“How?” he snarled, his rage vibrating down the line.
“Because you want me to choose,” she told him. “Jozef cares about me without asking me to choose.”
“He will kill you!” Krystoff shouted. “Stupid child.”
“Tell mom I love her,” Saskia said, slamming the heel of her hand into the gas flap of an older model car. It opened and she fished out the keys. She’d hidden the car and the keys at the beginning of the school year, giving her an out if she needed one while she was at school. “Please try to…”
Saskia choked on the tears rising up and had to stop and breath. She jerked the car door open and slid into the driver’s seat. Placing her head on the steering wheel she took several deep breaths until she was able to speak again.
“Please stay safe,” she finally said. “I would ask you not to go after Jozef, to remind you that he was a son to you and mom, a brother to me and Leeza, but I know you won’t listen.”
“Is this why you’re leaving?” Krystoff asked. “Don’t do this, Saskia. We can figure something out. I need to know you’re safe.”
She smiled through her tears. “I’m doing this so I will be safe. Tell mom I love her. I love you both.”
Saskia hung up and fitted the keys in the engine, relieved when it started. It was an older car and had been sitting for months.
She lifted her phone and hit Nikolay’s number. He picked up immediately. “Saskia.”
“Niko, are you alone?”
“Uh, wait a minute.” She heard rustling, then a door open and close. “Okay, I’m alone.”
“You don’t have to hide her from me.” Saskia rolled her eyes as she put the car in reverse and pulled out of her parking spot. “I’ve always known you were fucking around. I’m not stupid.”
He fell silent and for one tragic moment she thought he’d deny his trysts. Instead, he said, “If you know, then why are you calling? Why didn’t you break up with me?”
“It’s cute that you ever thought we were going to be a thing.” Pain blossomed in her chest as she lied. There had been a time, not long ago, that she’d believed Nikolay would be her one and only. That they might get married and live happily ever after. After he’d given her the burner phone to give to Shaun, she’d been forced to question whether he ever cared about her, or if he’d been using her. “I was using you for sex, Niko, which was pretty bad by the way, and to get info on Jozef and the team, see what you guys were up to.”
He snarled something that she didn’t catch. She didn’t care.
“You can eat your outrage, asshole,” she said calmly. “I know you were only using me to get close to my dad and when Jozef split, I stopped being useful. That’s around the time the sex started getting really bad.”
“Again, why are you calling me?” he snapped.
“I want you to give Jozef a message. Tell him I’m taking off. I won’t be a problem and he doesn’t need to come after me.”
“Why are you telling me this?” he demanded. “Why don’t you tell Jozef yourself?”
She laughed bitterly. “Because I wanted one last chance to tell you that you are a below average fuck with a below average dick. Have a nice life, fucker.”
She hung up and, without a backward glance, drove away from the university and away from Prague.
Chapter Forty
Leeza checked her gun one more time, glanced in the mirror and then turned away. She stared down at her slumbering son. She’d given him a powerful sedative and it had taken effect. She felt intense guilt for doing such a thing to her child, but the end would justify the means. She needed him to sleep through the events that were about to take place.
She took a deep breath and picked up her bag, slinging it across her shoulders and securing it between her breasts. She picked Kristoph up and held him against her chest, his head on her shoulder.
She took several deep breaths and straightened her spine. She was not a weak person. She would do what she had to do, even if it would haunt her nightmares.
The door opened and her personal guard, Igor, stuck his head in. “Ready to go ma’am? Your sister is on her way to the mansion. She should be joining you shortly.”
Leeza was supposed to go to the main house and cower in the safe room with her sister and her son. She had other plans.
She nodded and held tighter to Kristoph, whose dead weight was difficult to manage. Her constant workouts ensured she was both strong and agile though. She knew she could carry him over a great distance if necessary.
“Follow me.” Igor turned away from her and headed down the hall to the main floor of the house. “Stay behind me and if we’re attacked, run to the house.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
She reached behind her back and pulled her gun from its holster. As Igor descended the stairs, she shot him, the sound an echoing crack through the house. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done. She hated that she was shooting a man in the back, but she was doing it for her son. She had to get him away from the bosom of the Koba family and she knew her father’s men wouldn’t allow her to leave.
Though Krystoff would never give control of his organization to Kristoph, due to his autism, Krystoff still considered his grandson his heir. He would override Kristoph’s own mother if it meant keeping the child with the family. Now, the family was splintering and so was Leeza’s loyalty. She wasn’t one of them. She wasn’t a Koba.
Jozef thought she was though, which made her a prime target.
Igor lurched forward and fell, sliding to the bottom of the stairs. Leeza hurtled after him. She
