I’m half Iranian, which most people don’t know about me because I look more like my dad. My mom was born in Iran but moved to Detroit with her family when she was a child. She met my father while he was taking his residency in Detroit. After a few years they moved to Canada and got married. She’s really smart; she’s fierce and compassionate. She’s involved in all kinds of charities…
Chapter Thirty-Two
Their truce lasted less than a day. Shaun had spent a good part of their evening together telling Jozef all about her upbringing and her love for her family. He’d nodded in all the right places, his face softening as he listened to her. He even pulled her in for a hug when she told him of the devastating loss of her father. During their conversation, Jozef looked much less like a gangster and more like a man she would actually date.
So it came as a shock to her when he refused to listen to reason when she requested a phone call to her mother. He stood firm, his face a granite carving as she’d pleaded with him. He was unmoving though.
“But if she knows I’m alive, she’s much more likely to stop looking for me. I can’t know for sure, but if I know my mom, she’s pulling in every connection she and my dad had to try and find me. If even a single person in that hospital recognized you, she’ll be able to find me. Plus, you aren’t exactly low profile, going to clubs and flaunting a black woman among your predominantly Caucasian friends.”
Still, he refused to listen to reason. He did try to give her an explanation, but it only made her angry.
If your mother is anything like you, she won’t stop digging. Hearing your voice will only make her try harder to find your location. It would be cruel to give her hope when she can’t see you.
“What’s the big deal?” she asked. “If I – ”
He cut her off by lightly slapping her mouth and grabbing her hands, waving them in the air. Far from thinking it was a cute gesture, as she’d done the night before, it enraged her. She shoved him, but he didn’t move, which forced her to take a step back.
She growled her frustration, then took a deep breath, seeking the deep dark depths of her patience for just a little more.
She signed, her hands moving in angry jerky movements, don’t hit me and don’t cut me off when I’m speaking.
He narrowed his eyes at her, then nodded. She wasn’t sure if he was agreeing to her demands or if he was acknowledging that she was using sign language. She felt if she didn’t conclude this conversation quickly, she was probably going to stab him, and she knew how to make sure he bled out in under a minute. Why did she ever think she was attracted to this man? Oh yeah, fucking pheromones.
If I tell my mom it was a misunderstanding that’s been taken care of, I can probably convince her not to come searching for me. But I have to talk to her, to reassure her and get her to call off any searches she might have started.
Jozef shook his head. No phone calls.
So you’re content allowing me to think you’re some heartless asshole who would stop his bride from talking to her mother?
He glared at her, making his displeasure known through his facial expressions. He didn’t need to sign his thoughts.
Shaun took a step away from him so she wouldn’t get smacked again. “If you won’t give me what I’m asking for, then I won’t give you what you want.”
He took a threatening step toward her, a shutter slamming down over his expression, leaving blankness in its place. You won’t have a choice.
“Watch me.”
He grabbed her, crushing her lips beneath his. Shaun fought him, but Jozef was extremely adept at subduing a person. She found herself locked into place and shoved up against a wall while he ravished her mouth. Butterflies swirled in her stomach, while her brain went wild with anger that he would do such a thing after their night together.
Finally, he stopped, lifted his head and gave her a cold look. A look meant to tell her everything he couldn’t and wouldn’t say.
“Coward,” she accused him scathingly. “You don’t want to say it because then you have to own it. You’re hiding behind your lack of voice. If you want to turn me into a mindless fixture, then tell me the rules. Stop making it seem like you care about what happens to me and then crush my hopes in the next breath. I’m done with it, and I’m done with you.”
She shoved him hard enough that he moved this time. When she tried to storm past him, he grabbed her arm in a grip so tight it told her she’d scored a point with her cruel words. She’d meant them, though. He was hiding behind his lack of voice, refusing to give her the unvarnished truth while allowing his actions to speak for him. Which was dangerous for a man in his position. He was a killer, and if he wanted his actions to do the talking, they weren’t going to say anything good.
“Give me a phone call and we can talk about my position in your life.”
He released her arm and turned away from her in disgust.
“I’ll be in the garden,” she told him dejectedly.
He allowed her to leave the oppressiveness of their shared rooms. She made her way quickly out to the gardens, which she’d been visiting more and more often during her time at the mansion. It gave her reprieves from her host and his family. Jozef was so intense and they rarely agreed on anything. If they actually somehow made it to the marriage stage of their false relationship, they were likely going to kill each other before they made it to the honeymoon.
Shaun was so distracted as she wandered through the garden, she almost stumbled over Krystoff who was on his hands and knees, half buried in a rose bush. “Mr. Koba!” she exclaimed as she accidentally kicked his rubber boot. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you.”
He slowly unfolded himself from the bush and looked up at Shaun. She couldn’t see his expression, as the sun was shining in her eyes. He climbed to his feet. “Nonsense, I was half-hidden. You couldn’t have known I’d be down here.”
The moment felt awkward for Shaun. This was the man who held her life in his hands, the man who was directing her to marry his nephew. Sometimes he seemed like the powerhouse he was; the head of a powerful crime family. He could freeze a person with a single glance. His commands were followed to the letter by a household used to following where this man led. Yet, in moments like this, he seemed human. If they’d been in Canada, he might be a retiree, puttering around his garden, building a hobby to keep himself occupied in his retirement.
Shaun didn’t fool herself for one moment that Krystoff Koba might be considered a harmless retiree. “Do you work out here often? I thought you had gardeners,” she ventured, trying to dispel some of the awkwardness.
He smiled and pulled his gloves off, slapping them against his work pants and sending up small puffs of dust. “Indeed, we do. But I enjoy the quiet solitude,” he said agreeably. “I try to come out here as often as I can. Please, will you sit with me?”
He nodded toward a stone bench nestled amidst the bushes. Shaun allowed him to take her arm and lead her to the bench. He helped her sit, like an old-fashioned suitor, before taking his place at her side. Together they sat in companionable silence, gazing out across one of the most beautiful gardens Shaun had ever experienced. It was lush and green with splashes of colour from the strategically placed rose bushes. Most were red, but some were white and pink.