices down to none, yet the single choice he was giving her was impossible. How could she possibly marry a murderous mobster who was at that very moment snorting lines of cocaine in a club Shaun would never have stepped foot in on her own?
A sob tore from her throat and she covered her face with her hands. She wanted to hate him, but she couldn't. Every moment she spent with him sucked her in more. Yet every moment she spent with him, she learned something new and terrible about him. This was no way to live.
She had to leave.
Shaun had always been one of those people who scoffed at the ideal of death over oppression. In her opinion, if a person’s life were at stake, they should seize it with both hands, no matter what was going on around them. She’d watched too many people fight for their lives after having tumors cut from their brains to take that sacrifice lightly. Yet, here she was, facing an impossible situation where death could be the very real result of another bid for freedom, and she was considering running, despite the risk.
Shaun cleaned her face with a wipe from her purse and then went to unlock the bathroom door. Before she could leave, the woman in the red dress came barreling through, shoving the door so hard Shaun had to jump back. Shaun sighed heavily when she saw who was accosting her.
"Excuse me," Shaun said coolly, attempting to slip past.
The woman grabbed Shaun again, her long, lacquered fingernails digging into Shaun's arm. Before Shaun could demand the woman let her go, she hissed in Shaun’s face, "I don't know who you think you are, but I can tell you right now, you are nothing. Whatever this supposed engagement to Jozef Koba is, you can forget about it. I put my name on that years ago and I'm not letting go."
Shaun laughed; the sound weak and incredulous to her ears. She wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. She really didn't want to cry in front of the hostile potentially psychotic woman, but her emotions were getting the better of her.
"You can have him if you want him. I’m sure you two will make a great couple,” Shaun said as dismissively as she could manage. “I didn't ask for any of this and now I'm leaving." Shaun tried to sidestep the woman, but she dug her nails in until they cut, causing Shaun to cry out.
The woman spoke as though she hadn't heard Shaun. "He is the only eligible bachelor in that entire family and he's mine. He’s only fascinated by you because you know sign language.” She eyed Shaun up and down. “And you’re exotic.”
Shaun rolled her eyes, suspecting ‘exotic’ meant black, but didn't say anything. There was no point. This woman was determined to be a viperous bitch and Shaun was determined to get the hell out of that bathroom before she was forced to slap the shit out of a complete stranger, breaking her sacred oath to do no harm.
Rather than asking the woman to move again, Shaun jerked her arm out of the other woman’s grip, crying out in pain as her nails dragged down Shaun’s arm, digging deep grooves in the skin. Shaun cradled her arm against her chest and moved to open the door, but once more was flung back as Jozef and his bodyguards filed in.
Jozef took stock of the situation, his eyes lingering on Shaun’s injured arm. He shoved her behind him, causing Shaun to stumble. Havel grabbed her arm to steady her, his malevolent gaze on the other woman.
“Jozef, my love…” the other woman started to say but was cut off when Jozef grabbed her by the throat.
Shaun gasped in shock as Jozef picked up the woman off the ground and slammed her back into the tiled wall. Shaun let out a shriek and grabbed him by the arm, trying to drag him away from the woman.
Jozef ignored Shaun, but Havel didn't. He jerked Shaun back by her good arm just in time to miss the hand that swung back. A loud crack filled the washroom as Jozef slapped the woman, then slapped her again. Shaun cried out, begging him to stop, but he continued to ignore Shaun’s pleas. Karl came up behind Shaun and placed his hand on her shoulder, gently pulling her away from the group before she got hit by a flailing arm.
Havel stepped forward, addressing his words to the woman, speaking on Jozef’s behalf. "You and your friends will stay away from this woman. If you don't, Jozef will bury you. This is your only chance to comply. Consider yourself warned, Giselle.”
Giselle’s terrified eyes fell on Jozef and she gave a quick nod. Her perfectly arranged hair was now in disarray and her cheeks were bright red from the slaps Jozef administered. Rather than letting her go, Jozef pulled his gun from beneath his leather jacket, flipped the safety off and held it up to her forehead, emphasizing Havel's point. The woman whimpered in fear, her fingers scrambling against Jozef’s wrist where he held her up by the neck.
Unable to do anything to help, Shaun backed quickly away from them, the sight of the gun terrorizing her all over again. The deaths of the two men she’d witnessed at Jozef’s hands flashed through her brain as well as the many times he'd held that same gun to her head.