For a shining moment, Shaun felt as if she belonged to this glamorous and wealthy family. She was one of them. She was able to talk about her career with their guests as if it were simply on hold while she and Jozef figured out their future together. No longer the kidnap victim, she could pretend that she and the man by her side were deeply in love.
Dasha explained to Princess Amelia of Andorra that Jozef and Shaun had met in a hospital in Ukraine while she was treating him for concussion. Shaun laughed in all the right places as doctor-patient jokes became the norm for the evening. She smiled and faked her way through everything, pretending she was nothing more than a soon-to-be happy bride, while the slippery sensation between her thighs reminded her of her closet tryst.
It wasn’t until she looked at her fiancé that she saw the truth in the shutter that had dropped over his face as she was paraded in front of dozens of crime families. It didn’t take Shaun long to realize that she was being shown off to all these people, not as a way to introduce her to the world, but to tie her more firmly to the family. Being known by everyone who associated with the Kobas would make escape that much more impossible. She was well and truly caught in their trap. Her introduction also had the added bonus of ensuring she looked like a happy, healthy and very willing soon-to-be bride if anyone recognized her as the missing doctor from Luhansk.
Desperation rose up inside her, threatening to choke her. She felt suddenly hot and a little sick. She looked around for Jozef, finding him deep in conversation with Havel. He frowned as he caught sight of her expression and immediately made his way to her side, sliding his arm along her back. His warmth helped to steady her, but she still didn’t feel well.
By the time a third glass of champagne was pressed into her hand, Shaun was done. She didn’t want to be there anymore. She looked up at Jozef, who was studying her with concern. “I… I…” She didn’t know what she wanted. She took a long sip of her drink to clear the cobwebs. “I think I’m done pretending.”
Jozef didn’t ask her what she meant by ‘pretending’, he simply nodded. Do you want to leave?
“Yes.”
He took her arm and led her deeper into the room. At first Shaun held back, unsure why he’d be taking her further into the throng of guests when he was supposed to be getting her out of there. Then she realized he was guiding her toward the doors, which were opened into the rose garden. Relief rushed through her as the fresh air hit her heated skin.
Giselle stepped in front of them before they could reach the door, cutting them off. Shaun was so annoyed at the other woman, that she stepped in front of Jozef to confront her. This was one situation where verbal communication was needed. Bitch just wasn’t smart enough to understand Jozef’s less than subtle fuck off when he threw her into a wall at the club.
“Leave,” Shaun said coldly.
She was standing in front of Jozef so she couldn’t see his expression, but assumed it was something that would back her up.
“Do you have any idea who I am?” Giselle hissed.
“No,” Shaun admitted. “Do you have any idea who I am?”
Giselle looked shocked, clearly having assumed Shaun was a nobody. Which of course she was when it came to the circles these people inhabited. Thank god for that. So far at the hands of their party guests she’d experienced a boatload of fake congratulations, some jealousy and a whole lot of speculation. She was pretty sure she didn’t want to be friends with a single one of them.
“And who exactly are you?” Giselle eyed Shaun as if she might’ve missed something in her previous assessments. Maybe Shaun was the American heiress to a perfume fortune? Or maybe she was the illegitimate love child of a king.
“I am Dr. Shaun Patterson of Montréal, Canada,” Shaun told the other woman, her voice strong as she defended her right to be there. “Six weeks ago, I reached into an open chest cavity and pumped a heart with my bare hands, the blood of my patient slipping through my fingers. I saved that man’s life. What have you done lately?”
Giselle stared with her mouth open. She suddenly looked less glamorous in her low-cut black evening gown, her neck and wrists dripping in Cartier diamonds. Her eyes moved over Shaun’s shoulder; Shaun assumed to meet Jozef’s gaze. Whatever Giselle saw there crushed any last hope the tenacious woman might have had.
Shaun was suddenly seized by a painful cramp in her stomach. It was everything she could do to remain upright and not ruin her grand moment. Eyes bright with tears, Giselle drifted away without saying another word.
Shaun moaned and doubled over, clutching her middle.
“Jozef!” she gasped.
Something was wrong with her, but she didn’t know what. She’d barely eaten that day, only snacks from a tray in her room sent up from the kitchen. Multiple people, including Jozef, Dasha and Saskia had shared the food she’d eaten and no one else looked sick.
Jozef’s arms wrapped around her from behind as her knees buckled. Together they stumbled through the door onto the garden patio. Shaun collapsed to the ground, the scent of roses rising up as they entered the garden area. She blinked as Jozef’s face floated in front of her face. She reached up to touch him, but missed, her arm falling uselessly to her side.
She let out a soft scream as her stomach cramped again. She tried to roll onto her side, her arms wrapped around herself, but Jozef held her in place, his frantic face swimming in and out of her vision.
Suddenly the orchestra seemed louder. They were playing an instrumental version of ‘The Sound of Silence’. Tears gathered in her eyes as she realized how perfect the song was. With Jozef she was surrounded by silence, and like the lyrics of the song, the silence had become an old friend. Without the constant chatter of voices, she could hear the beat of her own heart, see the expressions on her lover’s face as they sat together speaking their silence.
Shaun knew she was slipping away. Her thoughts were fragmented, and her body was no longer obeying her commands. Her limbs refused to move as dizziness engulfed her, each wave lasting longer than the one before until she knew that soon she would close her eyes and allow the darkness to take hold.
She wanted to call to Jozef, but she didn’t want to use her voice. It wasn’t how they communicated. He preferred when she used sign language and she preferred it too. In one last burst of energy she lifted her arms and crossed her fists over her chest. Vomit rushed up her throat and she turned her head to throw up, champagne searing her throat as she emptied her stomach.
Her lips felt foamy and she knew something terrible was happening. She shouldn’t be foaming at the mouth. She tried to force her doctor’s brain to rapidly diagnose, but the darkness was taking her.
She heard a muffled shout and thought it was her own voice calling out for help. Someone dropped to her other side and she felt hands on her face. Voices rose up around her, but she couldn’t concentrate. She wished she could help the frantic voices, but she had to go.
As the shadows took her, she thought she heard a growl so ferocious it shook the windows next to them. Then she was gone, her world fading to nothing.
Chapter Forty-Three
Jozef’s arms wrapped around Shaun as she fell to the patio deck, her body going limp against him. He kneeled with her, setting her gently on the ground. He couldn’t tell what was wrong and her eyes were closed so he couldn’t ask her. He’d never been so frustrated at his lack of voice before. Shaun moaned and a trickle of white foam spilled from her lips. An unfamiliar sensation hit Jozef at the sight. Burning fear.