I could feel Adrik’s surprise when his father asked him what he needed. We had come to Panama for Trino, nothing more. I knew Adrik wasn’t planning on asking his father for help. In his mind, this was his problem and he was going to deal with it. His father, however, was more than willing to help his son finally realize the plans he could never materialize when he was in charge of the city.
“We might’ve just f**ked up part of their plans. We got Sal’s goddaughter out of the picture, so now Martin has no payment for whatever his part in this plan is. That just happened yesterday, so we’re waiting to see how he handles that when he finds out,” Ivan said.
“She was being held at my building. Martin’s plan was to get her away from the building and grab her. I’m taking it as a move against me since it’s my guys that are on her,” Adrik said.
“How do you know this?” Vitaliy asked.
“We have the messages between Martin and Giana to prove it. We’ve also overheard conversations between them,” I said. I caught Misha and Andrei looking at me. Both were clearly surprised I would tell him that. The exchange did not go unnoticed by Vitaliy.
Vitaliy looked at Trino. “What’s his relationship like with the Mexican cartels?”
“Not good. If it weren’t for Sephie, he’d be dead. He went to try and negotiate with them while I was still in the city. I enjoy making personal deliveries, Trino said, a sly smile creeping across his face.
Vitaliy was quiet for a minute, then he ordered all of his guys but Aleksei to leave. Once they had left, he looked at me, asking, “how?”
I glanced at Misha and Andrei, then looked at Ivan, asking them if they were okay with what I was about to say. They all nodded. Adrik whispered, “you can tell him.”
“It wasn’t actually me. It was Misha. Me and Andrei are just batteries for him.” I said. They weren’t aware yet that we’d already told Vitaliy about what they could do.
“Don’t let her lie to you. She plays a bigger role than she’ll admit to. She keeps the focus on her to protect them,” Ivan said.
Trino looked surprised. “It’s not just you, Miha?” I shook my head no. “You were right to make it appear that it was only you when I was there. My guys couldn’t have handled knowing it was more than just you. They would’ve killed me on the flight home.”
I felt Adrik and Ivan both starting to get angry. “I knew they had a bigger problem with me than you were letting on,” I said. “What about Gus and Oscar though?”
He laughed. “Oh, those two love you as much as I do. Your friend Chen has told them what you did for him and how awesome you are. They have to listen to me tell them how awesome you are. Then they both witness it first hand. Literally every time they see you. Shi t, you’re the reason Oscar got to blow up an extra building. For that reason alone, he’s always going to love you.”
“Good news for Gus and Oscar. They won’t mysteriously drop dead from a random bullet through their head,” Stephen said. He’s definitely still angry about this.
“Wait until they find out what happened with mi madre. You won’t ever have to worry about them,” Trino said.
“Her threat still stands. We’re also happy to add to it at any point,” Stephen said.
Misha had his faraway look. I knew he was checking the accuracy of Trino’s statement. “They won’t be a problem,” he said.
Vitaliy looked to Misha. “How long have you had this?”
“I can’t say for sure, really. it’s changed. It started with a gut instinct. I would know that a plan was going to go horribly wrong. It’s developed into me being able to see things as they happen for other people. But it can change, depending on decisions made or not made. It’s not an absolute,” Misha
said.
“And she helped you?” Vitaliy asked. He was clearly curious how everything worked.
Misha nodded his head. “Boss called her the Game Master. She shows you your potential when you’re ready. She also helps make everything clear for me. I can see more when she helps.” Misha looked at Trino. “It happened the night the Mexicans tried to kill you. When you didn’t answer when Boss called, Sephie knew something was wrong. I was checking to see what I could find and she grabbed my hand. That’s when we saw you under attack. We could see the way out, but knew you needed a diversion. That’s when Sephe made the kitchen blow up so you could get out.”
Trino laughed. “I knew there was no logical explanation for that kitchen to blow the way it did. You know the entire house blew once we were out, right?”
“What? I made sure you had plenty of time to get away,” said. I still had a hard time believing I was the one that made those explosions happen, but now was not the time to argue that point.
Trino cursed in Spanish, which always made me laugh. “Now I understand you telling my guy that you saved his life.”
Vitaliy, now curious, looked to Andrei. “And what of you?”
Andrei, who still wasn’t completely comfortable with his newfound ability, looked a bit like a deer in the headlights when Vitaliy wanted to know what he could do. I couldn’t help but laugh. “Bubba’s like me. He can pick up on things people need said, but won’t. He notices more than most people do,
too.”
“And how long have you had this?” Vitaliy asked.
“Not very long at all. It just started happening. I’m still not very good at it,” Andrei said.
“You’re very good at it, Bubba. You just don’t trust yourself and you have a bad habit of comparing yourself to me, who’s been doing it much longer,” I
said.
“Andrei has a really good track record so far. He’s also my backup for when Sephie doesn’t want to tell me things because she thinks she’s bothering me,” Adrik said, holding me a little tighter.
“That’s a very good skill to have. Women can be…complicated,” Vitaliy said, giving me a sly smirk as I squinted my eyes at him. Adrik laughed quietly at our exchange. “You have a unique advantage that I never had when I was in charge of the city. Your mother was right. You’re going to realize everything I couldn’t,” he said, looking at Adrik.
“I still haven’t figured out how it’s all going to work. I just know that with Sephie and these five, it’s definitely possible. I’m not going to stop until all the bosses are dead,” Adrik said.
“Save Dario,” I said.
“Why him?” Vitaliy asked.
“His brain is completely broken. He wants out. He wants to disappear. He’s given us very useful information. I told him I’d let him go once this is over and the other bosses are taken care of,” Adrik said.
“And what’s your opinion of that plan?” Vitaliy asked me.
“I agree. Dario has been mentally tortured by Massimo and Sal for his entire life. He’s completely lost his entire family because of them. He has nothing. He wants nothing, except to be left alone. There’s an overwhelming sadness to that man because of everything he’s been through,” I said.
“I always suspected that Massimo was really the one in control between those two. They always made it seem like Dario was in charge, but no one could ever prove it was Massimo,” Vitaliy said.
“Sephie did,” Ivan said.
Vitaliy looked surprised, yet again. “How?”
“She speaks Italian, too, but the basses never caught on that she could understand their conversations. She said when the bosses would meet at the restaurant she used to work at, occasionally Massimo and Dario would stay after to have their own meeting after everyone else left. She would hang around and listen because they never considered her anything above a servant. Since they were speaking Italian in front of her, they also spoke very freely. Sophie knows where Massimo buried all the bodies, literally and figuratively,” Ivan said.
“You speak Italian?” Vitaliy asked.
1 responded, in Italian, telling him that I did understand it better than I spoke it, but he likely wouldn’t know the difference. It was his turn to surprise me when he responded in Italian, telling me that I spoke it just fine and that he could, in fact, tell the difference. I felt my cheeks blush as he caught me being a shi t. He laughed loudly.
“One reason I handed everything over to my son when I did was so that I wouldn’t need to learn Spanish as well. The Colombians and the Mexicans were not big players yet when I was running the city. Now, they are. It’s beneficial to know what your associates are saying about you,” Vitaliy said in English.
“Guess I’m learning Spanish now, too,” I said, laughing
Trino laughed, “I know a guy.”
“And what of the dealers in the city? Where do their allegiances lie?” Vitaliy asked.
“All my dealers are loyal to Jefe and will remain so if they wish to keep existing,” Trino said.
“The rest of the dealers are also loyal to him. They helped us stop the brawn operation. They were ready to revolt against the bosses before we stepped in and told them our plan to stop it,” Ivan said.
“This drug. It seems ridiculous. Why would you want to kill your customers so easily?” Vitaliy asked.
“That’s a solid question. The story has always been that the dealers are the ones that created the drug and the bosses are the ones that stopped them from selling it. In reality, the opposite is true,” Viktor said.
“It’s another black mark against Sal,” I said. “He employed that son of a bi tch doctor to make it and he’s the one that tried to force his dealers to keep selling it. It almost caused a war between the dealers and bosses when it was around the first time. The dealers were a big reason the second edition didn’t go anywhere.”
“They made another version?” Aleksei asked.
“They revamped it, trying to increase the aggression. That was the original plan to get Anthony and Lorenzo back to the city. Create extreme chaos. and they’d be able to slip in unnoticed,” Ivan said.
“Unfortunately for them, we found out about it and were able to stop it,” Stephen said.
“Jefe likes to stay one step ahead of the other bosses,” Trino said, nodding toward Adrik.
Vitaliy was quiet for a few moments, clearly contemplating everything we’d just told him. He sighed, then looked at Adrik. “You still don’t have very many contacts in Italy, do you?”
Adrik chuckled, but shook his head no. “To be fair, I haven’t needed them until now.”
“You will use mine, then,” Vitaliy said, matter-of-factly. “It will be easier now that you have sladkaya. None of them speak very good English and they’re too stubborn to learn Russian.”
“I mean, no pressure,” I said.
Aleksei laughed. “Italian men are suckers for beautiful women. You’ll be fine.”
Vitaliy also couldn’t help but laugh. “Alyosha is right. You need not worry, sladkaya.”
Sephie
That night, once Adrik and I were alone in our bedroom, he was working to undo my pants as I was trying to quickly get my contacts out of my eyes. They were helpful and kept me from worrying about anyone seeing something they shouldn’t, but I was finding that I didn’t like wearing them for long periods. They made my eyes itch.
I was giggling at him trying to get my pants off while I was distracted. “You’re going to make me drop one of these things and then I’m screwed,” 1 said, trying to hurry and be careful at the same time.
“I’ll have them make you extras when we get home,” he said as he knelt down to slide my pants down my legs. “At least we know you won’t need to worry about my father seeing anything. It’ll probably make him love you even more. Aleksei, too. He was surprisingly okay with our conversation this
afternoon.”
1 laughed. “I think your father has been waiting a very long time to have that conversation.” I pulled the second contact out and put it in the container. I turned around to face Adrik, rubbing my eyes. He took advantage of my hands being busy and picked me up, setting me on the bathroom
counter.
“I think my father is just as in love with you as the rest of us,” he said. His hands were roaming over my body as he waited for me to stop rubbing my eyes so he could pull my shirt off.
“Told you. He’s a cheeseball in there,” I said, laughing. When I pulled my hands from my eyes, he quickly pulled my shirt over my head and then his lips were on mine.
“Enough talking,” he said, smiling against my lips. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer to him. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him closer to me as he sucked my bottom lip into his mouth, biting down on it gently. It caused me to inhale sharply, my desire for him coming on strongly. I pushed my hips into him, feeling that he was completely aroused already. His warm hands made quick work of my bra, throwing it over his shoulder. He placed his hands over each breast, gently squeezing as he deepened the kiss. I moaned quietly in his mouth, loving the trail of fire that spread over my body when he touched me.
His hands moved down to my hips, pulling me even closer to him. I smiled as he ripped my panties off. “That’s why I brought extras,” I said, laughing. He was smiling as he kissed down the side of my neck. My breaths were quicker as he teased all my favorite spots with his mouth. I was so completely lost in what he was doing that he was still completely clothed. I momentarily snapped out of my euphoria and started to unbutton his shirt, but he stopped me.
“I won’t be able to control myself if you take my clothes off and I want to take my time,” he said, his voice husky with desire. As he said it, his lips were against my neck, his teeth grazing my skin lightly. I could feel his stubble against my skin, loving the contrast between the softness of his lips. and the roughness of his facial hair. A small moan escaped my lips as I felt him push all of his desire to me.
He knew that I struggled to control myself when he pushed his desire onto me. It was so overwhelming that it almost consumed me. I made an attempt once more to get his shirt off, but he took both hands in his. “I will hold you down if I have to,” he said firmly, his lips right by my ear. His words were an unexpected turn on. My hips pressed into him involuntarily as my need for him grew. He looked at me for a moment. I recognized the look that meant my eyes were changing. He let go of my hands, his warm hands once again leaving a trail of fire everywhere they touched.
One hand went to the back of my neck, pulling me to him. His lips found mine once again as his other hand moved between my legs. As soon as I felt his fingers in my wetness, I moaned. His touch was light, at first. Too light. I wanted more. His fingers worked slowly, exploring my pu ssy. I pushed my hips into him, trying to get more pressure, more friction. He groaned into my mouth. “You’re always so eager,” he said, quietly. He pulled back slightly so he could look at me, his s*xy smirk on his face. He knew he was driving me crazy. He was clearly enjoying it.
Just as I was about to say something, he pushed two fingers inside me roughly. Instead of words coming out of my mouth, I moaned loudly. He chuckled as he leaned in and kissed my neck again. He pulled his fingers out and went back to exploring lightly. He stopped briefly, putting his hands on my hips. He pulled me to the edge of the counter, his hands holding my thighs that were still wrapped around him. He put his hand in between my breasts and pushed me back lightly before pressing my knees up toward my shoulders.
He knelt down in front of me, putting my feet on his shoulders. I had to lean back on my arms to keep from falling against the mirror. He kissed my inner thighs, taking his time, clearly still enjoying my torture. I felt his warm breath as his tongue started to explore where his fingers had previously been. His lips wrapped around my cl*t, su cking lightly. I ran my hand through his hair as he worked his tongue back and forth. I could feel myself starting to slowly build, but I still needed more. I grabbed his hair in my fist, trying to push his head toward me. He understood, increasing the
pressure. I felt him slide his fingers inside me once more, curling upward, as his tongue continued to work over my cl*t.
My breaths were coming quickly, moans escaping as he pushed me closer to the edge. Each time I moaned, he increased the pressure of both his tongue and his fingers until I finally couldn’t take anymore and crashed over the edge. His fingers didn’t stop as I rode out my o*gasm. He stood up, his lips crashing into mine.
He didn’t stop me when my hands went to unbutton his shirt. I worked feverishly to get it off, along with his pants. His fingers were still inside me, pushing me toward another o*gasm. He only briefly stopped to let his shirt fall to the floor before slamming back into me. I was close enough to another o*gasm that all I could do was hold on to his shoulders as his fingers f**ked me. When he felt my o*gasm start, he put his hands on my hips. and slammed into me with his co ck instead of his fingers. It was exactly what I needed. I was trying not to scream as he slammed into me repeatedly, pulling my hips toward him each time he thrust into me.
I grabbed his neck, kissing him to help m*ffle my loud cries of pleasure. I was breathing so hard at this point that I had to break the kiss as he was unrelenting in his rhythm. I felt his lips on my neck, then I felt his teeth as he bit down a little harder than usual. It sent waves of pleasure throughout my body. Much like I couldn’t control myself when he pushed his desire onto me, he struggled to control himself when I pushed my pleasure onto him when I was having an o*gasm. He was learning to get a handle on it, but only sometimes. Because he spent so long teasing me this time, my o*gasm was especially intense so I decided to return the favor and shared it all with him. I’d learned that I could regulate how much I shared with him, to help him learn to control it. I didn’t hold back this time. Turnabout is fair play, after all.
I heard him groan. “F**k, Sephie,” he said as he increased the intensity even more. His thrusts came harder and faster. I knew he was feeling everything I was. I also knew he wouldn’t be able to last much longer. I wrapped my legs around him tighter, the walls of my pussy clamping down on him as he kept drilling into me. He grabbed me roughly, his fingers digging into my hips. I loved when he lost control. I loved being able to make him lose control. I felt another o*gasm started before the previous one was completely done. His grip got tighter, his thrusts harder and I finally felt him explode inside me as I was coming down.
He grabbed my face in both hands, kissing me roughly. Both of us are trying to catch our breath. He picked me up off the counter and walked us both to the shower. We were both sweaty. “At least I won’t feel bad about sk*pping cardio tomorrow,” he said as he turned the water on. His arms kept a hold of me, not wanting to let go just yet. He stood to the side of the water stream until it warmed up. His hands roaming over my back, his lips on mine. I was happy to stay in his arms for as long as he wanted to keep me there.
Adrik
I woke up sometime in the middle of the night. Sephie was laying across my chest. She’d tried her best to wear me out before we finally went to sleep, but my brain just didn’t want to stop. I don’t know why I was so surprised that my father was so different from Sephie. I’d never seen him act the way he did around her. It was a welcome change.
My father had always been a cold man. He made sure I had everything I petted, but there was never any warmth between us. As I was growing up, I eventually came to realize that I was a reminder of my mother for him. I think it caused him pain to see me and have to constantly remember that he’d lost her. Now that I have Sephie, I can understand the pain he was in. If my mother was even half of what Sephie is for me, I’m impressed my father didn’t lose his sanity when she died.
I inhaled deeply, lost in my thoughts. I felt Sephie snuggle into me more, effectively breaking me out of my head for a moment. I watched her sleeping peacefully on my chest, her fingers playing their song on my heart.
She’d been able to hide her eyes from everyone but Ivan so far, although I suspected that Andrei had at least a small clue that something had changed. It was only a matter of time before the others picked up on the fact that her demon eyes hadn’t made an appearance in a while. I was fairly sure they’d already noticed. They just weren’t saying anything yet. I knew we were eventually going to have to tell them, but I was enjoying having this secret with her for a little longer. I also didn’t want her to have to wear the contacts anymore than she absolutely had to, since they seemed to make her eyes itch after wearing them for long periods.
I felt her stir and she picked her head up off my chest, resting her chin on me so she could look at me. She smiled sweetly at me. The moonlight coming in through the window made her porcelain skin look almost like it was glowing. “Wanna tell me about it?” she asked. Of course she knew I was lost in my head.
I smiled back at her, my hand lightly running over the features of her face. She closed her eyes, still smiling at me, enjoying my touch. “I didn’t mean to wake you,” I said quietly.
“I could feel you,” she said. “You’re all over the place.”
I laughed. “Accurate.”
She stretched beside me, then moved so she was straddling me. I sat up a little more so I could easily look at her. Even though my mind was everywhere all at once, seeing her climb on top of me while still naked did not hurt..
She laughed when she saw where my mind immediately went. She just picked my hands up and placed them on her breasts. “Nobody likes cold boobies. They were extra warm from being on you. Now they’re going to freeze,” she said.
“And now I’ve suddenly forgotten everything I was thinking about,” I said, squeezing her breasts as she laughed at me.
She put her hands on my chest, her eyes searching mine. Even in almost complete darkness, she could read my mind. She looked at me, a puzzled look on her face. “You seem happy about seeing your father this time. Why is it keeping you up?”
I moved one hand to the side of her face. I was actually trying to get her to close her eyes so she’d stop searching. I didn’t want to deny her, but I also didn’t think she’d want to have this conversation right now. I knew she was going to chastise me for it, too. She did close her eyes as she leaned into my hand. My thumb rubbed lightly against her cheek.
“You’re not going to distract me, although I appreciate the effort,” she said. A sly smile creeped over her face. She sighed, then said, “you have a better understanding of why your father is the way he is now that you have me.” When I didn’t answer immediately, she opened her eyes. “And now you’re even more worried about losing me.”
She was quiet for a moment. She chewed on her bottom lip as she was trying to find the words to say. “I sometimes forget, with everything that’s happened, how hard all of this has been on you. You’re almost as good as me at hiding things.” She smiled sweetly at me, her fingers reaching out to run lightly over my face through my stubble. She thought for a few minutes, then sighed. “I think everything was supposed to happen the way it did. You would’ve kept sending me away to try and protect me, thinking that you brought this danger to me if Armando and Sal hadn’t grabbed me and Ivan. I never told you, but when we were at the warehouse and you told Ivan to get me out of there, I had a bad feeling. A very bad feeling, but it all happened so quickly that I couldn’t say anything. I knew then that being apart from you was wrong, without really knowing it. You did what you thought was best, but it’s still coming from an insecure place within you because there’s still a tiny part of you that doesn’t believe I love all of you.”
“Was,” I said. She raised an eyebrow, silently asking for more of an explanation. “There was a small part of me that didn’t believe you loved all of me. That went away when we got to you and Ivan. Even though I knew you were in excruciating pain, I knew you could feel my anger. It was completely out of control at that point, but I could feel that you wanted it to be so. When I walked to you to put my jacket around you, I could see how much you were. i craved my anger at that moment. I could also see how much you loved me, despite my demon being fully on display. I’d always tried to keep that part of me away from you, worried that it would scare you. But you never backed down. You never looked at me differently. You only loved me more.”
“I know who you are, Adrik. I’ve always known who you are. I’ve always known that side of you exists. You don’t get to be the Lord King Boss without it.” I chuckled at her title for me. “You still have the biggest heart of anyone I know. You all do. You’re all worried that you’re monsters. I worry that I’m a monster sometimes too. I don’t have a pristine track record either, but you still love me in spite of it. And I still love you. All of you. Forever and always. So when you’re worried that you’re a monster and you can’t see that even your demon has a good purpose or find any of your own love to give that side of you, you can borrow some of my love. I’ve got plenty. With your name on it.” She grinned at me. I could feel the warmth spread through my body that meant she was thinking about how much she loved me. Even though I couldn’t see them clearly, I knew her eyes had turned completely
blue as well.
She squealed as I grabbed her and quickly threw her down on the bed, moving so I was on top of her. I leaned down, kissing her softly. My hand on her cheek, my thumb rubbing lightly. I felt her desire for me come on very strongly. I knew that my gentle kisses made her melt every single time. She surprised me by grabbing my co ck and positioning me against her pu ssy. She moaned softly as I slid inside her. I would never tire of showing her just how much I loved her.
I heard her inhale sharply as I slid all the way inside her. It still happened every time and I still couldn’t get enough of it. She angled her hips so she could take every bit of me. She exhaled, arching her back as I felt her pu ssy squeeze around me. I slowly started to move inside her, loving the sound of her quiet moans as she felt the friction start to increase.
She wrapped her legs around my waist and tried to roll us both over. She ended up giggling when she couldn’t do it, which made her pu ssy vibrate and clench around me. I grabbed her and pulled her on top of me, sitting up at first because I loved being able to look at her eyes. She kissed me deeply as she rocked her hips against me, but she placed her hands on my chest and pushed me back so I was lying down.
The moon was full enough that it gave just enough light through the windows that I could see her. She grabbed my hands, placing them on her breasts and moving them over her body as she arched her back and started to ride me. I loved watching her get lost in the feeling and loved it even more when she took charge.
She took one of my hands and placed my thumb over her clit, her fingers on top of mine, directing me to touch her exactly how she wanted. I could feel her orgasm building. I could feel everything she felt. Her rhythm increased, her hips grinding into me as she kept building to release. I moved my hand from between her legs and put hers in place of it. I wanted to watch her touch herself. I saw a small smirk as she knew what I wanted. She did not disappoint.
Keeping one hand in between her legs, she ran her other hand over her body. She cupped her full breast, wrapping her fingers around her nipple and squeezing. It sent a pulse of electricity through her body that I felt, making my hips jerk upward. She moaned loudly as she quickened her pace, riding me harder. Her breasts now bouncing with her movements, her breaths coming heavy and quick. I grabbed her hips, helping push her down on me harder. It was her undoing. Her entire body exploded into pure bliss around me.
In one swift motion, I flipped us so she was on her back once more. Trying to keep her orgasm going and unable to control myself any longer, I drilled hard into her. She grabbed my shoulders, her nails scraping over my flesh as she tried to hold on. Her lips were next to my ear, breathlessly saying my name as she urged me to keep going. Whatever she wanted, she could have.
Her arms fell limp to the bed as she gives in completely to her pleasure. All I could hear were her loud cries of pleasure. I felt her push everything she was feeling to me as we both exploded into pure bliss. Every cell in my body was on fire in the best way possible. Her touch sent chills down my spine. I never wanted it to end.
Sephle
Adrik and I were the last ones to breakfast the following morning. Everyone gave us knowing looks and I suddenly worried that I’d been too loud the night before. Adrik felt my sudden panic. He slid his arm around my waist, his lips next to my ear. “Nobody heard you. But if they did, they’re just jealous.” He was clearly amused at the possibility of them hearing me. It was an ego boost for him. It was insanely embarrassing for me.
“Good morning, princess,” Ivan said. I was fairly certain he felt my momentary panic as well. He was becoming quite good at feeling as much from me as I could feel from him. “We made bets as to whether you would wake up late today or not. You’re due for a late morning.”
“Shut up.”
“No, it’s true, gazelle. It’s been a few weeks since you’ve slept in. I think you’re past due, actually,” Misha said.
I couldn’t hide my amusement at them apparently knowing my schedules better than I did. “I had no idea I was so predictable,” I said, sitting in an empty chair beside Viktor. He put his giant arm around my shoulders, hugging me sweetly. He kissed the top of my head, saying, “you’re allowed to sleep in whenever you like. You waste a lot of energy taking care of all of us, sestrichka.”
“I would not call that a waste, Papa Bear.”
“I, for one, am relieved that you didn’t sleep in this morning, spider monkey. I was going to feel bad about letting you go full speed yesterday morning if you had,” Andrei said.
1 laughed, but before I could respond, Aleksei looked at me, half-confused, half amused. “Do they all call you different names?” I smiled at him, nodding my head. “I assume there’s a reason for such strange names?” he asked, wanting further explanation. Clearly, Alyosha was jealous of our imaginative nicknames.
“There’s a story for all of them,” Misha said. Both Aleksei and Vitaliy looked at all of us curiously, wanting to hear why they called me by the names they did.
“The first day I stayed with her while Boss was working, she jumped on my back so I had to carry her around every chance she got. She still does it. That’s why I call her spider monkey,” Andrei said as he smiled and winked at me. I knew he’d come to love carrying me around as much as I did. Half the time, he’d offer first.
“She likes to go for runs and since I’m the only one that runs on a regular basis, I was forced to go with her. She almost killed me that first time. She’s like a gazelle. I like to remind her that she almost killed me as often as I can,” Misha said, his wide smile stretching across his face.
Ivan laughed. “Much like she put you in your place yesterday, Alyosha, she put me in mine very quickly after first meeting her. I had called her princess to try and pi ss her off. I was giving her shi t while she was trying to help me. She adopted it right then and she’s been the princess ever
since.”
“Why would you try to pi ss her off?” Vitaliy asked.
Before Ivan could answer, I said, “Ivan has a very special set of skills that he enjoyed using on your son’s past girlfriends.”
“How so?”
“His demons pull their demons out for the world to see, so everyone else can see the person as Ivan sees them. He just didn’t realize that I have many of the same demons he does and I’m very good friends with them, so it didn’t work on me.” I laughed, remembering that morning in my kitchen. “He’d been hurt and needed stitches. It was before I knew of his aversion to doctors. I was offering to clean him up and trying to talk him into going to the hospital but he was giving me shi t. I gave him shi t back so he let me clean his wound, but I told him he needed stitches. He said he wasn’t going to the doctor and then taunted me about stitching him up. He didn’t know that I really could stitch him up, so I told him I was going to enjoy the pain it would cause since I had nothing to numb the area. I also didn’t know that was not a thing that happens with him. I was just trying to pi ss him off the same way he was trying to pi ss me off, honestly.”
“It was the first time we’d seen Ivan laugh in years when she told him she wished she had a lollipop to give him and thanked him for not killing this princess when she was done,” Viktor said, his arm moving around my shoulders once again.
Stephen laughed loudly. “I didn’t know about the lollipop comment. I would’ve paid to have seen his face.”
Vitally and Aleksei were also laughing. “You really have nothing to worry about when it comes to my contacts in Italy, sladkaya. You’ll be able to handle them just fine,” Vitaliy said, still laughing. He was quiet for a moment, looking at all of us thoughtfully. Then he said, “the more I learn, the more impressed I am.” Then he stood up and walked away from the table, leaving everyone slightly stunned at his words. I glanced at Adrik, who was more stunned than anyone, his mouth slightly open, his eyes wide.
It was Aleksei that broke the stunned silence. He looked at Adrik, “she offered him a sweet reminder of things long lost to him. This father was too young to remember.” He placed his hand on Adrik’s shoulder as he, too, got up to walk away from the table, once again leaving us all in
silence.
you
“Jesus I haven’t seen this kind of melodrama since Vlad first came to power,” Stephen said, completely straight-faced. We all erupted into laughter, which inevitably grew as we looked at Trino’s confused expression.
“Adrik
My father called his contacts in Italy that afternoon. He requested Sephie’s presence, so that he could introduce her. I knew his contacts and they knew me, but because of the language barrier, I never had much contact with them. I had never had a real need for them until now.
“I’m going to call Battista. He’s the most useful. If he can’t get anything for you, I’ll call one of the other ones,” Vitaliy said. He looked at Sephie with a mischievous glint in his eye and said something to her in Italian. She laughed, but she looked almost nervous when she glanced at me. As my father looked away to make the call, I searched her eyes, trying to find out what he’d just said to her.
She was still much better at reading my mind than I was at reading hers, but the more I tried it with her, the easier it got. I found my answer before Battista answered the call. Vitaliy had told her that Battista was a notorious womanizer and would openly flirt with her in front of me, especially since he knew I didn’t speak Italian. I never worried about Sephie around anyone else, but that didn’t mean I wanted to see anyone else flirting with her. She smiled sweetly at me, noticing my clenched jaw. She pulled my arms around her waist as Vitaliy told Battista the reason for his call.
Battista knew of Ricardo, but said that he never liked him. Apparently, Ricardo had a bit of a reputation in the business world in Italy. He’d screwed a few too many people over early on in his career, so there were quite a few very influential people that refused to work with him. Battista was one of those people.
Battista was so wealthy that most people didn’t know he existed. Much like me, much like Vitaliy, he worked hard to be as anonymous as possible. But Battista also had generational wealth behind him. That plus the success he’d had in business gave him the opportunity to be a very powerful, very influential person. Instead, he chose to remain behind the scenes, choosing a quieter life. He had extensive networks throughout Italy and he kept a finger on the pulse of literally everything that happened in the entire country, but he stayed in the shadows. Only stepping in when absolutely necessary.
Most of my father’s contacts throughout the world were much the same. They were all very influential people that no one knew about. Just the few people in my father’s network alone made up well over half the world’s total wealth. And the common citizen didn’t even know they existed.
Battista was happy to help us out, especially if it meant Ricardo was going down. Sephie laughed at one particularly impassioned rant from Battista. She quietly said, “he’s almost as imaginative as Giana is about the insults for Ricarda.”
Vitaliy and Battista talked for a few more minutes, then I heard Vitaliy say Massimo’s name, followed soon after by Sephie’s name. She looked at me, somewhat surprised, then looked back at Vitaliy. He looked proud as he kept talking to Battista. Battista asked a question, to which Sephie answered. It was difficult to tell, but I think Battista was shocked at her answer. He was laughing at the end of it, which made Sephie laugh as well.
Once the call ended, Vitaliy said, “he’s going to see what he can find out about Sal and Ricardo. He’ll be able to find information on Niko and Vito too, if they’re still there. Battista has the most connections in Italy. He’ll be able to find the most information, but he’ll likely want to deliver it in person. That means he needs to come to the city or you need to go to Italy.”
“I won’t go to Italy if Sal and Ricardo are still there. Not until Sephie is completely healed. I won’t put her in danger again,” I said, firmly.
Vitally put his hand up, like he was trying to calm me down. “You won’t need to. He’ll come to the city if I agree to meet him there. He still owes me a very large debt. He’ll come to the city if it means paying that back.”
I felt Sephie’s hand timidly in mine. “I can travel. I’ll be okay. We can go there if we have to,” she said, quietly.
Before I could answer, Vitaliy said emphatically, “no. He’s right. No one is putting you in danger. Sal clearly has it out for you. And that was before he lost his son and his brother. Even though it was Trino that killed them, he’ll likely find a way to blame it on you just to have another reason to come after you.”
“Dammit. Scolded,” she said, under her breath.
“No one is going anywhere right away anyway. It takes time to collect information. He’ll need a few days, at the very least,” Vitaliy said, taking a softer tone with her. He looked at me. “What are your plans with Trino? He’s going to stay in the city for now, no?”
“For now, yes. His entire security team is compromised. We need to get him a new team before he can go back to Colombia. The Mexicans are after him, as well. It’s just as big of a mess down there as it is in the city,” I said.
“His security is compromised because of sladkaya?”
“Totally accountable,” Sephie said, raising one hand.
Vitaliy scoffed. They were never loyal to him in the first place, then.”
I laughed, which made him look at me. “She said the very same thing to Trino when we found out.”
“Smart girl,” he said, winking at her.
“I think it’s time we go back to the city. It’ll take time to get a new security team for Trino. He has very loyal dealers, but I’m not sure they’re adequate enough for the security he needs. Viktor can help him with it, but they need to be in the city for that to happen. I also feel safer with Sephie at my building.” I said. “You’re always welcome. We have room for you and your guys at the building, although it won’t be as warm as it is here right.
now.”
Vitally looked lost in thought for a few moments. “I haven’t been to the city in years. Maybe it’s time I paid a visit.”
“Aleksei will be happy. He can go to that restaurant he’s been missing.” Sephie said.
Vitaliy laughed. “It’s not the food he misses at that restaurant, sladkaya. It’s the waitress. She’s likely not working there any longer.”
“That dog,” Sephie said quietly, shaking her head and laughing quietly.
Sephie
We had made plans to return to the city the following morning. Vitaliy had agreed to come back with us, but he was going to come up a couple days behind us. He said he needed to take care of a few things in Panama before leaving.
I quietly snuck off to the bedroom to take my contacts out for a few minutes. I told Adrik where I was going and what I was doing, so he wouldn’t worry about me. I knew he was going to worry about me anyway. I didn’t want to interrupt his conversation, but my eyes were itching so bad that I couldn’t take it. I needed some relief for at least a few minutes. Contacts were highly overrated.
I sat down on the end of the bed, rubbing my eyes, finally getting some relief. I felt a slight breeze, so I opened my eyes. I didn’t remember a door or window being open. When I looked up, there was a woman standing in front of me. At first, I was startled, but she looked familiar somehow. She smiled sweetly at me, then asked, “you can see me?”
I nodded my head, wondering why she would ask that question as I could see her standing plain as day in front of me. She caught on to my confusion. “You’re the only one who’s been able to see me. Or hear me. You really are special,” she said.
I gasped. “You’re Vitaliy’s wife. Adrik’s mother. You’re Lena. How can I see you right now?” Her smile widened. She took a step closer to me and I saw her eyes. The same eyes that I adored on her son. “This has never happened before,” I said, completely taken aback.
“I wanted to thank you,” she said. “I keep an eye on Vitaliy, but I don’t always stay with him. I have other responsibilities. That’s how I met your father. He told me I could make this happen.”
“He always talks to me in my dreams. Never when I’m awake. Except that one time when he swooped in, but even then, I didn’t see him. Did he show you his swooping?” I asked, grinning at her.
She laughed. “You’re very much like him.” She walked closer to me, sitting on the bed beside me. I felt the bed dip as she sat down, like she was completely real. I could see that Adrik got her smile, along with her eyes. The softness in his face came from her as well. He favored his father, but she made his father’s harsh good looks softer.
“He has your eyes,” I said as I was taking in the details of her face.
“I think that was the hardest thing for his father to get over. He used to say he could get lost in my eyes. Seeing the same eyes on his son just reminded him of his loss.”
“He’s still very much in love with you,” I said.
She laughed quietly. “And I’m still very much in love with him. The love we have is much the same as the Jove you have for my son. It’s not an average relationship. It’s…” she paused like she was trying to find the words.
“Eternal,” I said.
“Exactly. I should’ve known you’d already know,” she said, smiling sweetly at me. She reached out and grabbed my hand. Surprisingly, she felt warm. Similar to Adrik’s touch. “Sephie, I want to thank you. I knew you were coming for my son, but I had no idea the role you would play in my husband’s life as well. Or how you would bring them together.”
I scoffed. “I haven’t done anything. I don’t think there’s anything to thank me for.”
She reached up and brushed a curl from my face, just like Adrik does almost constantly. “Sweet girl. You’ve already set it in motion. You just have no idea. You’ve already brought them closer than they’ve ever been and this is just the beginning. Part of what makes you unique is your ability to know what the people you care about need, even before they do. Even without you being aware of it. I know you’ve heard stories about my husband and what a cold man he’s been. It’s because most of his light died with me. He was almost overtaken by his own darkness. But you. You’ve given him a spark and I cannot thank you enough for doing so.”
“Eh, I think Adrik was right. I’m just really good at getting grumpy old men to laugh. That’s all,” I said, grinning at her. Curiosity got the best of me, so I asked, “were you special like Vitaliy and Adrik too?”
“No. Adrik’s power comes from Vifaliy. Just like yours comes from your father. But much like you, I accepted Vitaliy for who he was completely. There is much to be said for being someone’s safe harbor. Vitaliy, much like Adrik, has a giant heart for those he cares about. He just has a difficult time showing it. Adrik is much better and even better still, since meeting you. Vitaliy still very much struggles with it.”
“I knew he was a cheeseball in there,” I said, chewing on my bottom lip.
She laughed. “Please promise me you’ll tell him that. I can’t wait to hear him laugh.”
“I promise I will tell him. And I have a feeling you’re more special than you think. You calmed Vitaliy’s storms. That’s no small feat,” I said. She smiled sweetly at me, brushing another curl back from my face as we both studied each other.
“It’s time for you to get back. They’re worried about you. Adrik worries about you the way Vitaliy used to worry about me. Ivan is almost as bad. Those men are good men, Sephie. All of them. I know you know, but they need to know that the Universe knows how good they are. Please tell them I’m sorry for making them worry,” she said, squeezing my hand gently.
“Why would they be worried about me? It’s only been a few minutes.”
“Sweet girl. You forget. Time is different here. It’s been much longer for them, which is why I need to apologize. Tell them I promise not to do this again. They’re going to be angry,” she said, smiling.
“They’re not my boss,” I said, laughing. “I’ll tell them you apologize if you tell my father I miss him and I’d like to see him again.”
“I will, Sephie. But you can tell him yourself. He constantly checks on you. Even with Ivan taking his job, he’s still around. All you have to do is ask,” she said. She stood up, her hand lingering on my cheek for a moment before she walked away toward the door. With each step she took toward the door, she faded a little more until she was gone completely and I was left alone in the bedroom again.
“Sephie? Sephie, love. I need you to wake up. Please wake up. Please come back to me,” Adrik said. I could hear the panic in his voice. “She’s not responding. She’s never zoned out this completely before. I don’t know what to do.”
“Can you feel anything from her? I don’t feel anything bad, at least, but I don’t feel anything good, either,” Ivan said. “Her eyes are going apeshit though.”
1 giggled. She was right. They’re gonna be mad.
“Sephie??” Adrik said, frantically.
It took me a minute to focus. My eyes were open, but I couldn’t see anything in front of me. I reached up and rubbed my eyes. “I’m okay. I’m sorry. She’s sorry, too. She said it’ll never happen again.” When I opened my eyes, I could see Adrik and Ivan standing in front of me, both of them clearly panicked.
“Who’s she? And what won’t happen again?” they both asked, as I was hit with anger from both of them. Yep. They’re mad.
*Adrik ”
Sephie stood on her toes and whispered, “I’m gonna go take my contacts out for like ten minutes. I really need to rub my eyes for a few minutes where nobody can see me. I’ll be fine. You stay. I’ll be right back. Promise,” she said. She kissed my cheek, but was already heading toward the bedroom before I could protest.
I noticed Ivan caught her eye before she turned down the hallway. She made a motion like she wanted to rub her eyes, so he understood what she was going to do. He stayed with the rest of us, but it was obvious he had wanted to follow her just as I did.
I continued the conversation with Vitaliy and Trino, but kept an eye on the hallway, waiting for her to return. I glanced at my watch every few minutes. She said she needed ten minutes, so I wasn’t going to worry until ten minutes had passed.
When she didn’t come back after ten minutes, I started to worry. I caught Ivan’s eye. He was also starting to worry. Vitaliy, completely oblivious to my growing unease, called Ivan over to ask him a few questions.
Twenty minutes had passed and we still hadn’t seen Sephie come back. Vitaliy and Trino were still in deep discussion, but I couldn’t think about anything but Sephie. I knew her eyes were bothering her, but I didn’t think it would take her this long.
After thirty minutes, I sent Ivan to go check on her. He was gone for just a minute before he reappeared in the hallway, indicating that I needed to come with him. I excused myself quickly and followed him back to the bedroom.
Sephie was sitting on the end of the bed, completely awake, but completely zoned out. She’d taken her contacts out, like she said. We could tell because her eyes couldn’t pick a color to stick to.
“I tried to snap her out of it when I came back here a minute ago, but she didn’t respond,” Ivan said. “I’ve never seen her like this before.”
I put my hands on her shoulders, talking to her, trying to get her to respond. She just stared blankly ahead. For twenty more minutes, she was completely unresponsive. I couldn’t get through to her. Ivan couldn’t get through to her. We knew something was happening, because her eyes never stopped changing, but we had no clue what was happening.
“Should we call Andrei or Misha? Maybe one of them can figure out what the he ll is going on,” Ivan said.
“They still don’t know about her eyes, I’m liking keeping that a secret a little too much right now. I will if I have to, but not yet,” I said. I knelt down) in front of her, my hands still on her shoulders. “Sephie? Sephie, love. I need you to wake up. Please wake up. Please come back to me,” I was really starting to get worried. She’d never been this unresponsive before. “She’s not responding. She’s never zoned out this completely before. I don’t know
what to do.”
“Can you feel anything from her? I don’t feel anything bad, at least, but I don’t feel anything good, either,” Ivan said. “Her eyes are going apeshit though.”
Finally, She giggled. She still had a blank stare, but at least she made some kind of noise.
“Sephie??” I said. I was almost desperate to hear her voice.
She reached up, rubbing her eyes. She blinked, then rubbed her eyes again, saying, “I’m okay. I’m sorry. She’s sorry, too. She said it’ll never happen again.” She finally pulled her hands away from her eyes, but it still took her a few seconds to focus on us both in front of her.
It took Ivan and I a few seconds to realize what she’d said. I stood up, feeling my anger coming on strongly. I glanced at Ivan, who was clearly bristled as well. “Who’s she? And what won’t happen again?” we both said.
She finally looked like she could focus. She smiled sweetly at both of us, standing up between us. “I’m very sorry. That’s never happened before. I didn’t even know it could happen,” she said. “I’m very sorry I worried you both.” She reached up and placed a hand against each of our faces.
“What happened? Did you zone out?” I asked. She shook her head no.
“This one is gonna be hard to believe. Your mother and I had a chat,”
“How is that possible?” I asked.
1
“Don’t ask me. I can’t explain the logistics. I came in here, took my contacts out like I said I was going to, then I sat on the bed so I could fully enjoy rubbing my eyes. I felt a breeze and when I looked up, she was standing in front of me, as clear as you two are now. I heard her voice the other day, but this time I could see her,” she said. She turned to look at me, smiling her sweet smile up at me. “You have her eyes.”
“You heard her voice? When?” Ivan asked.
“When we took a walk with Vitaliy. Adrik’s mother has always known that he would find me. She’s also always known that he would find all of you, as well. She told Vitaliy so. She wanted me to tell him that she was right and he should’ve listened to her,” she said,
“That is the kind of petty passive-aggressive behavior that I will live for as a ghost,” Ivan said, laughing.
“That wasn’t all she wanted me to tell him, but I think the rest of it is for Vitaliy only,” she said, smacking his arm.
“What did she tell you this time?” he asked, as he grabbed her arm to keep her from smacking him again. He spun her around, facing away from him and holding her arms so she couldn’t smack him anymore, wrapping her up in a bear hug, obviously relieved she was okay. It gave me a chance to see her eyes change to green as she was laughing with him.
“She wanted to thank me. And she also made me promise that I would tell Vitaliy that he’s a cheeseball,” she said, still laughing with Ivan’s arms wrapped around her.
I couldn’t help but feel complete relief that she was okay, but I was still a little taken aback by what had happened. I could tell that Sephie was holding back, but I knew she was waiting until we were alone to tell me the rest.
“I’m glad you’re okay, princess. You had us worried,” Ivan said, finally letting her go.
“Because my eyes were going apeshit?” she asked, giggling as she walked to me.
“Ivan’s never seen them change as it happens before. They gave him a show. I was trying not to worry too much, because I never saw them go white, but it was still concerning,” I said.
She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. “I’m only just beginning to get a handle on what each color means. I don’t know what it means when they can’t pick a color or why they won’t pick a color,” she said.
“Neither of us felt anything from you while you were zoned out. You were completely numb,” I said.
“That’s weird. Maybe it was like I was dreaming?” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “You only feel me if I’m having a nightmare. Good dreams don’t set off any alarm bells. Lena is a very nice woman. Not scary at all for a ghost.”
We heard a knock on the door. “That’s Misha. He’s worried too,” she said.
Ivan went to the door and opened it, revealing a very worried Misha. “You guys disappeared. Is everything okay?”
Ivan turned toward Sephie, a questioning look on his face. “How did you know it was him and not one of the other guys?”
“I don’t know. I just did,” she said.
I looked at Ivan and Misha. “Everyone is okay. Give us five minutes and we’ll be out. They both nodded, Ivan closed the door behind him.
*Five minutes? Really? You couldn’t have said to give us an hour?” she said, a mischievous grin on her face as she slid her hands around my waist, grabbing my a ss.
“Sephie
I grabbed Adrik’s hands and pulled him with me to the bathroom so I could put my contacts back in. “You were right. There is more to what your mother told me. I didn’t know how much you wanted Ivan to know right now,” I said.
He chuckled. “I thought you were holding back.”
“It’s nothing big, but I still think you should hear it before anyone else does,” I said. I had stopped in front of the mirror, pulling his arms around my waist as he stood behind me. He rested his chin on my shoulder as I went about putting the contacts in. “She said she wanted to thank me for bringing you and Vitaliy together.” I stopped and looked at Adrik in the mirror. “I know you’re about to be shocked, but 1 argued with her and told her I hadn’t done anything.” He laughed as he moved my hair out of the way so he could kiss my shoulder. “She said that much of Vitaliy’s light died with her and he was almost overtaken by his own darkness, but that I was the spark he needed to remember his own light. I told her that you were right and I was just really good at getting grumpy men to laugh.”
“You’re very good at that,” he said, smiling as he continued to kiss my neck.
“I did ask her if she was special like Vitaliy and you. She said she wasn’t. She said all your power comes from Vitaliy. Apparently all mine comes from my dad. But I think she’s special in her own right. She said she accepted Vitaliy for who he is completely right away. He said something similar to me the first day we were here. It takes a very special person to be able to do that, especially with someone as complicated as Vitaliy.”
I turned to face him, after finishing with the contacts. “She told me that Vitaliy has a giant heart for the people he cares about, much like you do. He just struggles to show it. Even more than you do. That’s when I called him a cheese ball again and she made me promise to tell him I called him that.”
Adrik laughed. “I would actually pay to see that as well. Did she say anything else?”
“She did.” I stood on my toes and pressed my lips to his gently. “She said you worry about me the same way Vitaliy used to worry about her. Ivan is almost as bad. Then she said that you all were good men. She said you needed to know that the Universe knows that you’re good men.”
I could see Adrik struggling with what I’d just told him. I watched as several emotions flashed across his face. I could see the internal struggle as he fought whether to believe her words or not.
“She’s right, you know. You are good men. Anybody with half a brain knows you’re good men,” I said, my fingers lightly running over his cheek. His breath hitched as he looked at me, his arms wrapped completely around me, holding me tightly against him. He didn’t say a word, he just held me until our five minutes were likely up and we had to rejoin everyone else.
“We should go back out. They’re going to come check on me again,” I said, loosening my hold on him.
“Not yet,” was all he said, as he pulled me closer to him. I rested my head against his hard chest. I felt his head resting on top of mine as his arms moved to keep me as close to him as possible. We stood like that for a few more minutes as I tried to help calm his storms.
We’d been back in the city for a few days. Trino was staying at the building while Viktor and Ivan helped him get a new security team setup, Gus, Oscar, and Chen were helping Trino with whatever he needed as much as they could as well.
“I’m taking the baddest motherf**kers in Colombia label away from them, Oscar. They’re all pussies,” I said, when we were talking about his former security team being scared of me.
“That’s fair. Totally fair,” Oscar said, laughing. “I did not expect them to wet themselves over the thought of you.”
“I really want to say that I have that effect on people, but that would just be wrong,” I said, laughing.
“Miha, don’t take it personal. We all know the truth. Don’t judge all Colombian men by the cowardice of a few,” Trino said.
“Still trying to get her to come to Colombia, then?” Gus asked. He was both amused and surprised at Trino’s words.
“A man can try,” Trino said, laughing as they went to leave Adrik’s office.
Viktor, Ivan, and Stephen had just left for the airport to pick up Vitaliy and his men, who were set to arrive that evening. I walked to Adrik, who was still finishing up a few things. “I’m going to head upstairs to get started on dinner,” I said, my hand running over the back of his shoulders as he leaned over his desk.
“Just a few minutes and I’ll be done. Take the Wonder Twins with you,” he said, looking up at me, a sly smile on his face. I laughed at his use of the new nickname for Andrei and Misha. I leaned down and pressed my lips to his. “I can wait on you, if you like,” I said against his lips. He reached and grabbed the back of my neck as he groaned quietly. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth, his tongue brushing lightly over it which made thighs clench in response. I heard him chuckle as he felt my response to his kiss. “I’ll get done much faster if I feel like I have to chase you upsta
he said.
I smiled as I stood up. “Then get back to work,” I said as seriously as I could. He laughed and smacked my ass as I turned to leave.
I walked to Misha and Andrei’s desks quickly. There were still plenty of people here, as the workday wasn’t over yet and I could feel everyone’s eyes on me as I walked from Adrik’s office. Since Armando had taken me and Ivan, I’d garnered way more attention from the people in the office than I ever wanted to. It still made me uncomfortable.
They both noticed when I got to their desks. Misha stood up immediately and stood between me and any lingering eyes. “Are you going to start din gazelle?” Misha asked, shielding me from view.
“Yep. You guys want to help?”
“Don’t ask stupid questions, spider monkey,” Andrei said as he closed his computer and got up from his desk. He shot Misha a look as he turned away from me. Before I knew it, Misha grabbed me by my hips, picking me up so I could hitch a ride with Andrei. “Close your eyes. Then you won’t see them looking at you,” Andrei said quietly.
I laughed quietly. “You two are my favorite. Don’t tell the others.”
Once we were in the safety of the elevator, Misha looked over at me. “Why does it still make you nervous when people look at you? You know that people generally tend to stare at beautiful women, right?”
I smiled at him. They were all so sweet to me. Sometimes it was overwhelming how much they cared about me. “I don’t always get the feeling that they’re staring because of that, my adorable Russian guardian. It always feels the same as when Sal was looking at my books and Armando was looking at me after he cut my clothes off. Even when I know it’s not, that’s what it feels like. I don’t like it.”
Andrei held onto my legs a little tighter. “Don’t worry, spider monkey. You’re so tiny next to us that they won’t be able to look at you. We’ll protect you. I’ll carry you everywhere so you can close your eyes and won’t have to see them, if you want.”
“Bubba, you’re my favorite,” I said, squeezing his neck a little tighter. Before Misha could protest, I added, “you are too, my adorable Russian guardian. Don’t think I’ve already forgotten you just told me I was beautiful.” His handsome wide smile stretched across his face as we walked off the elevator.
Andrei and Misha just nodded to the guards outside the penthouse. “Spider monkey,” they both said as we walked past. It’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Sephie
“All of Vitaliy’s guys are coming to dinner, too?” Andrei asked. I’d put him to work helping me and I think he was protesting at the amount of work in front of him.
“I assume so, but I don’t know for sure. I never really asked, now that I think about it. But I figure if they don’t, then there will be leftovers for you guys,” I said.
“I’m going to tell him not to bring them, then,” Misha said.
“Is it just because of the leftovers or you don’t like his men?” I asked, curious.
“Mostly the leftovers, but I think we’re all still unsure about unknown people since Trino’s guys, " Misha said.
“It’s obvious that Aleksei is the only one that Vitaliy trusts completely. That makes me nervous for the rest of them,” Andrei said.
“Did something happen that you’re not telling me about?” I asked. I could understand they were nervous since having to deal with Trino’s guys, but it seemed like they were overly nervous.
They both looked at each other like they were trying to talk the other one into answering my question. “You realize I can fish it out of your head if you don’t tell me….” I said, stopping what I was doing and crossing my arms across my chest.
“I would like to see you try,” Misha said, a sly grin on his face.
“Challenge accepted, my adorable Russian guardian.” I walked over to him, searching his eyes the same way I would with Adrik. It took me longer, but once I got past his very weak internal protests, I could read him like a book. He was still smirking at me, thinking that I was struggling, so I let him think he could shu t me out for a few more moments.
When I turned to walk away from him, I caught Andrei’s eye. He had picked up on what was happening and was waiting for me to tell Misha everything. Those two were like brothers. They enjoyed seeing the other one not be able to get away with something.
“It’s not all his men. It’s only the new ones. The guys that have been with him for years are still solid, but the two new guys are a bit too braggadocious for your liking. They targeted you and Bubba when we were in Panama since you two are the youngest. That’s why you don’t like them. They’re as sholes and pick on you when they don’t even know you,” I said. I was actually starting to get angry at the thought of them being mean to Andrei and Misha for no reason. I knew my eyes were going dark, but they wouldn’t be able to see through the contacts. I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, so Adrik wouldn’t rush upstairs as well. “We have a couple of options here. Either I can find the perfect way to emasculate them in front of everyone, or I can tell Vitaliy they’re not allowed to come, or you two put them in their places.”
Andrei chuckled. “You’re mad that they picked on us, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am. I didn’t know about it when we were down there. Otherwise I would’ve put a stop to it then.”
“It always happened when you were away with Boss and Vitaliy,” Misha said.
“What kind of training do they have? Same as you guys?”
“I don’t know. I know the guys that have been with him for a while have much the same training as we do, but I don’t know about these guys. They -haven’t been with Vitaliy for very long. They were with him the last time we saw him, but that was a couple of years ago,” Andrei said. He was trying to be subtle about it, but I could tell he was watching my eyes as we talked. I knew it was only a matter of time before they noticed that my demon eyes had stopped making appearances when I got angry and I’d have to come clean about my untamed eyes.
I thought for a few minutes while I went back to working on dinner. “I think it’ll stick if you two find a way to put them in their place. In front of everyone. If they don’t have the same training as you do, then it should be quite easy. That’s the best way. Much like with Mike, guys like them respect brute strength more than anything. I also can’t see Vitaliy putting up with them being disrespectful toward you guys, but he likely doesn’t know about It yet.”
Adrik walked into the penthouse, looking slightly concerned. I knew he’d felt my anger. I smiled at him. “It’s okay. I was just angry because I found out a couple of your father’s guys were assholes to the Wonder Twins while we were in Panama.”
“Which guys?” he asked, as he walked to me. He immediately bristled as well.
“The new guys. The guys that have been with Vitaliy for a while are fine, as always. The two new guys were jerks to Bubba and Misha because they’re the youngest,” I said, leaning into Adrik as he slid his arms around my waist from behind. He softly kissed my neck.
“When did this happen?”
“Usually when you are gone with Vitaliy,” Andrei said.
I could feel Adrik’s anger rise another notch. “Because they know my father would never allow that so they did it while he was away. Did Aleksei or any of his other men see it?”
“Not that I know of. They were usually talking with the other guys,” Misha said.
“They were just as sholes toward you two? Did they say anything else about anyone else?” Adrik asked.
Andrei sighed. “They never said it out loud. Does that count?”
“What did you pick up on, Bubba?” I asked. Andrei seemed nervous suddenly.
“I swear I wasn’t poking around in anyone’s head,” he said. He looked legitimately worried we’d be mad.
I laughed. “I believe you, Bubba. Sometimes people’s thoughts scream at me. It’s hard to ignore.”
“Oh, thank God it’s not just me,” he said.
“What were they thinking?” Adrik asked.
“Lots of animosity toward you, some toward Sephie. One of them thinks Sephie is going to make Vitaliy weak,” Andrei said.
Adrik and I both stood silent for a few moments. 1 could feel his anger, feeding into mine. I knew he was more worried about them thinking anything negatively toward me, but I also knew he wouldn’t stand for them disrespecting his men either. It didn’t matter that they were his father’s men.
“Gazelle, have you mastered keeping your demon eyes back now? I can tell you’re angry right now, but your eyes are normal,” Misha asked, clearly
curious.
Adrik looked down at me, a small smile on his face. “She’s wearing contacts,” he said.
“I knew it!” Andrei said.
Both Adrik and I laughed. “Her eyes have been doing more than just going dark, but I was struggling with feeling jealous after she was hurt for so long, so we kept it a secret. Ivan is the only one who knows, because he felt her panic and saw them before she could hide it. We knew it was only a matter of time before the rest of you figured it out.”
“What else are they doing?” Misha asked.
I looked to Adrik to explain, since he was the one that saw it happening. “Much like when her eyes go dark, the other colors of her eyes take over for different emotions. The only one that’s completely different is when she’s afraid. They go almost white when she’s scared. It’s scarier than her demon eyes and the reason we decided to get her contacts. She struggles with controlling her fear when it comes on. The other emotions she can control, much like her demon eyes,” he said.
“15 is the same color for the same emotion each time?” Andrei asked.
I nodded my head. “So far, green means sarcasm, blue means I’m thinking about how much I love him, light brown means I’m sad, white means I’m
scared, and black means run.” Adrik laughed as he kissed my temple.
“They also sometimes constantly change, like they can’t pick a color to stick to. That’s happened a few times recently,” he said.
“You had the contacts when we were in Panama, gazelle?” Misha asked.
“Yep. I got them the day before we left.”
Both Andrei and Misha exhaled loudly, looking at each other. “Good call. We’re glad you did that. I don’t think it would’ve gone well if they saw your eyes change,” Andrei said.
I couldn’t help but laugh. I looked at Adrik. “See, I told you they would scare everyone.”
“They don’t scare us, gazelle. But everyone else is clearly not as smart as we are,” Misha said, grinning at me.
“You make a strong argument, Misha,” I said, winking at him.
Sephle
Andrei looked at his watch, then looked at Adrik, then to me. “They’re still not due back for a while. Can we see?” he asked, tentatively.
Adrik looked at me, but I put it back on him. “It’s your call and only your call,” I said, still working on making enough food to feed a small army. Adrik looked at me for a few moments, then smiled. I could tell he was sad to no longer have the secret, but he also seemed happy to show them. Like he was proud of how weird I was becoming. He simply nodded his head.
I went to take the contacts out, thankful to have a few moments without them. When I came back to the kitchen, I was still rubbing my eyes intermittently.
“The contacts bother you, huh?” Andrei asked when he saw me rubbing my eyes.
“Yeah, I can handle them for short periods but they make my eyes itch when I wear them for longer periods,” I said. I walked to Adrik. It was easy to think about how much I loved him, which I knew would turn my eyes blue. The look in his eyes let me know it had worked. He wrapped one arm around me, but motioned for both Andrei and Misha to come to us.
He jerked his head slightly in my direction. “Blue means she’s thinking about how much she loves me,” he said, showing the Wonder Twins.
“That’s your normal blue. It just took over the other two colors,” Misha said. He was clearly fascinated by my new trick.
“I call them my mood ring eyes now, since they seem to change with my ever-changing moods,” I said, laughing. I watched as Andrei and Misha’s eyes got bigger, signaling that my eyes had switched to green.
“Green usually means sarcasm,” Adrik said.
“But you still have the demon eyes, right?” Andrei asked.
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to make them go dark. When I opened my eyes, they both laughed. “Yep, still there,” Misha said.
“What were the other ones?” Andrei asked,
“White means I’m scared. I’d rather not have to show you that one right now. I don’t know how far away it still works on Ivan, but he definitely feels it when I’m scared. I don’t want to distract him right now,” I said.
“The only other one we’ve seen is when they turned golden brown, almost amber, when she was thinking about Trino seeing his mom for the last time,” Adrik said. “That’s only happened once, though.”
“You don’t have to try to show us that one, either. I can’t wait until you start making up new colors. I want to see purple and orange next. Get inventive, spider monkey,” Andrei said, teasing me.
“I would try if I had any clue it was happening. I was only just barely getting a handle on the demon eyes and they started doing this on their own. I don’t have a clue when it’s happening. It’s not like I can feel it. I just see it in his expression that they’ve changed, but I still sometimes have to ask what color they are,” I said, looking at Adrik.
“Are you going to tell Stephen and Viktor about it?” Misha asked. He couldn’t keep the grin off his face when he asked.
“Might as well. They’ve both likely noticed the absence of her demon eyes, just as you did,” Adrik said.
“Ten bucks says Stephen offers to turn you to a vampire because of it,” Misha said.
“You’re on,” I said, laughing at him.
I managed to pull Adrik away from the Wonder Twins when I went to put the contacts back in before Viktor got back with Vitaliy and his men. He was standing behind me in his new favorite spot while I put my contacts in, his arms wrapped around my waist, his chin resting on my shoulder.
“You’re okay with having told them?” I asked. I was fairly certain he didn’t mind telling them, but I also knew how much he loved having a secret that was just between us.
“Of course, solnishko. I knew it was only a matter of time before they found out. I sometimes forget how observant they all are, especially of you. Ivan just has a leg up because he can feel your emotions like I can, but given what happened earlier, I think Misha might be tapping into that as well. You didn’t look angry when he asked about your demon eyes. You never look angry, unless you’re an absolute raging inferno and even then, you generally only look slightly miffed,” he said, rubbing his stubble against my neck lightly.
I laughed. “I wasn’t a raging inferno, but I was angry about them being picked on. I wish I would’ve known it was happening while we were down there. I would’ve put a stop to it,” I said. I caught him smiling at me in the mirror as I put the second contact in. It was a strange sight to see my one seemingly normal eye and one demon eye.
“You should only wear one contact at a time, just to f**k with people,” he said, laughing.
“I don’t think the guys are going to like how busy that’s going to keep them, fighting off random people that think I’m possessed.”
“Worth it,” he said, still laughing, his lips against my neck. “As for the Wonder Twins’ problem, I’ll talk to Vitaliy. Those guys haven’t been with him long, but I won’t stand for them disrespecting my men.”
“Is that going to cause even more problems, though? If they already have animosity toward you and I, will that just make it worse? What if Andrei and Misha give them an old-fashioned attitude adjustment? Do you think that will work? Do Vitaliy’s guys have the same kind of training that your guys do?” I asked.
“The other guys do. I don’t know about these two. They haven’t been with my father very long. Two of his guys retired a few years ago, so he needed replacements. I don’t know much about these two. Aleksei will know,” he said.
“I know they’re both bothered by it, even though they’re trying to act like they’re not. Misha made me fish it out of his head what happened. He’s really bothered by it. I’m sure Bubba is too. They’re both the sensitive ones, but they also shouldn’t have to deal with this. It makes me want to punch both of your father’s guys in the nose.”
“If I haven’t told you lately, you’re extra adorable when your hackles go up,” he said, turning me to face him.
“I don’t have hackles,” I said, matter-of-factly.
“Oh you do. They go up even when you don’t like someone’s tone with one of us. It’s very endearing,” he said. “I sometimes want to make it worse and then turn you loose, just to see what will happen.”
“You’re a little bit evil,” I said, laughing at him.
“That’s a lie. I’m a lot evil,” he said, pressing his lips to mine.
*Adrik ”
Viktor, Ivan, and Stephen walked into the penthouse with Vitaliy, Aleksei, and the rest of my father’s men. Viktor was especially happy to be back, as Sephie told him she would make his favorite meal since it was easy to make enough to feed the small army we had present.
“Sephie, that smells like I love you even more than the last time you made this,” Viktor said. She quickly freed up her hands, walking quickly to him and hugging his neck. It never mattered how long they were gone or what they were gone for, she was always incredibly happy to see them again. It made them want to come back to her as soon as possible.
“Papa Bear!” she said as he picked her up off the floor, his giant frame completely dwarfing her. He kissed her cheek, setting her back down. She walked to Ivan, hugging his neck as well. She said something quietly to him, which clearly surprised him, but she moved quickly to Stephen. While Stephen had always been shy about any kind of affection from her for the longest time, he now loved it as much as the rest of them. He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up just like Viktor did, telling her how happy his stomach was going to be in a matter of minutes.
Once Stephen released her, she caught Vitaliy watching her interact with them. She gave him her best smile. I watched him completely melt in front of her. She walked to him and hugged him. “Is it weird that I missed you, old man?” she asked as she hugged his neck.
He laughed. “Maybe it’s you that needs to get out more this time,” he said.
“Fair. Completely fair,” she said. She grabbed his hand and led him toward the kitchen. It was hard to tell, but I think he was almost embarrassed that I caught his si lly grin as he dutifully followed her.
“Battista called yesterday. He has information. He’ll be here in a few days,” Vitaliy said, breaking the silence as everyone did more eating than talking.
“Did he give any indications on what he found or he preferred to remain frustratingly mysterious?” Sephie asked.
“Net. He won’t discuss anything over the phone,” Vitaliy said.
“I mean, I understand why. Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Sephie said. I was finding that she was starting to dislike surprises almost as much as I did.
Vitaliy winked at her. “Patience was always difficult for me as well, sladkaya.”
After dinner, Viktor and Ivan got my father’s men set up in apartments on the lower floors. Aleksei stayed behind with Vitaliy in the penthouse. I actually had plenty of room in the penthouse for all of them to stay there, but I preferred that no one came to the penthouse. I was torn about whether to allow my father and Aleksei to stay there, but Sephie practically insisted.
“I know you’re not terribly close with him, but he is your father. And Alyosha is practically an uncle. He’s known you your entire life. I don’t want those two as sholes staying here, but it’s a nice gesture for Vitaliy and Aleksei to do so,” she had said when we discussed it the day before.
She had enjoyed teasing me when she found out I didn’t want them in the penthouse because it drastically cut down on the options of where we could have s*x while they were here. It also meant she would have to be quieter while they were here, which I hated, and she was not very good at. Given that we were both addicted to each other, it was going to, well, su ck.
She laughed once she searched my eyes to find the reason for my grumpiness on the subject. She reached up, kissing my cheek. Then she put her lips next to my ear, whispering, “face down, a ss up it is.” She took one step back from me to see my reaction, her wide smile across her face. As soon as she saw me lose complete control thinking about what she’d just said, she ran to the bedroom. Her laughter only serving to make me run faster to
catch her.
I caught up to her just as she made it to the bedroom door. I grabbed her waist, picking her up off the floor and spinning her around just so I could hear her squeal. “You can’t say things like that and expect to get away from me, solnishko,” I said.
“Who said I wanted to get away? I just wanted to get to the bedroom very quickly. Mission accomplished,” she said as 1 set her down. She turned to face me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“I approve of this life choice,” I said, pulling her shirt off and throwing it on the floor. 1 had the rest of her clothes off in under a minute. My lips found hers, then moved down to her neck. I could hear her breaths starting to come quicker as she felt my teeth grazing the soft skin of her neck.
“You’re very overdressed,” she said. Her voice was breathy with desire. I felt her hands working to get rid of my pants. As I stepped out of them, she got two more buttons undone on my shirt. I quickly pulled it off over my head, immediately pulling her back to me. She moaned quietly as my hands roamed over her back, down to her a ss. I grabbed her a ss, pushing my hips into her, wanting her to feel exactly what she could do to me.
Her hands slid around my waist into the waistband of my boxer briefs, pushing them down to free my hard co ck. She knelt down in front of me, sliding them off all the way. Instead of standing back up, she grabbed my co ck with one hand. I exhaled, knowing what she was going to do. It never failed to make me c*m quickly when she went down on me if she did it for very long.
Her cool hand wrapped around my shaft lightly. I felt her warm breath on the tip as she licked it. She loved to make me twitch as she teased me. I could feel her desire coming on strongly as she wrapped her lips around it, taking me fully into her mo uth. My hands went to her hair as I closed my eyes, my head falling backward as I was lost completely to the feeling of her mo uth on me.
She kept her rhythm slow, knowing I would be completely incapable of lasting very long if she went any faster. Just when she felt me starting to struggle to control myself, she stood up, a devious grin on her face. I wrapped one arm around her hips, pulling her legs around me as I picked her up. We were still just inside the door to the bedroom. I pushed her up against the wall as my lips crashed into hers. It never mattered what she did. I could never get enough of her.
I could feel the heat from her pu ssy and feel how wet she was. She reached down between us and positioned me so I could slide inside her. She leaned her head back against the wall, her eyes closed as she felt my full length inside her. It was my favorite sight. Every single time. She moaned quietly as she adjusted to my size.
I pushed my hips into her harder, enjoying her response to me. Watching her get lost in her own euphoria made me forget about everything but her. I would never tire of it. I pulled out of her slowly before slamming back into her roughly. I stilled as she moaned loudly. I pulled out slowly again. This time, she knew what I was going to do. She opened her eyes, smiling at me as she waited for it. Her eyes were the deepest depth of the ocean blue, which had become my favorite out of all the changes they’d come up with. I watched her as her eyes rolled back in her head, another moan escaping as 1 slammed into her roughly again. Her pu ssy clenched around me as she was climbing toward an o*gasm. I teased her a few more times before increasing the rhythm. I felt her fingernails dig into my shoulders as she couldn’t do anything but hang on as I pushed her to o*gasm. Her moans were loud, her breaths quick. If I wouldn’t be able to hear her scream for a few days while we weren’t the only ones in my penthouse, then I was going to enjoy it as much as I could tonight.
I felt her legs start to shake as she started to push her pleasure onto me. She’d learned that she could essentially share her o*gasm with me and I was completely addicted to it. It was so different from what I felt and lasted much longer. She was breathing heavy, her moans making it difficult to catch her breath. She breathlessly said my name and I knew I was done for. I thrust hard into her a few more times before I couldn’t hold on any longer and
found my own release.
I kept her pressed against the wall for a few minutes as we both worked to catch our breath. I still worried about her lung, as it still wasn’t 100%, but she was continuously getting better. She seemed to manage through s*x okay, but she hadn’t been brave enough to go for a run yet. I still worried about pushing her too hard. I’d never been so scared as I was watching her struggle to breathe the few times it happened. It didn’t help that I could. feel her fear in that moment.
“Are you okay, love? Did I go too hard?” I asked when she still hadn’t completely caught her breath.
She nodded. “It’s calming down,” she said, still trying to catch her breath. “I should run from you more often.” She grinned at me, her fingers running lightly through my hair. G*d, I love her.
“Adrik
Once Viktor and Ivan returned, I brought up the subject of my father’s men with Aleksei. Sephie had Vitaliy’s attention, along with most of the guys” attention, in her usual entertaining way.
“The two new guys. What kind of training do they have?” I asked Aleksei.
“Not quite the same as what I’d like, but it’s difficult to find someone with that kind of training these days. People are getting soft,” he said, half- disgusted. “I’ve been trying to work on their training to get them up to speed, but they complain. Never in front of Vitaliy, though. They’re at least
that smart.”
I thought for a few minutes. It might be a good idea to have Misha and Andrei put them in their places, after all. I explained the situation to Aleksei. “They’re disrespectful of my men. I would like to remind them of their place. If Sephie were completely healed, I would consider letting her loose on them. She’s arguably more pi ssed about this than I am,” I said.
Aleksei laughed. “She’s just as protective of your men as they are of her, then?”
I nodded. “You should see her go from zero to rage in a split second if someone takes the wrong tone with one of us.”
“I would actually like to see that, now that you mention it,” he said, thoughtfully. “What do you propose for the little flowers?”
“I’d like for Misha and Andrei to teach them a lesson, since they seem to want to target those two. They’re both lethal, Andrei even more so since he started training Sephie. It’s seemed to sharpen him up considerably,” I said.
“Teaching is always a good tool. It forces you to stay ahead of the student. I saw her at your father’s house. He’s working hard to stay ahead of her.”
“That was nothing. She’s still at maybe 60% of what she was before she was taken. Armando really did a number on her. The only reason I didn’t ki ll him right then was because her lung collapsed and she couldn’t breathe,” I said.
“They were able to pull you off him?” he asked, surprised.
“They didn’t have to. She did. She put her hand on my back and told me she needed me. The bloodlust stopped instantly and I was only concerned
with her.”
Aleksei cursed under his breath. “I’ve never seen you stop. That’s impressive.”
“It’s her. I don’t know how she does it, but I can’t live without it now,” I said.
He was quiet for a moment. “Are you training in the morning?” he asked. I nodded my head. “We will train with you. It’s good to spar with new partners. We haven’t had anyone new in a while. I’m guessing your guys haven’t either. Misha and Andrei will get their chance then.”
Sephie had noticed me deep in discussion with Aleksei. She found a moment to step away from everyone else and walked to us. Aleksei’s face softened when she smiled at him as she tucked herself into my side. “You two are scheming without me, aren’t you?” she said, grinning at both of us.
“The Wonder Twins will get their chance for a much-needed attitude adjustment in the morning,” I said.
“I’ll be grateful if they get their a sses beat. Serves them right for not wanting to further their training.” Aleksei said.
Sephie smiled at both of us, but I could feel her mood shift quickly. She smiled through it, but said, “let’s hope it turns out better than the last time.” She said it quietly enough that Aleksei didn’t hear her, but I did. I pulled her in front of me, wrapping both my arms around her shoulders as she hid her face in my chest. I knew she was okay with what happened with Mike, for the most part, but she still had days where she struggled with it. Even though she did the right thing, even though we knew he was working for Anthony, she still struggled to accept it some days…
I caught Ivan’s eye as he felt her mood shift as well. Surprisingly, both Misha and Andrei also turned to check on her at almost the same time that Ivan did. That’s new. She held onto me tightly for a few moments, then sighed. She lifted her head from my chest, asking, “do they know this yet?”
“Not yet. Vitaliy isn’t completely aware of what’s going on with his men.” I looked at Aleksei. “Do you want to keep him in the dark or let him know?”
“He’ll enjoy knowing. He’s not fond of those two. They have big shoes to fill, granted,” he said, then didn’t finish his thought.
I looked down at Sephie. “Then we can tell them now,” I said, smiling at her.
“Good. The Wonder Twins are worried that something is wrong already. Ivan, too,” she said. She hadn’t taken her eyes off me since she lifted her head. from my chest. She hadn’t seen them checking on her.
“How did you know that, solnishko?”
“I don’t know. I just did,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.
I squinted my eyes at her. “New level unlocked,” I said, as she laughed and hugged me tighter.
Andrei and Misha were standing next to Ivan in the kitchen as we walked back to everyone. Sephie walked between Andrei and Misha, hooking her arms through one of theirs. “When were you two planning on telling me that you could feel me now?” she asked quietly.
Ivan looked surprised as he looked at both of them, then looked to me. Everyone else got quiet, as Viktor and Stephen had heard her as well. Andrei looked nervous again. Poor kid was overwhelmed with everything going on. I was surprised with how well Misha was handling everything. I think he’d had more practice at it than Andrei. Everything was so new for Andrei and he wasn’t sure what to do with any of it.
I couldn’t help but laugh at Andrei’s expression. “We know you weren’t snooping, Andrei.”
His cheeks flushed slightly. “It started for me when we were in Panama. I felt her anger when you were gone with Vitaliy and I saw Ivan move to check on her. That helped me figure out what it was. Then when she disappeared for a while, I felt her get startled, but then it was like she was all over the place, then nothing. That’s when Misha noticed it, too. That’s when he came to check on you.”
“And since then? Has it happened again?” I asked.
Misha nodded his head. “She doesn’t like walking around the office by herself right now. It makes her really nervous. We could both feel it earlier when she walked from your office to come get us to come up here.”
“You guys felt that? That’s why you asked me about it?” she asked.
“Yeah, we knew you were on your way to us before we saw you. That’s why Misha picked you up before you realized what he was doing. We were trying to get you out of there quickly. My computer was slow or we would’ve got you faster,” Andrei said.
This was new for me. I knew she was shy about people looking at her, especially after being taken, but she never felt nervous in the office to me. I looked at her. “This is true? I haven’t felt this.”
“That’s because it doesn’t usually happen when I’m with you. I think people are scared to look at you. They’re more curious when I’m with the guys and it’s especially bad when I’m by myself,” she said as she walked to me.
Misha looked at me. “She said it feels like when Sal and Armando were looking at her. Even though she knows it’s not the same, that’s what it feels like.”
I pulled her to me. I knew she was still dealing with everything that had happened. “It’s okay. I can handle it. I just don’t like it right now,” she said.
“Can you feel them as well like you feel Adrik and Ivan?” Vitaliy asked, clearly curious how everything worked.
“Not as strongly yet,” she said, looking at both Andrei and Misha.
She seems to know what they’re doing though. She knew it was Misha at the door when he came to check on her,” Ivan said.
“She knew they both felt her mood just shift, along with Ivan just a few minutes ago,” I said.
In his quiet, serious way, Stephen said, “Vlad is going to be ecstatic when he hears about this development.” We all erupted into laughter.
Vitaliy and Aleksei both looked confused. “Who’s Vlad?” they asked.
“He’s an old friend. Don’t worry, you’ll love him. Looks a little grumpy on the outside, but has a great sense of humor. Just don’t bring up his strange eating habits. He’s very sensitive about it,” Stephen said, which caused even more laughter from all of us.
*Adrik*
Once we had finished laughing, I looked at Vitaliy. “Your new guys. What do you think of them?”
He scoffed. “Mediocre at best. It was difficult to replace Yuri and Dmitri. Those two were the best we could find, which is not saying much,” he said.
“They’ve been very disrespectful to my men. I didn’t know about it until we had already left Panama. I’d like to teach them a lesson tomorrow,” I said.
Vitaliy simply nodded his head. “I would very much like you to teach them a lesson tomorrow. They’re too soft. Sladkaya could beat them, even though she’s still not 100% right now.”
“That’s because I have the best trainer ever,” she said, smiling at Andrei.
“From what I saw the other day, I will not argue with you,” Vitaliy said. “You have my permission to do whatever you need with the little flowers.”
I chuckled at both him and Aleksei calling his guys little flowers. I looked at Andrei and Misha. “You’ll get your chance in the morning, then. Don’t hold back,” I said.
I felt Séphic stir next to me the following morning. I knew it was earlier than usual, as it was still mostly dark outside. She had one arm and one leg thrown over me and her hand was lazily tracing circles on my back. “Good morning,” she said quietly when she saw my eyes open just enough to notice it was still dark out.
“You’re awake earlier than usual,” I said, closing my eyes again and pulling her closer to me. Not wanting to wake up yet.
“Mmm…I can’t seem to get my brain to shu t off.”
I opened my eyes to look at her. I knew she had been forced to remember the situation with Mike after hearing about Andrei and Misha’s experience/ with my father’s men. She was worried for them and what would happen this morning. As I ran my hand over her back, down to her a ss and thigh, I reminded her, “you did the right thing, solnishko. He was never going to walk out of here that day. If that hadn’t happened, there’s no telling what he had planned with Anthony, either. He was a threat. An even bigger one than we realized. You took care of it. You protected all of us.”
She was quiet for a minute, her hands never still as she thought about what I just said. She was looking down, but when she looked up at me, I could see her eyes swirling. This time, however, there was wh ite mixed in, so I knew she was trying to hold off on feeling her fear. While I knew she was struggling internally, I adored watching her eyes change. It was mesmerizing.
She finally smiled at me, her eyes landing on the deepest depth of the ocean blue. “Sometimes I need a reminder,” she said quietly. She reached up and pressed her lips to mine, sweetly.
“I will remind you as often and as many times as you need it, love.”
Andrei, Misha, and Ivan were waiting on us when we came out of the bedroom. Apparently, they were having trouble sleeping too. Andrei was making coffee for everyone. Vitaliy and Aleksei were still in their rooms. The sun had barely started to rise, it was still so early.
“Where’s Papa Bear and Yoden?” Sephie asked as she walked to Ivan to hug him good morning.
“I think they’re still sleeping,” Ivan said. “None of us could sleep anymore, so we came up here.”
“Same, Squish. Same,” she said. She walked to Misha next, sliding her arm around his shoulders. “You’re more bothered by this than you’re letting on,” she said, kissing his cheek. “Even Squish is bothered by the fact that those two as sholes singled you two out.” Misha tried to laugh, but it was clear on his face that she was right. She thought for a minute, continuing on to Andrei, who handed her a fresh cup of coffee. “This is why I waited until I had the six of you to protect me to show anyone how different I was. As a general rule, people su ck.” She looked thoughtful for a moment, then she and
Andrei looked at each other like they’d both just had the same thought. He raised his eyebrow at her, but she shook her head no discreetly. She would tell us whatever it was in good time, She leaned her head onto Andrei’s shoulder, once again lost in thought for a few moments.
She stood up, walking to me as I finished making my coffee. “You all know that something happened when I disappeared at Vitaliy’s house,” she said. She turned away from me, leaning back against me as she held her mug with both hands. I slid one arm around her waist, watching the guys’ faces. They all nodded. “It was a new one for me. It’s never happened before. It may never happen again, but I saw Adrik’s mother. We had a chat.”
“Like you see your father sometimes?” Misha asked.
She nodded. “Except he always comes in my dreams. This time, I wasn’t dreaming. She was in the same room as me, plain as day to me. But it looked like I’d zoned out completely when Ivan and Adrik found me. They couldn’t snap me out of it. That’s also why I think I went numb to all of you. It was like I was sleeping.”
“Her eyes were going crazy, though. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ivan said. He was still surprised at being able to watch her eyes change as it happened.
“We mostly talked about Vitaliy and Adrik, but she gave me a message for all of you, too. She told me that you’re all good men. I know this. She knows. this. But she said that you guys needed to know that the Universe knows how good you all are.”
I watched as Misha clearly felt goosebumps over his entire body. He rubbed his arms, shaking it off. Andrei was looking down as he processed what Sephie had just said and Ivan looked almost like he was fighting back tears. I knew how they all felt in that moment.
She sighed. “Whatever happens this morning. I need you to remember that,” she said, taking another sip of coffee. “Now, who wants bacon?”
It was exactly what was needed to help them break out of their own heads. Viktor and Stephen walked in shortly after she had started making breakfast. Vitaliy and Aleksei walked out soon after. I found myself grateful that we’d had a few extra minutes with those three. They clearly needed it.
We’d all been somewhat surprised at our reaction to Trino’s men having a problem with Sephie being able to know things she shouldn’t know. Finding out that Trino could’ve been killed by his men if they’d known about Misha and Andrei made it all the more real for us. People always fear what they don’t understand and we had difficultly explaining what was happening to all of us. We were already wary of people we don’t know. Now, we were extra cautious. Misha and Andrei being bullied like schoolchildren wasn’t helping.
It was starting to feel like us against the world.
Sephie
The two as sholes – I don’t even know their names. I don’t want to know their names. were the last ones to the gym. Viktor was sparring with one of Vitaliy’s other guys that had been with him for years. They were well matched. Aleksei was right. It was good to get new sparring partners. When you constantly sparred with the same person, it was easy to fall into a routine. Since I had five to choose from, I hadn’t reached a point where I needed a new partner, but there was sometimes a routine with a few of the guys. Mostly Viktor and Stephen, as they took it easy on me. They were still worried about hurting me when they sparred with me. Ivan used to be, but after he saw what happened with Mike, he turned up the pressure on me the few times we sparred before he and I were taken. I had to admit to enjoying the challenge. He was surprisingly fast for such a massive human.
everyone
The greatest part of the morning, for me anyway, was the way that the other guys would watch the two sparring. When they took a break, offered advice and brought to light areas that could be improved. It looked like they were fighting, but it was a learning experience for everyone. The same happened when Stephen got in the ring with another of Vitaliy’s regular guys. I enjoyed seeing them being able to sharpen their skills even more. It never hurt that they were all chiseled, handsome men that generally took their shirts off at some point.
Because Vitaliy’s men knew Ivan and knew that he’d had “extra” training, even though they didn’t know the whole story, none of them would spar with him. Apparently, he had a reputation. I looked to Andrei, who was standing next to me. “They’re really scared to spar with him?” I asked, completely surprised.
Andrei chuckled. “He still takes it very easy on you, spider monkey.”
“And here I thought he wasn’t holding back as much,” I said, crossing my arms across my chest like I was pouting.
It made Andrei laugh. “You know he has more training than pretty much any human alive. He controls it with us, but he likes to challenge new people
a little too much.”
“That tracks,” I said, laughing at the thought of Ivan getting enjoyment out of almost killing someone.
Adrik stepped into the ring, motioning for Ivan to follow him. This was new. Adrik only sparred with the guys on very rare occasions. I had asked him about it one night when we were alone, curious as to why he didn’t practice. The next morning, he sparred with Viktor, just to show me that apparently he did not need to practice. Poor Viktor. It took him a week to recover.
Ivan’s devious grin spread across his face as he jumped into the ring. I also caught Vitaliy’s smirk as he watched his son in the ring. He was hard to read, but he was clearly proud. He knew of Ivan’s training as well. He also knew Adrik had nothing to be worried about.
I had to admit to enjoying the look of shock on Vitaliy’s men’s faces as they watched Adrik agree to spar with Ivan. Those two walked to the side of the ring, close to where I was standing with Andrei. I heard Adrik tell Ivan not to hold back. “Might as well give them a reason to be pu ssies,” he said. He caught my eye, smirking at me as he knew I’d heard him.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I fully support this kind of passive-aggressive behavior,” I said, making Andrei laugh with me.
While everyone had been insightful when it came to Viktor and Stephen and their two opponents, there was silence watching Adrik and Ivan. There was nothing to critique, no improvements to be made. They were so well-matched that it was almost like they’d choreographed it beforehand. Both of them were breathing hard, sweating as they each tried to outdo the other. Each hit was perfectly countered, each kick was expertly blocked.
“Yeah, he’s totally still taking it easy on me and I might love him a little more because of it,” I said, my eyes wide watching both of them. I could feel that they were both enjoying it, as well. There was almost a giddiness to both of them that I could feel. They didn’t outwardly show it. They looked like they were trying to ki ll each other, But inside, they were both enjoying this.
I caught Vitaliy watching them. The look of satisfaction on his face was everything. I almost wanted to take a picture of it so I could show Adrik later. I glanced at the other guys’ faces, finally looking at the two as sholes. They were shocked. Good. I hope they’re worried.
Ivan and Adrik went on much longer than the first two matches. There was no clear winner between them, they just decided to stop. Vitally’s men stayed quiet, silently glad they’d refused to spar with Ivan. Aleksei walked up beside me and Andrei, as Adrik was climbing out of the ring beside us. He said quietly, “you might be solving the problem of the little flowers today and creating a new one for me.”
Adrik raised his eyebrow, wadding his shirt up in his hand to wipe the sweat from his face. Aleksei chuckled. “They might quit on their own. Then
we’re going to have to find replacements for them.”
I looked at Andrei. He had been nervous, but now that his time was nearing, he was focused. I glanced at the other side of the ring where Misha was. He looked just as focused. They both knew that Ivan was the best out of all of us, but they also knew they could hold their own with him. I’d seen it. Those two as sholes didn’t stand a chance if they weren’t taking their training seriously.
Adrik said quietly, “don’t hold back, Andrei. It’s not your fault they haven’t taken their training seriously. You’re the wake up call they need.”
Andrei looked at me, then Adrik. He nodded once before pulling his shirt off and stepping in the ring. Aleksei informed as shole #1 that it was his turn. He did not look as nervous as I thought he was going to be when he saw Andrei step into the ring. I looked at Adrik, “that mo ron still thinks he has the advantage over Bubba because he’s so much younger. His day is about to be ruined.”
Ivan walked up, handing Adrik a bottle of water. “Squish, I just want to thank you for holding back when you spar with me. You clearly love me and I’m here for it.” I said.
He laughed. “I don’t have to hold back as much as I used to, princess. You’re making serious progress.”
“I happen to have very good trainers,” I said, smiling sweetly at him. I looked between both Adrik and Ivan, each standing on each side of me. “I could feel how much you two enjoyed that. You were almost giddy.”
They both chuckled. They looked over my head at each other. “It’s been a few years since we’ve done that. We should do it more,” Adrik said. “I forgot how much fun you are.”
“It’s the only time I get a challenge, Ivan said.
“Do you two want me to leave so you can bromance in peace?” I asked, smirking at both of them. They both laughed loudly, causing everyone to look at us. While I never cared that the guys were looking at me, I suddenly panicked when Vitaliy’s men looked at me. This was really becoming an annoying development in my life.
Ivan and Adrik both stepped in front of me, partially shielding me from everyone. Andrei stepped back in front of me as well in the ring. I saw Misha walk from the other side of the ring to quietly stand behind me. Not a single one of them said a word, they just silently moved to make sure I felt safe..
“I love you all,” I said quietly.
Sephle
Andrei’s opponent took advantage of his momentary lack of focus when he was worried about me to launch his first attack. Rude. He landed the first hit, which Andrei took like a pro. 1 could feel that he almost enjoyed it. He was calm, like he was feeling out the other guy’s skills first.
Andrei might’ve been calm, but my anger was coming to the surface watching the other guy in the ring with him. He was so f**king smug it was irritating. I found myself wishing I could give Andrei some of my anger. Since I’d learned how to control it better, it was quite useful, especially when sparring. It amped up the intensity for me. I felt stronger and faster when I was using my anger.
Andrei pushed as shole #1 back, then I caught him looking at me, a look of surprise on his face. I saw it, but it didn’t quite register as I was still busy thinking about how I wanted to share my anger with him.
We watched as Andrei played it safe with his opponent for a few more minutes, but then we all saw it happen. It looked exactly like what they’d been telling me happened when my switch flipped. Andrei’s switch flipped and he went from defense to offense in a split second.
“Holy shi t, who knew he had a switch too,” Misha said behind me.
Once he switched, I could feel Andrei’s anger just as clearly as Adrik and Ivan. I could also clearly feel that his was feeding into mine, the same way the other two did. There was a difference to him, too. While both Adrik and Ivan felt like chaos personified, Andrei’s anger was quiet. Controlled, but no less deadly. I found myself happy to feel it.
I wanted to tell the guys what I was feeling, but I didn’t want to interrupt Andrei’s focus, so I waited. While as shole #1 had started the match thinking that he had the upper hand, it was very obvious that he was sadly mistaken. Andrei was on the attack and that guy couldn’t do anything but try to defend himself as best he could. He kept trying to position himself against the ropes, but each time Andrei would push him away from the ropes. They knew if someone got caught on the ropes, the match was essentially done. He was trying to end the match without an obvious surrender and Andrei wouldn’t give it to him. I was so proud of him in that moment.
As shole #1 gave out before he could get the match ended. His legs gave out on him and he tripped trying to step away from Andrei. He landed hard on the mat and stayed down long enough that we all knew he was done for. We watched him tap the mat twice, indicating that he gave up and was clearly admitting defeat. Andrei simply turned away from him, wulking back toward us. Once he was facing away from the others, we saw him smile. My heart might’ve swelled watching him take pride in what had just happened.
He climbed out of the ring, wiping the swent from his face. He caught my eye and I knew he had something he wanted to talk about, but he stayed quiet as it was Misha’s turn. Once Misha climbed into the ring, Andrei took his spot behind me. He leaned forward, quietly saying, “whatever you just did for me, do the same for him. It helped.”
Adrik and Ivan both heard him as well. They turned to look at me and then him. I looked back at Andrei, somewhat surprised. “I don’t know what I just did though.”
“Whatever you were thinking about, think the same with Misha. You’ll see,” he said.
Misha pulled his shirt off, tossing it back toward us. He felt nervous, too. The same as Andrei did when his match first started. I watched as shole #7 climb into the ring. He had a little less bravado than his buddy, but he was still more smug than I would’ve liked. It suddenly hit me. I could push my anger to Andrei. It wasn’t his switch; it was my switch that flipped.
I heard him chuckle quietly behind me. “Do it again,” was all he said.
I started to think about the same things with Misha as I had for Andrei. I wanted to push my anger to him to give him even more of an advantage. It was clear with Bubba that he didn’t need my help, but I wanted an extra “f**k you” to those two as sholes. Misha was holding his own with his opponent, learning his moves just as Andrei had done. I concentrated on my anger, noticing that both Ivan and Adrik felt it this time, looking down at
ΠΕ.
They looked back at Misha just in time to see the switch flip with him just as it had with Andrei. He switched to offense in the blink of an eye. He was faster than Andrei, as Misha was a little leaner than the other guys. He was similar to Adrik’s build. He probably had an easier time finding suits than the other four guys. But he was just as strong. Combined with his speed, it meant the other guy never had a chance.
Like Andrei, I could now feel Misha’s anger. I wasn’t surprised at all to find out that there was a feeling of f**kery in his anger. He was working to figure out how best to embarrass that guy in front of everyone, for maximum humor and maximum embarrassment. I fully supported it.
While Andrei drug out his match, emasculating his opponent by exhausting him in front of everyone, Misha made quick work of as shole #2. He took his legs out from under him, sending him to the mat hard and fast. It knocked the wind out of the guy. He almost lost consciousness, but managed to hang on. He was smart enough to tap out though. He didn’t want a repeat of that fall. Misha stood over him for a moment while the guy tried to catch his breath. He didn’t say a word, he just stared him down as he watched him struggle to breathe for a moment. I don’t think those two are going to be a problem anymore.
When Misha climbed out of the ring, he looked straight at me, his eyes wide. “How did you do that?” he asked quietly.
Adrik noticed the looks from some of the other guys. He said quietly, “not now. Not here.”
We all nodded. Viktor and Stephen walked up, congratulating Misha and Andrei. They picked up on something, but didn’t ask about it while we were still with everyone else. Aleksei walked over, clearly amused at what had just happened. “I’m going to get enjoyment out of this for a very long time,” he said. The other guys that had been with Vitaliy for years were also clearly enjoying it.
Vitaliy walked up, a small smile on his face. “You’ve given me a treat this morning,” he said before walking back into the gym to complete his own workout with Aleksei.
Adrik, smirking, told the guys to come to the penthouse before getting cleaned up so we could take advantage of having the penthouse to ourselves for a few minutes before Vitaliy and Aleksei got done.
Once upstairs, Viktor and Stephen were curious about what happened, as they weren’t close enough to hear Andrei after his match. Andrei said, “I don’t know how, but she managed to push her anger to me. It was like an in sane power boost for me.” He looked to Misha. “You felt it too, right?”
“Yeah, it was like Mario eating one of those magic mushrooms,” he said, his wide smile stretching across his face.
Adrik looked at me, surprised. He’d been feeling me pushing things to him for a while now, but neither of us knew I’d be able to do it with anyone else. “Is it the same with them?” he asked, curious.
“I don’t think so. It was more difficult. They feel different, too,” I said.
“Your anger levels were off the charts, princess. I could feel that,” Ivan said.
“I think I had to get to that level to be able to push it to them. I can do it much easier with you and easier still with Adrik.”
“You guys saw the switch flip, right?” Andrei asked. Everyone nodded. “It wasn’t my switch. I don’t have a switch. Neither does Misha. It was her
switch.”
“It was exactly like watching Sephie when hers flips,” Stephen said. “It was clear when it happened. I think everyone saw it, even.”
“It was impressive. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two look that good in a practice match. When your life is really on the line, sure, but not when you know it’s a practice match,” Viktor said.
“They feel different to you?” Ivan asked.
“Yeah. You and Adrik are similar in that you’re both very chaotic with your anger. It’s controlled, but barely. Although, it’s becoming more so lately. Andrei is quiet and very controlled, but just as deadly. Misha’s might be my favorite, just because he delights in it. I can feel the f**kery increase with his anger,” I said, laughing.
Misha laughed loudly. “You knew I was trying to find a way to embarrass him as much as possible.”
“Yep. You both did, just in different ways. I’ve never been more proud,” I said.
Viktor, ever the proud older brother, said, “I don’t think those two will be a problem moving forward. They might quit after today.” His deep belly laugh filled the kitchen.
Sephie
The guys left to get cleaned up, giving Adrik and I the penthouse to ourselves for a few more minutes before Aleksei and Vitally came back upstairs. I couldn’t keep my hands off Adrik. Normally, it was the other way around, but seeing him in the ring with Ivan was an unexpected major turn on.
“I’m actually glad I figured out that I could push my anger onto Andrei and Misha because otherwise, I would’ve been left thinking about how f**king hot you are. I mean, they might agree, but I don’t think any of them necessarily want to feel that,” I said, pulling my shirt off before trying to pull his shorts off as I also tried to drag him toward the shower.
He laughed, his lips still against mine, his hands pulling at my clothes just as feverishly. He walked into the shower, turning the water on, then quickly came back to me. He grabbed me around the waist, pulling me to him roughly. “I might’ve felt it while I was in the ring. You’re very good motivation.” he said, turning me in his arms so my back was to his chest, his hands roughly squeezing and running over my breasts. He walked us into the shower, stopping just before he pressed me against the wall. His hands ran down both of my arms. He grabbed each of my hands and placed them on the wall in front of me. “You’re going to need this,” he said, as he grabbed my hips and pulled them back toward him so I was slightly bent over.
“Need it why?” I asked, trying to turn around to look at him. He caught me and put my hands back on the wall with one hand. The other hand slid down my back, in between my a ss cheeks to my slit.
“Because I’m going to f**k you,” he said, removing his fingers from my pu ssy and slamming into me with his co ck. I moaned loudly, now grateful I had something to brace against. I pushed my hips back into him, already wanting more.
He grabbed my hips, his hands holding me firmly as he slammed into me repeatedly. My walls clenching down on him as he buried his c ock deep inside me. I pushed back on the wall, my hips meeting his each time he thrust into me. I couldn’t contain the moans that escaped as I felt myself building to o*gasm. With each thrust, it felt harder to stand up as my body was nothing but pleasure. I felt his hand slide up my back, to the back of my neck. He grabbed a fistful of hair, pulling my head back as he thrust into me harder. I was breathing heavy, unable to quiet my screams of pleasure. I might not be able to walk later, but I still wanted more
“Harder,” I managed to say in between trying to breathe and moaning in pleasure. I heard him groan as he readily obliged. He let go of my hair, but held onto the back of my neck as he pulled me to him each time he slammed Into me. I could do nothing but try to remain standing as he continued
to f**k me.
Finally, just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore, I felt him find his release. He slammed into me one last time, exploding inside me. He wrapped his arms around me tightly, pushing me against the wall as we both worked to catch our breath.
He stood up, pulling us both back under the water. He kissed my neck gently. I was still struggling to catch my breath. I held onto his arms, my grip getting tighter the longer it took to slow my breathing.
He felt my panic start to set in as I couldn’t catch my breath. He kept his arms around me tightly, holding me up. His lips next to my ear, he calmly said, “you’re okay, solnishko. Listen to my voice. You’re safe. You’re with me. You can breathe.” He kept repeating it over and over again until my breaths started to calm down slightly. My grip on his arms relaxed somewhat, but I didn’t let go.
He turned me to face him, still quietly repeating his calming words, trying to help me relax so I could breathe normally. I finally took a deep breath, closing my eyes. I felt his hands on either side of my face and felt him press his lips to mine.
He started to say something, but I cut him off, without even opening my eyes. “Don’t apologize for that. I very much enjoyed that,” I said, smiling at
him.
He laughed. “I don’t like that you can’t catch your breath. I don’t like feeling your fear so close to feeling your pleasure. Those two should not be connected,” he said.
“I don’t disagree,” I said, resting my head on his chest.
“You had trouble catching your breath the other night too. Have you been having trouble other times?” he asked, his fingers massaging my scalp as he washed my hair.
“I don’t think so. I haven’t done that much though. It’s easy to breathe when you’re not doing anything strenuous.”
He chuckled. “Then it’s my fault for being too strenuous.”
“But I like when you’re strenuous. I need a nap now, but I love it,” I said, finally opening my eyes to look at him.
“You need a nap because of me? That’s not normal either, no matter how strenuous I get.”
“Stop worrying about me. You’re not going to break me,” I said, reaching up to kiss him.
He clicked his tongue. “I’m going to have Andrei check to make sure you’re okay. I don’t like that you’ve struggled to catch your breath twice in a row. I still can’t feel anything from your lung. I only feel your panic when you struggle to catch your breath,” he said.
“I don’t feel anything from my lung either. Except the panic when I can’t catch my breath. You’re not missing anything,” I said. “I don’t want you to worry that you’re going to break me or be scared to touch me. I love it when you’re strenuous when you f**k me,” I said, grinning at him. I stood on my toes and ran my tongue slowly over his bottom lip as I su cked it into my mo uth.
He squinted his eyes at me. He pulled me close, kissing me passionately, but quickly. “What am I going to do with you…”
Adrik had meetings that afternoon. Vitaliy informed us that he also had meetings elsewhere in the city, so he wouldn’t be back until the evening. “It’s been so long since I’ve been in the city that everyone wants to see me when I’m here. It’s partly why I never come to the city,” he said. He sounded almost grumpy about having to go.
“You can tell them to f**k off, Vitally. You know that, right?” I said. I wanted to see what kind of reaction I could get out of him. “They’re not the boss of you.”
He laughed loudly. He pulled my arm through his, patting my hand. “If only everyone were as fun as you. I wouldn’t mind meetings then.”
“The world could not handle more than one of me, Vitaliy,” I said, laughing. He surprised me by kissing my forehead. He simply smiled at me, telling. us all he would return, then walked out of the penthouse with Aleksei.
Once he left, Adrik looked at Andrei. “Sephie has had trouble catching her breath twice now in the last two days. The second time was worse than the first. I’m worried there’s something wrong that she doesn’t want to tell me about.”
Andrei looked at me, almost like he was asking permission. I smiled at him. “It’s okay, Bubba. You can look. If there’s something wrong, then even I don’t know about it.”
He studied me for a few minutes. He went to speak, but stopped himself. He was quiet for another few minutes, then finally said, “her lung isn’t as bad as when she had pneumonia, but it’s not 100% either, but it’s made worse because she has anxiety about it now. She’s having small panic attacks when she has trouble catching her breath. That makes it harder to catch her breath. That’s why you talking to her and repeating phrases to her helps calm her down. She’s also still due for sleeping in, but she’s fighting it because of everything going on.”
“Have you had panic attacks before, Seph?” Stephen asked.
I shook my head no. “Not that I know of. I wouldn’t have said me not being able to catch my breath was a panic attack though, so there’s that.”
“It’s understandable. You’ve been through a lot recently. You’re still processing everything,” Viktor said.
Adrik was quietly contemplating everything, but he seemed mostly satisfied that I wasn’t hiding anything from him or he wasn’t missing anything on his own. I walked to him as he opened his arm for me. He pulled me to him, kissing my temple. “It appears it is my fault,” he said quietly, with a smirk
on his face.
Sephie
“Battista arrived last night. He wants to meet tomorrow. He made reservations at his favorite spot,” Vitaliy said during a lull in the conversation at
dinner.
“Please tell me his favorite spot is someplace fun, like the zoo,” I said.
Vitaliy laughed. “Net, but you might be able to talk him into it next time.”
“Da mmit. Missed opportunity,” I said, “Where’s his favorite spot? Although I can tell you right now, I’m not going to enjoy it as much as I would the
700.”
“He loves one restaurant at his hotel downtown. He always has important meetings there. But since he owns the place, he’s usually the only one in the restaurant for those meetings. It’s very convenient,” Vitaliy said.
“What hotel?”
“Same one Mr. Turner works at,” Ivan said.
“Oh, that hotel. Sh it. That means I have to wear heels. Yet another point for the zoo over this boring a ss hotel,” I said. “But my consolation prize is I’ll get to say hi to Mr. Turner.” I hadn’t been back to that hotel since the night of the ball. I couldn’t say I was looking forward to it.
While everyone was busy talking, Ivan caught me off to the side. “No one is leaving your side this time, princess. Especially not me. Especially not your go ddamn prince.”
“You’re getting very good at reading my emotions, Squish. Even when they’re not out of control yet.”
This one was easy, princess. I have the same fear as you do. There’s no way I’m letting what happened last time ever happen again. You won’t be alone at any point. Might make the bathroom situation awkward, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make,” he said, grinning at me.
I laughed at him. “You’re my favorite, Squish. Don’t tell the others.”
It was quite the sight to behold when we arrived at the hotel the following day, Between the seven of us, plus Vitaliy and all of his security, you would’ve thought a foreign dignitary had arrived.
Mr. Turner, always happy to see us, was waiting to open the door as we walked up the steps. “Miss Sephie, you look beautiful as always,” he said, bowing his head slightly.
I stepped away from Adrik to give Mr. Turner a hug. “It’s good to see you, Mr. Turner. How are things today? Good? Quiet?”
“You know I love my quiet days, Miss Sephie.” Before he let me go, he whispered in my ear, “come see me when you can.” I nodded as discreetly as 1 could. Mr. Turner very rarely asked me to come see him, so I had a feeling he knew something he thought I should know. He winked at me as I stepped back to Adrik. “I’m glad to see you fine gentlemen taking care of her as usual,” he said, nodding to Adrik and the guys. He opened the door, stepping to the side for everyone to enter.
Once inside the hotel, Vitaliy looked at Adrik and I, somewhat surprised. “He used to be my neighbor. I’m nowhere near that friendly to just anybody.” I said, laughing at the relieved expression on Vitaliy’s face.
Battista was waiting on us in the restaurant. It was just as Vitaliy said it would be. The entire restaurant was empty, except us. Battista was around the same age as Vitaliy, maybe slightly younger. His alive skin and black hair gave him the appearance of a much younger man, bowever. Vitally greeted him as warmly as he was capable of. When Adrik stepped away from me to shake his hand, the guys all silently moved closer to me, effectively boxing me in. I smiled to myself.
L
There were two other people with Battista, which was unexpected, at least to me. He introduced the first one to Vitaliy. I watched as Vitaliy shook his hand, his cold smile on his face, like normal. The second person had gotten a phone call as were walking up, so she had stepped away just before we got to them. She had finished the call and was walking back to us. I noticed Ivan, who was standing partially in front of me suddenly stiffened. No sooner had 1 felt his unease and I felt his protective bubble go up around me. Since no one was necessarily paying attention to us yet, I grabbed his hand, asking quietly, “what’s going on?”
He squeezed my hand and turned to look at me. He looked shocked, but I could also see a flash of fear across his face before he got it under control. “Something’s happening. It’s different. I’m okay, but I might need you,” he said. I nodded my head, keeping my hand in his as he turned back toward Adrik, Vitaliy, and Battista.
I watched as Battista introduced the woman to Vitaliy. When Vitaliy shook her hand, I noticed the very quick look of shock flash across his face before it went back to cold and hard. Adrik noticed too, as he cut his eyes over to me before looking back at Battista as he introduced him to the woman.
Vitaliy turned toward me, motioning me to come and meet Battista. I looked at Ivan, silently asking if he would be okay without me for a moment. He nodded his head and let go of my hand. Adrik saw the exchange between us before I walked to his side. After I greeted everyone, he quickly searched my eyes to find out what had happened with Ivan. He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as he gently pushed me back toward Ivan and the other guys. I grabbed Ivan’s hand as soon as I was partially behind him and Andrei once more. I felt him relax slightly, but he was definitely on high alert. There was something about the woman that he definitely didn’t like. I had a feeling that Vitaliy didn’t like it either, but I couldn’t exactly ask in front of everyone.
We sat down at a table that was large enough that Ivan could sit next to me. I kept my hand on his knee under the table the entire time. I’d only ever seen him like that when he was at the hospital, so it was unnerving that he was having this reaction now.
Since Vitaliy was with us this time, I wasn’t needed for translation purposes. It meant I could sit and observe everyone, which I was happy about. Adrik was happy about that as well. I could tell that Battista and Vitaliy had a good relationship. It was obvious that Vitaliy was at case with Battista. Adrik was too. The other man that was with Battista was quiet, but honest when he spoke. While Battista was loud and boisterous, his associate was quieter and almost shy. The woman was a little bit of a different story. She wasn’t quite as old as Vitaliy and Battista, but she was older than Adrik by at least a decade, if not more. It did not stop her from gazing longingly at him every chance she got. After his initial introduction, Adrik hadn’t even glanced at her, but she was almost fixated on him. She didn’t talk much, but when she did, she was fake. Very fake. I did not get a good feeling from her, but she wasn’t talking enough for me to figure out why I didn’t like her.
Every time she spoke, Ivan would tense. He would look away from her, even. It was starting to concern me. After they got the important business out of the way and the conversation turned to more meaningless subjects, I leaned over to Adrik. “I need to get Ivan out of here for at least a few minutes. He’s going to escort me to the bathroom. I could use Andrei too, if that isn’t going to cause too much of a scene.”
He nodded his head. He leaned in, a small smile on his face as he kissed me gently, his lips lingering on mine before I went to get up. He looked to Andrei and jerked his head slightly toward me as I stood up, excusing myself for a moment. Ivan was immediately by my side, as was Andrei. We walked quickly toward the restroom at the back of the restaurant.
Once we were away from everyone, I asked Ivan what was happening. “I’m not exactly sure, princess. But that woman, I can’t look at her. Does she look normal to you?” he asked. He sounded almost afraid when he asked me.
“I don’t get a good feeling from her, but I can’t figure out why. Have you gotten anything from her, Bubba?”
“Same as you. I don’t like her, but she’s not saying enough for me to figure out why I don’t. Why can’t you look at her, Ivan?” Andrei asked.
He was quiet for a minute, looking from me to Andrei nervously. “Squish, Bubba has known about your past longer than I have. He knows what happened to you. He heard you one night talking in your sleep. You can say whatever you need to say,” I said, grabbing his hand once again.
He looked almost relieved to know that Andrei knew about his past. “Part of the reason that I’m so haunted by the doctors that used to experiment on me is that their faces never looked normal to me. Princess, when you said that my demons pull other people’s demons out so the world can see them like I do, I’m not sure if you knew how accurate that statement is. I never saw the doctors’ faces. I saw the demons inside them. It’s only ever happened at the facility and I had written it off to being a kid and being tortured, but I’m seeing it in that woman out there.”
“You’re not the only one. Vitaliy gut something from her too. I saw his look when he shook her hand that meant something was off about her,” I said.
“Vitally is different too?” Andrei asked.
I smiled and nodded my head. “That’s why we told him about you and Misha. He felt it when he shook my hand. That’s how he’s special. He can feel if a person is good or bad when he touches them. We all feel different to him, for the record.”
“Must be where Boss gets it,” he said.
I glanced at Ivan. “What do you need to be able to make it through the rest of this meeting? I’ll fake an illness to get us out of here if I have to.”
Sephie
“I’m not sure, princess. This has never happened before so I don’t know how to handle it. Your hand on me helps keep me grounded,” Ivan said.
“I can do that. Adrik knows something is happening. He’ll be able to get most of this conversation when we get back to the table without me saying anything. I’m hoping he can make the meeting shorter. I don’t want to have to look at her make bedroom eyes at my future husband any longer than I have to anyway,” I said.
Andrei laughed. “She’s worse than Giana about making it obvious.”
“Right? Is there no subtlety left in this world?” I asked. Before we walked back to the table, I pulled Ivan toward me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, knowing he was struggling to keep it together. “We’ll get out of here as soon as we can. You’re doing great and I’m proud of you,” I said. He held onto me tightly for a few moments before I felt his arms relax around me.
Andrei and Ivan both walked slightly in front of me as we walked back to the tables. I had a hold of Ivan’s hand still. I was mostly lost in my own head, thinking about Ivan and how to help him when I felt his grip on my hand tighten. I looked up, snapped back to reality.
The woman was sitting in my chair, turned toward Adrik, talking to him quietly. Adrik had leaned as far away from her as he could without falling off his chair. He was forced to look at her, but would only glance at her before looking away, I said to Ivan and Andrei, “get behind me. hand on my back, I need to let go.”
Ivan put your
We still had some distance before we were back at the table, so they moved instantly behind me and I felt Ivan’s hand on the small of my back. I crossed my arms over my chest as we walked the last few steps to the table. We were walking behind the woman and Adrik, so while he knew we were there, she still hadn’t seen us.
1 cleared my throat as I stopped behind my chair this woman was siting in. She continued talking to Adrik like she didn’t hear me, so I cleared my throat louder this time. She finally glanced at me but didn’t make a move to get up. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, but I was so angry at her blatant disregard for my presence that I didn’t care. As she was talking to Adrik, 1 could hear the thoughts in her head. I could also feel the hatred she had for me. She was doing this on purpose.
I looked at Vitaliy, then to Battista. In Italian, I said loud enough that everyone could hear me, “Battista, do you always surround yourself with such ill-mannered women, or you brought her special for us? If you did, I’d like to thank you. It’s been quite some time since I’ve had the chance to make another woman cry.”
Vitaliy couldn’t contain his laughter. Even Battista looked amused. The woman stopped talking to Adrik, noticing everyone looking at her. She finally made a move to stand up. When she turned around to look at me, I felt Ivan’s hand press into my back at the same time I felt his bubble go up around me. When she looked at me, I saw exactly what Ivan saw. It wasn’t her face that I saw. It was something entirely different and not exactly human.
As she turned to walk back to her original seat, she looked at me with every bit of hatred she could muster. It was very much the same feeling that I had when Sal and Armando looked at me when they took me and Ivan. I didn’t like it. I felt the panic start, but I pushed my anger to the surface as much as possible, trying to override the panic. Ivan and Andrei both caught on to what I was doing and I felt their anger feed into mine. The panic was pushed down and I was able to hold her gaze until she looked away.
As she moved to walk past me, I said in Italian, so only she could hear, “try to touch him again and you will no longer have functioning hands.”
She didn’t respond, but she walked very quickly to her original seat. I graciously sat back down with as pleasant of a smile on my face as I could muster. Adrik moved his chair closer to me, so I could still keep a hand on Ivan. He stretched his arm across my lap, leaning over to kiss me in front of everyone. I had to admit to feeling ecstatic when I looked at her and saw her red face at seeing him give me affection.
Battista and Vitaliy had been quietly conversing while this was happening. Vitally caught my eye, winking at me. The woman was much quieter for the rest of the meeting, but would still interject occasionally. Her little stunt seemed to irritate Battista, as he was much colder to her for the rest of the meeting. Before, he would let her talk and seemed to take her opinion into account. After, he was very dismissive of her and would interrupt her frequently.
Ivan managed to hold it together, as long as I could keep a hand on him. I was anxious for the meeting to end so I could tell him that I saw what he saw. I was curious if Andrei could also see it. The woman still took every opportunity to look at Adrik, but he never took his hand off my lap and he made sure to look at me more often than normal. He practically didn’t look at anyone else the rest of the time.
When the meeting finally came to a close and everyone stood up to leave, I felt his arm around my waist, pulling me as close to him as possible. I made sure that she saw it. Adrik walked to Battista, shaking his hand, never letting go of me. The guys were close behind us. Battista stepped closer to us, taking my hand. He turned it over, kissing the back of my hand as he said in Italian quietly, “you’ve done me a huge favor today. I’m in your debt.” He smiled warmly at me as he stepped back and went back to talking to Vitaliy,
While Vitaliy and Battista continued to talk, Adrik looked at his watch. I knew he didn’t have anymore meetings scheduled today, but he still told them he needed to get back for one. They both nodded, both of them smiling at me as we turned to leave. I caught her staring at us one last time as we turned to walk away from everyone. I felt Adrik’s hand slide down to my a ss as we walked away. I could barely keep my laughter in until we were out of the restaurant,
“You’re just as savage as I am now. I f**king love it.”
Sephie
As soon as we were safely in the penthouse, I stopped Ivan and hugged him again. He was much more relaxed after leaving the hotel, but I knew he was still completely unnerved by what had happened. He wrapped his giant arms around me tightly, picking me up for a few moments. He just stood there, my feet dangling, holding onto me as he slowly calmed himself down.
When he set me down, I said, “I saw what you saw.” I quickly looked at Andrei. “Did you see anything when she finally got her a ss out of my chair and turned to look at me?”
“I saw her extreme hatred for you, if that’s what you mean,” Andrei said.
I looked at Ivan’s shocked face. “She didn’t look human,” I said.
Andrei started to put it together. “That’s why you panicked when she looked at you.”
I nodded my head. Misha, always curious, said, “okay, you guys are going to have to explain what the he ll happened. I also want to know what you said to Battista to get that woman out of your chair.”
Before I answered him, I asked, “did you get anything from her, Misha?”
He nodded his head, emphatically. “I was insanely nauseous the entire time we were there. But only when looking at her.”
Before I could speak, Ivan moved to lean against the counter in the kitchen. He looked at everyone, sighed, then said, “when I was a kid, my m om sent me to a research facility where they did ho rrible experiments on me because of my inability to feel pain. She didn’t know that would happen. They gave her some other story and promised to send my siblings to school. My dad had died shortly after my youngest brother was born, so she was trying to raise four kids on her own and she agreed. She thought I would be taken care of. The reason that hospitals f**k me up is because I’m reliving what they did to me in there every single time. It wasn’t just physical torture. They tried to break me. They tried to turn me into a monster and they enjoyed it.”
As he was talking, I hopped up on the counter next to him. I hooked my arm through his and rested my head on his shoulder. I felt him squeeze my arm as he continued talking.
“When Sephie told you all that my demons pull other people’s demons out so the world can see them as I do, she didn’t know how accurate she was. When I was at the facility, I never saw the doctors’ real faces. I saw the demons inside them. That’s why I’m so haunted by it and why I fight so hard anytime I have to go to the hospital. I’m trying to ki ll the doctors, but they keep coming back. I can’t see whoever is in front of me. I only see the demons’ faces from that facility.”
I glanced around the room at everyone’s shocked faces. Ivan continued, “that woman at the hotel today. I saw the same thing with her that I saw with the doctors. As soon as she walked up to introduce herself to Vitaliy, I saw it.”
“Vitaliy saw something, too. I caught his look when he touched her,” Adrik said.
“I saw it when she stood up to get the f**k out of my chair,” I said. They all laughed at my irritation.
“What did you say to Battista, gazelle?” Misha asked.
I giggled. “I asked him if he always surrounded himself with such ill-mannered women or if he brought her special for us. Then I said if he did, I needed to thank him because it’s been a really long time since I made another woman cry.”
They all laughed. Ivan slid his arm around my shoulders, hugging me to his side. “What about when she turned to leave? You said something else to her that nobody else caught,” Ivan said.
I cut my eyes to him, unable to hide my smile. “I told her if she tries to touch Adrik again that she will no longer hase functioning hands.”
They all erupted in even louder laughter than the first time.
“What did Battista say to you before we left?” Adrik asked.
“That’s where it gets even more interesting. He told me I did him a huge favor and that he’s in my debt now,” I said.
“His attitude toward that woman changed after you put her in her place,” Stephen said. “I don’t know what they were saying, but he was very dismissive of her after it happened when he wasn’t before.”
“I noticed that too,” I said.
“She was worse than Giana about staring, though.” Misha said.
Andrei snapped his fingers and pointed to Misha. “Same.”
Adrik scoffed. “I don’t even know how you knew she tried to touch me because it happened while you were gone, but it made me si ck.”
I hopped off the counter and walked to Adrik, clearly feeling his disgust. I couldn’t help but love him a little more for it. I wrapped my arms around his waist. “I f**king love you,” I said as I rested my head against his shoulder.
“I think there’s more to that woman being there today than we know about, especially considering what Battista said to Sephie before we left,” Viktor
said.
“We definitely need to have this conversation with Vitaliy when he gets back. I know he knows something about her that he couldn’t say in front of everyone.” Adrik said.
“I just want to point out how convenient it is that you’re so good at reading my mind now. I didn’t have to tell you Ivan was unnerved. I was planning on letting you figure out why he was unnerved when we got back, but that heifer put a hold on those plans.”
Adrik pulled me closer. “You’re adorable when you get all bitchy,” he said, kissing my temple.
The guys took advantage of Adrik’s mostly free afternoon while we waited on Vitaliy to make it back to the penthouse. They all took care of little things they’d been putting off because of more important tasks. Adrik had some work in his office to get done, so I went with him so the guys could! come and go as needed.
I stretched out on the couch, suddenly exhausted from everything the past few days. I tried to stay awake, but inevitably fell asleep. Since Ivan and 1 were taken, I hadn’t fallen asleep once without someone next to me. I wasn’t even sure it was possible anymore.
It was possible. It happened.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep when I felt Adrik’s warm hands on me, gently shaking me awake. “Solnishko, you were having a bad dream. I need you to wake up.”
I was somewhat startled awake and immediately worried I’d been talking in my sleep. “Shi t. Was I talking?”
He smiled sweetly at me, his warm hand resting against my cheek. “You were mumbling, but I could see the shaking from across the office. Andrei is on his way back so you can go back to sleep on him. You are overdue for sleeping in. It took you two seconds to fall asleep when you laid down.”
“At least I wasn’t yelling this time,” I said, sitting up.
Andrei walked in, looking somewhat concerned, but he relaxed when he saw me awake and talking to Adrik. “Spider monkey. I’m surprised you even fell asleep without anyone next to you. I didn’t think that was a thing you could do anymore.”
“I didn’t either, Bubba. You were right, apparently. I am overdue for sleeping in. I’m really tired,” I said.
“Being bitchy always makes you tired,” Adrik said, grinning at me. He stood up, leaning down to kiss my forehead. “Go back to sleep, love. Andrei can keep you warm. I just have a few more things to finish up and we can go back upstairs.”
Andrei sat down at the end of the couch, stretching one leg out along the back of the couch, opening his arms for me. I curled up in his arms, resting my head on his almost warm enough chest and was asleep again in a matter of minutes.
Author’s Note: Thank you all for sticking with this story for this long. I love reading all the comments and watching the story unfold through different eyes. I try to respond to all the comments, but please know that I read them all, even if I don’t respond. Thank you so much for loving my characters as much as I
do!
Sephie
When I woke again, I was in the penthouse. I knew I was laying on Adrik now instead of Andrei without even opening my eyes. I could feel Adrik’s perfect warmth against me. I started to stir and felt his arms hold me tighter.
“Mmm, I still love when you hold me down as I wake up,” I said. I could feel the vibration of his quiet laugh in his chest. I looked up at him. “You moved me and I didn’t wake up?” I asked, realizing I was no longer in the office.
I heard Andrei laugh from one of the other couches. “You were completely out, spider monkey.”
“We’d all been talking for like half an hour, thinking you’d wake up. You never did, so Andrei carried you up here and handed you off to Boss,” Misha said.
“Guess I really am overdue,” I said. I looked around to see if Vitaliy and Aleksei were back yet.
“They’ll be here soon. Along with dinner,” Viktor said.
It was that moment that I realized how late it had gotten and that it was now dark outside. “Sh it,” I said, under my breath.
“You need a break, Seph. Don’t feel bad,” Stephen said. “You’re always extra tired when new stuff happens. You’ve had multiple new things happen lately.”
I looked at Andrei, then to Ivan. “That reminds me. I forgot to ask if you two knew you were pushing your anger to me when I was fighting to keep the panic at bay at the hotel.”
Andrei nodded his head. “I could feel you panic but then I felt you get angry and figured out what you were trying to do. I had no idea how to do it, but I tried to push mine to you. I know you can deal with ins ane amounts of anger, but you struggle with the panic and fear. I was hoping the anger would override everything else.”
“You’re so smart and so handsome. It’s like you’re a double threat,” I said.
“It was a little different for me. Your anger amps mine up to the point that it’s all I notice. I felt yours getting stronger, which made mine get stronger. I think it was having the same effect on me as it was you because it calmed my nerves when looking at her,” Ivan said. “It was a welcome change.”
“That’s different,” I said, chewing on my bottom lip. “I felt your bubble too, Squish. A couple of times.”
“Have you learned how to keep your demon eyes under control, Seph? I was sitting across from you and I didn’t see them once when you were talking to her. I was incredibly impressed,” Stephen asked. We hadn’t had a chance to fill him and Viktor in on my mood ring eyes yet.
“She’s been wearing contacts since we went to Panama. Her eyes have a mind of their own now. The demon eyes aren’t the only trick she can do now, but she has problems controlling it. Since we were all a little punchy after Trino’s guys had such a problem with her, Boss had contacts made for her so she wouldn’t have to worry about anyone seeing and we wouldn’t have to ki ll anyone,” Ivan said. He had his devilish grin on his face.
“What else are they doing, sestrichka?” Viktor asked.
“It’s easier if I show you. Be right back,” I said, running to the bathroom to take the contacts out. When I came back out, they’d all moved to the kitchen, where there was better lighting.
I walked to Adrik, knowing how much he loved seeing my eyes change to blue. The smile on his face told me they had changed. He called Viktor and Stephen over so they could see.
“Her demon eyes started as the brown overtaking the other colors and turning darker. Now it’s to the point that they’re black when it happens. The other colors started doing it now too whenever she feels different emotions. Blue means she’s thinking about how much she loves me. Green means she’s being a shi t and sarcastic,” Adrik said.
“Now that we’re all here, I want to see the wh ite,” Misha said. He was always the instigator and I loved him for it.
“Wh ite?” Stephen asked.
I nodded. “When I get scared, they turn almost whi te. There’s just a hint of blue still, but it’s mostly wh ite. The other day when the Wonder Twins asked me about my demon eyes, I showed them the other colors but I didn’t want to show them the whi te because Ivan feels me panic and you guys were gone to get Vitaliy. I didn’t want to distract him. We haven’t tested it to see how far away it works, but my panic and fear are very strong so he and Adrik get punched with it when it happens.”
“It’s scarier than her demon eyes when it happens,” Adrik said.
Viktor laughed, the uncertainty evident in his deep voice when he said, “I’m not sure I want to see that, then. I’m still trying to get a handle on your demon eyes when that happens.”
“Aww, Papa Bear. It’s never directed at you. You’re my favorite,” I said, smiling sweetly at him.
“I don’t want to fr eak you out and make you panic, but I’m definitely curious,” Stephen said.
I looked at Adrik, who looked concerned. “You don’t have to show them. You struggle to control your fear. I don’t want you to be overwhelmed, but I will be right here to calm you down if you need it,” he said.
I chewed on my bottom lip for a moment, then said, “I have an idea.” I stepped in front of him, pulling his arms around my waist. “You always help so maybe you can keep it from getting out of control, but still let me feel it enough that they can see.” He wrapped his arms around my waist tighter, leaning down and resting his chin on my shoulder, I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I started to replay the afternoon’s events in my head when that woman stood up and looked at me. It didn’t take long and I felt his grip on me tighten as we both felt my panic coming on.
Ivan stood up a little straighter, followed by Misha and Andrei. “It’s working,” they all said at the same time.
I opened my eyes to see Stephen’s shocked expression. It worked. Misha and Andrei also walked closer so they could see. Viktor couldn’t help himself and also walked closer to see. They were speechless. I could feel my panic starting to grow stronger as I looked at their shocked faces in front of me.
I felt Adrik’s lips close to my ear. “You’re with me, love. You’re safe. We all love you.” He just kept repeating those words until he felt me start to relax.
I finally took a deep breath. I had closed my eyes when he started talking to me. Their shocked expressions had an unexpected affect on me, so when I opened my eyes, they were the almost amber that meant I was sad. Adrik felt the shift. They all saw the new color before he turned me around.
“Why are you sad, spider monkey?” Andrei asked as I hid my face in Adrik’s chest.
“So that color brown means she’s sad?” Stephen asked. “That’s different than her normal brown.”
Adrik nodded his head. “I’ve only ever seen that amber color once before. When she was thinking about Trino seeing his m om for the last time,” he said. He gently put his hand on the back of my neck, pulling me away from him so he could search my eyes. He cursed under his breath, pulling me back to him. “We love you no matter what, Sephie. That’s never going to change.”
I heard Andrei quietly explain to the others and I knew he had done his own searching. “She doesn’t want to scare us with everything that’s happened. She doesn’t want us to look at her differently, either. She’s sad at the thought of us feeling uncomfortable around her now.”
We heard the door to the penthouse open, signaling that Vitaliy and Aleksei were back. Adrik kept his arms around me, but walked us quickly back to the bedroom. Once we were alone, he stepped back from me, looking me in the eyes. “They were just shocked. The wh ite eyes are scarier than the demon eyes the first time you see them. They still love you as much as they ever have, Sephie. Nothing is going to change that.”
I nodded my head, but didn’t say anything. I walked to the bathroom so I could put the contacts back in. He followed me, standing in his favorite spot behind me, his chin once again resting on my shoulder while he watched me put the contacts in. It had become one of my favorite things. It was such a simple thing, but I found myself loving the little moments we had together.
Adri
Sephie still felt slightly upset, but she was trying to smile through it. She turned toward me after putting her contacts back in, smiling sweetly up at me. She reached up and pressed her lips to mine. “I love you.” the said as the grabbed my hand to walk back to the kitchen.
The guys were still in the kitchen as Sephir lest me back out. They looked concerned, but I could tell that she smiled at them an i soften. Vitalis and Aleksei were standing with them. Sephie didn’t waste any time. “Vitaliy, what did you feel when you thook that woman’s hand
all of their faces
today”
He looked surprised, but there was also an air of amusement. “It’s good to see you
he said, a shy smile across his face.
ms question and I’ll lawn over you, but not before. I saw your react when you touched her,” she said, crossing her arms across her chest. The guys were struggling to not laugh
Vitaliy chuckled, but answered her question. “She’s very evil. Battista ows of my ability. Occasionally, he brings people for my approval. She was one that he was seeking approval on,” he said.
“Then why did he tell me that I did him a huge favor and he’s in my debt now before we left?” she asked
“Because you gave him a valid reason to get rid of her quickly. They’ve been working on a few small things together and it’s gone well, but he said he’s never felt completely comfortable with her. He just didn’t know why. That’s when he usually seeks out my services. She’s very influential with a few other business associates of Battista’s, so he can’t just cut ties with her without a valid reason. You’ve given him a valid reason. He may be a womanizer and he might openly flirt with women, but never in the disrespectful manner that she did today. He knows his boundaries. She clearly did not, but vou did an excellent job of reminding her, sladkaya,” he said, laughing. “What did you tell her when she got up**
“That if she ever tried to touch him again, she would no longer have functioning hands.” Sephir said, her arms still folded across her chest. She was clearly still irritated with her.
Vitaliy and Aleksei both looked surprised, but both laughed at Sephie’s words. She moved to lean against the counter, chewing on her bottom lip. *Vitaliy, ow does your ability work? Is it a black or wh ite situation? Or do you feel like levels of good and evil?” she asked.
“It’s more nuanced than black and wh ite. Like I said before, some people are ruled by good, some by evil. But there’s also what they’re doing about it. I can feel that too. Some people fight against the evil and ultimately end up being very good people. Some people are ruled by good, but still choose eval for whatever reason. It depends on the person. This woman today, though. There was no good in her,” he said.
Sephie looked at Ivan, silently asking if he was okay to tell Vitaliy what happened. He nodded once. “Ivan and I saw her demon. She’s completely consumed by it,” she said.
Italty raised his eyebrow. “How?”
Septur und, “we’re still not entirely sure. It’s happened to Ivan before today, but it was rare. It’s never happened to me before.” She suddenly looked at like she’d made a connection. “It might’ve happened with me because your hand was on me. Like I borrowed it fro (you same as I do Misha.”
Vitaliy looked at Ivan. “You can see the face of evil?”
Ivan shrugged his shoulders. “It hasn’t happened in so long that I’d invinced myself I was imagining it when it happened before. I wa happened before.”
kid when it
“When you were at the facility?” he asked, Ivan looked surprised, then turned to look between me and Sephie. Vitaliy quickly added, “I figured it out. They told me nothing other than you were incapable of feeling pain and you had a hatred for doctors. I’d heard stones of the facility for years. Your inability to feel pain was highly sought after in Russia years ago You shu t the program down the night you escaped, for the record. You scared them.”
Ivan looked stunned. Sephie went to him, sliding her arm around his waist. He put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him. He kissed the top of her head, saying, “thank you. I needed to know that.” He looked back to Vitaliy. “When I was at the facility. I never saw the doctor’s faces. It was always their demons. It’s why I’m so haunted by it, even still. It hasn’t happened since I got out, so I just convinced myself was a traumatized kid. But then as soon as that woman turned toward me today. I could clearly see it on her. Sephie saw it later.” He still had his arm around Sephie as he
talked. She quietly stood next to him, happy to be his anchor.
Vitaliy thought for a few minutes, then looked at Andrei and Misha before looking at me. “Did you three get anything from her today?”
“I was nauseous every time I looked at her. That’s how I know something is going to go very badly,” Misha said.
“I didn’t get anything good from her. I didn’t like her, but she didn’t talk enough for me to be able to figure out why I didn’t like her,” Andrei said.
“She made me si ck when she tried to touch me,” I said.
Vitaliy looked at me, both eyebrows raised. “Does that happen often?”
I shook my head no. “Only twice that I can think of and only since I met Sephie. Both times were other women trying to touch me. There was one time a woman at a bar touched me and it was not as extreme of a reaction. I didn’t like it, but she didn’t make me si ck. The other two made me si ck. Almost to the point of anger both times.”
For once, Vitaliy smiled at someone other than Sephie. “That’s how it started for me. I was about your age when it started, too,” he said. “It started with women other than your mother. I couldn’t stand for them to touch me. It was very intermittent when it first started, but it started to get more prevalent. Then it started happening with everyone. The more I paid attention to it, the more precise it got. You, though. You’ve always felt different to me, I could always feel something from you, even before I could from other people. From the first time I held you as a newborn, I could feel you were special. I’d never found anyone else that felt like you until you brought Sephie to me.”
“And then you found out he brought you five more. You have a very generous son, Vitaliy,” Sephie said, grinning at him.
Vitaliy nodded his head, agreeing with her and unable to hide his smile.
“I think your math is off slightly, Seph,” Stephen said.
Vitally looked at him, seriously. “She speaks no lies. You feel the same as the rest of them. I don’t randomly put my hand on your shoulder because I’m a warm and fuzzy guy, Stephen. I didn’t believe her at first either, so I checked. All of you. You’re all the same.”
Stephen and Viktor looked at Sephie, the surprise clearly written on their faces. She couldn’t help but laugh. “You both have something special about you, but you’re very timid about believing it. We don’t know what it is until you start to believe it for yourselves. It’s also not an absolute guarantee that you’ll figure it out in this lifetime, which is just fine. You’ll figure it out in your own time, on your own terms. This is a lot to take in for all of us. You’re both dealing with your own things on top of everything else. There’s no time limit on any of this. It will happen when you’re ready,” she said.
They were both quiet for a few minutes, mulling over what she’d just said. Stephen’s phone beeped, to indicate dinner had arrived. He finally looked up at Sephie. “Vlad is going to be so pi ssed that I kept this from him for this lung,” he said, as he stood up to go downstairs.
We all laughed as once again Vitaliy and Aleksei were left confused at just who this Vlad person was and why he would be pi ssed at Stephen. I found myself loving Sephie a little more for her random silliness that gave us so many of these moments now. I never wanted her to stop.
Adrik
I woke the next morning before Sephie. I fully expected her to stay asleep. She was so tired last night, even after she slept most of the afternoon, that she fell asleep in under two minutes. She was laying across my chest in her favorite spot, her fingers lightly playing on my chest. I ran my hand through her curls, causing her to snuggle into me more. I continued to run my hand over her body, loving the quiet moments I got with her.
“Good morning,” she said quietly, without moving.
“I didn’t expect you to wake up with me this morning. You can go back to sleep, love. I know you’re exhausted,” I said, my fingers playing with her curls.
“I feel bad sleeping when your father is here. Feels tude,” she said, finally picking her head up and looking at me.
“He won’t care, Sephie. He’s not the boss of you,” I said, grinning at her.
Her smile stretched across her face. “Somehow I don’t think he’s going to stay in the city for too long. He’s very grumpy about having to meet with people he hasn’t seen in years. I think there’s a reason he hasn’t seen them in years, but they clearly can’t take the hint.”
“He’s still considerably less grumpy than I’ve ever seen him before, since he met you,” I said.
“It’s because I know he’s a cheeseball and he’s trying to be extra nice so I don’t tell everyone else he’s a cheeseball,” she said, climbing over me to get out of bed.
“Have you called him that yet?”
“No, not yet. I haven’t found the right moment yet, but I will. I’m looking forward to it,” she said, looking back at me grinning ear-to-ear as she walked in the bathroom. “What’s your schedule like today?” she called from the bathroom.
“Light. I have a few meetings, but they should be short. Neal is the last meeting. We’re finishing up removing Armando and Ricardo from the building project. He’ll be happy to see you, if you want to stop by,” I said.
“That might work out. I forgot to tell you that Mr. Turner wants me to come see him. He whispered it to me yesterday when I hugged him. He very rarely asks me to come see him, so I know he has something he needs to tell me. He always works the early shift, so he’ll be home by early afternoon, she said, walking out of the bathroom as she was putting her hair up on top of her head. My breath caught as I watched her walking around in nothing but my shirt, her hair messy from the night before. She caught me staring at her, still in bed. She walked back to me, climbing on top of me. She hadn’t put her contacts in yet, so her eyes changed to blue right away, making me smile.
“What? You’re beautiful in the momings,” I said as she was silently giving me a hard time for staring at her.
She gave me her heart-stopping smile as she held my face in both her hands. She leaned in and kissed me sweetly. “I love you, you know.”
The few meetings I had went by quickly. I was looking forward to the meeting with Neal at the end of the day. I was anxious to get Armando and Ricardo off the building project so it could continue to move forward. I didn’t need either one of them to make the project happen. I brought Armando on as a courtesy. At the time, I still believed he was loyal to me and was going to reward him for it. Once I found out his loyalty was in question, I had them start the process of removing him from the project.
That process was going to be finalized today. Neal was bringing the paperwork to the office for me to look over and sign. What Sephie didn’t realize yet was that I replaced Armando with her on the project. I had discussed it with Neal first, as he was a close business associate that I’d been partnering with for years. He was very happy with that idea. “She’s got more business sense in her little finger than Armando does in his entire body. I’ve never met someone so successful and yet so du mb in my entire life. I don’t understand how he’s stayed in business this long. But she’s clearly just getting started,” Neal had said when I brought it up to him. “If we bring her on for no other reason than her marketing and persuasion skills, it’ll be worth it. He laughed. “She has a unique way with words.”
Neal didn’t know why I wanted Armando and Ricardo off the project, but he also knew well enough to not ask. He did an excellent job of keeping the
legal businesses and the illegal ones separate. He’d made a significant amount of money with me over the years, so he never said a word about the darker side of my business dealings. Even still, he seemed relieved to not be working with Armando any longer.
He walked into my office promptly at 4. We ran through the paperwork, discussing a few changes. “There are no traces of Armando or Ricardo on any of the documents for this project any longer. Sephie is also now a partner on the project, as you requested. I just need her signature on the few places that are marked in red. Once that’s complete, it’ll be official. We’re breaking ground on the first of next month. We’ve still got a few contractors to find and hire, but there’s time to do so before they’re needed,” Neal said.
“I have a guy. He does great work. He’s only got a small crew though, but he’s very dependable. I’ll send you his information. You won’t be disappointed if you use him,” I said.
Neal nodded. “That’ll save me a huge amount of time trying to find someone else.”
We were discussing a few more random details on the project, when Sephie walked into the office, followed by Ivan and Andrei. Neal stood to greet her, extending his hand to her. “Sephie, it’s good to see you again. How have you been?”
“Hi, Neal. I’m good. You?” she said, taking his hand.
“I’m good. I need your signature while you’re here. Then we can get this paperwork filed and official by the end of the day today. That’ll make me very happy,” he said.
Sephie looked at me, surprised. “Um, why do you need my signature on anything?”
Neal looked to me, surprised. He wasn’t aware that I hadn’t told her yet. I smirked at him. “You’re replacing Armando and Ricardo on the building project,” I said, enjoying the look of surprise on her face.
“Um, why am I replacing them? I don’t know anything about business!”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Sephie. You know more than you give yourself credit for. You’re the reason we have all the restaurant space leased out before we’ve even broken ground on the project. I’m pretty sure if we put you in charge of the marketing for the office space and apartments, those numbers would also jump to 100%,” Neal said.
“But…” she was too stunned to be able to argue. She was cute when she was speechless. I just smiled, holding a pen up for her as Neal flipped through the paperwork finding the places she needed to sign.
“No buts. Just sign,” I said, winking at her.
She squinted her eyes at me, but walked over and took the pen from me. Neal pointed out each section she needed to sign. They were done in a matter of minutes and the paperwork was finally official. My plan to completely erase Armando from history was one step closer to completion.
Adrik
After Neal left, I turned to Sephie, who was still mostly in shock. I just pulled hier in my lap. I knew I’d made the right decision.
She would figure it out eventually, once she got over her surprise. It was also a guarantee that she’d come to more of my
meetings. I wasn’t mad at that.
“Did you see Mr. Turner?” I asked, brushing a stray curl from her face.
She nodded, still chewing on her bottom lip. She glanced at Ivan and Andrei, then looked back at me. “You know he knows just
about every influential person in the city, because they all eventually come to the hotel for business. He overhears everything,
too. He’s also said it never fails to surprise him how freely people will talk in front of him, like he’s not even there. We used to
joke about it when I was still working at the restaurant,” she said.
“Who did he overhear this time?” I asked, my hand rubbing her back lightly.
“He said the mayor was at the hotel a week or two ago. He was talking about replacing the police commissioner, Henry, as he
left the hotel. If he gets re-elected, of course. Then, he said that Henry was at the hotel with a few other police chiefs a few days
after the mayor and they were talking about how to prove the mayor is in Sal’s pocket. He said a few of the police chiefs were
sure they had enough evidence to prove the mayor was di rty. But then he said two of those police chiefs were back at the hotel,
with the mayor, like three days after that. He didn’t hear anything that time, but he said it looked very suspicious, given what
everyone was talking about the first time around,” she said.
I looked to Ivan. “Does he know the police chiefs?”
He nodded his head. “He said he can’t remember one of their names, but he recognized him. He gave me the name of the other
one.”
Andrei added, “he’s also nervous. I’ve never seen him nervous before, so I might’ve snooped. One of the police chiefs that met
with the mayor saw him walking into the building one afternoon. He was walking down the street. Mr. Turner was sure he
recognized him and he watched him walk in. He thinks he’s been followed a few times since.”
“You still have guys on him, correct?” I asked Ivan.
He nodded his head. “He still doesn’t know. I was going to talk to Viktor and add more in the morning. It’s possible he’s noticing
our guys following him now because he’s nervous. Once we see what the extra guys can find, we’ll know if he’s really being
followed or if he just now noticed our guys on him.”
“You’ve had him followed this whole time?” Sephie asked.
I chuckled. “I assigned guys to him when he moved here, just in case. We had him watched after you left your apartment, but I
assigned a regular team to him once he moved here.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew you were fond of him and that he’d always watched over you when you lived at your apartment,” I said, smiling
at her confusion..
“You did that? Really?”
“Of course, solnishko. It would make you very unhappy if something were to happen to him. I’d like to prevent that.”
Her beautiful smile crept across her face. “I love you,” she sighed as she put her head on my shoulder.
“I think it’s worth calling Henry. I can take the files on the police chiefs back down to him so we know who the second one is that
met with the mayor. If Henry is trying to build a case against the mayor, he’s not going to gut very far if those two know
everything,” Ivan said.
“Find out who the second one is. I want to know what areas they’re in, too, along with any other information we have on them.
Then I’ll call Henry,” I
said.
Ivan nodded. Both he and Andrei stood up, walking out of the office to gather the information. Sephie was fidgeting with my
collar, her fingers lightly
running up and down my neck. I closed my eyes, leaning my head back, enjoying a moment with her.
“Long day?” she asked.
“Not bad. Just stressed. The information we got from Battista so far doesn’t make me happy. I’m still irritated about that whole
meeting, but most importantly, I’m worried about you.”
“Why? I’m okay,” she said, lifting her head from my shoulder so she could look at me.
“Mostly. I know you’re fighting sleeping. It’s starting to show.”
Her brow furrowed. “Did I do something? Did I zone out again?”
I chuckled. “No, love. You’re just darker. Your light dims when you’re exhausted. It’s becoming visible. At least to me.”
She leaned her head back on my shoulder. “Maybe I am a little tired,” she said, her fingers returning to my neck.
“Which is why you should stop fighting sleeping in,” I said, holding her tighter.
“You’re not the boss of me,” she said, as she snuggled in closer to me. I heard her giggle softly.
The guys came back to the office a short time later. Sephie was still in my lap, lazily talking about random things. When they
walked in, she realized. what time it was and went to get up. “I should go upstairs. I’m hungry. I’m sure you’re all hungry, too.”
Viktor smiled his sweet smile that was reserved only for her. “Sephie, I already ordered food. You’re tired. You need a break from
taking care of us.”
“Told you,” I said, pulling her back to me.
“I don’t know how I feel about you all having such excellent observation skills now,” she said, resting her head on my shoulder
once more.
“It’s your fault. You only have yourself to blame, gazelle. You brought it out of us,” Misha said, trying to be serious, but failing
miserably.
“Accountable,” she said, giggling at him without even looking at him.
Adrik
When I woke the following morning, Sephie was curled up next to me under the covers. I pulled her back against me, but she didn’t move. Finally. Instead of trying to wake her up, I kissed the back of her shoulder and got out of bed as quietly as I could. I was worried that she would start to shake once I left, so I stayed close. Luckily, she was wearing pants for once as she was cold last night when we went to bed, so I could move her to one of the guys if needed.
I took the quickest shower possible and got dressed. I didn’t hear her talking, but when I walked back to the bed, I could see her shaking. It wasn’t bad yet, but she was just starting to mumble as well. A quick text to Andrei and I scooped her up, carrying her to the couch.
It didn’t take long for Andrei to come upstairs. He stretched out on the couch, happy he could sleep a little longer too. “I’m so happy she finally did this. I’m so f**king tired,” he said.
I raised my eyebrow at him as 1 laid her next to him. “More so than usual?” Lasked.
He nodded his head. “Feels like I got run over by a bus. It started after we were at the hotel. I haven’t recovered yet.”
That made sense. “New level for you. It always makes her extra tired. Same thing happened to Misha. The only one I haven’t seen it affect yet is Ivan,” I said. As soon as Sephie was lying next to Andrei, her body started to relax and she curled up next to him. She hugged his arm as he tucked the blanket in around her. It was, in short, adorable. Even if I was jealous that he got to stay with her and not me. “She’s likely going to sleep until noon, so take advantage of it. I’ll keep everyone as quiet as possible,” I said. Andrei just nodded his head, looking grateful.
I motioned for the other guys to be quiet when they walked in. Aleksei and Vitaliy walked out of their rooms at the same time. No one had seen Andrei on the couch with Sephie yet.
“Sephie finally lost her battle with sleeping in. She’s on the couch with Andrei. I tried to leave her in bed, but she was shaking and starting to mumble by the time I got ready. He’s experiencing new level fatigue anyway. It works out for both of them,” I said.
Vitally looked curious. “You let her sleep with them?” he asked.
“Gross, dude. She’s like our little sister,” Misha said, a look of reproach on his face..
“It’s also very obvious that she looks at Boss very differently than she looks at the rest of us. She loves us, but she belongs with him,” Ivan said.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I trust them. And I trust her even more. Since she and Ivan were taken, she hasn’t been able to sleep without someone next to her. It brings her nightmares back if she’s alone. Her body reacts sometimes violently. We noticed it early on that I could stop it, but they’re able to keep it from starting if she’s next to them. And Andrei has the warmest body temperature out of all of them. She’s incredibly sensitive to cold.”
“That girl has lived through just as much trauma as I have, Vitaliy. Some wounds stay fresh for a very long time,” Ivan said.
“She’s also exhausted anytime something new happens to her. She’s had a few new things happen recently. We’re all surprised she lasted this long without sleeping in,” Stephen said.
“What new things?” Vitaliy asked.
Misha chuckled. “She gave me and Andrei an extra “f**k you” boost to drive the point home with your two guys. That’s never happened before. I also think she’s incredibly adorable when she’s feeling protective of us, for the record. She was ready to ki ll those two,”
“How?”
“You felt her anger when we were in Panama. That level was barely registering on her meter. She can deal with in sane levels of anger and outwardly. she looks completely calm. She learned she can push her anger to them that day at the gym. She’s been doing it with me for months now, with other emotions too, but it’s much easier. She had to get it to a raging inferno to be able to push it to them,” I said.
“When we were at the hotel, we figured out we could give it back to her. She panicked when that woman looked at her and she saw her for what she really is. She struggles with her fear, It’s the only emotion she can’t control. Like her anger, all her emotions are that strong, so when she feels fear. it’s to the same in sane, inhuman levels, but she can’t control it. Instead of having to deal with that, she was trying to keep her anger levels high enough it would override everything else. Andrei figured out what she was doing and learned he can push his anger back to her. When he did, it fed into mine as well.” Ivan said. “The few times I’ve felt her anger at high levels, I’ve never been that angry without someone dying. But she walks around like it’s a normal Tuesday.”
“You can’t push yours to her, Vanya?“
“No, I can. It seems to work slightly differently with me and Boss. It’s more connected, like hers is a part of us and ours is a part of her, just in different ways.” Ivan said.
“How?”
“She explained it the first time it happened. She said she can feel the difference between us. She called me her sword and Ivan her shield. She said my anger was beside her, moving through her, waiting for direction. Ivan’s is directed outward from her, away from her, more like a barrier. Like a shield,” I said.
“That’s why you called him that,” Vitaliy said, making the connection.
“She can feel the difference between me and Andrei as well,” Misha said. “She said Andrei’s is calm and controlled, but deadly. She said mine amps up the f**kery, which I’m totally here for.” He grinned mischievously at Vitaliy.
Vitaliy thought for a few moments. “I keep thinking I can’t be more impressed by her and she just keeps proving me wrong.”
I laughed. “I say that almost daily, Vitaliy.”
1 checked on Andrei and Sephie before leaving to go downstairs to the office. They were both sound asleep on the couch. I caught myself wondering if she waited until today so Andrei could sleep too. He’d been busy the last few days. It wouldn’t surprise me if she knew he was also exhausted.
Ivan and Viktor walked into my office a few hours later. “Mr. Turner does have a tail that isn’t one of ours. Just one guy. We had our guys watch him. to see who he reports to,” Viktor said.
“I’m guessing it’s the police chief that saw Mr. Turner walk into the building. Our guys said this guy was terrible at his job. Our guys have been on Mr Turner for months and he still hasn’t caught on, but this guy was on him for a couple days and was made. The police always think they’re on top of their game,” Ivan said, shaking his head.
“I need to have a conversation with Henry,” I said. “That information we got from the journalist about Ricardo ties him up into a very neat package. I’d like to not f**k that up. Have you heard anything more from the journalist about the mayor?” I asked Viktor.
He shook his head no. “He seemed to think it would be quick work, but I think he overestimated his sleuthing skills. We’ve found a few things, but they’re circumstantial at best.”
I nodded. “Keep looking. Maybe ask for an update from him. Might help him along. Chen seemed to really enjoy lying to that guy, so he’ll be ready to meet him again when we need him,” I said. “Set up a meeting with Henry, in the evening, I want Sephie there when I talk to him.”
They both nodded and walked out of the office. I leaned back in my chair, exhaling. The hardest part of all of this was the waiting. Waiting to collect information, waiting for the next piece of the puzzle to reveal itself, waiting for the next betrayal. I was getting impatient. That didn’t bode well for everyone against me right now.
Sephie
I could hear Andrei snoring when I finally woke up. He was louder than Adrik, so I knew who I was sleeping on before I even opened my eyes. I would’ve been able to tell even if he wasn’t snoring. I wasn’t warm enough. It was almost warm enough, but not Adrik’s perfect warmth.
I opened my eyes, looking outside to try to get a feel for how late in the day it was. It was definitely afternoon, judging by the dim winter sunlight coming through the windows. I picked my head up to look at Andrei. He was pretty adorable when he slept. He was handsome anyway, but he had a boyish innocence to his face when he slept. I found myself watching him sleep for a few moments, enjoying his peacefulness.
He probably needed this extra sleep as much as I did. I hadn’t thought about it before now, but he had a new level unlocked between the match with Vitaliy’s men and what happened at the hotel. He was probably exhausted. I needed to check on Misha and Ivan to see how those two were doing after the last couple of days’ festivities.
I tried to get up as quietly as I could, but his giant arms were still wrapped around me. I knew he was trying to ensure maximum warmth as I slept. Poor guy must be having a heat stroke with me on top of him plus a blanket. He felt me trying to quietly move his arms and he woke up.
“I’m so glad you finally did this, spider monkey. I was exhausted too. You’re my favorite,” he said, letting go of me to rub his face in his hands.
I laughed. “i was just thinking about that. You got a new level unlocked. It always makes me exhausted when it happens. Are Misha and Ivan just as exhausted as you?”
“I think they’re okay. Boss said he’s never seen it affect Ivan this morning when he moved you out here.”
I thought for a minute. He was right. It had never affected Ivan the same way it did everyone else. “Huh. I never noticed, but you’re right. I knew he was a superhuman!” I said, laughing as I got off the couch and Andrei. I stood up to stretch, my joints popping like normal.
Andrei stood up next to me, looking at his phone that had been on the coffee table. He opened it and started typing. “I know if I’m this hungry, you are too. I’ll have someone pick up Vinny’s for us.”
“Bubba, how much longer are you going to make me wait to marry me? I mean, seriously. Stop toying with me already,” I said. He grinned at me. He’d finally gotten over his nervousness with me teasing him about marrying me.
He pulled me to him, once again wrapping his arms around me, holding me to his chest. “I love you, spider monkey. But not like that,” he said laughing.
I stepped back from him, feigning outrage. I clutched my chest. “It hurts, Bubba. It hurts right here,” I said, pretending my heart was breaking. When I looked up at him, he looked surprised.
“Green really does mean sarcasm,” he said, smiling at me. I smiled at him, but the sadness from the night before came back. He picked up on it immediately. It seemed like Andrei was very quickly becoming very sensitive to my subtle mood changes, just like Ivan. He was almost as good as Adrik, especially considering it hadn’t been happening very long for him. “Don’t be sad, spider monkey. It changes nothing. It was just shocking last night when we saw the whi te eyes. Boss was right. They’re scarier than your demon eyes. We just didn’t know what to him, his strong arms holding me tightly. “Nobody is going to be uncomfortable around you because of it.”
he said, pulling me back to
I sighed, nodding my head, but didn’t say anything. He was quiet for a few moments, then added, “all of this is strange for all of us, but we’ve had you to help us through it. You’ve had to deal with everything on your own for so long that it’s going to feel scary to share with us, but you’re the reason I can do what I can do now. I saw you doing it so easily and it gave me courage to try.”
I remembered what the acupuncturist had told me about Andrei. I laughed quietly. I looked up at him. “Nobody thought you were going to figure it out this lifetime. You’re the youngest out of all of us,” I said.
He looked confused. “I’m older than Misha, spider monkey.”
I smiled at him. “Your body is older than Misha, but his soul is older than yours. Your soul is the youngest.” I thought for a minute, then added, “which really just goes to show how smart and capable you are. You surprised everyone.”
“How do you know this?”
I looked up at him, trying to gauge whether he could handle the truth. I decided he could. “You know my dad is a bit of a guardian angel, righ for Adrik’s mother. They’re around, checking in on us.” He nodded his head. “There are also guardian angels that live among us.”
“The acupuncturist,” he said, like he’d just answered the riddle.
“Did you fish that out of my head or you figured it out before?” I asked.
“I saw there’s something different about her. She has a glow that most people don’t have,” he said.
“She’s the only one you’ve seen that glow on?” I was curious if he’d picked up on Ivan.
He shook his head no. “Ivan has it now too. I never noticed it before he got hurt that day they tried to take you the first time. You and Boss do to but I don’t see it all the time on you three. I’ve seen it every time on the acupuncturist.”
“How long have you been able to see this?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Since I was a kid. I’ve never told anyone because I didn’t want them to think I was crazy. My m om probably would’ve made me wear glasses because she thought there was something wrong with my eyes. I don’t always notice it. Like I don’t walk around looking at glowing people all day long. The acupuncturist is the only one I’ve seen that has it every single time.”
“Does everyone look the same?”
“No. Different colors. The acupuncturist is gold. Ivan’s changes. So does yours and so does Boss’s.”
“I’m so impressed, Bubba. You had levels I didn’t even know about,” I said, grinning at him.
After our sandwiches changed our lives for the better and allowed us a brief stay in gastro-intestinal heaven, we made our way to Adrik’s office. I was trying to find out what his schedule was like and what Vitaliy was doing today.
No sooner had I walked into the doorway and he looked up like he was expecting me to walk through the door. His wide smile stretched across his face. “You look lighter. You needed that,” he said as he pushed his chair back from his desk, opening his arms for me.
“Andrei did too, apparently. That kid has levels I didn’t even know about yet, but he feels much better too.”
He raised his eyebrow at me, but we were interrupted by Viktor coming into the office with his next meeting. “I’ll tell you later,” I said, kissing him quickly before leaving the office with Viktor.
Sephie
I hooked my arm through Viktor’s as I followed him to his desk while Adrik had his meeting. “What’s his schedule like today, Papa Bear?” I asked.
“Three more meetings after this one, then he’s done. Unless I hear back from Henry’s office saying he can meet tonight,” he answered me in Russian, since there were plenty of ears around the office.
“What about Vitaliy? What’s he doing today?”
“He begrudgingly left this morning and said he won’t be back until tonight. I don’t think he’s going to stay much longer. He’s annoyed at having to see so many people,” he said, trying not to laugh.
“I find it both ironic and hilarious that he’s as popular as he is when he returns to the city,” I said. I thought for a few moments, then asked, “when will you know if he has an extra meeting tonight? I’m trying to make a plan for feeding you all since I’ve been slacking on my duties lately.”
He chuckled. “You’ve been exhausted, sestrichka. You haven’t been slacking. I’ve already ordered dinner for tonight anyway, so you don’t need to worry.” I squinted my eyes at him, but didn’t argue. I decided I would spend the afternoon making him a treat instead.
I looked around to see who else was in the office. Stephen was the only one, other than Viktor. I couldn’t steal Viktor since he was on master of schedule duties. “Yoden, are you busy this afternoon?”
He looked up from his computer. “Nope. I’m just staring at the screen pretending to be busy right now. It was starting to get boring, so I should thank you. What do you need?” he asked as he closed his laptop.
I reached down and grabbed his arm, pulling him up. “You’re coming with me,” I said.
“Where are we going? Do you have a plan? Do we need supplies? How long will we be gone? Am I properly dressed? Do I need a coat? Never mind, 1 don’t get cold. It’s physically impossible,” he said. He let a sly smile slip out when I looked up at him. Very uncharacteristic of him, but I loved him a little more for it. He quietly slid his arm around my shoulders as we walked to the elevator, creating a visual barrier between me and curious eyes.
Once we were on the elevator alone, I said, “have I mentioned how f**king funny the Vlad jokes in front of Vitaliy are? Like I love you even more each time it happens. The look on his and Alyosha’s faces is just perfection. They’re so lost. It’s so great.” We were both laughing when the elevator doors opened.
It took Stephen such a long time to warm up to me, but now that he had, I adored him. He was so smart and so fre aking funny. He was so quietly hilarious that he kept us all entertained. And he could say anything with a straight face, so those who didn’t know him thought he was completely serious while saying some of the du mbest shi t you’ve ever heard in your life. It was a true gift.
Because he ended up as backup for Viktor in his master of schedule duties, it meant I didn’t get to spend as much time with Viktor and Stephen as 1 did the other three. I was starting to suspect that wasn’t helping those two realize how they were special, so I’d decided to try and change that as much as I could. It was easier to get time with Stephen on my own. I was going to need Adrik’s help to get time with Viktor.
We walked into the kitchen and I started to pull a few things out of the cabinets. Stephen said, “you know Viktor already ordered dinner for tonight, right? You don’t have to cook, Seph. You should still rest today.”
I smiled at him. “I know, Yoden. I’m making him cookies. You’re helping”
He groaned. “My stomach is having a love affair with you. I hope you know that. It’s a little weird. It’s very unorthodox, but he’s very much in love with you. It’s to the point that he almost revolts if I eat food made by anyone else. He’s not happy about it and he’s very loud about that fact.”
I laughed at him talking about his stomach like it was a whole other person inside him. “My stomach feels the same about Vinny. So much so that t think Adrik got a little jealous in the beginning.”
It was his turn to laugh. “Is he capable of getting jealous? I’ve never once seen him jealous with you.”
“Not when it comes to you guys, ro. Not usually. Although he did struggle with feeling jealous this last time I got hurt. I spent so much time with all of you guys since I did nothing but sleep and apparently I’m incapable of sleeping on my own anymore that he started to feel jealous. It’s why you guys only just found out about my eyes. That’s been happening for quite a while now. He wanted to keep it just between us for a while,” I said. “But he’s very possessive in front of other people that aren’t you five.”
“Huh. I never noticed.”
“Because you’re too busy analyzing what’s been said or what you have noticed. Your brain is very busy. You should cut it some slack for not noticing insignificant things,” I said.
“Guilty. It’s a gift and a curse,” he said. He followed me to the pantry so I could hand him everything I needed for this project.
“I think it’s more of a gift than a curse. You just struggle with believing in yourself so you’re overanalyzing. Your first instinct is always right. Stop second-guessing yourself. Whoever told you that you were du mb when you were younger was completely wrong.”
“You’re not supposed to be fishing in my head, remember?” he said, as I piled ingredients in his arms.
“I wasn’t. It’s so obvious that I didn’t need to fish. Much like Ivan doesn’t want people to know how wise he is because he values his peace too much, you don’t want people to know how wise you are either. But it’s because you’re insecure with your wisdom. For the record, I find it endearing, but also hilarious. You’re seriously one of the smartest people I know. Especially when it comes to how best to mindf**k someone. I’m guessing you felt very misunderstood as a kid?” I asked.
He squinted his eyes at me, like he was unsure he wanted to answer. He sighed, but agreed. “I was. I was very quiet as a kid. My sisters are loud as f**k. So are my parents. I stuck out. While they are loud and obnoxious to distract from what they don’t want people to see, I took the opposite approach. I was always quiet, never talked much. My middle sister used to tease me relentlessly for it. She would tell her friends that I was re tarded and they would all pick on me. My youngest sister always went along with everything the middle one did, so when she got old enough, she would tease me as well. My oldest sister would join in sometimes, but not always. She never stopped it though.”
“Do you want me to kick your sister’s a ss? Because I’ll do it,” I asked.
He chuckled. “No, I think she’s already getting her own Karma. I don’t talk to iny sisters often, but my mother keeps me updated on them. My middle sister is on her fourth husband. She struggles to keep a job for very long. It’s because she’s a miserable human being, but of course she blames everyone else.”
“What about your youngest sister?”
“She’s not much better, although she hasn’t gotten married yet. That’s mostly because she has a very loud reputation for being very easy. She’s slept her way through the entire town we grew up in. She moved to a larger city, trying to increase her chances of finding a husband. I think she only increased the number of STD’s she has.”
I couldn’t keep from laughing. “I’m sorry. That’s not funny. I shouldn’t laugh at that.”
Sephie
“I don’t know about that, but I do know that your sisters were very wrong about you,” I said, putting Stephen to work washing a few dishes I’d dirtied.
“On some level, I know that too. There’s…” he started to say, but he didn’t finish. He was quiet for long enough that I knew he wasn’t going to finish.
“I know there’s more, Stephen. You don’t ever have to tell me. I know you’re struggling, but I won’t pry and I won’t fish. You know the best way to conquer your demons, Voden?” He shook his head no. He was still facing away from me, his shoulders slightly slumped. I knew this was difficult for him. “It’s to stop fighting them and make friends with them. They have no power over you that way. The more you try to ignore the monster you’re trying to keep locked away, the bigger and stronger it grows. You have to make friends with it before it consumes you.”
I went back to what I was doing, not wanting to force him to talk anymore than he wanted to. I heard him turn the water in the sink off, then he dried his hands, tossing the towel back on the counter. I felt his hand on my arm as he gently turned me around, then he pulled me against him so tightly, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to breathe. I heard him sniffle a few times. I kept my arms around him just as tightly and would do so for as long as he needed.
“I’ll be right here the whole time, Stephen. You don’t have to face it alone.”
I thought there was no way he could hold me any tighter, but I was wrong. I was so wrong. I knew he was struggling, but I didn’t realize it was this much. I heard him inhale sharply, like he was choking back sobs and my heart just hurt for him.
“I love you, Yoden. And as much as whatever you went through su cked and still su cks, it made you into my absolute favorite vampire of all time. Without you, no one would know what enabling is,” I said, trying to sound serious, but unable to hide my smile.
He laughed and his grip on me loosened. He wiped his eyes before he let me go completely. “I didn’t realize how much I needed that, Seph. I still don’t understand how you do it, but please never stop.”
“Can’t stop, won’t stop,” I said, grinning at him, which made him laugh again. Now come here, I could use extra hands for this part.”
Stephen’s phone beeped while we were waiting for the cookies to come out of the oven. “Henry will be here tonight. Viktor said Boss wants you at the meeting, so whatever we’re doing needs to be finished by 6.”
“He’s very bossy today,” I said, crossing my arms across my chest.
Stephen pretended that he was typing a reply to Viktor. “Sephie says you’re not the boss of her and you can su ck it. Send.”
I laughed. “Even with your lightning fast vampire thumbs, I could see you weren’t even touching the screen. He’s always so sweet about ordering dinner when I need a break, but I seriously think it makes him grumpy when I don’t cook.”
“Um, I thought that one was obvious, Seph. Everyone knows he ha tes it when you don’t cook. He’s just so nice that he’ll never admit it.”
The timer for the oven went off. “He’ll be happy when he sees whatever we’re doing completed by 6, then,” I said, pulling the cookies out of the oven. “The question is, though, should we take one to him before the meeting or make him wait until we’re done for the day to come back up here and find
them?”
“Option 3, I think,” he said.
“What’s option 3?”
“I think you should put them in his apartment. We never lock our doors. We don’t need to. But I think he’s gonna need a minute and it’ll be better if we’re not watching him.”
“Yoden, you’re so incredibly smart. That’s perfect, I would’ve tortured the poor man,” I said. I glanced at the clock on the oven. “Okay, so now we have to hurry slightly to get whatever we’re doing done and down to his apartment and back to the office by 6. Oh my God, the pressure!” I said, dramatically.
Stephen laughed, shaking his head at me. He joined in the dramatics though, taking an extra baking sheet and fanning the cookies so they’d cool faster, which made me laugh.
“You’re my favorite. Don’t tell the others,” I said.
Stephen and I finished up Viktor’s favorite cookies, then snuck downstairs to deliver them to his apartment and made it to the office with five minutes to spare. Everyone else was already in the office, waiting on us, but also still waiting on Henry to arrive. Just as we walked in, Viktor’s phone beeped, signaling that Henry was in the lobby. He walked out right after we walked in.
“What have you two been up to?” Adrik asked. I could tell he was amused that I’d disappeared with Stephen and not one of the others.
“Strategic planning. Vlad’s army is going to be magnificent,” I said.
Stephen surprised us all by laughing loudly. I could get him to laugh when it was just the two of us, but he rarely laughed loudly in front of the group. It made me happy to see. “Seph has a mind for logistics. He was only defending Wallachia before, but now he can finally see the complete destruction. of the Ottoman Empire. I can’t wait to tell him. Those Turks totally have it coming.”
Everyone laughed at his answer. Several of the guys looked surprised at how relaxed Stephen looked. They all caught my eye at one point, giving me small, knowing smiles.
“You shouldn’t fight sleeping in for so long next time, princess. You look much better tonight. Andrei does too. He’s prettier,” Ivan said.
“He is a pretty, pretty princess, Squish. You’re absolutely correct. I think we both needed it,” I said. I heard the doors to the elevator ding, so I got up from Adrik’s lap after kissing him quickly. He still had a very amused expression on his face.
Viktor walked in with Henry and the mood turned more serious in an instant. Everyone went into boss mode.
Adrik extended his hand to Henry as he walked to his desk. They shook hands before Henry sat down in front of Adrik’s desk. He glanced back to me, smiling. “Sephie, you’re looking much better than the last time I saw you.”
“I mean, that depends. Sometimes I want to be colorful,” I said, referring to the heavy bruising I’d had the last time. “But life is much better with two arms again.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. He looked at Adrik. “What do you have for me this time?”
“Your police chiefs. How well do you know them?” Adrik asked. He was now very serious. There was no trace of the amusement that was evident not two minutes ago.
“Well, before you asked me that question, I would have said very well. Now that you’ve asked me that question, I’m wondering if that’s the correct answer,” Henry said, a look of worry on his face.
Sephie
“We have it on very good authority that two of your police chiefs are loyal to the mayor,” Adrik said. We both saw Henry’s face fall.
“Do you know which ones?” he asked.
Adrik nodded his head. Ivan got up and put two files down on Adrik’s desk in front of Henry. “They both met with the mayor. After you met with all of them to discuss taking down the mayor. We only have confirmation on these two, but I wouldn’t trust any of them at this point,” Adrik said. Henry looked stunned. “How much have you told them about the mayor? Or about Ricardo?”
“Nothing about Ricardo. I’m sitting on that one. I’ve been after that guy so long that I don’t want to risk messing it up. But they have everything I have on the mayor so far,” Henry said.
Adrik looked to Viktor, saying in Russian, “we definitely need to hurry that journalist up.”
Viktor responded, still in Russian, saying, “I contacted him earlier. I’ll check when this is over to see if he responded.”
Adrik nodded, then looked back to Henry. “We’re working to gather more information on the mayor, but it takes time. Until we get more on him, be very careful what you tell the other police chiefs.”
“Agreed. Let me know when you get something definitive on the mayor. Until then, I don’t think we should do this again,” Henry said. He suddenly looked worried, like he was nervous. I glanced to Andrei, who caught it as well. We both focused back on Henry, trying to figure out the reason for his
nervousness.
“We have other places we can meet the next time, if you’re nervous about coming here,” Adrik said. He had also picked up on his nervousness.
They conversed for a short time more, while I quietly studied Henry. The first time we’d met with him, I got the feeling that he was a good man, trying to do the right thing. This time, something had changed about him and I wasn’t sure what it was, but I wasn’t sure I liked it.
Henry stood up to leave, once again shaking Adrik’s hand. When he did, I saw Adrik stiffen ever so slightly. That’s new. I glanced to Andrei, who clearly had seen something as well. Stephen’s phone beeped as Viktor was walking Henry back to the elevator. “Dinner’s here. Be right back,” he said, jogging out of the office to catch the elevator.
Once we heard the doors close, I walked to Adrik. “What happened when you shook his hand before he left?”
“Did you feel it?” he asked.
I shook my head no. “I didn’t feel anything, but I saw you tense. It’s different. You don’t do that.”
Ivan chuckled. “Vitaliy is also a Game Master, it seems,” he said.
I remembered. Adrik was like Vitaliy. “That escalated quickly,” I said, raising my eyebrow at him.
“Did you feel it when he first came into the office?” Ivan asked.
Andrel spoke up, “something changed while he was in here. He made some decision while he was here and something changed. I couldn’t figure out what it was, though.”
“It’s something to do with power. He wants it. He doesn’t like it that Adrik has it. But we should wait for Stephen. Somehow I think he’s going to have Insight into this,” I said.
It didn’t take Jung and Viktor and Stephen returned. We were all waiting for them at the elevator, so we could go to the penthouse, where we knew wo could speak freely. When the doors opened and we were all standing there, Viktor and Stephen both looked surprised.
you guys that hungry?” Stephen asked.
I laughed. “No, we just need to be in the penthouse to finish the discussion we started. And we needed your insight and Viktor’s sleuthing skills. We were saving time.”
“I just really feel like Vlad is going to make you his Director of Operations. Logistics, efficiency, systems, you’ve got it all handled. His army is going to run like a well-oiled machine because of you,” Stephen said.
“Da mmit, I was really hoping for Supreme Leader, but Director of Operations does have a nice ring to it. I’m not opposed to working my way up through his organization.”
“Okay, somebody catch us up,” Stephen said as we started dinner.
“Boss felt something different when he shook Henry’s hand at the end. He didn’t feel it when he walked in. Andrei said something changed while Henry was in the office, like he made a decision while he was in there and things are different now,” Ivan said.
“I couldn’t get as many details as I wanted from him, but I think we can fill in more in a bit with Misha. What I did get, however, was that it was related to power. Henry wants it. He doesn’t like that Adrik already has it.” I looked to Adrik. “Do you remember when we first met with him – how uncomfortable he got when you first told him you were getting rid of the other bosses?”
He nodded his head. “You made the comment he thought that was too much power for one man. He was worried I was going to become a tyrant.”
I started to speak, but Ivan said, “he wants to be the tyrant.”
“He got it in his head last time that he could replace the mayor and he would run the city. When Boss knew more than him this time, it pi ssed him off. I bet he made a decision to come after Boss now. I don’t think he’s st upid enough to try it right away, but if we keep the plan of trying to get him into the mayor’s seat, he’ll do it then,” Stephen said.
Adrik looked to Misha. “Do you think you can find out? We’ve never tried to find a specific answer before.”
“I’d be happy to try. Sephie and Andrei help make things clearer. It’s different almost every time it happens,” Misha said.
I looked at Andrei. “I could clearly see your thoughts the last time we did it. Did it happen for you too?”
“You could? What was I thinking about?” Andrei asked.
I started laughing and almost couldn’t stop myself. It took me a few minutes to answer. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about this. “We were looking. for Martin, so you were thinking about him. And a cheeseburger. Not necessarily in that order, either,” I said, still trying to contain my laughter.
“That seems completely accurate,” Andrei said.
“He wasn’t holding back. He was just focusing on cheeseburgers instead, Misha said, laughing. “That’s why it wasn’t as clear with just him.”
“To be fair, I spend a lot of time thinking about cheeseburgers, too,” Viktor said, his deep belly laugh filling the penthouse.
“I mean, who doesn’t love a good cheeseburger?” Andrel said. His cheeks were flushed, but he was laughing just as much as everyone else.
“New rule: we can only look for people after Andrei’s belly is full. For best results,” Adrik said, which caused another round of laughter from everyone.
Vitaliy and Aleksel walked into the penthouse as we were still laughing about Andrei’s random thoughts. Vitally was surprised to see us all laughing so heartily. “You guys must’ve gotten very good news today,” he said, a small smile on his face as he watched us all try to gain control of ourselves.
“The opposite, really. But one of Sephie’s many gifts is giving us a reason to laugh for a few minutes. It’s always perfect timing and it’s always much needed, Adrik said, his wide smile stretching across his face as he looked at me. I felt the pull in my chest that meant he was thinking about how much he loved me.I answered by sending my warmth back to him, loving the wink he gave me when he felt it
Adrik
“Have you ever had someone feel different to you from the beginning of a conversation to the end?” 1 asked Vitaliy.
He nodded. “It happens more than you’d think. People make decisions in haste and their entire existence changes in the course of a few minutes. Why? Did it happen to you already?” I nodded. He cursed under his breath. “It took me years to get that detailed. It took you 24 hours of finding out
you were like me.”
I nodded toward Sephie. “I have a feeling she has something to do with it. Something changed in the course of a meeting tonight. Because I can feel what she feels, I felt the shift when she picked up on it. It made me pay closer attention. I didn’t feel anything at the beginning of the meeting, but I definitely did at the end.”
“Did you feel what he feels, sladkaya?” Vitaliy asked Sephie.
“No, I didn’t feel anything, but I noticed he tensed slightly when he shook his hand. He doesn’t do that. Ever,” she said. “Both Andrei and I picked up on the change in him during the meeting, but neither one of us could get a definite answer on what caused it. We’re going to see if Misha can find the answer after dinner. Andrei works best on a full stomach,” she said, winking at him. He grinned at her as he took another bite of food,
“You can do that?” Vitaliy asked Misha.
Misha just shrugged his shoulders. “We’ve never gone looking for the answer to that specific of a question before. We’ve only looked for people and then pieced together the information we can see when we find them, but when I use both Sephie and Andrei, I can hear conversations. I doubt this guy will be speaking Spanish, so we should be able to understand his conversations.”
“Who is this guy?**
“Henry, the police commissioner. We found out from Sephie’s old neighbor that the mayor wants Henry out, but Henry is also working on a plan with the police chiefs to get the mayor out. Only, two police chiefs met with the mayor three days after they met with Henry. One is from Armando’s area, the other is from Niko’s area. We’ve been working on solid proof that the mayor is in either Sal or Ricardo’s pocket,” Ivan said.
“But we also think Henry decided that he can run the city. Sephie picked up on something the first time we met with him. He was very uncomfortable when Boss told him he was getting rid of all the bosses. She said she thought it was because he was worried Boss would become a tyrant. We think he changed his mind tonight and now he wants to be the tyrant,” Stephen said.
“We’re hoping Misha can confirm that,” I said.
Vitaliy looked stunned for a moment, then looked at Sephie. “How did you know this before?”
“I saw the subtle change in his demeanor when Adrik told him he was getting rid of the bosses. I don’t go fishing through people’s heads unless I have a reason. When I saw his demeanor change, I took a peek. He was going through possibilities of how to rein in Adrik once he was in power. It was almost comical what he was thinking about. I imagine it’s what the city would look like if Sal or Lorenzo had taken over, but not Adrik,” she said.
“Was he thinking specifically about Sal or Lorenzo? Can you remember, Seph?” Stephen asked.
She thought for a few minutes, but ultimately shook her head no. “That was during my Sleeping Beauty era. I don’t remember as much as I should,” she said. “Why? What are you thinking?”
“If that’s where his mind went when thinking about Boss having power, then that’s a good indication that he knows Sal or Lorenzo better than he knows Boss. Everyone knows the peace Boss brought to the city. The entire population is richer because of him. No offense, Vitaliy, but the city has prospered since he took over. It doesn’t make sense that Henry would be worried about Adrik being in power. He doesn’t want the city to continue to prosper? He ha tes making more money than he’s ever made before? That doesn’t make sense. Unless he knows Sal or Lorenzo or even one of the other bosces better than Boss and knows the kind of tyrant they actually would be,” Stephen said.
“What are your plans for this Henry?” Vitaliy asked.
“We were going to help him defeat the mayor in the next election, but that might be off the table depending on what Misha can find. He has
everything we have on Ricardo, but he can also use that to come after Boss instead, should he choose to. We have the same guy that gave us all the information on Ricardo looking for something on the mayor, we just haven’t heard back from him yet,” Ivan said.
As he said that, Viktor pulled his phone out of his pocket. He looked at it for a few seconds, obviously reading something, then said, “we did hear back from him. He’s got something, but he said it’s not enough. He said he’s looking for more and will get back to me as soon as possible.”
It was always hard to read my father, but he clearly looked proud as he listened to us tell him everything we knew. More so on how we knew it. He looked to me, after listening to everyone and said, “your mother was right. You’re going to realize everything I couldn’t and more.” He was thoughtful for a moment, then asked, “this information you have on Ricardo, what is it?”
“It frames him as being the one running the city behind the scenes. It makes him look like he’s Boss. The guy that got us the information is very thorough, just not thorough enough to find Boss. Or you,” Viktor said. “Originally, we handed it over to Henry, thinking the mayor was a stand-up guy since he’s the one that appointed Henry, but Sephie caught on that the mayor was questionable during that meeting too. Henry said he can’t prove it, but he’s been looking into the mayor for a while now. We started helping him, feeding him information that we could find, but now that’s compromised because he shared it with the police chiefs that are loyal to the mayor, apparently.”
“And what of the information on Ricardo? Did he share that too?” Vitaliy asked.
“No. Or at least he said he hasn’t. We can’t be sure,” Ivan said.
Vitaliy thought for a few minutes. He looked at Aleksei, saying “we need to meet with Battista again before he leaves.” Aleksei simply nodded, then walked away as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. Vitaliy looked back at me. “Battista likes politics. He knows the right people in da mn near every city in the world. Sephie impressed him: at the first meeting. He will gladly help you find all the information you never knew you needed on the mayor.”
“I thought you said his English was shi t?” Sephie asked.
Vitaliy grinned at her. “It is shi t, but he still speaks it when he has to. Knowing he doesn’t have to with you was incentive for him to make extra effort. He can be fickle. After your performance at lunch, he’ll bend over backwards to help you. Everything happens the way it’s supposed to, sladkaya. Sometimes you have to trust the process,” he said, winking at her.
“You’re like a really grumpy evil genius,” she said quietly, her eyes slightly wide in appreciation at his scheming.
Vitaliy looked at her, not knowing whether to laugh along with everyone else or be mad at her. In the end, he couldn’t contain his laughter and ended up laughing along with everyone else, as she walked to him, sliding her arm around his shoulders. I watched my father laugh harder than I’d ever seen him laugh and relish in the affection he got from her as a result of doing so.
She was still showing everyone around her the best parts of themselves.
Adrik
“I think it’s worth taking another look at Henry, no matter what Misha can find tonight,” I said. “Something feels very off with him now. Like we missed something last time, I don’t like surprises.”
“I’ll see what I can start to find in the morning,” Viktor said.
Sephie stood up, extending her hands to both Misha and Andrei. They readily stood up and took her hands, walking a short distance away from the kitchen. She looked back over her shoulder, asking, “who has it that he wants to be the evil overlord of the city?” She waited for a few of us to raise our hands. Then she asked, “who has it that Henry’s the one in Sal’s pocket instead of the mayor?” She put her own hand up, along with me.
“Oh, that’s not fair. I change my bet,” Misha said.
“I could be wrong, my adorable Russian guardian. It’s happened before,” she said, grinning at him.
“Yeah, like once. Seven years ago before you knew us,” he said. He just shook his head and grabbed her hand. “Let’s see what we can find,” he said, getting that faraway look in his eye.
Vitaliy was extremely curious to watch what was happening, even though it didn’t look like much. They all looked like they were in a trance when it happened, but once they saw something, it was obvious. They were watching something in front of them that the rest of us couldn’t see. I could still feel what Sephie was feeling when she was watching the movie, but I couldn’t see what she was seeing.
It took them a few minutes, but we heard Misha say, “got him.” He squeezed both Sephie and Andrei’s hands harder, which always meant he had found what they were looking for, Vitaliy looked to me, his eyebrow raised. I walked closer to him, so I could be quiet, not wanting to interrupt anything.
“Misha sees a movie playing in front of him, basically. When Sephie touches him, she can see it too. We recently learned Andrei can do it as well, since he’s like her. They both give Misha extra clarity. He would only get snapshots before Sephie started helping him,” I said.
“They discovered this when the Colombian was under attack?” he asked. I nodded my head. “That’s a useful skill,” he said, going back to watching them, patiently waiting for the results.
I could feel Sephie’s anger rise the longer they watched, so I knew something was happening. Vitaliy picked up on both me and Ivan focusing on her. “She’s feeling something, isn’t she?” he asked.
“I can feel her anger. It likely means Sal is involved,” I said.
Ivan moved closer, so he could speak quietly as well. “Her anger feels different for different situations. Whenever Sal’s name is brought into the picture, it feels like she’s going to burn the world to get to him. She’s still dealing with being taken by him and Armando. It’s a lot for her to process,”
he said.
Vitaliy scoffed. “She has good reason to be that angry. Sal is evil. It sounds like he’s only gotten more so over the years. His son was no better. She has every reason to ha te that entire family.”
Misha, Sephie, and Andrei watched the movie only they could see for much longer than they usually did. Sephie’s anger levels stayed high the entire time, so I was almost positive Sal’s name had come up in the conversation somehow. We finally saw Misha relax and look down at Sephie. He looked concerned, but slightly amused.
“Gazelle, you feel like you’re going to explode. Like, for real, for real. Spontaneous human combustion is a real thing. You need to be careful,” he said.
“I’m guessing that Sal is involved somehow?” I asked.
She turned to look at me, her anger still clearly visible, but she was also surprised. “How did you know?” she asked, walking to me.
“Your anger feels different when he’s involved, princess,” Ivan said.
When she walked to me, Vitaliy extended his hand to her. “Come, I want to feel,” he said, motioning for her to give him her hand.
I tried to shake my head no discreetly, warning him that was not a good idea. He definitely wasn’t ready to feel her anger when it was this high, but he insisted.
Ivan just laughed. “You better be ready, Vitaliy.”
She reluctantly placed her hand in his. His eyes went wide, his cheeks flushed, and his breathing immediately sped up. He dropped her hand, almost like it had burned him. Her eyes went wide in response, looking apologetic. She was suddenly scared she’d hurt him. She tried to hide herself behind me. Ivan, Andrei, and Misha all felt her panic and quietly moved to surround her.
“It’s okay, princess. You didn’t hurt him. He just wasn’t ready for it,” Ivan said quietly. His voice was soft, like he was trying to coax her out of her panic. She turned to him, burying her face in his chest while I kept an eye on Vitaliy to make sure he really was okay. His giant arms engulfed her, making her look tiny standing in front of him.
“I told you the level you felt before was nothing. This isn’t even the highest it’s been,” I said, smirking at my father.
Vitaliy took a few moments to get his wits about him again. He was stunned, literally and figuratively. Finally, he shook his head, asking, “how does she contain all of that?”
Ivan laughed, his arms still protectively around her. “Told you. It’s enough to cripple all of us and she walks around like it’s completely normal.”
Misha, ever the instigator, said, “you should really pay attention when people try to warn you, Vitaliy.”
We heard Sephie quietly laugh, but she kept her face hidden in Ivan’s chest. I could feel the fear slowly subsiding, but it always took longer than other emotions. She still really struggled with controlling it. We were quiet for a few moments, when Stephen broke the silence.
“Seph has been hiding all of this for a very long time. She’s only showing it to everyone now because she knows we can protect her. She’s become a master at covering up the fact that she’s different for fear of what will happen if someone finds out. That’s how she walks around like it’s a normal Tuesday,” he said. “That’s also why her fear is harder to control, for the record. She’s scared for all of us more than she’s scared for herself.”
I watched Andrei’s eyes glaze over as I knew he was confirming what Stephen had just said. He was quiet for a minute, then he looked at me, nodding once. Stephen had nailed it.
We heard Sephie sigh, then she said, “I told you your first instinct was always right, Yoden. Bubba confirms it.” Her face was still hidden in Ivan’s chest, so she didn’t see Andrei double-checking what Stephen had said. “You should listen to it more. You’ve been right multiple times tonight,” she said, finally turning to look at us once again. She smiled sweetly at Stephen. Whatever they had discussed this afternoon was clearly working.
“You’re getting better at that, princess. You didn’t see him checking,” Ivan said. He kept his arms around her shoulders in a bear hug as she stayed leaning against him, just turned toward us instead of hiding.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I can say the same for you two,” she said, looking up at Ivan and then looking at me. “You were right. Sal is involved.”
Adrik
“What could you guys see?” I asked Misha.
“Once again, it was different. It was like someone was scrolling through the movie to find the right scene to answer our question. Once we found it, we heard Henry on the phone. We didn’t hear the other side of the conversation, but he addressed Sal by name. He was in the middle of a park, at night, so he spoke freely,” Misha said.
“It’s Henry that’s in Sal’s pocket. The mayor might be also; they didn’t speak about him, but Henry has been getting money from Sal. They were extra sneaky with how he got it, so no one ever caught on. From what I could gather, he’s been paid mostly in cash, so no one can trace it,” Sephie said.
“What’s their plan?” Ivan asked.
Misha laughed. “It’s funny, but it’s not. We gave them the plan. Sal is backing Henry to get the mayor position. Once there, he’s coming for Boss.”
“He never gave specifics, but he said he has enough information to put Boss away for a long time. It’s going to be his first major move as mayor,” Andrei said.
It was my anger that rose very quickly. Sephie felt it, walking quickly to me. She knew immediately that I was struggling against it, livid at yet another betrayal. “Close your eyes, Bubba,” she said, right before her lips crashed to mine. She kissed me with such passion; my anger subsided so quickly, I didn’t even hear the laughter from her warning to Andrei. There was just her lips on mine, her desire for me growing with each second. I felt her knees start to go and pulled her to me tightly, holding her up as she deepened the kiss even more. I felt myself finally under control and she broke the kiss. She looked up at me, her desire still very evident to no one but me, and she smiled sweetly at me. “Better,” she said, turning around to lean back against me as she kept my arms wrapped around her.
When she turned to face everyone else, Vitaliy was understandably surprised at what he’d just witnessed. “It’s his ki ll switch,” she said. I could hear the smile when she spoke. “He has a harder time controlling his anger when it reaches nuclear levels. That makes it go away. Sorry for the impromptu show,” she said.
Vitaliy nodded once, giving me a smirk, then asked, “do you know what Sal is planning on doing while he waits for Henry to be elected? That’s not until next year, correct?”
“They didn’t discuss that part, but I’m sure he’s thinking he can lay low until then,” Andrei said.
I looked at Misha. “How many times can you do this before you get zapped or you zap her?”
“I’ve got a couple more in me tonight, for sure. I think with Andrei, too, it helps keep her from getting zapped. As long as he stops holding back,”” Misha said, adding air quotes for hilarity.
“I think it’s worth checking on Sal to see what we can find out with him. Or Ricardo. Or both, if you have enough energy for that tonight,” I said. “I also think we need to check into the mayor even more than we have.”
“It’s entirely possible that Henry has been framing the mayor this whole time, making it look like he’s the one getting money from Sal, when really it’s been Henry. Or Henry is fabricating what he has on the mayor to deflect attention away from himself. Most people are easily distracted. If we’re busy looking into the mayor, we’re not going to look into Henry. I’m starting to think he thinks he’s smarter than us, which really pi sses me off,” Stephen
said.
“Like normal pi ssed off or you want to destroy his mind so completely that he no longer wishes to exist pi ssed off?” Sephie asked.
Stephen chuckled. “Not to the latter option. Yet.”
“Noted.” She looked back at Misha and Andrel. “Ready to find Sal? Bubba, do you want a snack first?” she asked, unable to hide her smile as she teased him.
“Shu t up and come here,” he said, still standing with Misha. He was smiling at her as he extended his hand to her. Misha did the same. Before they started looking for Sal, she asked, “do you have a specific question you want answered for Sal? That seemed to work last time.”
“See if you can find out if Sal is working with the mayor. Maybe we can eliminate two birds with one stone, Ivan said.
“At your service,” she said, giving him a curtsey before they started trying to find Sal.
Once they were quiet, Vitaliy looked to me and Ivan. “You both can feel all of her anger when she’s like that?”
We both nodded. “I’m guessing it works differently for us than it did for you. She shares her control with us when she shares her anger,” I said. “She’s the one that taught me how to get mine under control. She can ki ll the bloodlust in me instantly with one look.”
Vitaliy’s eyes went wide. Viktor overheard our conversation, moving closer so we could stay quiet. “It’s true. I didn’t believe it when I saw it happen the first time, but she’s done it many times now. When we got to her and Ivan, Boss was about to ki ll Armando, but Sephie’s lung collapsed and she was having trouble breathing. Me, Andrei, and Misha were downstairs in the building. Ivan called us to try and get Boss off Armando so we could get her to the hospital. But she just walked over to him and said she needed him before we could make it upstairs. He stopped instantly and picked her up. He was in a complete rage when we got to that building. Between him and Stephen, the rest of us didn’t have to do anything. She stopped it with one touch and three words, though,” Viktor said.
“It becomes more and more obvious that she was made for you, the more I learn about her,” Vitaliy said, looking at me.
“They were made for each other. He brings out things in her that no one else can, just like she does for him. Their connection is other-worldly,” Stephen said.
We saw Misha move and knew that the movie was over. This time, I didn’t feel Sephie’s anger at all while they were watching the movie. We all looked toward them, expectantly.
“I think we watched the same conversation, just from the other side this time, Misha said. “But at least Sal was speaking English so me and Andrei could understand him as well.”
“Stephen was right. Henry is on the take, not the mayor. He’s framing the mayor so we’d look at him. Sal made a comment about not being able to get to the mayor. He was angry about it. He’s also angry with Henry. It looked like he’s just angry in general, really,” Andrei said, smiling.
“He and Lorenzo were close. He’s not going to take his death lightly,” Vitaliy said.
“I still find it interesting that he’s grieving more for his brother than he is his own son,” Sephie said. “I’ve not heard him mention Anthony’s name one time in any conversation.”
Stephen suddenly inhaled. “What if Anthony wasn’t really his kid? Didn’t Andy say something like he would’ve believed Anthony belonged to Massimo
more than he would Sal?”
“Why would Sal steal Massimo’s kid though? Isn’t that a little extreme, even for Sal?” Misha said.
Stephen was thoughtful for a minute, trying to make the connection. Sephie, in her quiet way, walked to him, taking his hand while he was deep in thought. He glanced down at her. It was obvious he was fighting more than making a connection. She smiled up at him, saying something quietly so only he could hear. He nodded once. She was still for a few seconds, then said, “what if Sal was trying to hurt Massimo the same way Massimo hurt Dario? I don’t know how Massimo was about women, but judging by the rest of them, they probably have plenty of children they may or may not know about. What if Sal found out Anthony was Massimo’s and took him before Massimo found out? Talk about a ‘f**k you.””
“Dario might know. I definitely think the story of Dario and Sal hating each other all these years was really Sal and Massimo hating each other,” Ivan
said.
“We can talk to him again. I don’t mind Armando knowing we have Dario now. He might not even be lucid enough to recognize him at this point,” I
said.
“I’m surprised you’ve let him live this long.” Vitally said.
“I’ve never wanted someone to suffer as much as I want him to suffer. I’m going to drag it out as long as possible. I’ll get him medical care, even. He’s not allowed to d ie until I say he can d ie,” I said.
Adrik
Once Sephie and I were alone that night, I asked her what had happened with Stephen, both while they had disappeared during the afternoon and what happened when he looked like he was struggling earlier.
She exhaled loudly. “Ugh. So, I want to ki ll his sisters now. I got him to open up a little bit this afternoon. We were making Viktor’s favorite cookies by the way. He gets very grumpy when I haven’t cooked in a few days and it shows,” she said, laughing quietly.
“Why do you want to ki ll his sisters? I didn’t even know he had sisters. He never talks about them,” I said.
“For good reason. His sisters were always mean to him growing up. Much more than normal sibling bickering mean. He told me that’s why it took hi so long to warm up to me. He was waiting for me to turn mean too,” she said. She’d taken her contacts out already and I watched her eyes change t the amber brown that meant she was sad. She climbed on top of me, straddling my lap. “There’s more to the story, but I wasn’t going to make him t me. He really struggled even just with that. That’s what happened in the kitchen earlier. When Misha questioned him, it made him insecure. Stepher doesn’t like me in his head, but I asked him if I could look tonight. I told him I knew he’d made the connection already, but he was frozen by his insecurities. I was right. It was easy to find, but he was over-analyzing because he was worried he was wrong.”
She chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes still golden amber. I could feel how upset she was, but it was different. She was upset for him. She looked at me, her fingers tracing lightly over my facial hair. “I told him this afternoon that he should always trust his first instinct. He’s so smart, but he doesn believe how smart he is. He’s so fr eaking hilarious too, I love him a little more each time he makes a joke about Vlad in front of Vitaliy,” she said, leaning her head on my shoulder in a fit of giggles. I laughed with her. It was quickly becoming one of my favorite things as well. My father was convinced that Vlad was a living person at this point. I certainly wasn’t going to tell him any different.
While we were still laughing, my phone beeped on the nightstand. Sephie sat up so I could check it. It was a message from Viktor.
Tell Sephie thank you and I love her. She knows why.
I showed her the message. “The cookies?” I asked.
She nodded. “He told me his wife used to make these cookies for him when they first got married. He said he couldn’t get enough of them. I almost didn’t try to make them, because they’re not going to be the same. She was the secret ingredient. But he’s been so grumpy since I haven’t cooked the past few days that I decided to give it a try. It gave me a reason to kidnap Stephen, so I think it worked out. I think those two are slower about figuring out how they’re special because I don’t spend as much time with them.”
“You can kidnap whoever you like, solnishko. They all know what to do. One of the other ones will step in to take care of things,” I said, twirling one of her curls around my finger.
“I might start stealing Stephen a little more often. Viktor is going to be more difficult. I need your help with him. He enjoys his job too much. He’s very good at it, don’t get me wrong, but he doesn’t like to leave his regular duties.”
“He would if it meant spending time with you. They would all much rather spend time with you than anything else they have to do.”
“Viktor always grabs one of the other guys when I try to steal him, though. He was also the most unnerved about my eyes changing. I might scare him now,” she said.
I laughed. “You don’t scare him, love. You don’t scare any of them. Viktor loves you just as much as the rest of them.”
She squinted her eyes at me like she didn’t believe me, but she didn’t argue further.
“What about Andrei? You said earlier that he had levels you didn’t even know about? What happened?” I asked.
She husked at me, wide-eyed. “That kid can see auras and he never told anyone.”
I laughed at her response. “Explain.”
“He didn’t call it an aura. He said there’s a glow to certain people. He sees it on the acupuncturist. I didn’t tell you, but she works with my dad. And probably your m om, now that I think about it. She told me. Andrei and I were talking about my reaction to their shock at seeing my eyes when we woke up today. He said I was the reason he can do what he can do now and that’s when I told him he was the youngest and that nobody expected him to figure it out in this lifetime. He asked me how I knew. I didn’t say anything about the acupuncturist and he said it was her. He can see a different “glow” about her than the rest of us.” She moved to get off my lap, stretching her back and lying down next to me. “Of course, I was curious to know if he saw it on anyone else. He said he sees it now on Ivan, since the first kidnapping attempt when he almost died. He didn’t notice it on him before that happened, but that makes sense. He also sees it on you and me. But he doesn’t see it all the time on us, where he does on the acupuncturist. He said he doesn’t walk around looking at glowing people all day, either. It must only come up sometimes for him, but he said he’s seen it since he was a
kid.”
I thought for a minute. “What if it’s the opposite of what Ivan can see? Ivan sees the evil, Andrei sees the good. That might be why it’s not around us all the time. We’re both, but the acupuncturist is only good.”
“That would make sense. I want to talk to him about it more. It’s best to ease into those conversations with him right now. He’s still a little overwhelmed with everything. He’s handling it well, but it’s a lot for him,” she said.
“It really cuts into his cheeseburger thoughts,” I said. Sephie’s laughter was music to my ears, effectively making me forget the stress of the day.
Sephie
The next afternoon, we were all on our way to the hotel where Mr. Turner worked to meet with Battista once again. “You’re sure that woman won’t be with him this time,” I had asked Vitaliy as we were leaving.
He chuckled. “No, she will no longer be an issue, sladkaya.”
“Um, do I want to know what that means?”
“Battista told me he got into an argument with her over her behavior at the last meeting. He told her she embarrassed him and he refused to do business with such an inconsiderate person. She threatened to destroy him, which was what he was wanting to happen. It will be her that is destroyed. He just needed a reason,” Vitaliy said.
“Remind me to stay on his good side,” I said.
Vitaliy laughed loudly. “You never have to worry about that. Battista is a smart man. He knows there’s something about you that’s different. He knows of my ability. He suspects it in Adrik. He’s almost certain you have something that can prove to be very beneficial to him, should he ever need it. He will keep you close, sladkaya.”
“I mean, no pressure.”
We walked to the front door of the hotel, again like modern-day royalty with so many heavily armed guards. Mr. Turner was happy to see us as always, “Miss Sephie, I’m so happy I get to see you again so soon,” he said as I stepped away from everyone to give him a hug.
“How are things today, Mr. Turner? Good? Uneventful?”
“It’s a fine day, Miss Sephie. A fine day. Made better since I get to see you,” he said. His grandfatherly smile stretched across his face.
“You’re my favorite, Mr. Turner,” I said, as he opened the door for us to walk inside. This time, Vitaliy wasn’t surprised at me talking to Mr. Turner, but he did have a small smile across his face as we walked inside. I stepped closer to him and said quietly, “you’re being a cheeseball, old man. Tighten up before Battista sees you.”
I was not prepared for the laughter that came out of that man as we were walking to the restaurant. The guys were all shocked, but most of all, Adrik was completely taken aback at his father losing his composure in public. I just shrugged my shoulders and tucked myself into Adrik’s side as we continued on our way. The guys silently closed in around us to keep me as out of sight as possible.
Battista was waiting on us in an empty restaurant, but this time, only the male associate that was with him before was present. No woman to be found. I found myself completely relieved that she would not be there, more for Ivan’s sake than anything else.
Battista greeted Vitaliy and Adrik warmly. This time, Adrik didn’t let go of me when he went to greet him. Battista’s attention quickly shifted to me. He took my hand, turning it over to kiss the back of it, just like he’d done before. “Sephie, I still cannot thank you enough. You have no idea what a gift you’ve given me,” he said to me in Italian.
“Well, if I knew you took this much pleasure in destroying deserving people, I wouldn’t have waited so long to expose her. Next time, give me warning that’s what you want. I’ll make it quick. You won’t have to wait,” I responded. Both Vitaliy and Battista laughed, exchanging a quick glance between
each other.
Battista motioned toward the tables. “Come, let us discuss business,” he said. As we walked to the table, Adrik searched my eyes, wanting a translation. He laughed quietly when he found his answer. He pulled the chair out for me, leaning down to kiss my cheek after I sat down.
After everyone was seated, Battista spoke English. He spoke it quite well. I wasn’t sure whether I should be irritated with Vically or impressed. “So. You’re looking for information on the mayor as well as the police commissioner?” he asked Adrik.
Adrik nodded his head. “We think the commissioner is framing the mayor so he can get rid of him and take his spot. We thought the mayor was in Sal’s pocket, but now it looks like the commissioner is the one in his pocket. He has quite a bit of information on Ricardo, too. Enough to put him away for a very long time. He could use that information against me, however. That’s what we think he’s planning on doing. We’re trying to figure out if the mayor is an ally.”
“If the mayor is an ally, he will help get rid of Ricardo, then?” Battista asked.
“Possibly, yes. The information is there, but he’s going to need help since his police commissioner is di rty. It’s likely most of the police chiefs are too. We don’t even know about the DA yet. But aside from all that, the information is good against Ricardo. It makes it look like he’s the one that’s been. running the city behind the scenes. Which ironically is what he’s been trying to do for years, apparently,” Adrik said.
“And what if the mayor is di rty, along with everyone else?” Battista asked.
Then Ricardo di es, along with Sal,” I said flatly..
Battista looked at me for a moment, his hand on his chin. He looked at Vitaliy and said in Italian, “I really like her.” He looked back at Adrik, saying, “I will get you the information you need on the mayor. I can look into the rest of them as well. I’ve heard very little about Sal and Ricardo since they’ve been in Italy. It’s almost like they’re hiding. Niko and Vito are still with them. I do know that for sure.” He sighed. “There are very influential people around the world that would be willing to help you get rid of Ricardo De Luca. He’s greatly disliked by very powerful people. They’ll have no problems also getting rid of anyone that’s aligned with him if they know he’s going down for sure.”
“I have no problems erasing Sal from history. I have a feeling that Ricardo has been behind much of what Sal has done recently, which means I have. no problems with also erasing him from history,” Adrik said, his anger clearly visible.
Battista raised an eyebrow, curious as to what Adrik was referring to. He looked between Adrik and Vitaliy. “Sal kidnapped her and was going to sell her,” Vitaliy said. It surprised me that he said it in Italian. Battista looked to me, asking in Italian if that was true. I nodded my head. Battista was silent for a moment. He looked to Adrik. “Whatever you need to make this happen, I will help you. Ricardo must be stopped.”
I caught Vitaliy smirking at me. He just winked at me when he saw me look at him.
In the parking garage underneath Adrik’s building, Vitaliy placed my arm through his as we walked to the elevator. “Battista’s help comes with a price. He’ll eventually confirm his suspicions that there is something special about you. He’s going to ask for your help at some point in the future.”
“Please tell him that I can’t move anything with my mind so moving Disney’s Animal Kingdom to Italy is completely out of the question. I don’t care how much he loves okapi. I’m not doing it,” I said.
Sephie
Vitaliy and Aleksei came with us to the penthouse once we returned from meeting with Battista. Vitaliy declared he was si ck of meeting with people he hadn’t seen in years. “There is a reason I haven’t seen them in years,” he said, grumpily.
Adrik couldn’t hide his smile as he looked at me. I think it still surprised him to see this side of his father, but the more he saw it, the more he was enjoying it. It made me happy to see him finally comfortable around his father. I knew he’d spent much of his life feeling intimidated by Vitaliy and worried that he would end up just like him. Now, he was starting to see that wasn’t necessarily all bad. Vitaliy had some very good parts to him. He just struggled to show the people he cared about.
“Vitaliy, I think it’s time to maybe consider that you are a warm and fuzzy guy. Despite what you think,” Stephen said, placing his hand on Vitaliy’s shoulder. We could always count on Stephen to be as sarcastic as possible while delivering a heartfelt message.
Vitally cut his eyes over at Stephen as they both laughed. It made my heart so happy to see both of them laughing.
As I made dinner, with everyone’s help, Vitaliy and Aleksei both relaxed and talked more than they had previously. They both seemed to genuinely enjoy our company. They entertained us with stories from the days when Vitaliy ruled the city. He gave us funny anecdotes about the current bosses, as well as the bosses before them.
Apparently, Vitaliy had a habit of causing his own chaos between the bosses, just for fun. He finally admitted that he would interfere with the bosses” plans, but make it look like it was one of the other bosses that did it. He liked to keep them fighting among themselves so they would leave him alone.
“Clearly, that’s not a lesson I ever learned. I thought keeping the order between them would mean peace in the city,” Adrik said, shaking his head at his father’s antics.
“Eh, it did mean peace. But there’s something about humans that need adversity in order to be happy. If you make conditions too good for too long. people forget what had is. The good starts to feel less good. Sometimes you need bad to remember what good really is,” Vitaliy said.
The guys looked at me. I stopped what I was doing and smiled at them all “He speaks no lies.”
Viktor caught me to the side of the kitchen while everyone else was deep in discussion after dinner. He gently caught my arm, pulling me toward him He didn’t say a word, he just pulled me to him, wrapping his massive arms around me. I knew he was thanking me for baking him a treat and giving him a reminder of the good times of his past.
“She was the secret ingredient, but so are you, sestrichka. I won’t say no to those anytime you want to make them,” he said softly.
“I’ll happily take suggestions for improvements next time, if you want to give them,” I said, my arms still wrapped around his neck.
He loosened his hold on me, standing up straighter once more. “They were perfect, Sephie. They were exactly what I needed.” He kissed my cheek. before stepping away to join the conversation once more. Stephen caught my eye as Viktor was walking away from me. winked in appreciation for his help in making it happen.
Even though Vitally complained about being in the city, he still stayed for several more days. He kept himself busy during the day. We rarely saw him, but he almost always made it back so he and Aleksei could eat dinner with us each night.
“You know you can tell your other guys they can come up too, I can make more food,” I said one night.
Vitaliy and Aleksei looked at each other and laughed. “The two new guys don’t want to. I need the other two to keep an eye on them. I don’t trust them when they’re on their own in a new place,” Vitaliy said.
“Unexpected side effect of teaching them manners,” Aleksei said.
“If you don’t trust them, then why do they work for you?” I asked.
“It’s hard to find good people these days. They’re better than nothing. For now,” Vitaliy said.
Viktor spoke up. “We’re still working on getting guys for Trina. I can help you find guys to replace them while you’re here, if you like,” he said.
Aleksei thought for a minute, looking to Vitaliy as he said, “might be worth a look. If we can find better replacements, we can get rid of the little
flowers.”
“You can send them to Turkey. The Ottomans are going to need as much help as they can get soon,” Stephen said, completely straight-faced, like it was the honest truth.
Both Vitaliy and Aleksei were shocked, looking to Stephen like he knew something the rest of us didn’t. We all tried to hold in the laughter, but we couldn’t make it happen. Vitaliy and Aleksei knew something was off, but still had no clue that Vlad wasn’t a real, live person and Turkey was safe.
For now.
Later that evening, once the guys had gone back to their apartments downstairs and Vitaliy and Aleksei had retired to their rooms on the other side of the penthouse, I caught Adrik watching me as I undressed for bed. He was leaning against the door to the closet, his sexy smirk on his face.
I watched him, watching me, for a few moments then said, “you don’t know whether to be really happy with me or mad at me right now, do you?”
He laughed. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. I’m finding myself enjoying spending time with my father. He’s completely different than the man I’ve known my entire life. But I’d also prefer to have the place to ourselves once more. You’re terrible at staying quiet,” he said, cutting his eyes at me.
“You only have yourself to blame for that one,” I said, pulling my shirt over my head, standing in front of him in only my underwear.
“Who said it was a bad thing?” he asked as he walked to me. He ran his hand lightly up my arm to the back of my shoulder as he took another step. now standing behind me. He lightly ran his hand over my back, unhooking my bra. Both hands pushed the straps off my shoulders, causing it to fall to the floor.
I felt his hot breath against my skin as he left gentle kisses across the top of one shoulder, then the other. I could feel his body heat as he moved closer to me, but just far enough away that I couldn’t feel his skin on mine yet. His warm hands roamed from my shoulders around to my breasts. He was slow, deliberate in his touch. I could feel his desire, but I could also feel he was trying to contain it.
I knew he was worried about me being able to catch my breath. He was also worried about me staying quiet while we had guests.
His hands massaged my breasts, then slowly traveled down my stomach. He still kept his distance from me. I made a move to lean back against him, but he moved as well. He was enjoying torturing me. He ran his hands over my hips, then back around to my a ss. I felt his lips on my shoulder once
more.
I was starting to breathe harder the longer he kept up his slow torture. Finally, he pulled me back against him. I moaned softly, finally able to feel his warmth against me. He wrapped one arm around my waist, holding me against him. The other ran up in between my breasts to my neck. His touch still soft and slow, he tilted my head to the side giving him full access to my neck. He left a trail of kisses down my neck. I gasped when I felt his teeth graze my neck just above my collarbone.
The hand that was around my waist, moved down my stomach, into my soaking wet panties. When his fingers felt my wetness, he groaned quietly. 1 pushed my hips back into him, leaning my head back on his shoulder. His lips were on my neck once more, his free hand on one of my breasts.
I felt both hands on my hips as he slid my panties down my legs to the floor. His hands slowly running back up my legs. I felt his teeth bite my a ss. He laughed as 1 squealed, jumping away from him.
“You know what trying to get away from me does to me,” he said, pulling me back to him.
Sephte
When he pulled me to him, he turned me to face him. His hands continued to roam slowly over my body, but now I could do the same to his. I could feel his hardness pressed against my stomach. My hands roamed over his chest, his shoulders, down his arms. He grabbed my hands in his, moving my arms behind my back. He held both my arms in one of his hands while the other hand moved to my neck, once again tilting my head to give him full
access.
His grip on my arms was soft, but I didn’t like having my arms restricted. I pulled them out of his grip, but he caught them and put them back, holding me a little tighter. His lips went back to my neck. I tried to concentrate on his lips, but all I could think about was having my hands tied behind my back while Armando beat me. I tried to pull my arms free once more, but his grip tightened. I whimpered, my panic fully setting in.
He felt it immediately. “Sephie, what’s wrong? Why are you panicking?” he asked. He loosened his grip and I ripped my arms free, hugging my chest. His arms were around me instantly, his voice soft in my ear, telling me that I was safe. I was with him. No one was going to hurt me.
“My arms. I don’t like having them behind me. I don’t like having them restricted since…” I didn’t need to finish. He knew.
“Sephie. Sephie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think…” he said, holding me tightly.
“It’s okay. I’m okay. Just not behind me like that.”
He put his hand on the back of my neck, pulling me far enough away from him that he could look me in the eyes. The look in his eyes told me my eyes were likely still wh ite. He searched my eyes for a moment, then I saw the look of confusion on his face. “Why are you sad?” he asked as I closed my eyes, trying to get a handle on my emotions.
I stayed quiet for a moment, not sure how to answer his question. I felt so out of control lately. I couldn’t get a handle on my fear. Little things would make me panic that never bothered me before. My eyes were doing their own thing. I still worried that the guys were all scared of me because of them. Now I completely ki lled the mood because of something si lly. I knew he wasn’t going to hurt me when he was holding my arms. But I couldn’t fight off the fear of feeling that vulnerable again.
I felt his fingers under my chin, gently lifting my face. “Sephie, look at me. Please,” he said. His voice was soft, but urgent.
1 opened my eyes, letting him search. It only took him a moment. He pulled me close again, hugging me tightly. “You’ve been through so much. I can’t believe you’re beating yourself up for struggling with processing everything. This was my fault, Sephie. I didn’t think about you not wanting to have your arms behind you. You have a very good reason for not wanting that, I should’ve known.”
“It’s okay. I’m okay,” I said quietly, my face in his chest.
“It’s not and you’re not, love. Not all the way. You’re dealing with so much just on your own. Not even considering how you’re helping everyone around you all the time.”
“I want to help them. I don’t want them to be scared.”
Of me, I wanted to add, but didn’t.
He pulled me away from him to look at me again. He searched for a few minutes, but didn’t respond right away. He picked up his shirt that he had left out for me, holding it out for me. He quietly buttoned it up after I slid my arms through the sleeves. Then he rolled up the too-long sleeves. He reached down, taking my hand and pulled me toward the bedroom with him. He climbed into bed first, then pulled me into his lap so I was straddling him. He looked at me for a few minutes, his hands in their usual battle with my curls before he finally broke the silence.
“Sephle, I don’t know what to say to make you believe that we’re not scared of you. The things that are happening are strange. It’s a lot to take in. But all of it is made so much easier because we all have you to help us through it. If this were happening without you, we would all be admitted to the psych ward. You’re what’s kept us sane through all of this.” He pulled me down, pressing his lips gently to mine for a moment before he continued. “I’m worried that we’re depending on you too much, without giving you what you need in return.”
n’t think that’s true. You’re all becoming experts at feeling my shifts in mood. Even Stephen, who can’t feel what I feel can read toe now, apparently. I think you’re putting too much pressure on yourself and the guys,” I said. He raised an eyebrow at me. “I’ve been through some shi t,
Adrik. Even without the past I have, just what has happened since I’ve met you has been a lot. Most of it I’m dealing with and trying to move past, but there’s going to be times when something triggers bad memories and feelings. That’s unavoidable. Only this time I have you and I have the guys to help me through it when it happens.”
He had a small smile on his face as he looked at me. “You always do that,” he said quietly.
“Do what?”
“End up making me feel better when I’m trying to make you feel better.”
I ran my fingers lightly over his stubble, loving the feel of it against my fingertips. “You do an excellent job of taking care of me. It’s not your fault I’m high maintenance,” I said, smirking at him.
He laughed loudly. “You’re the most low-maintenance woman I’ve ever met in my entire life. But it makes me love you even more than I thought possible.”
I leaned down, putting my head on his shoulder as he ran his hands over my back. I sighed, loving just being close to him. “I love you, Adrik. Always
and forever.”
I woke up at some point in the middle of the night to noises coming from the kitchen. I quietly got out of bed and grabbed a pair of leggings before walking out of the bedroom. Vitaliy was in the kitchen rummaging through the cabinets, clearly looking for something.
“Can’t sleep and you’re looking for something to help you with that?” I asked. I didn’t mean to startle him, but I did.
“Sladkaya, what are you doing up? You should be in bed,” he said, almost firmly. Like it was an order.
“I could say the same for you. Don’t you need more sleep as you get older?” I asked innocently. He squinted his eyes at me as I walked to the cabinet where we kept the tea. I pulled out my favorite tea that helped me sleep. “Don’t be grumpy or you’ll get none of this and you’ll be awake the rest of the night, having no one to blame but yourself.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “I didn’t know how much I would miss having someone who was never afraid of me.”
“I think you’ve done an excellent job of showing your warm and fuzzy side just since I’ve known you. You’ll have even more friends soon,” I said, filling the electric kettle and turning it on.
He scoffed, but then he smiled at me. He looked at me for a few moments. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like there were tears welling up in his eyes. “You’ve given me a second chance with my son. I wasn’t the best father to him the first time around. Maybe I can make up for that, even if it’s just a little bit,” he said.
I looked at him as we waited for the water to boil. “I think you’re being too hand on yourself again, Vitaliy. You did the best you could with what you had at the time. There’s a part of him that understands now where your pain came from and he knows he would’ve been in the same shape you were if the roles were reversed. I can’t imagine how difficult it must’ve been for you to lose your soulmate but have to be reminded of that loss every single time you looked into your son’s eyes.”
His eyes got wide. “You’ve seen a picture of Lena?”
I smiled at him. “I’ve seen Lena. We had a talk when we were still in Panama. I told you she still watches over you,” I said, looking at him sternly as I poured the hot water into two mugs.
“How is this possible?”
the logistics are somewhat complicated. She’s the person to ask that question to, but she made it happen. She
lways knew I was
was coming for Adrik, but she never realized the role I would play in you life as well.” 1
know is th
But the important thing for to know is that the is nights when you can’t sleep, you should try talking to her. She’s y
He sat in silence, mostly stunned at what I’d just told him. I could see his emotions clearly on his face. His cold, tough exterior completely non- existent as he sat in front of me. I suddenly didn’t feel like tea anymore. He was still staring at the counter as I walked quietly back to the bedroom.
Halfway down the hallway to the bedroom, I was met by Adrik, leaning against the wall, his arms folded across his chest. He’d been listening to our conversation. He didn’t say anything, he just wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my neck.
Adrik
It took me a few days, but I finally managed to talk to my father without Sephie around. I had to enlist the help of all the guys to keep her busy while I had a conversation with him. I wanted to make sure she didn’t overhear what I was going to ask him.
“How did you propose to my mother?” I asked him after he walked into my office, closing the door behind him at my request. I’d even asked that Aleksei not be present. He was slightly worried.
He exhaled, the relief visible on his face. He got a sly smile across his face. “I was wondering when you were going to think of this. I was worried you would wait too long.”
“I’ve been thinking about it since right after I met her. I didn’t want to scare her by asking her too soon. I’ve had the ring made for months now. I was going to ask her before she and Ivan were taken. After, she was so hurt that it didn’t make sense to ask her then. Now, she’s dealing with finally being forced to feel her fear and she’s insecure for the first time in her life, I think. I want her to know without a doubt that I’m not going anywhere. Or that the guys aren’t either. She’s worried they’re all afraid of her now.”
He scoffed. “How could they be afraid of her?”
“I don’t know, but that’s what she’s worried about. She spends so much time taking care of everyone else, sometimes she forgets to take care of herself. She has six of us that she expertly takes care of, but we have one of her and I feel like we fail miserably most of the time. I want to do something special for her to try and help make up for that.”
“That’s women, son. That’s what they do. Your mother was much the same. Aleksei will tell you. She had a similar bond with him and a few of my men, but not as strong as what Sephie has. My men were not the same. Your mother was not the same. But it was similar enough.” He was thoughtful for a moment. “I see why you love her. I haven’t met a woman like her, including your mother. When you have a woman like that by your side, you become unstoppable. Everyone worries about men when it comes to business, when it comes to war, politics, all of it. Men are in charge. But it’s the women that hold the world together. She’s what will hold you and your men together so that you can rule this city the way it should be ran. For the benefit of the people, not only those few in charge. That’s what I could never make happen, but you will. With her.”
I ended up talking with my father for a few hours. He told me more about my mother in those few hours than he had in 30 years. I knew it was all because of Sephie. She made me see him completely differently than I had when I was growing up. She helped me understand why he did the things he did. I had a new perspective on why he was the way he was when I was a kid. She was right. I would’ve been the same as him, had the roles been reversed and I had lost her.
Viktor finally stuck his head in the office. “It’s getting difficult to keep her from coming down here. She’s starting to get worried about you,” he said, a small smile on his face.
Vitaliy stood up. “Come. We mustn’t make her worry.”
It took a few more days to make the plans, with the help of the guys, but we were on our way to the house that weekend and Sephie was none-the wiser. She just thought I wanted a couple nights to ourselves. Which I did, but there was more to it.
I needed her to know, without a doubt that I wasn’t going anywhere and that I was never going to send her away from me for any reason ever again. I was tired of waiting for the perfect moment to ask her, so I made my own perfect moment.
The guys did a great job of acting completely normal and coming up with a reason to not go to the house until after dinner. Once there, they all pretended to be very tired and went straight to their rooms, leaving me and Sephie to go upstairs on our own.
She walked into the bedroom, immediately surprised by the candles and the roses that filled the room. She walked a few steps into the room, taking it all in before she turned back to me, I was nervous. I never get nervous. I took the ring out of my pocket as quietly as possible, got down on one
railed for her to turn around.
In’t finish her thought when she turned toward me. Her hand went up to cover bet
peechless, It didn’t happen often
I also couldn’t stay on my knee for very long. It meant I couldn’t have my hands on her. Unacceptable. I stood up, grinning at my inability to keep my hands off of her. I pulled her to me. She, of course, immediately picked up on my amusement. “I like this better, too,” she said quietly, as I took her hand and slid the ring on her finger.
“Sephie, I’ve known I was in love with you from the first moment I laid eyes on you. But with each day that passes, you’ve proven that the love I have for you knows no depths or no bounds. I fall more in love with you each and every day and I want to keep falling in love with you every single day for the rest of this life. And the next. Will you…
She cut me off. She pressed her lips to mine before I could finish. “Don’t ask st upid questions,” she said, smiling against my lips. I couldn’t help but laugh as I kissed her back. I felt the warmth spread over my entire body, warmer than usual even, and I knew her answer was yes. But that didn’t mean that I didn’t want to hear her say it. I leaned my head back to look at her, about to ask her if that meant yes.
She smiled her wide smile at me. “Of course I will. I want you to be stuck with me too,” she said, her arms around my neck. Her eyes were the deepest depth of the ocean blue when she said it, making it mean that much more to me. I wrapped my arms around her, picking her up off the floor, hugging her to me for a few moments.
I felt her let go with one arm, as she looked at the ring on her hand as I held her. “Holy shi t, I’m gonna have to have Bubba’s help to build muscles big enough to carry this thing around all day long.”
I laughed. God, I love her.
“I wanted it to be very obvious to anyone and everyone that you belong to me, solnishko.”
“Message received,” she said, hugging my neck tightly once more.
Sephie
After finally exhausting ourselves that evening, we fell into a tangled mess together on the bed and fell asleep. I knew he wasn’t going anywhere. I knew I wasn’t going anywhere. But there was a bigger part of me than I realized that felt so much more secure now that he’d made it official.
And boy did he make it official. This ring had its own zip code. But it was absolutely perfect in every way. He’d remembered my joke about black diamonds, so the main stone was a square black diamond, large enough to be seen from space. Pretty sure, anyway. It was surrounded by five smaller rubies, as well as even smaller wh ite diamonds. It was perfect. It was a constant reminder that he, as well as all five of the guys, would always be with
Once asleep, I found myself walking down that same familiar path to that same familiar house. As soon as I looked down and noticed the path, I ran the rest of the way inside, knowing what was waiting on me.
“Dad!” I yelled as I ran through the front door. He could barely stand up from the piano before I smacked into him, wrapping my arms around him.
“Hey, peanut!” he said, his wide smile on his face.
“It’s been a long time. I’ve missed you,” I said.
“Oh, I’ve been around. I check in from time to time. You’re not the only one with a whiteboard to keep track of outcomes,” he said, a sly smile creeping across his face.
I laughed. He really was where I got most of my humor from. “What was the latest one?”
“We’re all waiting on Stephen. He’s closer than he’s ever been to figuring out his gift, but he hasn’t made the jump yet You almost got him to do it the other day, but he’s still holding back. I have complete confidence that you’ll be able to help him figure it out soon, though. You know, before the end of the month, if you could. Help an old man out and what not…” he said, laughing.
“I’ll see what I can do. I didn’t know he was that close. I only just got him to open up about his past.”
“That’s the key, I think. He has to face his past first and then he’s ready. Same for Viktor. He has to finally come to terms with his past before he can move forward. They’re both closer than they’ve ever been, though. That’s why I’m here, actually.”
“To check on your bet pool?”
He laughed. “No. To help you hurry them along. You need them, Sephie. Things are about to get very bad. You’re going to need all the help you can get, although you did surprise everyone by bringing Vitaliy along. No one thought you’d be able to do that. Well, I did. Because I know how special you really are. But no one else did. Even Lena was surprised you managed to bring him back from the brink. He’s been living in darkness for a very long time, peanut. But he’ll prove to be very useful for you in what’s coming.”
“What’s coming? Can you tell me? Is it Sal?”
“I’m technically not supposed to interfere. I can nudge you along, like I’ve been doing, but the future is dependent on decisions made in the present. I’m not allowed to interfere with those decisions. Them’s the rules. But what I can tell you is that you will succeed, but you have to stick together and you have to rely on each other. More than you ever have before. You’ve all done quite a good job at handling what life has thrown at you so far. It’s going to get even more weird, but it wouldn’t happen if you couldn’t handle it.”
“What about Viktor though? I’m worried about him. He seems the most unsure out of all of them. I think I scare him now.”
“It’s not you, peanut. It’s his potential. That’s what scares him. He sees it in you, but can’t see it in himself. It’ll come. You’ll help him, just as you’ve helped the others. But you have to start believing in yourself again. You got knocked down; almost farther than I’ve ever seen you get knocked this bist time. But you got back up. When you feel your fear and panic threatening to take over, remember that. Not once have
Is just excitement, without the breath. Breathe into your fear, peanut. That’s what you’re missing. That’s what Adrik has been trying to help
con channel your fear, the same way you’ve learned to channel your anger. You’re going to need it. Fear and
to be. Use them to your advantage.?
I was quietly contemplating what he’d just told me. “What about my eyes? Why do they have a mind of their own now?”
He chuckled. “You were right, peanut. They’re your warning system. You used them correctly when Sal and Armando took you and Ivan. They’re th reason Sal never came back. He ordered Armando to take care of you because he was terrified of you. He still has nightmares where he wakes up in cold sweat after seeing your face and your black eyes in that room. That’s also the reason Armando was so savage with you. He was terrified of you and tried to cover it up with his anger. You almost saw through it, but your fear was stronger than you realized when it was happening. Learn to control your fear and you’re unstoppable.”
“But my lung. I still can’t catch my breath and then I panic.”
“I know a certain acupuncturist that can help with that. Andrei was right, too. It’s more to do with your anxiety about not being able to breathe tha it is your lung.”
“What about Ivan and Andrei? Was Adrik right? Ivan can see evil and Andrei can see good?”
“He was right. He’s becoming quite astute to all of this going on. The four of you complement each other, balance each other. Adrik can feel good an evil, just as you can. You just feel it in different ways. Ivan can see evil, just as Andrei can see good. They just see it in different ways. You can use this. Misha is there to tie it all together. Stephen and Viktor will fit nicely into the puzzle as well once they figure out their gifts. You all have a speci role to play in what’s coming. The key is Ricardo. Sal is a pawn for Ricardo, peanut. Ricardo is worse than you could imagine and will become more s if you don’t stop him. Same for Martin. They’ve both made deals that have everlasting consequences.”
I chewed on my bottom lip as I thought about everything he was telling me. He smiled down at me sweetly. “It’s a lot, I know. But I’m always around. Ivan is doing a fantastic job. So are Andrei and Misha. They’re all more connected to you than I think you realize yet. Soon Viktor and Stephen will be too. You need each other. But right now, you need to go back. Adrik is awake and can’t leave you. I didn’t look, but I know you’re not exactly decent s he can’t take you downstairs with him.”
He tried to hide his grin, but he couldn’t. “Dad!” I said, completely embarrassed.
“You’re an adult, peanut. You do adult things. But that doesn’t mean I can’t laugh about it,” he said, snickering.
I hid my face in my hand. “I can’t believe this,” I said under my breath, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.
He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “I love you, peanut. And it’s obvious to literally every being in the universe that Adrik loves you now too,” he said, pointing to my ring. Huh, it showed up in my dream too. “Of course it did,” he said, like he was reading my mind. “It has special meaning to you, as well as them. Think of it like your pinky swears you have with most of them. Funny how you haven’t made a pinky swear with Stephen and Viktor yet…”
Just as I was about to say something, he disappeared and everything faded to black in front of me. I was aware of Adrik’s hand running lightly over my back. He felt me start to stir. “Good morning, love. Were you having a dream? You were laughing,” he said, his wide smile on his face when I picked my head up off his chest to look at him.
“Mmm hmm. I was talking to my dad who informed me that you were trying to wake me up because you couldn’t leave me since I was na ked. Do normal people get embarrassed by their fathers in their dreams too or is that just me?”
Sephie
“And what insight did your father have this time?” he asked, as he rolled us both over so he was laying on top of me. I could tell by his expression that my eyes were changing.
“Are they swirling?” I asked, curious. He nodded, but it was clear he was still fascinated by them. I giggled. “He said that we were right about them. They really are my warning system. He said Sal still wakes up in a cold sweat thinking about my black eyes. Not gonna lie, that makes me really happy.”
He chuckled. “Me too. It’s probably why Armando gets angry anytime your name is mentioned, as well.”
I looked at him, my fingers running lightly over his face. “My dad did say that you’re becoming quite astute to everything that’s happening,” I said, grinning at him. “He said Armando was terrified of me and that’s why he was so savage. Apparently, he’s still terrified.”
“He should be,” Adrik said, his anger slowly rising to the surface. I put my hand on the back of his neck, pulling him down to me. I didn’t want to think about all that first thing in the morning. Especially not this morning.
He buried his face in my neck, his rough facial hair rubbing lightly against my skin. “You’re right. We shouldn’t be thinking about that so early in the morning,” he said. His hand moved to my breast, squeezing it to illustrate his point.
“You’re getting better at knowing what I’m thinking without even having to search my eyes,” I said. He went to move his hand from my breast, but I caught it and put it back.
“I need to stay ahead of the guys,” he said, picking his head up and grinning at me.
“They’re about to give you a run for your money, apparently. I figured out the key to getting Stephen and Viktor to realize their gifts. That was why my dad came to me. He’s trying to hurry us along. He said we’re going to need them soon.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of that, but I have total confidence that you’ll find the right things to say to them to get them to figure out their gifts. Just not right at this moment. First, I need to hear you scream. Then breakfast. Then maybe I’ll have you for second breakfast. We’ll see,” he said, his lips on my neck as his hand ran down my stomach to my inner thighs. He lightly ran his hands over my thigh, as he moved one of his legs in between mine, pulling my leg around his waist. I moved my hips against his, already wanting him inside me. I would never get enough of him.
“I like your plans for the morning. I approve of your plans for the morning,” I said, already breathing heavier as his lips were on my neck. I raked my nails over his back, eliciting a low groan from him.
He moved on top of me, wrapping my other leg around his waist. “I don’t think I will ever tire of waking up this way. We can do this every single day for the rest of our lives and I’d be very happy about that,” he said as he rubbed the tip of his coc k along my folds, teasing me. I pushed my hips into him, trying to get him to slide inside me. “I love that you’re so eager, my love,” he said, his voice husky with desire.
“I can’t help it. I can’t get enough of you,” I said, breathlessly. He enjoyed winding me up.
“I hope you never do,” he said as he slammed into me before stilling to let me adjust. I moaned loudly at the intense pleasure of him filling me up. I moved my hips, grinding against him, loving the gentle friction. He groaned against my neck as my pu ssy clenched around him. His hand moved to my thigh, pulling my leg tighter around him as he bucked his hips into mine. Another moan escaped my lips, causing him to exhale. I knew he was slowly losing his control. I was happily waiting for it to happen.
I put my lips close to his ear, almost whispering, “I love when you lose control. He sat up enough that he could look me In the eyes. He searched my eyes for a moment, then I saw his sexy smirk on his face. His lips crashed into mine, claiming every inch of my mo uth as his. Every inch of my body as his. Every piece of my soul as his.
The guys were making breakfast when we finally made it downstairs. They all had very sweet smiles on their faces, as they knew what had happened the night before. It was kind of adorable to see these giant men excited that their boss had officially claimed his girlfriend as his future wife.
“Come on, princess. Let’s see it,” Ivan said, motioning for me to show him the ring. I held it up so they could all see it, a goofy grin on my face. They all moved to surround me, getting a closer look. They’d all seen it, I was sure, but they were acting like it was the first time. I might’ve loved them all a little more for it. Ivan put his arm around my shoulder. “You’re officially stuck with all of us now, princess,” he said, smirking at me.
“I could think of much worse things in the world, Squish,” I said, wrapping my arms around his waist. “I know you had a very big part in this, too. I might love you a little more for it.”
“I’m just glad I don’t have to hide it any longer. I’ve been holding onto that thing for a while now. I was getting paranoid you were going to see it somehow or see me thinking about it and find out about it,” Ivan said.
“She saw the plans for it on my desk one day, but didn’t catch on. You were safe, but I agree. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to surprise her,” Adrik said.
“You did with this one. I had no clue. I keep trying to tell you I don’t pry. I don’t think you believe me,” I said, smacking Ivan’s arm. “But I am going to need extra training from Bubba to be strong enough to carry this thing around all day. This arm is gonna be like twice the size of my other one.”
“Job security, spider monkey. That’s why it’s that big. That was my decision,” Andrei said, grinning at me.
I laughed, leaving Ivan to go to Andrei. I wrapped my arms around him as he picked me up off the floor. “I love you all. I hope you know that.”
“We love you; Sephie. We’re not going anywhere. Now you have a constant reminder that you’re stuck with all of us,” Stephen said.
Sephie
I watched Stephen look at the message that just came through on his phone. His face went wh ite. I think he might’ve forgotten to breathe even. Whatever news he just got was not good news.
“Yoden?” I asked quietly, trying to snap him out of it. “What’s wrong?”
He was staring at his phone, but he slowly raised his gaze to look at me. His eyes were wide, not in shock. He was afraid. I dropped what I was doing and went to him. “Stephen? What happened? What’s going on? Talk to me,” I said, reaching out for his arm. When I touched his arm, I got hit with hi memories. All of them. Every dark detail he never wanted me to know. Every time his sisters abused him and tortured him in the worst way possible, humiliating him for the sheer joy of it. I saw everything. I felt everything.
I didn’t mean to. I’d never had it happen like that before. I wasn’t actively searching his mind. I was trying to comfort him. I felt tears burning my eyes as I went to move my hand from his arm, apologizing. I wasn’t sure if he knew that I’d just seen everything he never wanted me to see. He caught my hand, holding it in place, but still not yet meeting my gaze.
“They’re coming to the city. I never thought they would actually come here, but they’ll be here in two days. They want to see me. I haven’t seen them in years. I don’t know if I can face them,” he said. He still hadn’t looked at me, but he wouldn’t let go of me either.
I sat down next to him, putting my other hand on top of his, resting my head on his shoulder. “You don’t have to see them. You can tell them to f**k off. You don’t owe them anything,” I said.
He was quiet for a moment, contemplating like he always did. “I think about what I’ll say to them when I’m forced to see them again. Each time I think about telling them off. Each time I think about pulling all of their demonis out and putting them on full display for everyone to see. I think about breaking their minds the same way they tried to break mine.” He sighed. “And every time I can’t do it. I go back to that quiet kid that was terrified of his sisters.”
I rested my chin on his shoulder, looking at him, fighting his memories. “I’ll be with you the whole time. You don’t even have to say anything. I’ll happily say it for you. I’d love nothing more than to destroy them so completely they never want to see you again and they leave questioning their entire existence.”
He chuckled. “I might pay to see that.”
“I will happily do it,” I said, my anger oozing out. I didn’t have my contacts in, so he saw my eyes go dark when he glanced at me.
“Huh. I didn’t think I’d miss seeing your eyes change, but I kinda miss your demon eyes. That’s such weird thing to say, now that I say it out loud.”
I smiled at him, chewing on my bottom lip. I was trying to calm down so the other guys wouldn’t come rushing in. I wanted a few more minutes alone with Stephen.
*Yoden, I don’t want to fr eak you out, but when I touched your arm, I got a full view into your head. I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t trying to, it just happened. I saw everything,” I said, tentatively.
“I know you did. I wanted you to. It’s easier than me having to tell you. I’ve found having to say the words is harder than anything,” he said. “I wasn’ sure it would work, but clearly it did.
My heart just broke for him. He’d been carrying this around with him for so long with no one to talk to about it. His sisters were truly well, “de parents know?” I asked quietly,
Talthfully
“I have thought about that, as wel. It makes me wonder if that’s why I ended up in the career path I’m in. Maybe I would’ve been an accountant otherwise,” he said, finally looking at me. A sly grin on his face.
“An accountant that murders numbers,” I said, unable to contain my laughter at my corny joke. He laughed quietly, but he was still struggling to get a handle on his emotions.
“What do they want while they’re here? Like do you just have to suffer through dinner with them? What’s the plan and how can we make this the most uncomfortable visit to the city they’ve ever had?” I asked.
“They’ll want to spend time with me while they’re here, I’m sure. I don’t think I’ll get by with just a dinner.”
“I’ll be there every time you have to see them,” I said. He looked at me, somewhat surprised, which made me laugh. “Don’t be surprised. There’s no way I’m letting you face them on your own. Pinky swear, even.”
His look of surprise only grew on his face, “What’s that?”
I grinned. “You’re in for a treat, Yoden. The pinky swear is the holiest of holy swears there is. All the gods, goddesses, demi-gods, and holy men were polled on what the holiest swear is and 7 out of 10 agree that the pinky swear is where it’s at. The other three were promptly thrown into the pits of He ll for disagreeing, but that’s neither here nor there.”
He finally laughed. “Okay, so how does one go about making this holiest of holy swears?”
I put my pinky out in front of him. “Give me your pinky,” I said. I hooked my pinky around his once he put it out in front of him. “I pinky swear that you will never have to face the demons of your past, present, and future alone ever again.”
He smiled as he looked at our pinkies, still hooked together. “And I pinky swear you’ll never have to face your demons alone ever again too.”
I grinned at him, loving that he indulged me, but also knowing this was the first step to getting him to realize his full potential. I leaned my head over to his shoulder once more. “You’re my favorite. Don’t tell the others.”
Adrik
”
I had talked Sephie into taking a bath. She was stressed, but she wouldn’t tell me why in front of the other guys. I’d felt her anger briefly that afternoon, but she wouldn’t come clean on why that happened either. I knew she’d tell me once we were alone. Or I could fish it out of her head. The more I practiced, the better I got at reading her. There wasn’t much she could get by me now.
“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you, love?” I asked after she’d been quiet for a few minutes. She was enjoying my hands on her body. I could feel her relax more the longer we stayed in the hot water.
She sighed. “I know Stephen’s past now. I had my suspicions after I got him to open up to me the other day, but he somehow managed to share all his memories with me when I touched his arm today. I saw everything. What’s worse is I felt everything he felt while it was happening. I don’t know how I managed to get through it without breaking down or why I haven’t broken down since,” she said. I heard her sniffle once, but she continued. “He’s so insanely private that I don’t want to tell you too much out of respect for him, but it’s bad. His sisters are evil. I legit asked if I could ki ll them today. Like, for real. I’d do it and not think twice about it.”
I could feel her anger starting to rise. It felt different than her normal anger. It almost felt more like mine. There was more chaos to her anger than usual.
“How did he share all his memories with you?” I asked. This seemed like it was different from how Sephie usually got information from people.
“I have no idea. He was frozen in terror because he’d just gotten a message that his sisters are coming to the city in two days. He’s terrified to see them. I went to comfort him and I saw everything. It went from him not wanting me in his head at all to him sharing literally every detail with me. He said he was trying to share it with me. That it’s easier than having to tell me what happened.”
“What do his sisters want when they come here? He knows he doesn’t have to see them, right?” I asked. I’d never once heard Stephen talk about his sisters. I didn’t even know he had sisters until Sephie told me.
“I told him the same thing, but I just have this feeling like he needs to see them. I think on some level he does too, but he’s understandably scared. I told him I’d be with him the entire time. He shouldn’t face them alone. I’d also love a reason to punch them, sooooo I’m hoping that happens,” she said. I could hear the smile in her voice when she said it.
“We will all be with him. If they’re as bad as you say they are, then we’ll all help him face them. I can throw them out of the city and make sure they never return as well. I can give sho ot on sight orders,” I offered. She giggled, wrapping my arms around her. “I’m serious. I can feel your anger. It’s different with this. It feels more like mine, which means you’re having trouble controlling it. That never happens. I don’t need details to know this very serious and that you’re feeling very protective of him.”
She sighed, hugging my arms that were tight around her. “I love you.”
I leaned down, kissing her neck. “I love you, solnishko. And I love that you love my men as much as you do, too. It’s very endearing that you’re as protective of them as you are. You have no idea how adorable you are,” I said, not able to hide my smile as she giggled again, her body finally relaxing.
Sephie asked me to call Ivan to the penthouse before everyone else came up for breakfast. “I know he’ll be up. He’s a complete psycho that wakes up at the ungodly hour of 4 like every day. I want to talk to him alone before everyone else comes up. I think he can help with Stephen’s situation.”
1 sent a quick text to Ivan the night before, making sure he was in the kitchen before everyone else. Vitaliy and Aleksel were usually the last to come out, so we didn’t need to worry about them. He looked somewhat concerned when we came out of the bedroom, wondering why he’d been summoned. His face softened when Sephie smiled at him as she walked to him,
“Good morning, Squish,” she said, as he wrapped his arms around her engulfing her completely as he hugged her.
“Princess, Wanna tell me why I’ve been summoned?” he asked, a small grin on his face.
She stopped back from him, already chewing on her bottom lip. We both felt her mood shift quickly. “Uh oh. That’s not good. What’s going on?” he
now clearly worried. We could both feel her anger coming on once more.
“So, it was slightly different, but Stephen shared all of his memories with me yesterday. I know everything. I felt everything.” She paused, clearly trying to maintain control of herself, “His sisters are completely evil. I don’t want to say much more than that, as he’s so in sanely private. The issue that his sisters are coming to the city. They’ll be here tomorrow. He’s terrified to see them. I told him he won’t have to face them alone and I know a of you will agree
with that. I think he needs to face them. I keep getting the feeling that it’s what’s holding him back. I really need your help to bring out their demons for everyone to see. It’s probably going to be ho rrific, but I think we need to help him face them. Can you…”
He put his hand up, stopping her. “Say no more. You never have to ask me if I’m willing to make bi tchy girls uncomfortable. That answer is always going to be a yes,” he said.
She smiled at him, but it was short-lived. “These are more than just bitchy girls, Squish. I’m thinking what happened with Battista’s associate at the hotel might happen again. As much as I don’t want you to go through that again, I think it’ll be what Stephen needs to see happen to give him the strength to cut them out of his life for good.”
“If I know there’s a chance it’ll happen, I can at least be prepared. The surprise at the hotel didn’t help,” he said.
“You know I’ll be there for you, but I’m also very worried about Stephen. He went wh ite when he got their message yesterday. He couldn’t speak for a few minutes.”
“If you keep your anger the way it feels right now, it’ll cancel out everything else. It feels different,” Ivan said.
I looked at him, agreeing. “It feels more chaotic, right? Like it feels like mine does, not hers.”
He nodded his head. “Yeah, this is a new level. Even more so than what she feels with Sal. I said it feels like she’ll burn the world to get to Sal, but this feels even worse than that.”
“Like I want to rip their souls out and deliver them to He ll myself,” Sephie said quietly, her eyes completely black.
Adrik
Sephie’s anger levels stayed at a smoldering level throughout the day. Andrei and Misha felt the difference, both asking me about it instead of asking
her.
“Boss, is Sephie okay? She feels different and not necessarily in a good way,” Andrei asked when he and Misha walked into my office. Sephie had taken Stephen upstairs to help her, before any of the others could offer. She also asked me to keep them as busy as possible so she could have a little extra time with Stephen.
“Close the door,” I said.
Misha closed it, now concerned. “What’s going on, Boss?“
“Sephie found out about Stephen’s past. I don’t know details but it has to do with his sisters, who will be here tomorrow. Her anger is justifiable, but it’s different than it normally feels. It has me worried, to be honest. Her anger feels like mine. It’s very chaotic, which means she’s struggling to control it,” I said.
“Does he have to see his sisters when they’re here? I mean, if it’s that bad, why not just tell them to f**k off?” Misha asked.
“I said the same thing. So did she, but she also feels like Stephen needs to confront them. She feels like this is what’s holding him back from realizing what his gift is,” I said.
“What does he need from us?” Andrei asked.
“He’s not going anywhere near his sisters without all of us with him. I think we’re going to have to keep an eye on her to keep her from snapping his sisters’ necks. She already asked him if she could ki ll them and she wasn’t joking. Other than that, I think we let it play it out. Between Ivan and Sephie, those girls don’t stand a chance. I think Stephen might need to see his sisters for who they really are for once, instead of the monsters he remembers from his childhood.”
Misha clapped his hands, rubbing them together. “I love a good unraveling.”
That night, Stephen told everyone that his sisters were coming. He didn’t go into details, but he made it obvious that he was not in any way excited to
see them.
“Don’t worry, man. We’re going with you. Or are they coming here?” Andrei asked.
“Noooo. They aren’t coming anywhere close to here. There’s no way in he ll I would tell them where I live,” Stephen said. I had to admit to being slightly relieved about that. “I’m supposed to meet them for dinner tomorrow night. Surprisingly, they’re staying at Battista’s hotel.”
I knew how I could help. Sephie caught my mood shift and glanced at me, searching for her answer to her silent question. She didn’t say anything, but she added her own plans on top of it. We silently had a conversation that no one else in the room was aware of and I loved every second of it.
Later, once we were alone, I made sure I read her correctly. “I just want to make sure I’m correct. You caught my idea about the hotel?”
“I did. Battista seems to be very willing to help us out, but mostly because he thinks there’s something special about you and I that can be useful to
him
for that, then we
“You’re okay with him seeing your eyes?”
okay with acaring the ever-loving shi t out of Stephen’s sisters. If Battista helps us out and seeing my eyes is the payment for with it. Vitally can see too. He doesn’t know about them yet either,” she said. She was chewing on her bottom lip,
the are you thinking about?”
“I wish there was a way to push everything I felt when he shared his memories with me onto them. I don’t usually get emotions with memories like that, but it was very clear that I was experiencing it as he did, feelings and all, I want them to feel what he felt. I want them to know that pain. I want. it to haunt them the same way it has him. They’re the ones that need to carry that burden, not him.”
“I agree with you, but I don’t know how to make that happen. Nor do I want you to hurt yourself by trying to make something happen that shouldn’t. happen. You could push your anger to Andrei and Misha, but you’re also connected to them. You don’t have that connection with Stephen’s sisters, so I don’t know that it would work the same with them.”
“I know. That’s what I can’t figure out. Doesn’t mean I still can’t wish for it to happen, though.”
I pulled her to me, kissing her gently. “I have no doubt you will figure out how to make them suffer as much as possible while in your presence.” I had a small grin on my face, as I was loving the thought of being able to witness it, “Let me call Battista before it gets too late, love. Don’t stress about this too much. Otherwise we’ll have Ivan and the Wonder Twins back up here because they’re worried you’re going to burn the building down.”
She cut her eyes at me, a sly smile curling up one side of her plump lips. “Call. Battista. I won’t burn anything down in the meantime,” she said. God, I
love her.
Battista answered promptly when I called him. I told him as few details as I could while still explaining the situation to him. He was understandably hesitant, so I sweetened the deal for him. “You think there’s something special about Sephie and 1, don’t you?” I asked. I heard him inhale. Then silence. “You’ll be able to answer that question if you make this happen.”
“The restaurant is yours,” he said. “I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”
The next morning, I told Vitaliy what was happening. “There’s more to Sephie that you still don’t know about. She plans on using it on Stephen’s sisters tonight, but we needed Battista’s restaurant to give us a somewhat private venue to make it happen. His sisters aren’t coming here to the building. We told Battista he’d be able to answer his questions about us if he makes it happen. He agreed. You’ll also get a show if you join us,” I said.
“What more can she do?” Vitaliy asked.
“You’ll see,” I said, a smirk on my face.
He scoffed. “Now Battista is going to want to stay here longer. He drags me to so many lunches,” he said, rolling his eyes.
I chuckled. “You’ve already stayed much longer than you’d planned anyway. What’s a little longer?”
Sephie
Stephen had been nervous most of the day. I couldn’t say I blamed him, either. When it finally came time to leave for the hotel, he looked like he might back out. “What if I tell them I’m si ck?” he asked.
“You can tell them you’re si ck. You don’t have to see them this time, but you’re also just pushing off the inevitable. They’re going to keep coming back every few years. You’ll keep having this same reaction every few years, too. Or, you can go tonight, let us back you up, and see that your sisters are not as scary as you remember,” I said. “And maybe get some enjoyment out of me punching them. I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.”
He laughed. “Okay, okay. I’ll go.” He slid his arm around my shoulders. “Thank you,” he said, quiet enough that only I could hear.
“We’re all here for you, Yoden. Vlad would be here too, but he got caught up at customs. I keep telling him to make different shipping arrangements for himself but he never listens.”
He laughed again. “He is very stubborn,” he said, as he shook his head.
We purposely arrived early so that we would already be at the restaurant when his sisters arrived. They were noticeably shocked that we were the only ones in the restaurant. We were waiting for them at the front of the restaurant, to make it easier for us to be closer to Stephen when he had to see them. To them, it looked like we were all enjoying a drink before dinner. In reality, we were all sipping on water, waiting for their unraveling, as Misha put it.
“Is the restaurant open?” one of his sisters asked. I didn’t know their names. Much like Vitaliy’s men, I didn’t want to know their names.
“No, we had it closed,” Stephen said.
“Why?” she asked.
“To make it easier.”
“Easier for what?”
“For me to be here. For him to be here. And for him to be here,” Adrik said, pointing to Vitaliy and Battista. While Adrik was capable of coming across as friendly, he was not putting one ounce of effort into it with these three. He had his intimidation factor up as high as it would go when he addressed her.
“Oh,” was all she said. The other two sisters stayed quiet, but I could already feel their displeasure at being spoken to that way. Clearly, they had no idea who Adrik was.
When they walked in, Ivan had glanced at them. I watched him as he watched them. I saw the look of surprise flash across his face as he looked at one of them in particular, I had a feeling I knew what he saw and I also had a feeling that was the middle sister that he was looking at. I caught his eye, raising my eyebrow at him. He discreetly pointed out the one he saw something on and shook his head no discreetly. He was in much better control this time than he was when we met Battista’s associate, but I still pushed a little of my anger to him for good measure. I was trying to keep it to low levels for now, as I left my contacts at home. I didn’t want my eyes changing just yet. Ivan was getting so sensitive to my moods that he still felt it. He gave me a sly wink in appreciation.
Stephen introduced everyone quickly, but I still didn’t pay attention to their names. I would never care to know their names. I only cared that this was the only time I ever had to see them.
As we sat down, his sisters seemed pleasant enough, but I could easily tell it was all an act. I caught Andrel’s eyes go wide a few times at he some of their thoughts as well. Rude didn’t even begin to describe what they were thinking. One of them, I’m gues disrespectful in her thoughts about literally every single one of the guys. Her mind was so far in the gutter as soon
Anny. I would say her panties were wet as soon as she saw so many men, but she wasn’t wearing
most likely the middle sister,
anyone
עוד
one
I’m guessing
nasty and unpleasant all oldest, 1
The
But they all wore fake smiles and had fake manners at the beginning of dinner. I was sure it wouldn’t last. Once the initial awkwardness wore off, we all started talking and laughing like normal. Vitaliy knew enough of what was going on that he asked plenty of questions to keep the conversation going, as did Battista. I could tell that Battista was catching my eyes changing just enough that he thought he might be noticing something, but he wasn’t sure. We kept the conversation light, so they hadn’t gone dark, but I was sure they’d switched from blue to green to normal a few times.
We were also speaking English, so Battista could understand the conversation. I caught the sisters conversing among themselves a few times in Russian, but I wasn’t close enough that I could understand them. We finally told a story that involved Stephen’s greatness. He really had saved everyone’s as ses, but I might’ve fawned over him and maybe embellished just a bit. The guys knew what was happening. They all backed me up. It wa exactly what was needed.
I saw the middle sister get quiet, her face turned sour. I watched Ivan as he looked at her. It was plainly on his face that he wasn’t seeing her face any longer. I very quietly pointed it out to Stephen, who could also plainly see it on Ivan’s face that something had changed with her. She said something quietly to the youngest sister, but loud enough that the rest of us heard her speaking. She said it in Russian, thinking I wouldn’t be able to understan
her.
I kindly asked her in English to repeat herself. She did. In Russian. She said she knew I was lying because there was no way Stephen could ever do anything right. I caught Stephen shrinking back beside me. I knew he was reliving her insults as a kid. I kept my fake smile plastered on my face, as I asked her in Russian to please tell me of her accomplishments that were better than saving everyone’s lives.
I could feel the excitement of the rest of the guys as they knew what was about to happen. It almost made me laugh. I had to admit that I was looking.
forward to it, as well.
Her face fell slightly, when she learned I could speak Russian, but she doubled down. “I don’t need to tell you anything. Silence is better than lies.”
This bi tch.
I was working hard to keep my eyes from changing. It wasn’t time yet. Not yet.
Sephie
“So, let me see if I have this straight,” I said, in English once again, so Battista could understand. “You think that there’s no possible way your brother could’ve accomplished even half of what we’ve been talking about tonight?” She stayed silent, but she didn’t object. “Well, that stands to reason then, that you think this because you feel superior to him in some way. If you feel superior to him, then it must mean you have accomplishments that overshadow his, yet you can’t seem to come up with a single one to wow us with. Yet, I’m the one that’s lying?”
There were a few coughs and laughs from the guys, who were trying to hold it in, but just couldn’t. She looked around at them, realizing they were laughing at her. She started to squirm slightly in her seat. I might’ve enjoyed that.
“Please, tell me. How long have you had the job you’re at now? And what is it you do?” I asked, trying to appear curious and not seething. She was starting to get angry, but she wasn’t at the level I needed her to be at yet.
When she stayed silent, I poked her harder. “And what of your husband? What is he? Number four? Is that right? What happened to the first three?” I asked, crossing my arms across my chest, enjoying watching her get angrier and angrier.
The youngest sister tried to come to the defense of her older sister, but it was weak. I focused on her. “Do you really want to play this game, little girl? Do we need to talk about why you haven’t married yet or better yet, why you have to keep moving to larger cities to escape your reputation?” That shu t her up and even got a tricker out of the oldest sister “Oh, don’t think you’re immune from my charms, either,” I said, addressing the oldest sister. “Those two are bad, but you’re no better Arguably worse, I’d say “The oldest sister looked at me, wide-eyed, then looked at Stephen. She knew in that moment that he’d told me everything. The other two hadn’t caught on yet, but the oldest sister knew. I watched the color drain from her face.
The middle sister had been string in her own anger during all of this. She finally exploded. She slammed her hand down on the table, causing the youngest sister to jump in fright “Enough! You can’t speak to me that way. You’re obviously too st upid to see how much of an im becile my brother is and you’re making up lies to try and make him seem more important than he is
I glanced briefly at the guys during her little outburst. Every single one of them had their hackles up. I could feel Adrik’s anger, as well. I knew my eyes were about to go dark. I just hoped they went black I wanted her scared.
I put my palms down on the table, as I slowly stood up. I was looking down when I stood up, so she couldn’t see my eyes yet, nor could anyone else. kept my palms on the table, so I could lean over, getting even closer to her
“I can speak to a piece of shi t like you however I go dda mn please. And if you ever take that tone with me again, you will regret it for the rest of your very short life.” My voice was loud enough everyone could hear, but it was controlled. I sounded as calm as possible, but my tone was daring her to yell at me again. I could see the fear in her eyes as she looked at me, but she couldn’t look away. While my anger was at an in sane level, I was also concentrating on everything I felt when Stephen shared his memories with me. I used it as fuel for my fire, but I also desperately wanted to find a way to push it to her. I wanted her to break right in front of me. “You have the audacity to think that your brother would even want to see you, for one. Then you come here, insult me not once, but twice, and you insult him in front of his real family, who coincidentally can end you and make it appear like you never existed. I think it’s clear that you’re the im becile here.”
I paused, wanting to see if she could come up with a response. She hadn’t looked away from my eyes. It was like she was frozen in place, unable to speak, unable to move. The youngest sister once again tried to stick up for her sister. “You’re not his real family. We’re his real family,” she said.
I laughed. I turned from the middle sister, focusing all my anger on the youngest. She was nervous when I first stood up. Now, she was terrified. “You really think he wants to claim a fil thy piece of trash like you? You realize you don’t get extra points for having all the sexually transmitted diseases, right? I almost feel sorry for you. You’re so lost in trying to prove your worth to your bi tch of a sister that you lost yourself somewhere along the way, Instead of having the strength to stand up to her, you turned into her and you ha te yourself for it. I don’t blame you there. I ha te you too.” She was now frozen in place as well, but she was making noises. Like she was crying. Or whining. Or both.
The oldest sister looked at Stephen. She was now angry as well. I stood up, crossing my arms acro Stephen, then to me. “I don’t know what he’s told you, but it’s all lies,” she half-yelled.
my chest, daring
She looked at
gently
his shoulder
thing. He
been consumed by her demon since she was a baby. You probably had something to do with that too, as I’m guessing you were very jealous of her when she was born.” I pointed to the youngest sister who was clearly struggling internally, but unable to move. “She’s an id iot that just wants to be loved. She might’ve turned out to be a very sweet girl, but you made sure she’ll never amount to anything.” I finally stared at her, my anger only slightly subsiding. “But you. You’re the worst of them. You let unspeakable things happen. Not because you didn’t care. Not because you didn’t know it was happening. No, you knew all along. You wanted it to happen. You thought if your siblings could f**k each other up enough, you’d turn out to be the brightest and your parents would love you the most. You’re pa thetic and quite frankly, I don’t want to look at you any further.”
Adrik stood up, standing behind me. I felt his hand on my waist. He looked down at Stephen, who looked grateful, then back to the oldest sister. ‘You’ve seen Stephen for the last time. You’ve also come to this city for the last time. Take your sisters. You have 24 hours to leave this city. If any of you are seen in this city again, you’ll be shot on sight. This is my city. Stephen is my family. I protect my family.” I could feel his anger feeding into mine and I knew he was looking at her with every ounce of intimidation he had in him. She looked terrified.
She looked at Stephen, like he was going to argue. He stared at her for long enough that I wasn’t sure he was going to answer. Finally, he said, “oh, I’m sorry. You’re expecting me to step in here? Nah. I’m good. I’ll let you learn what it feels like to fend for yourself.”
Ivan looked at his watch, then to the oldest sister, as the other two were still stuck in their own minds. I saw a brief flash of surprise on his face, but he quickly masked it. “You better get a move on. The clock is ticking. That 24 hours is gonna go by real fast.” He pointed to the other two. “And it looks like your travel companions have some special needs that are going to need to be addressed.”
She looked at her sisters, pulling both of them out of their chairs. They readily stood up and went with her, but neither spoke and neither looked like they had a clue what was happening. I caught Andrei’s eye when they walked past him. The look on his face told me he had snooped. Maybe it did work…
Adrik
I could feel Sephie’s emotions were everywhere all at once as she was trying to goad Stephen’s sisters into an outburst. I know she was still trying to figure out a way to push all the pain and hurt she got from Stephen to his sisters. I also knew that Ivan, Misha, and Andrei were feeling much the same as I was. I wasn’t sure if it would work to push our anger to her, but we tried it. She was so adept at controlling her anger. It was like it had the opposite effect on her as it did everyone else. It calmed her. She could almost think clearer when her anger levels were extremely high, especially when she had to deal with her fear and panic. Both of those emotions were coming up for her when she thought about what she felt from Stephen. If we could help her keep her anger high and controlled, then she could concentrate on figuring out a way to push everything to his sisters, effectively breaking them.
It was a brilliant plan. We just weren’t exactly sure on how to make it happen or if it would work going into this dinner.
Judging by the state that two of the sisters were in when they left, I’d say it worked. I’d even go so far as to say it worked better than we dreamed possible. There was much to discuss later.
Battista was stunned, as was Vitaliy. He hadn’t seen Sephie’s eyes until now. When she looked at me after Stephen’s sisters left, they were still black. I kissed her forehead. “Take a breath, love. It’s over now,” I said, keeping my lips against her forehead. She leaned against me, closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, they were the deepest depth of the ocean blue.
“I know what you did. Thank you,” she said as she smiled sweetly at me. I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, pulling her chair out so she could sit back down. As she did, she leaned over to Stephen. “How you doin? You okay? Was it too much? I might’ve gotten a little carried away there,” she said, trying to make him laugh.
He turned to look at her, speaking quietly, but I could still hear him. “It was perfect, Seph. I think I know what you did, but we’ll talk later. My m om is gonna be so pi ssed,” he said, shaking his head. He caught my arm as I was pushing in Sephie’s chair. “Thank you,” he said.
“Anything for family, Stephen.”
We finished dinner, with Battista and Vitaliy asking plenty of questions. As usual, Sephie kept the focus on her when Battista was around. He suspected there was something different about me still, but I was hoping he didn’t have any idea about the guys. I wasn’t sure I wanted him to know about them just yet either. He also didn’t realize that we were all as connected as we were now. I felt protective of that.
Once we were back in the penthouse, the guys were eager to discuss what really happened. As soon as we walked in, Sephie pulled Stephen to her and hugged him. He held onto her so tightly that I was a little worried she’d be able to breathe. She stayed there, helping him calm his storms.
When he finally loosened his grip on her, she looked at all the guys. “I know what you all did tonight. It worked,” she said, her sweet smile on her face as she looked at each of them.
“We weren’t sure if it would work or not, but we figured you’d need help. You’ve felt different the last couple of days. Like you were struggling to contain it all,” Misha said.
“You guys can feel the difference in my anger now too?” she asked.
Misha nodded his head emphatically. “Yeah, this one was way different. Not like you at all. We even asked Boss if you were okay because we were scared of asking you,” he said. He looked a little embarrassed at the admission.
“Oh, my adorable Russian guardian, it’s never directed at you,” she said, walking to him.
“I know it’s not, but I also didn’t want to make you talk about something you didn’t want to,” he said, as he slung his arm over her shoulders.
She looked to Ivan. “You saw something different about one of them, didn’t you?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah. Not human different. It was just as clear as Battista’s associate. Did you see it this time, princess?” Ivan asked.
“No. I think the only reason I saw it last time is because you were touching me. I think I need to be touching you in order to borrow it,” she said. “I did, however, look in all their heads. Totally regret that as now I won’t be able to forget what I saw.”
“Did you look after you broke them?” Andrei asked.
“No? What do you mean?”
“When they went frozen in place. You literally broke their minds. I don’t know how, but you figured out a way to give them everything you got from Stephen, plus some. They couldn’t handle it. The youngest one, especially. She might not recover. The middle one is questionable on recovery,” Andrei
said.
“The oldest sister changed after you called her out. I saw it when she grabbed the other two to leave,” Ivan said. “She did a good job of hiding it when I first saw her, but it was also clear on her when they went to leave that her demon is running the show.”
“You didn’t break her mind the same way you did the other two, but she was just as disturbed when she left,” Andrei said. He looked slightly nervous. as he looked from Sephie to Stephen. He quietly added, “she was replaying scenes from childhood when she left, only Sephie managed to make her feel what Stephen felt.”
“You’re sure? It really worked?” Sephie asked, completely surprised.
Andrei nodded. “She might’ve looked like she was holding it together on the outside, but she was a hot mess in her head. She’s stronger than the other two. I think that’s the only reason she didn’t break,”
Stephen calmly looked at Sephie. “This is literally everything I’ve dreamed of happening. How did you know?”
Sephie shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I’m not completely convinced I did anything yet. It was different when you let me see in your head. I don’t usually feel what other people feel when I look in their heads like that. Like, I’m looking for hard data, not emotions. But with you, I felt everything. I still don’t know how I didn’t break down from it,” she said.
“Because I asked you to hold it for me and give it to them,” Stephen said.
“You did?”
He nodded his head. “You were the only one that would’ve been able to do it. That’s why I showed you everything. That’s also why you likely missed the part about me asking you to hold it until you saw them. It’s a lot. I’m kind of a je rk for doing it,” Stephen said.
Sephie laughed. “You’re not a je rk for unlocking a new level on me, Yoden. I didn’t know I’d be able to do that. I don’t know how you did, but I’m glad for it. And you feel better because of it, too. I can see it. You’re lighter now. You’ve been carrying that around, by yourself, for too long. They’re the ones that need to be burdened with that. Not you.”
Misha got his faraway look in his eye for a few moments. He grinned. “They’re gonna be carrying it around for a very long time.”
“It’s also a testament to how incredibly strong you are, Stephen,” she said, walking back to him. With her arm around his waist, she added, “you’ve been carrying all of that by yourself for your entire life and it’s made you stronger. They had it for 30 seconds and it broke them. Don’t forget that.”
Adrik
Sephie was right. Stephen did look lighter. He was always the quiet one. His brain never shu t off though. He was constantly analyzing everything and everyone around him. We finally saw him relax. Really, truly relax. He wasn’t on guard. He wasn’t waiting for something to happen. He was just present. And happy.
Vitaliy had remained at the restaurant with Battista while we left. When he got back to the penthouse, we were all still discussing what had happened, but the conversation was turning more light-hearted. The guys were telling Sephie how effective her demon eyes were to the normal person.
“I’m pretty impressed they didn’t pi ss themselves, spider monkey. Your eyes were as black as I’ve ever seen them. And you just sprung it on them. Your eyes were normal, then you looked down as you stood up and holy shi t, they were black, Andrei said, laughing.
“Not gonna lie, I’ve kind of missed them,” Ivan said.
Stephen snapped his fingers, pointing at Ivan. “Same.”
Vitaliy walked in with Aleksei. We could tell he was eager to ask more questions. Mostly, he wanted to know how she had such control over her eyes.
“I kind of don’t. I’ve been wearing contacts around you since I met you. My eyes have a mind of their own and change without me knowing sometimes. I got contacts so I wouldn’t scare you,” she said.
“Change to black on their own?” Vitaliy asked.
“No, the black is the one that I can control the most,” she said. She closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them, they were just as black as they had been at the restaurant. I couldn’t help but laugh at Vitaliy’s shocked expression when he saw them. I walked to her, wrapping my arm around her waist.
“That’s not even the scariest one, Vitaliy. But it is very effective,” I said. She locked up at me and I watched the black fade into the background as the blue took over. I smiled at her, pointing back toward my father. She looked at him and I explained that blue meant she loved me. He stood up to get a closer look.
“Your eyes normally have that blue color, but where are the other two colors?” he asked.
“That’s how it started. The brown took over the other two and turned dark. Then the other two colors started taking over for different emotions. The only one that’s completely different is when she’s scared,” I said. “It’s the only emotion she struggles to contain.”
Vitaliy was clearly impressed. “Battista was completely in awe. He wouldn’t shu t up after you left, honestly.” He looked slightly amused, but also slightly perturbed. “He’ll do anything you need him to do from now on. He just asks that you help him with your unique set of skills when he needs
them.”
I could feel Sephie’s slight bit of worry. “How often is he going to need them?”
Vitaliy chuckled. “He won’t take advantage. He’s a very capable businessman in his own right, but he occasionally runs into people he needs help with. That woman being one of them. He said he has more information on the mayor, as well. He would like to meet again tomorrow. Only at his house this
time.”
“Why his house? Why not the zoo?” Sephie asked, trying to hide her smile.
Vitaliy laughed. “It’s going to be a very interesting discussion, sladkaya. It’s not meant for everyone to hear.”
We arrived at Battista’s house the following afternoon. We were all somewhat on edge, as we didn’t know quite what i house instead of the restaurant, but Vitally assured us it would be fine. He still only brought Aleksel with him, just as he Stephen’s sisters, which I found odd.
l
ect from meeting at his
before with
We were shown to a large study. The woman who showed us to the room informed us Battista had gotten a phone call right before we arrived. He was finishing up and would be in shortly, We were all quiet as we waited on him.
He walked in, obviously rushed, a few minutes later. “My apologies. Unexpected phone call, but it pertains to what I’m about to tell you, so I needed to take it,” Battista said, getting right to business. He looked at me and Sephie, then to Vitaliy, who had a bit of an unreadable smirk on his face. “You still haven’t said a word to them about any of it, have you?” Battista asked Vitaliy.
Vitaliy grunted. “No, I haven’t. You explain it better anyway. You know more than I do.”
I immediately felt Sephie stiffen, as well as saw each one of the guys sit up a little straighter. We did not like surprises.
Battista noticed the shift in mood in the room. He waved his hand flippantly in front of him. “No one is in danger. At least not yet. But this conversation might be difficult to believe,” he said. He looked at me, as he started to explain. “You’re aware your father has very powerful contacts around the world?” he asked. I nodded. He inhaled deeply, contemplating how to phrase what he was about to say. “They’re more powerful than you might think. Some of them are fighting wars that normal people know nothing about. There are dark forces that are vying for the destruction of humanity. There’s a small group of us that are fighting against that. We have a few people, with gifts like your father, who are helping, but I’ve never met so many gifted people in one place until Vitaliy brought you to me.” He looked at all the guys. “I’m aware that you all have gifts as well, but I don’t know specifics. I know she’s trying to keep the focus on her to protect you all, but I saw the subtle signs that you’re helping her.”
“What do you want from us?” I asked. I didn’t have a bad feeling about this, but I still pulled Sephie closer to me after hearing what Battista said.
“It’s not what we want from you. It’s more what we’d like to give you. We want to help. You don’t realize how dangerous Ricardo De Luca is. Or the Colombian,” he snapped his fingers, like he couldn’t remember a name.
“Martin,” Sephie said. Battista pointed to her, silently grateful for the assist. “They’ve both made deals with everlasting consequences, haven’t they?” she asked.
Battista looked at her, wide-eyed. “You know?”
“Not everything. Just that those two are the keys to all of this that’s going on.”
Sephie
Battista took a deep breath. “There are unseen forces in the world, influencing humanity. Think of it like a game, if you will. Your job, in each lifetime, is to figure out how best to defeat the evil forces that prey upon humans. Much like the young women last night. Again, I don’t know details, but I’m fairly certain they’re being controlled by outside forces.” He was looking at me as he was talking. I saw his eyes go wide, which likely meant my eyes. had turned dark. He put his hands up in front of him, like he was trying to calm me. “I’m in no way defending them or their actions. It’s only to illustrate my point. People sometimes unconsciously agree to accepting these unseen forces. They give them control because they’re too weak to do it themselves. Once you’ve accepted evil, it’s very difficult to get rid of, unless you’re a very special person. Those women were not, for the record.” He looked from me to the rest of the guys. “You gentlemen, and lady, however, are.”
“How do you know this?” Adrik asked.
“Because we’ve been waiting for you. The powerful people I’m connected to and your father is connected to…” he paused for a moment, trying to choose his words carefully. “We’re from very old family lines that have been keeping an eye on humanity for a very long time. We try to stay out of most of it, only stepping in when necessary. But we’re watching everything. We’ve known about Ricardo for years. He made his deal very early in his life. Martin did too, but he’s so much younger that his deal was only recently made.”
“What kind of deal?” Adrik asked. I could feel him starting to get uneasy about the subject. I grabbed his hand, my fingers playing lightly with his. “And what do everlasting consequences mean?”
Battista looked at me, a coy smile on his face. “I’d still like to know how you knew about that, but that’s a conversation for another time.” He took a breath, once again contemplating how to say what needed to be said. “Some people try to game the game, if you will. Rather than working to better themselves or learning the lessons they need to learn, and signed up to learn, for the record, they find demons that are willing to make deals. It sounds great to the person, but the consequences are, well, ho rrific.”
“Like selling your soul? Is that what you mean? I thought that was just a phrase people said,” Misha said.
“It is, but it’s also a real thing. Like I said, there are unseen forces at work in this world that most people know nothing about. The ones that do either realize the danger they pose, or are greedy and want to try and use them to their benefit. That never works out well,” Battista said.
Adrik chuckled, his hold on me tightening briefly, I didn’t need to search his eyes to know where his mind went. “Ricardo got a raw deal, then. If he was promised greatness, his demon oversold and underdelivered.”
Battista laughed. “You’re not wrong, but you’re also not considering exactly who you are, either.”
“And that is…?” Adrik asked.
“Not only the King of the Underworld in this city, but the world by the time you’re done,” Battista said.
I felt the goosebumps rise over my entire body. I glanced quickly at Misha, who was having the same reaction. I looked over at Adrik, who looked as surprised as I was, but there was also the familiar look that meant my eyes had done something new, as well.
Battista continued. “You’ve surrounded yourself with the people needed to make it happen. Every single player in this that has stayed loyal to you, will serve you in making this happen.”
“Um, that’s one person. Basically one person has stayed loyal to Boss,” Ivan said, sarcastically.
“Yes, but he’s an integral piece of the puzzle. Trino holds more power than you realize. The people in the entirety of South America love him for bringing peace. Just as the people of the city love you for bringing peace. He was smart when he rose to power. Get the people to back you, keep their favor, and you’ll forever remain in power,” Battista said.
Adrik was quiet for a few moments. “We’re still working on how to fix the chaos in the city. I don’t know the first thing about the rest of the world.” he said.
“You don’t need to. The rest of the world is watching you. Once you fix the city and fox Trino’s problem, they’ll come to you. There will always be
for the underworld and what goes on there. People need had just as much as they need good. What sets you and Trino apart, however, is that you
control the amount of bad. You have rules to what you’ll allow and what you won’t and your rules are always for the benefit of the people, not the
1
other bosses.”
“What is Ricardo planning? Do you know?” I asked.
Battista sighed. “We’re not completely sure. We’re still working on gathering as much information on him as we can, but both he and Martin caught. the attention of very powerful demons. They’re old. They’re careful. They know this is their one chance at establishing any kind of power in this world. and they’re patient enough to not f**k that up.” I saw the surprise on his face once again that meant my eyes were likely dark.
“Don’t be worried. It happens when I get angry,” I said, flippantly. “Think of them like a warning system. As long as you’re not the cause of the anger, you have nothing to worry about.”
He smiled, but didn’t look away. “I have a feeling they’re more than just a warning system.”
“What do you mean?” Adrik asked. I could feel that he was feeling overly protective of me.
“When someone invites evil in, the evil takes over. It runs the show. The person’s soul is basically pushed to the background, if not ejected completely. Like I said before, it’s very difficult to rid yourself of evil once invited in. Most people are incapable and will gradually devolve into worse and worse humans. Again, like those young women. You, however, have flipped the tables, so to speak,” Battista said, a sly smile on his face.
“How so?” I asked.
“Everyone has some evil in them. You can’t have a purely good existence in this world. Just like you can’t have a purely bad one, either. There’s going to be both. In fact, there needs to be both. The issue becomes when the evil gets out of balance. That’s what they wait for. They wait for people to shift just enough to their evil side that they can find a way in. It happens in any manner of ways. Sometimes they whisper to you, trying to get you to do evil things, they try to get you hooked on drugs so you’ll be more suggestible. If you’re strong, then they try to break you to give you a reason to shift the scales in their favor. They want you angry. They want you hateful. If they can’t subtly do it, they give you a reason to ha te the world. I’m guessing that every single one of you has been given plenty of reasons to ha te the world, but you’ve chosen not to,” Battista said. Once again, I felt the goosebumps rise over my entire body. “With you, my dear, your eyes changing to black shows very clearly that your demons work for you. It’s virtually unheard of. I have no idea how you’ve managed to do it, but it’s not only a warning of your emotions, it’s a warning to other demons that
you own them.”
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