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He pressed the scalpel to Adam’s upper lip, right under his nose. “I’m interested to find out how hemophilia works. Do you have to see the blood? Or is smelling and tasting it enough for you?” He pressed the sharp blade into Adam’s flesh, slicing a line across his upper lip. Blood trickled out, dripping onto Adam’s lips.
Adam yanked weakly against the straps holding him down, his teeth gnashing, blood and saliva sputtering out from his mouth as the blood trickled in, choking him. With the wire holding his mouth shut he couldn’t do more than gurgle. His eyes rolled in his head and his skin took on even more of an ashen tone.
Havel raised his brows. “That was interesting.”
Havel played with Adam for hours, releasing some of the anger that had built up inside him over years of watching him with Leeza. Watching Adam touch, smell, and talk to her. Years that should have belonged to Havel.
When he finished, he admired his handiwork. Adam had long gashes along his arms and legs, some that would require stitching. He no longer had a nose, but he would survive the disfigurement. In fact, with a blood transfusion and some patching up, he would be just fine for their weekly scheduled date.
Stripping off his gloves, Havel stepped away, eying the mess in front of him dispassionately.
“Make sure he’s ready for next week,” Havel said to Evelina, Adam’s live-in nurse.
“Yes, sir,” she replied, her malevolent gaze on Adam. “Permission to lower his morphine drip while I suture him?”
Havel nodded. “Make sure he suffers but keep him alive and don’t forget his insulin shot. Wouldn’t want him dying on us too soon.”
Evelina was Danika’s sister, the victim whose head had ended up in a box destined for Leeza. Havel had recruited her to make sure Adam stayed alive for as long as possible.
She smiled down at her patient. “With pleasure.”
Content that he was leaving his new toy in good hands, Havel walked away from his dungeon intent on finding his wife and son and taking them out for a night on the town.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
“What if we put this one here?” Leeza leaned across the bed, nearly falling as her extended belly unbalanced her. She caught herself, pressing her hand against the building pressure in her abdomen as she set the stuffed caterpillar next to a stuffed stegosaurus.
No, not there, Kris signed, his brows furrowing. This caterpillar represents the larval stage of the Monarch butterfly. He placed it on his bookshelf next to his magnifying glass and below his butterfly identification chart.
Leeza grinned and ruffled his hair. He moved away, swiping a hand over his head, much the way Havel often did. Kris was picking up more and more of his stepfather’s mannerisms.
“How do you like your new room?” Leeza asked gently. It was a sore subject and one that had been under discussion for months.
After Leeza’s abduction and Adam’s death, Jozef had asked her and Havel to come back to the estate. At first, Leeza resisted, not wanting to open that Pandora’s box of memories, but as the weeks passed and she spent more and more time at the estate, she started to see it in a different light.
It sprawled across a vast tract of land. There were acres of gardens and woods that held a unique beauty.
She really did love the Koba estate and as the baby grew within her, so did her desire to be closer to family and friends. Saskia lived in the mansion alongside Shaun and Jozef while Ayaan lived in the barracks.
Before agreeing to move, Leeza had negotiated with Jozef and he’d capitulated on every point.
“I don’t want to build on the same plot as my old cottage. In fact, you should turn that area into a vegetable garden. The ash from the fire will make excellent fertilizer.”
Jozef had shaken his head at her but had readily agreed. You can have the twenty-acre plot in the northwest corner.
“Next to the stream?” she asked excitedly. She used to go horseback riding in the area and loved it.
Once they’d agreed on the land, Jozef had brought in a team of builders and Leeza joyfully involved herself in every aspect of her new home. She chose the style of house, the features, the fittings, the hardware, the colours, everything. Havel occasionally pitched in his opinion, but mostly left the details to her.
It had taken two months to build their new cottage and another to build a smaller one next door to theirs for Babi.
After Anne’s death, Babi’s health declined. Loneliness and grief over the death of her granddaughter had nearly overwhelmed her. Leeza and Havel went to see her often and had worked on getting her to move.
“If you move in next door to us, you’ll be able to come over and see Kris and the baby whenever you want.”
Babi capitulated, but it had pained her to leave her home. That reluctance changed when she saw her new home. “Why, it looks the same!” Leeza’d had the builders create an exact replica of Adeline Tsotsarov’s one-story house, right down to the same pattern of wallpaper. “Oh, it’s perfect!”
Leeza wished moving Kris had been easier, but it had taken months after the home was built and multiple visits before Kris was ready to move in.
