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Leeza pressed her lips together to stop the vomit rushing up her throat. It took several deep breaths before she got herself under control. She flipped to the end of Adam’s file. There was nothing in it after he moved to the Czech Republic. “Where’s the rest? Did he stop killing after we got married?”
Havel swiftly crushed her hope. “There’s nothing else in the file because Krystoff suppressed any rumors about his son-in-law, but Jozef and I are positive he continued preying on women after your marriage.”
“Did my dad… I mean Krystoff… did he know Adam was a serial killer before the wedding?”
“Yes.” Havel didn’t bother sugarcoat it, which Leeza was grateful for, but her next question had her mouth going dry. She looked at him with bald desperation, praying he gave her the right answer. “Did you know?”
“Fuck, no.” He swung his chair around and gripped her, turning her to face him. “You have to believe me, sweetheart. We found the file after Krystoff was killed. If I’d known what kind of man Horácek was, I would’ve done the same to him that he did to all those women, then I would’ve stolen you away from Krystoff and crushed his empire until nothing was left. I knew you weren’t happy, but I thought being married to Adam was what you wanted. If I’d known otherwise, I wouldn’t have spent eight years on my ass.” His hand fell heavily on top of the sheaf of papers now spread across the table. “I will never regret anything more in my life than not saving you from this.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Leeza couldn’t stop shivering as she processed everything she’d learned. “What do you think it means?” She took a hasty sip of the vodka orange juice to soothe the hoarseness in her voice. “Why send me the head?”
Frustration etched Havel’s features. “I don’t know, but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s a gift.”
“I don’t understand.”
Havel fidgeted with the file, his forehead creased. “Serial killers are notorious for taking trophies. The head would be a prize he wouldn’t give up easily. I think he sent it to you, along with the note, as a reminder that he values you and still takes your wedding vows seriously.”
Leeza felt sick to her stomach. “How can you know that?”
“I don’t know definitively, but I’ve spent years thinking like the enemy so I can be effective at my job. Which occasionally means tracking down killers and disposing of them. I’ve seen this kind of thing before. The head is a message from Adam to you.”
She should be appalled by his disclosure, but instead, she was grateful he had insight into what they might be dealing with.
“You can get into his mind,” she murmured.
Havel’s eyes deadened, but she knew him well enough to know it was a protective method so she couldn’t read his thoughts. He feared he would be rejected by Leeza because of his understanding of people like Adam. “To an extent,” he admitted. “But I won’t pretend I understand why he does it. He’s sick and needs to be put down like the animal he is.”
Leeza nodded her agreement. “Do you think he’ll come after me and Kris?”
“You, yes, there’s no doubt in my mind. The severed head is a precursor to something bigger. But not Kris, he has no interest in your son.”
Her tension eased at the sureness in Havel’s voice. If he thought Kris was safe from his monster of a father, then she believed him. Adam had never shown much interest in Kris, but she needed reassurance. “What makes you think he won’t go after Kris?”
Havel hesitated, as if debating what to tell her. "It's obvious he never loved the kid. No affection towards him. Probably resented him for taking your attention."
“I suppose that’s true,” she said thoughtfully. “Adam was a distant guy. He didn’t show interest in anyone or anything. He mostly left us alone unless he needed something from me. I didn’t think he liked either of us and only tolerated our presence in the same house as him.”
Havel pinned her with his dark gaze. “He tolerated Kris’s presence, but he’s obsessed with you.”
She opened her mouth to disagree, but Havel pulled a document from the paperwork spread in front of them and handed it to her. “Read it.”
It was a letter from Adam’s uncle to Krystoff, dated twelve years earlier, when Leeza had been sixteen. It was inquiring after her marital status and a possible merger between the families.
When she lifted her gaze, he continued, “Adam and his uncle travelled here from Moscow to attend one of your parent’s parties. It was then that he noticed you.”
“How do you know?” It wasn’t in the letter.
“Because I was there. I was your bodyguard; it was my job to watch for threats. Horácek never took his eyes off you.”
“But he hated me!”
“He probably did,” Havel acknowledged. “It’s possible he resented his obsession. But he also loved you in his sick kind of way. Still does if my thinking on the gift is correct.”
“Oh god.” Leeza covered her face with her hands and mumbled through her fingers, “I don’t think I can take any more. I lived with a fucking serial killer and didn’t know it.” Her features twisted as she looked at Havel. “He touched me.” Her eyes fell to one of the crime scene reports and bile rose up her throat. “Oh god!”
Havel rushed to the corner of the room, then turning her chair, he thrust a wastebasket under her face just as vomit rushed up her throat in hot denial of everything she’d seen and heard.
