King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Title: King of the Underworld (I'm the queen of the king of the Underworld.)

Written by RJ Kane


In my life as a waitress, I, Sephie - an ordinary person - endured the icy glares and insults of customers while trying to earn a living. I believed that this would be my fate forever.

However, one fateful day, the King of the Underworld appeared before me and rescued me from the clutches of the most powerful Mafia boss's son. With his deep blue eyes fixed on mine, he spoke softly: "Sephie... short for Persephone... Queen of the Underworld. At last, I have found you."

Confused by his words, I stammered out a question, “P..pardon? What does that mean?” But he simply smiled at me and brushed my hair away from my face with gentle fingers: "You are safe now.”

Sephie, named for the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, she's quickly finding out how she's destined to fulfill her namesake's role. Adrik is the King of the Underworld, the boss of all bosses in the city he runs.

She was a seemingly normal girl, with a normal job until it all changed one night when he walked through the front door and her life changed abruptly. Now, she finds herself on the wrong side of powerful men, but under the protection of the most powerful among them.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Fifty-Five
Sephie

My cheeks were beginning to hurt from laughing so much after just a short time with Max. We quickly fell into old routines, like I hadn’t just disappeared for an entire week with no explanation. I would periodically glance to Adrik. He was always watching me, with his sexy smirk on his face. I watched one of the waitresses try desperately to get his attention a few times. She would lean over the table, giving him a full view down her shirt.

She would brush his arm as she set a glass of water in front of him. She would linger and ask questions when she went to check on the table. He never took his eyes off me. He would respond to her with what looked like one-word answers, but he wouldn’t look at her. She finally turned so I could see her face. I recognized her.

“Hey, that’s Kim working the front of house tonight, right?” I asked Max.

“Yes. And let me tell you, I’m still mad at you for not being here because I’ve had to work with that in your absence.”

“That good, huh? She’s throwing herself at my boyfriend currently. I can’t imagine what you’ve had to go through.”

“Oh, she’s a piece of work, for sure. I told her that she needed to take wingman lessons from you. She’s coc k- bl ocked me so many times I lost count.”

“Ouch. How are you handling the dry spell? Do you need me to find you a deserving chick tonight?”

He grabbed me exuberantly by both shoulders, shaking me hard for dramatic effect, and looked me in the eyes, “dear God, bless you. Bless you, child. YES.”

He let go and I happened to glance in Adrik’s direction. He and Ivan were both standing, like they were headed my way. I shook my head and smiled at them. Adrik nodded and sat down, but Ivan glared at Max while cracking his knuckles, which made me laugh even more.

“Max, you realize I have five trained killers over there watching your every move, right?”

He dropped the glass in his hand on the bar. Luckily, it was empty. “Um, no. I did not realize that.” He reached over and started to pet my head while looking at the guys and smiling awkwardly. Ivan still hadn’t sat back down. Protective

I swatted his hand away. “Keep that up and no wingman for you, which is a sha me, really, because that brunette at the end of the bar in the blue shirt will give you her number if you smile at her one more time.”
“I’ll be right back,” he said, quickly turning in the brunette’s direction.
As he walked away, Adrik walked up to the bar and sat down, without me seeing him. One of Max’s fan club members noticed him and immediately moved next to him.

When she got up to move, I looked up, seeing him at the bar. She sat next to him, her hand on his shoulder, and asked him if she could buy him a drink. He hadn’t taken his eyes off me. I got a glass and filled it with water, taking it to him. I set it down in front of him, looking at her. “He’s not much of a drinker.”

She gave me a funny look. He took the water, drank half of it, then set it back down. I picked it up and finished the rest of it. He never took his eyes off me. She looked at him, then to me, then back to him. She scoffed loudly and moved farther away from him, looking toward Max instead.

He winked at me and motioned for me to come around the bar to him. I happily obliged. He turned in his chair and opened his arms as I walked around the bar. I stepped in between his legs as his arms went around me.

“Are you having a good time, solnishko?” I nodded. He kissed my lips. “Good. But I missed you. It’s been too long since I kissed you. I needed to rectify that.”

I smiled, leaning in to kiss his lips again. His hands roamed over my back and my ass.

“I won’t be much longer,” I said, peeking toward Max who was still talking to the brunette at the end of the bar.

”Max is closing on tonight’s conquest as we speak. I’ll be forgotten soon,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“I’m happy you got to see your friend, but he is not a smart man, solnishko. Not if he chooses her over you,” he said, kissing me again. I smiled against his lips.

“I think we should leave. I’ll tell Max goodbye,” I said. I suddenly wanted nothing more than to be alone with Adrik, away from prying eyes.

“You’re sure? You can stay as long as you wish,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m positive. Give me a few minutes to say bye to him and we can go?”
“Your wish is my command, solnishko.”

I said my goodbyes to Max, promising to hang out with him outside of work soon. I walked toward the door, where all six men were waiting for me. Nothing awkward about this at all. I caught sight of Kim, still trying to get Adrik’s attention somehow. I decided to have some fun. I walked right up to him, kissing him passionately. He bent down and lifted me off the floor and walked out the door behind Viktor and Andrei, with the other three following us, his lips.

still on mine. When we got outside, he set me down, smiling down at me.

“You’re a savage.”

“I mean, she had it coming. I saw her throwing herself at you all night,” I said grabbing his hand as we walked through the parking lot. “But I also saw that you never looked at her.” I leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder.

“Because you are my sun, Persephone.”

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Fifty-Six
Misha

Three Martha Later
“Are we taking the usual route, boss?” I asked Sephie as we both stretched for our morning run. Since I’d been running with her regularly now, I was able to keep up with her better. She was still faster than I was. I did make the mistake of testing that out a few weeks ago and I still regret it. I’m not sure my ego will ever recover.

“I think so. I like being able to see Mr. Turner at work on the way back here.”

“You got it. You’re sure you don’t want to eat something before we go?” I asked. She had been doing fasted cardio in the morning, trying to lose a few pounds. I didn’t see where those pounds were that she needed to lose, but I knew better than to argue with a woman over these matters.

“I’m sure. It’s not as bad as it sounds. And there’s that da mn pala, ball, extravaganza thing coming up in a few weeks. I have to like wear a dress for that and I ha te wearing dresses and being in public. Everyone stares. I’ll be da mned if they can say I’m f at while they’re all staring at me.”
I laughed, shaking my head. I always found it funny that men were constantly trying to be bigger while women were constantly trying to be smaller.

“You will look great, gazelle. And just think about all the sandwiches from Vinny’s that you’ll be able to eat after it’s over.”

“Someone should warn that poor man. He’s going to go hanaupt feeding me after that event,” she said, a very serious look on her face. She could definitely pack the food away, esperally for a girl. It was one of the things we all loved about her. She was always down for a food run whenever we got to stay with her. She always worked out with us, too. She was practically one of us.

We finished stretching and set out on our usual route. Over the past couple of months, we’d all settled into somewhat of a routine. It was so much easier with her at the penthouse, We didn’t have to fight over who got to stay with her. We would take turns throughout the day and we each had found unique things that we did with her. I would run with het. Andrei was basically her trainer now, İvan was teaching her how to drive defensively, Viktor was teaching her how to defend herself, and Stephen was teaching her how to sh oot. She took an interest in each of us as an individual and his point, she likely knew more about each of us than Adrik did, even though we’d been with him much longer. We all had demons from the past and in her own way, she was helping us deal with that. She was always there to make everything mate fun.

Woman’s touch, I suppose. She was different from any woman any of us had known before. We all loved her and loved being around her. She would come hang out with us if Adrik had a late meeting or needed to work late.

As we ran, I was silently grateful we were back at the penthouse and not at the house. She always wanted to take the kong way around the lake when we were at the house, and I would suffer every time. The route we took through the city wasn’t nearly as inng I still had some improvements to work on before I could easily keep up with her on the long Funs neated the last leg of our route, the hotel that Mr. Turner worked at coming into view as we ran down the street.

Only a few more blocks to go now.
We passed by the hotel, stopping briefly to say “good morning” to Mr. Turner. As we left the hotel and continued on our way, I got a bad feeling. I made sure to keep an eye on Sephie beside me, while trying to weave in and out of pedestrian traffic. There were suddenly a lot of people on the sidewalks. I was just about to stop her so I could keep her closer to me when I felt someone try to tackle me from my left side. Just as I was pushed to the side, I heard her
scream behind me.

Shit. They’re going to try and grab her.
The man that tackled me was still trying to get me to the ground but couldn’t. He still had his arms around mine. I still had full use of my legs and I was taller than him, so I was using that to my advantage. He had pushed me closer to the buildings, so I turned and shoved him into the building as hard as I could. The shock of the impact made him loosen his grip enough that I could get my arms free. I elbowed him in the face, causing him to stumble. I looked to find Sephie. She was fighting with her attacker. The guy that had tackled me was coming back for more. He looked like he wasn’t completely with it, somehow. His eyes were having trouble focusing.

I punched him in the face as hard as I could. His body immediately going limp and falling to the ground. I ran to Sephie, who had her attacker on the ground. She was straddling him, just letting her fists fly in this guy’s face. I could tell she was pissed. I’d sparred with her a few times. If you pushed her to the point of anger, you better be ready for a fight. Clearly this guy was not prepared.

I caught her arm and pulled her off him. He was unconscious. He wasn’t going anywhere. I stood her up and looked her over. While my attacker couldn’t get me to the ground, hers took her down immediately. She had road rash down one side and she had clearly hit her head. She was bleeding from a cut above her eyebrow. Adrik was going to be so pi ssed at me.

“Sephie, look at me. How bad are you hurt?” I asked, holding both of her shoulders. She didn’t answer. She just kept staring at the guy on the sidewalk as she was trying to catch her breath.

Mr. Turner, who had seen everything, ran to us. “Are you guys okay? Do you want me to call an ambulance?”

“No, Mr. Turner. I’m calling my people. We’ll take care of it. But thank you.” I turned to look at Sephie, who was still
hurt?” breathing hard, her face red, still pissed. “Gazelle? Talk to me. How bad are you

She finally looked at me and I could see the switch flip in her head. “I’m okay. My head hurts, but I’m okay.”
I exhaled, taking my phone from my pocket. I had Viktor on speed dial. He answered on the first ring. He knew we were out and the only reason I would be calling was not a good one.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Fifty-Seven
Misha

“My location. Get here now. Bring everyone.” I hung up the phone, slipping it back in my pocket. I still had one hand on Sephie, trying to make sure she stayed with me. I was concerned about her hitting her head. I didn’t want her to pass out. I knew the adrenaline rush was eventually going to wear off and didn’t want her to crash completely.

The guys were there within minutes. The two men who attacked us had their hands bound behind their backs and were thrown in the back of an SUV. Viktor talked to Mr. Turner, as he had seen everything happen. A few passersby had stopped to help and gave their version of events.

We loaded up and drove back to the penthouse. On the way to the elevator, Sephie started to stumble. She grabbed Ivan’s arm as she was going down. He caught her and carried her straight back to the SUV, taking her to the hospital right away. I jumped in the back with her. I felt responsible for her since this had happened on my watch. I cradled her head on my lap, monitoring her breathing on our short ride to the hospital.

Ivan made it in record time, pulling up to the ER. I got out, pulling her out and running inside with her. I was starting to get worried that she hadn’t woken up by now. Anytime one of us had passed out from a bl ow to the head, we usually woke up a few minutes later. It had already been 8 minutes and she was still out.

I found a doctor right away who directed me into a room. It probably helped our case that she was covered with blood. I laid her on a bed in the middle of the room. The doctor began checking her over, asking me what happened. I explained about the attack and that she had passed out after.

“She’s probably got a major concussion, but we’re going to run some tests to make sure there’s not more going on in there. She’s got a pretty good cut above her eye. She hit her head hard,” the doctor said, checking the rest of her.

Ivan walked into the room, looking more worried than I’d ever seen him.
He spoke to me in Russian, so no one else could understand us. “What the fuck happened?”

“It was a setup. It had to be. Suddenly, there were a ton of people on the sidewalk, just past the hotel. I was just about to stop her so I could keep a closer eye on her when I got tackled from behind. But they went for her at the exact same time. They had to have been waiting for us to pass. The extra people were cover for them.”

“Fuck. It’s been so quiet we got complacent. I was afraid something like this was going to happen. Boss is going to be pissed.”

“Don’t remind me,” I said, running my hand through my hair. I realized I had Sephie’s blood on my hand, but I didn’t care. “He’s going to fire me. I know it. I had a bad feeling just as we left the hotel too. I knew something was about to happen.”

“You did good, kid. Don’t worry about Boss. He’ll surprise you. Just as long as the princess doesn’t die.”

It was like she understood him, because just as Ivan said that Sephie started to wake up. The doctor had stepped out to order her tests. I rushed to her, grabbing her hand.

“Sephie! Can you hear me?” She lightly squeezed my hand. “Why is it so fucking bright in here?” I laughed. I couldn’t help it. I was so relieved.

“Gazelle. You passed out. You’re in the hospital.”

“Makes more sense than the parking garage smelling like antiseptic,” she said trying to cover her eyes with her arm. “Why does my head feel like it’s being split open?"

I looked to Ivan, slightly worried. He walked to her side. “Princess, do you remember what happened?” He gently put a hand on her stomach.

“Um, mostly. Did I punch a guy?”
We both laughed. “Yes, Sephie. Yes, you did. Multiple times, even,” I said.
“He might need facial reconstructive surgery you punched him so many times,” Ivan said, patting her stomach.

“Goddammit why am I so hungry?” she asked. I laughed again. “I told you that you should’ve eaten something before we went for a run.”

“Why didn’t I listen to you?” she groaned. I patted her hand. “I don’t know, gazelle. They want to do more tests on you, but then we will get you food as soon as possible.”

Ivan heard a commotion outside the room we were in. He looked at me before stepping out of the room to see what was happening. He disappeared for a moment, leaving me with Sephie. He returned with Viktor, Andrei, and Adrik. As soon as Adrik’s eyes landed on Sephie, he went from being angry to relieved to worried in an instant. He rushed to her. I stepped out of the way so he could grab her hand that I had been holding so she wouldn’t have to uncover her eyes.

“Solnishko,” he said quietly.

“Adrik?” she asked quietly, not taking her hand from her eyes. He leaned down to her and whispered something in her ear that only she could hear. It brought a smile to her face.

The doctor came back in, somewhat surprised at the number of people in the room. He cleared his throat. “We’d like to take her upstairs to run a quick test to make sure there’s not further damage to her skull and her brain.”

“Is it this fucking bright up there? Because that’s gonna be a no from me if it is,” Sephie said.

The doctor was unaware that she had woken up. “Oh, you’re awake. Good. Very good. Although, I still think it’s a good idea to run the tests to make sure. We can, uh, adjust the lights for you. That’s a common complaint for head injuries.”

Adrik looked at the doctor. He could be very intimidating when he wanted to be. The doctor shrunk back, looking from Adrik to the rest of us.

Sephie lifted her head and peeked through her hand at the scene in the room, when the room went silent.

“Don’t worry about them, doc. They’ll only kill you if I die upstairs.” She laid her head back down.

The doctor scratched his head, “okay then. Well, we should get on with it.” He started to pull her bed toward the door. A nurse showed up to help him push her toward the elevators down the hall.

We all stood in the hallway, waiting for the doctor to come back with any news on her condition. Speaking in Russian, Adrik stood in front of me, “tell me everything that happened.”
“It was a trap, Boss. We ran our usual route, so she could stop by and say hi to Mr. Turner. After we left the hotel, there was suddenly a ton of people on the sidewalk. I was just about to stop her so I could keep her close to me when I got hit. She got hit at the same time. The guy that hit me was trying to take me down to the ground, but I managed to stay upright. I shoved him into the wall to get him off me. He came back for me, but I punched him and that’s when he passed out. I’m guessing the other guy was able to get Sephie to the ground and that’s where she hit her head. I had to pull her off him. She rearranged that guy’s face. He pissed her off, sir. I’ve never seen her so angry. After, she was lucid. She said she was fine until we got back to the parking garage. We were walking to the elevators, and she started to go down. She grabbed Ivan’s arm and he caught her. We rushed her here.”
He didn’t say a word, which made me nervous. He stared at me for a moment, but then patted me on the shoulder.

“You did good, Misha.” He turned to pace the hallway and I exhaled loudly. The other three guys looked at me, knowingly; all three nodded to me. I still felt responsible for this.
More time passed and the doctor finally came back. We all walked to him quickly, causing him to take a step back and put his hands out.

“Whoa, easy fellas. She’s fine. She’s going to be fine. She has a really good concussion, but nothing more. They’re stitching the cut above her eyebrow right now and then she’ll be back down. Keep her quiet and in low light for the next two weeks. Try to keep external stimuli to a minimum. That means TV, radio, all of it. Her brain needs time to heal.”

Adrik visibly relaxed at the doctor’s words. He extended his hand to the doctor. “Thank you, doctor.”

“Thank you for not killing me,” the doctor said smiling nervously. “She’ll be down in just a few minutes, and you can take her home.”

I leaned against the wall, closing my eyes. I was relieved she was okay and could go home. I felt Viktor’s hand on my shoulder. “It could’ve been any one of us, kid. Don’t stress. You did good.”

“It’s still my fault she got hurt. I should’ve stopped her sooner. I could’ve seen it coming.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t play the ‘what if’ game. You’ll drive yourself crazy playing out alternate scenarios. You did what you needed to do. She did too. They weren’t expecting her to fight back, I’m sure. We just have to be ready for the next time, because there will be a next time.” I nodded. I had a feeling this was only the beginning.

Sephie came down the hallway, in a wheelchair, her hands still covering her eyes. When the nurse stopped in front of us, she started to get up from the wheelchair. The nurse put her hand on Sephie’s shoulder to stop her from getting up. Without even opening her eyes, she just said, “Ghost?”

He was there in a second. “Can you take me home, please?” she asked as she extended an arm toward him, not opening her eyes. Without hesitation, he reached down and scooped her out of the wheelchair. We all walked toward the door, leaving the nurse with her wheelchair, looking completely stunned.

Sephie hid her face against Adrik’s shoulder as we walked to the vehicles. He put her in the backseat and removed his shirt before getting in beside her. He draped his shirt over her head to make the ride home darker.

I found myself admiring him. He was so attuned to her needs. I’d never seen anything like it.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Fifty-Eight
Sephie

The ride back from the hospital was somewhat excruciating. They had given me painkillers at the hospital before I left. but they hadn’t kicked in yet and my head was pounding. Adrik had taken his shirt off before climbing into the backseat with me and thrown it over my head to make it darker for me. I kept the shirt over my head and hid my face in his chest for the entire ride.

His arm stayed securely around me, keeping me stable, while his thumb gently traced circles on my hip. Once in the parking garage, I peeked out from under his shirt as he carried me to the elevator. The light wasn’t as bright, so I stole a look up at him. His face was tight, pensive. He was worried, Or angry Or both.

He took me straight to the bedroom and laid me on the bed. I felt the bed dip as he sat beside me.

“What can I do, Persephone? What do you need most right now?” he asked, concern evident in his voice.

I groaned. “Once the painkillers kick in and my head stops pounding, I’ll be fine.”

He took my hands in his. I could tell he was looking them over. I had a memory flash from right after the incident. I looked at my hands, noticing the bruises already appearing on my knuckles. I had another flash, of something familiar, but I couldn’t remember clearly. It was like a déjà vu moment, where I had been there before.

“How is Misha?” I asked, still not opening my eyes.

I felt his hand on my stomach. “You can open your eyes, solnishko. I closed the windows.”

“I’m sorry, you did what?”

“Closed the windows. It should be dark enough in here, but if it’s still too much, I’ll close the last one all the way.”

I opened my eyes, to almost complete darkness. “How did I not know this was a thing that could happen?”

He chuckled. “I rarely use them, but there are blinds in all the windows. I enjoy the view, so I leave the windows open most of the time. I never thought about it until now.”

I sat up slightly. The painkillers were beginning to work so my head was starting to pound less aggressively.
“Is good?” he asked.

“Much better, thank you. Now, how is Misha? Are you angry with him? Please don’t be angry with him. I can’t remember everything yet, but I know it wasn’t his fault.”

He stared at me for a moment. His lips curled into a small smile. “You’re covered in blood, some of which probably isn’t yours, you just left the hospital and you’ve been ordered to basically bed rest for two weeks.” He reached up and very lightly ran his finger down the side of my face. “And you have stitches in your beautiful face, but you’re worried about Misha and whether I’m angry with him?”

“Basically, yes.”

“Misha is fine, love. He feels terrible about what happened, but it wasn’t his fault, like you said. He did everything he could. That is all I could ever ask.” He leaned down and kissed my lips so gently that I almost didn’t feel his lips on mine. Those painkillers must be kicking in faster now,

“Good. I feel like there’s something I’m forgetting about it though. Something important.” I thought for a moment.

“Something felt familiar about it, but I can’t place it.”

“Familiar how?” he asked, his eyebrow raised.

“I’m not sure yet. It was like a feeling of deja vu. Like I’ve seen it before, you know?” I looked at him. My brain was desperately trying to grasp something that was just out of reach.

He thought for a moment. “You should be resting, solnishko. It will come to you. I’ll talk to Misha again about what happened, maybe he can shed some more light on it. We have the men that attacked you, as well. We’ll get answers from them,” he said, cracking his neck to the side. If I didn’t know him, I would think it was scary as h ell, but I found myself slightly turned on by his anger.

How many drugs did they give me again? He looked me over. “How is your head? Do you feel up to a shower before I put you back to bed?”
I looked down at my clothes. My shirt was red. And sticky. It was originally a wh ite shirt. It was also now torn, along with my shorts. My left leg had road rash on it, as did my left arm and hip. I looked to him, the painkillers now making me feel like I was floating and somewhat giddy, and said, “are you trying to tell me that you don’t want a piece of this right now?” I ran my hands over my beat-up body, for emphasis.

He laughed. “You are amazing. I’ll go turn the shower on,” he said kissing my lips once again. “Wait here. I will help you.” He looked at me sternly as he got up to leave.

While he went to the bathroom, I made a feeble attempt to get up from the bed. As soon as I was upright, the room was spinning. I sat right back down on the bed, trying to make it stop. I felt his hands on my arms and I said, “um, this might be a bad plan. Unless you can make the room stop spinning when I stand up.”

“Stay here. I have an idea.” I heard him go back to the bathroom. More water running. Suddenly I was very sleepy. I can just take a nap before he comes back. That’ll be ok. I laid back on the bed, my legs still over the side. I vaguely remember him coming back. He pulled me upright and took my clothes off. Then I was in the air, adding to the floating feeling from the painkillers, then I was being submerged in warm water.

My eyes were barely able to stay open, but I knew I was in his arms. I just snuggled close to him, and I didn’t care about anything else. I felt the vibration of his laugh as I drifted off to sleep.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Fifty-Nine
Sephie

I had no idea what time it was, or what day it was when I finally woke up. It was completely dark in the room, so I couldn’t tell if it was day or night. I checked the bed, searching for Adrik. No luck. Just me.

I vaguely remembered not being able to stand up before, so I slowly moved to the side of the bed. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat up. The room was stable so far. This was a good sign. I stood slowly. My legs felt weak, but I could stand up. Okay, I can do this. I took a few steps toward the bathroom. So far so good.
I had my arms out in front of me as I couldn’t see the bathroom door very well. I found the wall and felt my way to the door. I found the light switch and flinched when I turned on the light. That was a bad idea. I squinted to find my way around the bathroom and do what I needed to do. I stood in front of the mirror. My face was bruised, as I expected it would be, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I took inventory of my body. Adrik had put one of his shirts on me. I pulled it up. My body was multi-colored. I had bruises around my ribs and down my left side. Pretty.

I left the bathroom light on so I could see in the bedroom. I found a pair of panties, a bra, and a pair of shorts and threw those on. I did everything at a snail’s pace, but I could manage. I only felt a dull ache in my head as I moved around the bedroom.
When I opened the bedroom door, I could hear voices. I walked down the hallway, walking close to the wall to help steady myself. When I got to the end of the hallway, I could see Adrik and all the guys sitting on the couches. Adrik saw me and rushed to me, picking me up immediately.

“Solnishko, what are you doing out of bed? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. I feel better, somewhat. What time is it?” I asked, settling into his arms as he walked me to the couch.

Misha, with his wide smile, said, “more like what day is it.”

I looked at him, confused. “What do you mean?”

He looked at his watch. “You’ve been asleep for 36 hours now. You slept through the entire day, then most of the next one.”

“Shut up.” I thought he was playing a trick on me.

“It’s true, solnishko,” Adrik said as he kissed my cheek. He looked at me, brushing my hair from my face. He still had a look of concern on his face.

“What was in those painkillers?” I said scratching my head. They all laughed at me.

Misha asked, “are you still hungry? You said you were starving in the hospital. I promised to get you food once we got back here, but then you passed out for a day and a half.”

I thought for a minute. I really wasn’t hungry. My stomach did not feel right. I must’ve made a funny face, thinking about not wanting to eat, because Misha laughed. “I’ve never seen you turn down food before. What was in those painkillers??”

Ivan had gotten up to go the kitchen. He came back with water for me. He handed it to me and said, “start with this first. If you can handle water, then you’ll be able to eat soon. If water is too much, then you need to wait a little longer for the drugs to leave your system.”

“Thank you, Ivan.” I took the glass and took a sip. Okay, I was really thirsty. I took a big gulp and Adrik pulled the glass from my lips.

“Easy, love. Go slow or you’ll definitely puke it up.”

I pushed my bottom lip out but didn’t fight him on it. I hated to p uke, so I would do whatever was needed to avoid that.

“Can you remember what happened, princess?” Ivan asked me.

I thought for a moment. I nodded my head. “Mostly, I think. We had just left the hotel and Mr. Turner. There were lots of people on the sidewalk like all at once. I remember Misha glanced at me and then the next thing I knew he was going one way and I was going the other. I hit the ground hard, but so did the guy that jumped on me. He kind of faltered and his grip on me loosened. I flipped him off me, like Viktor taught me. As I was getting up, I saw Misha get free from the guy that was on him. I remember being really pi ssed. I jumped on the guy and started hitting him. There was something familiar about it that I still can’t place. Misha pulled me off him and you guys know the rest.”

“Familiar how?” Viktor asked. “Familiar in how he acted? How he smelled? How he sounded?”

I thought back to the guy. “He didn’t look like he was entirely with it when he attacked me. Like, it was too easy for me to get him off me.”

Misha sat up. “I had the same thought. When I got the guy off me the first time and he came back for more, he looked like he was unsteady. Like he was high.”

Ivan said, “if they were high, that would explain why neither one of them has woken up yet.”

My eyes went wide. “That’s what it was! My uncle used to have the same look when he was high on pills and would beat the shit out of me!” I realized too late what I had just said in front of all of them, my hand flying to cover my mouth. Adrik knew, of course, but none of the guys knew about that yet.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Sixty
Sephie

They all looked at me, then looked quickly to Adrik. He nodded and pulled me closer. “You can show them, solnishko. They won’t look at you differently either,” he whispered to me.

I slowly stood up and raised my shirt up high enough that they could see most of my scars. I heard a few of them inhale sharply. I dropped my shirt and sat down next to Adrik again. He wrapped his arm around me again, pulling me to his side.

I took a deep breath and gave them the abbreviated version. “I was sent to live with my uncle when my m om died, as he was my only family, and I was only 15. He had a drinking problem that later turned into a pill problem. He started to beat me when he started on the pills. I would leave the house for hours when I knew he was high, waiting for him to pass out. That’s how I started running.

Sometimes he wouldn’t be passed out when I got back, and he would catch me and beat me. Most of the time it was just his fists and he’d kick me, but the last night he used a whip on me.”

Andrei asked, “how did you get away?”

“I had found that apartment I was in when I met you guys and I was slowly taking my stuff there, planning to just never go back one day. Ms. Jackson had befriended me in that process.

Earlier that day, she had seen fresh bruises from the latest beating, and she gave me a pocketknife. It was in my pocket when he had exhausted himself from beating me with the whip. He came back to kick me, and I grabbed his foot and sliced his Achilles tendon so he couldn’t come after me. I stole his car and d rove to the apartment. Ms. Jackson stitched me up and helped me out. She sold the car while I was sleeping so he couldn’t find me.” I said, smiling at the thought of her helping me.

They were silent for a minute. Ivan leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “So, about this bingo that she needs a date for…?”

I laughed. “That’s why she means so much to me. I owe her a lot.”

Viktor said, “she can take each of us to bingo every night of the week if she wishes.”

“Where is your uncle now? What happened to him? Can we kill him?” Misha asked.

I smiled at him, getting his wide smile and a wink in return. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since that night.”

“We can find him. We will gladly find him,” Stephen said. “I can pick him off from a rooftop somewhere. No one will ever know.”

I looked at him, smiling at his offer of violence on my behalf. “I think he’ll get his Karma on his own. I don’t think any of you need to step in. But I love you all for offering.” Adrik pulled me close and handed me the glass of water again.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Adrik asked, “you said the pills your uncle took made him violent. Do you
remember what it was he took?”
“I don’t know what they were called. I only saw them once or twice. They were pink and purple pills. Like the gel cap kind that you can pull apart and the powder comes out, you know?”

“Did he swallow the pills, snort it, or cook it and inject it?” Ivan asked.
I tried to remember what I’d seen my uncle do. “I’m not sure. I know he swallowed them at first, but I don’t know if he did anything different later on. He had an extremely high tolerance for alcohol, so maybe he developed a tolerance for the pills too? He would pass out for sometimes days at a time after taking them.”

They all looked at each other, like they had just gotten an integral piece of the puzzle. I looked at each of them. “Do you guys know what he was taking?”

“It’s a mixture of three drugs. Dealers started mixing drugs a few years back to try to create different highs for their customers. They call it ‘brawn,” Viktor said. “It makes people feel stronger, but it also makes them more violent. Then their body crashes, which is why your uncle would pass out for a few days after each time. That’s probably why the guys who attacked you are still out. I’d be willing to bet they were on it.”

“The question now is who put them up to it and who gave them the brawn. Most of the city is clear of it now. There’s only a few areas where you can find dealers still willing to make it. Most of the bosses told their dealers to quit making it. Either a few of them didn’t listen or the bosses never actually told them to stop,” Ivan said.

I rested my head on Adrik’s shoulder, suddenly exhausted again. He took the now empty glass of water from me and set it on the table beside the couch. “Come, back to bed for you. We’ll talk about this more in the morning,” he said picking me up off the couch.

I didn’t argue, I just snuggled into his arms as he walked me back to the bedroom. The guys all waving bye as I disappeared down the hallway. He laid me on the bed and walked to the closet, untucking his shirt as he went. I was fighting to stay awake when he got back. “Will you stay with me?” I asked, trying to keep my eyes open.
He climbed into bed beside me, wrapping his arms around me. I sighed, contentedly. “How’s your head? Still have a headache? Do you need more painkillers?”

“No, it’s okay. It’s not bad now. I don’t want to sleep for a day and a half again.”

“I won’t argue with that,” he said holding me tighter. “I missed you.” He pulled me closer, holding me tightly.

“You clearly needed to sleep though. I was worried about you.”

I rolled in his arms to face him. My hand went to his face, running my fingers lightly over his facial hair. I was still fighting to stay awake when I felt him kiss my forehead. “Sleep, my love.”

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Sixty-One
Sephie

The next few days were mostly a blur. I was asleep more than I was awake, and I could still barely eat. By the third day, I finally woke up with an appetite. It was the middle of the afternoon when I woke up that day. Adrik was at the kitchen counter, working. He had brought his work upstairs so he could be there if I needed anything. I walked into the kitchen, without having to squint. I was also steadier on my feet. I walked to him, draping my body over his back, hugging his neck.

“Good afternoon, solnishko. How are you feeling?”

“Better now,” I said, kissing his cheek.

“I think I can eat now, I’m finally hungry.”

“That’s a good sign. Come, sit. I can make you something.” He pulled up a chair next to his for me to sit.

“You know how to cook?” I was legitimately surprised. He looked at me with his sexy smirk. “I am capable. Mostly. It won’t be as good as Tori’s or yours, but it’s edible.”

He opened the refrigerator. “What would you like? We have some eggs and bacon.” My stomach growled loud enough that he heard it. “Eggs and bacon it is,” he said setting both items down on the counter.

“I feel like my stomach is also in a relationship with you. She needs to be validated from time to time.” I laughed.

He cut his eyes at me, smiling. I sat and watched him make me breakfast in the middle of the afternoon. I couldn’t think of a sexier sight. He set the plate down in front of me, handing me a fork. Just as I went to take the fork, he pulled it back, looking me in the eyes. “Slowly. Okay? You haven’t eaten for a few days. You don’t want to make yourself si ck. Eat this and if you keep it down, I’ll make you more in a bit.”

I took the fork, nodding in agreement. I was starving at this point though, so eating slow was going to be hard. But if he was going to stand there and watch me the whole time, I would have to pace myself.

“Have you gotten any information from the guys that attacked us yet?” I asked, trying to deliberately chew as slowly as I could to keep from inhaling the food like I wanted to.
He nodded. He was leaning against the counter, with his arms crossed across his chest. Dammit, he was handsome. I had to look down and cross my legs because my body was suddenly hungry for more than bacon and eggs.

“We found out where they got the drugs from, but they’re still not talking as to who put them up to coming after you and Misha. We’re close though. One of them is cracking faster than the other, on account of his entire face being broken. By a girl, no less.” He looked at me proudly.

I looked down at my food, slightly embarrassed. He chuckled. “Don’t be embarrassed, solnishko. You did good. They weren’t expecting you to fight back. We threatened to send you in the room with him. That’s what got him to start talking.” He rubbed his facial hair, laughing.

“I never thought my girlfriend would be the threat to make someone crack under interrogation.”

“My street cred just went through the roof,” I said smiling at him, taking another bite of bacon.

After I was finished eating. I wanted a shower. I hadn’t showered since I came home from the hospital, and I felt st inky. Adrik offered to help me. After watching him cook for me, I wasn’t going to say no.

In the shower, I leaned back against him as he washed my hair for me. He was extra gentle and took his time massaging my scalp. My headache was gone, but my head was still tender where I had hit the sidewalk. His hands massaged my shoulders as I rested my head against his shoulder. His hands continued to roam farther down to my breasts. I could feel him grow hard. I leaned against him more, giving him more access to my breasts. I felt his lips on my neck, gently kissing, then biting the way he knew would drive me crazy. My breath caught and I moaned softly. I had missed his touch the last few days.

I turned to face him, my hands roaming over his chest. He pulled me closer, his lips finding mine. He kissed me passionately, but I could feel him holding back, like he was scared he was going to break me.

He broke the kiss and pulled me to his chest. “You’re supposed to be resting. The doctor said no excessive stimuli for two weeks. I think s ex is included in that list. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Why does that doctor h ate me?” I rested my head against his chest, still happy that I had his arms around me, at least.

He kissed the top of my head. “Two weeks is a long time,” he said, sighing.
I managed to stay awake after the shower and I kept my food down. It was a big day for me. Adrik cooked me a few more eggs after a short time. His phone buzzed on the counter as he was cooking. I grabbed it and looked at the caller ID.

“It’s Ivan. Can I answer it?” I asked.

“Of course, love.”

“Hello, you’ve reached the phone of the man who shall remain nameless. He can’t come to the phone right now. May I give him a message?”
Ivan chuckled.

“Princess. It’s so good to hear your voice.”

“Aw, Ivan. I always knew you were squishy inside that tough exterior. You missed me. Don’t lie.”

“Da. Very much. Tell Boss that we have new information we need to discuss.”

Adrik motioned for them to come up. “Well, Ivan the Squishy, why don’t you come up and tell him?”

“Be right there,” he said, ending the call.

In what seemed like two minutes, all five guys were walking in the door. One by one, they all came and hugged me, telling me they had missed me.

“How are you feeling, gazelle?” Misha asked.

“Better. I ate earlier and managed to keep it down. I even took a shower. It’s been a big day for me,” I grinned at him.

“Now that you can eat, you’ll feel better much faster,” Stephen said.
Ivan came over and inspected the stitches above my eye.

“Bruise looks better. Cut still looks ugly.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I’m probably gonna have yet another scar to add to my extensive collection.”

Ivan surprised me by wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “Be proud of your scars. They’re a visual representation of how fu cking strong you are.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head as Adrik set my next plate of food in front of me. He winked at me, as I was shocked at Ivan’s response.

Adrik looked at Ivan, “so, what news?”
“We showed the guy that attacked Misha what the guy that attacked Sephie looked like and then threatened to send her in with him. He sang like a fu cking canary,” Viktor said, trying to keep a straight face,
They all had to stifle their laughs, as I looked at them wide-eyed. “You guys aren’t serious. Like you’re just messing
with me, right?”

Misha leaned on the counter, looking me in the eye. “He was terrified, gazelle.”

“Shut up.”

“Terrified,” Andrei said. “Almost pi ssed himself terrified.” I felt my cheeks flush. Adrik, who was clearly enjoying this, asked, “what did you find out? Who put him up to it?”

Viktor sighed. “It was a bit of a test run. They’ve been quietly testing a new formulation of brawn around the city, seeing if they can amp up the violence. They feel like they got the right combination and gave it to these two mo rons with Misha and Sephie as the target to see how it would go. I’m sure they were being watched.”

“Who put them up to it?” Adrik asked, his jaw clenching. He crossed his arms across his chest. I could see his anger coming to the surface.

“Salvadori,” Ivan said. “We don’t know his exact plan but given that half the bosses are with you and half are with him, I’d say he’s trying to tip the scales in his favor. I think he’s planning on giving it to his soldiers. He wants a war in the city.”

I dropped my fork and they all looked at me. “Why would he want a war in the city? The people of the city love Adrik. They won’t stand for Salvadori trying to take over. Even if he beat you guys, which he won’t, the people won’t let him take over.”

Andrei sighed. “He’s probably not thinking about that. He just wants power and doesn’t care how he gets it. He’ll try to scare the city into bending to his will after he defeats us.”

“Innocent people are going to get hurt if he tries to start a war,” I said, finishing the last bite of eggs.
“We won’t let that happen,” Ivan said.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Sixty-Two
Sephie

The guys stayed in the penthouse for a few hours. I managed to stay awake the whole time. Big day, indeed. They discussed business, but then switched to what I’d missed while I’d been sleeping for days at a time.

Misha was teasing Andrei for being in the doghouse with Tori again. “What did you not do this time, Bubba?” I asked.

“She’s mad at me. I was supposed to go to the house for a couple days, but I stayed here in case you woke up. We were all worried about you, Sephie,” he looked at me sheepishly.

I got up and moved beside him on the couch. I curled up next to him, hugging him. “You’re the sweetest, Bubba. You also succeeded in making sure Tori will forever ha te me, but I can’t be mad at you.” His giant arms hugged me tight.

“I’ve missed my spider monkey,” he said quietly. I laughed, hugging him tighter.

Everyone left as it got dark outside. Adrik cleaned up the few dishes in the kitchen, keeping a watchful eye on me. “Are you tired again, solnishko? You’ve been up for quite a while.”

“I’m a little tired, but I’m tired of sleeping. I haven’t done anything but sleep for days.” I stretched my sore muscles.

“We can go lie down. You might fall asleep again. You need to rest. Doctor’s orders. My orders too,” he said walking to me, his hands grabbing my hips and pulling me to him. I wanted to kiss him but didn’t want to make our two-week prison sentence any worse than it already was. I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t be tempted.

“Are you okay? Is your headache back?” he asked, concern in his voice.
“No. No, I’m just trying to not look at you, so I won’t want to fu ck you. It’s not working. I still want to.” I said, smiling but keeping my eyes closed.
He cursed in Russian under his breath. “Two weeks. Just two weeks,” he muttered as he picked me up and carried me to the bedroom.

I kept my eyes closed, as it did make my head feel better. Movement was still sketchy for my brain to process. It also helped me ignore my growing desire to jump on top of him and rip his clothes off. I felt the bed dip as he got into bed beside me. “Come here,” he said, pulling me toward him. I rolled over and felt his arms wrap around me as I rested my head on his na ked chest. His hand found its way under my shirt, lightly running up and down my back. I sighed, loving it anytime his hands were on me. “Two weeks,” he muttered as he pulled me closer. I draped my leg over his, as [ started to fall asleep yet again. I heard him curse softly. “Two weeks,” was the last thing I heard before falling asleep.

A week had passed since Misha and I were attacked. My head felt better, for the most part. I still had bruising of course and my stitches wouldn’t come out for another week. I hadn’t left the building since the attack, but I could at least go to the lower floors to visit Ms. Jackson and Mr. Turner, as well as hang out with the guys when Adrik was busy. I was starting to feel like the annoying little sister, as I followed them around, but was still unable to do anything.

We had the ball in two weeks. Apparently, it was a yearly occurrence in the city. The city’s wealthiest people would get together for some kind of fundraising prospect. Adrik told me they changed the recipient every year. This year was a children’s charity. This year was also when Adrik was being given an award from the people of the city, for his work in the city and his devotion to the people, so he had to be there. Which meant the guys also had to be there. Which
meant I also had to be there.
I was not looking forward to having to wear a formal dress for an entire evening. And heels. I knew I was going to fall at some point. I’d already told all the guys they were going to have to take turns holding me off the floor so I wouldn’t have to walk. They promised they would help me out. I also got a dress that was long enough that I could take my shoes off and no one would know. If this event took too long, I was depositing my shoes in the nearest plant and walking around barefoot.

The bright side of all of this was that my three day fast after the attack, as well as my appetite still not returning to normal, meant I had lost the five pounds I was hoping to lose before the event, which was helpful since I wasn’t allowed to run or workout for another week. I was still basically useless. And bored. So bored.
I got a call from the shop where I got my dress. They wanted me to come in for a fitting before they sent the dress home with me. Because I was slightly tall for a girl, it meant I needed extra length, so they had to special order the dress for me. Andrei was free, so he was the lucky guy that got to take me. Viktor had been the one to go with me to pick the dress out, which was a hilarious sight. This giant Russian bear of a man looking at pretty dresses with his boss’s girlfriend.

Viktor offered valuable insight, however. He could tell me what kind of dresses Adrik’s past girlfriends had worn to such events. I was fairly certain that they showed way more skin than I was planning to, but I was also certain they did not have as many imperfections to hide as I did. I decided on a black halter neck gown that had a lace bodice and back, so it covered most of my back. My arms and shoulders were exposed. You could see the faintest bit of my scars, but they were mostly covered. It also had a very high slit in the skirt, so I wasn’t being completely prudish.
When I came out of the dressing room to show Viktor, he was speechless and told me that Adrik would love it. “You must buy that one, sestrichka. You must. None of his girlfriends have ever worn anything like that. He will love it. You
look beautiful.”

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Sixty-Three
Sephie

On our way to the dress shop, I asked Andrei how things were going with Tori. He exhaled loudly. “Spider monkey, 1 don’t know what she wants. I don’t think she knows what she wants. I keep trying to make her happy, but it seems like
I keep failing. Miserably.”

“Is she mad at you again?” He nodded his head. “What for this time? You haven’t even seen her in a couple of weeks?!”

“That’s why she’s mad.”
“Can’t she come to the city? She has a car, right? I mean, if we’re not at the house, what is she doing, exactly?
He took his eyes off the road to look at me. “That’s exactly what I said!”
“So…? Why won’t she come to the city? She can’t be mad at you for having to work when she’s perfectly capable of coming to see you. That’s a weird power move.”

“Thank you!”

“Have you specifically asked her? Like literally said, “Tori, I would like it if you came here since I can’t come back to the house right now’ or did you just vaguely hint at it without specifically asking her?”

He got quiet. “Net. I didn’t ask her like that.”

“Okay, try that. If that doesn’t work, then you need to move on from her. She’s proving to be very complicated. Is she good in bed at least? Wait, no. Forget I asked that question. I don’t need to know.” I sat in silence as he laughed. Then I added, “okay, forget I said forget I asked the question. I need to know. There has to be a reason you’re putting up with this.”

“Da.” His cheeks started to turn red, but he didn’t say anything more. I reached over and patted his shoulder as he dr ove.

“You go, Bubba.” When I tried the dress on, it had been a little snug on me before. Now it was loose. The seamstress went to work, marking where it needed to be taken in. Great, now I’m going to be paranoid about eating too much until this stu pid ball is over. She finished putting dozens of pens in the bodice of the dress and asked, “you want to show your boyfriend?”

I laughed. “He’s not my…oh never mind. Yes, I’ll show him.” She pulled the curtains back from the fitting room, revealing me to Andrei.

“Spider monkey…” he said, his mo uth open. “You look like a girl!”

“I KNOW! It’s crazy right?” He rubbed his face with both of his hands, like he was still astonished at the sight of me in a dress. I walked closer, turning so he could see the back. “I did good, huh? You can’t see anything,” I said, pointing to my back. He stood up to get a closer look.

“Only if you’re close and you’re looking for them. You can’t really see anything.” He looked me up and down one more time. “Boss is going to love this dress. It’s perfect for you.”
“You really think so?” I asked as I twirled in front of him.

He laughed as he grabbed my hand and twirled me again. “He’s going to spend the whole night dancing with you and nothing else.”

“Wait, what? There’s dancing involved?”

He laughed. “It’s a ball, spider monkey. What did you think there was going to be?”

“Not dancing. I did not bet on dancing.” I looked up at him, suddenly even more terrified of having to go to this thing. “Bubba! I don’t know how to dance!”

“Misha will teach you. It’s simple. He taught me,” he said as he placed a hand on my back, keeping my hand in his. He smiled down at me and lifted me slightly off the floor as he stepped around the small area in the dress shop. “See? You don’t even have to do anything,” he grinned at me.

“I can handle this. I can totally handle this. It’s your job to make sure that he does not break either of his arms before this event. I’m holding you personally responsible,” I said, trying to look at him as seriously as I could.
He spun me around one more time, then set me down and saluted me.
On the way back to the penthouse, Andrei’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at it. I heard him curse under his breath. He threw it on the console and rubbed his face in his hand.

“Well, that doesn’t look good,” I said.

“Tori.”

“What now?”

“She’s asking if I’m coming to the house tonight for the weekend.”

“Soooo….why don’t you take this opportunity to ask her to come to the city instead? Make something up for why you can’t go back to the house. Blame it on me again. She can’t ha te me more than she already does, but then ask her to come here.”

He hesitated. I picked his phone up and offered to do it for him. He just nodded his head.

I can’t come to the house this weekend. Boss needs me here. Any chance you can come here instead?
I set his phone down and waited. There was silence until we got all the way back to the penthouse. We were in the elevator when she finally texted him back. I wanted to grab the phone from him to see her response, but I refrained. His face told me it was a good answer, anyway. He grinned when he read her response and hugged me.

“Relationship coach spider’monkey, what would I do without you?”

“Not get laid. Clearly.”

The door dinged, signaling that we had arrived at the top floor. He bent down and spread his arms for me to jump on his back as the doors opened.

“Oh, he ll yeah, I totally earned this one,” I said as I jumped on his back.
The two guards outside the penthouse both gave us funny looks as he walked us down the short hallway to the penthouse. He nodded toward me, “spider monkey,” was all he sald to them, like it was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

Adrik was in the kitchen when Andrei walked in with me. “Where have you two been?” he asked, amused at me on Andrei’s back.

“I had to go to the dress shop to get my dress fitted. I made Bubba take me,” I said hopping down.

“Oh? All is well, then?” Adrik asked. He had tried to get me to tell him what the dress looked like, but I wouldn’t do it. He was mostly looking at Andrei when he asked the question.
Andrei answered him in Russian, so I couldn’t understand. I saw Adrik’s eyes going wide. I glared at Andrei, who put his hands up and took a step back.

“I didn’t tell him what it looks like, spider monkey. I promise!” He was still walking slowly backward toward the door.

I felt Adrik’s arm around my waist and felt his breath on my neck. “He told me I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off you the entire night once I saw you in that dress,” he said quietly against my neck.

I sent one more glare in Andrei’s direction. He grinned at me and quickly walked out the door. I turned toward Adrik, moving my hands to his neck, running them through his hair. “You promise he didn’t tell you what it looks like?”

He smiled down at me, kissing the tip of my nose. “I promise, solnishko. He kept me in the dark, as you wish.”
“Good.” I grinned at him. “I want it to be a surprise. I might as well have fun if I’m being forced to attend this thing anyway.”

“If Andrei is correct and I won’t be able to keep my hands off you, then we might not be staying the whole time anyway. It won’t be so bad,” he smiled as he kissed my lips. He pulled back and looked at the stitches over my eye, brushing my curls from my face. “I thought girls like to get dressed up and go out and show off and all that nonsense?”

“Other girls might like that. This girl thinks that’s a lot of effort for nonsense. But I will do it since you’re the favored son of the city. And somebody has to keep the rest of the women off you in public.”
“What other women?” he asked, smirking.

I grinned at him, kissing him. “Good answer.”

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Sixty-Four
Sephie

I woke up that night with a terrible headache. I hadn’t had any issues since the night of the attack, but now it felt like my head was being split open again. I got up, fumbling around in the dark, trying to make my way to the kitchen. I misjudged where the bedroom door was. I ran into a wall and cursed. Adrik must’ve heard it because he was up right away.

“Solnishko, what’s wrong?” he asked, switching on the light.

I squinted at the light. “My head is pounding again. I was trying to make it to the kitchen.”

He was next to me immediately. “What do you need? Water? You never took any of the pain pills they sent home. Do you want one of those?”

I nodded, closing my eyes harder, holding my head in my hands. It was starting to feel like my sk ull was being pried open from the inside. He gently walked me back to the bed.

“You stay. I’ll get it for you.”
I laid down and within a minute, he was back with a glass of water and a pill. He set the water on the table and turned the light out. I heard him pick up the remote for the blinds. I knew he was closing them so it would be as dark as possible in the room. I felt the bed dip as he got back in bed. He pulled me onto his chest, his hands running lightly through my hair.
Either this pill was stronger than what they gave me at the hospital, or I wasn’t in as much pain as I was the day of the attack, because it knocked me out in a matter of minutes.

I woke up sometime later, not knowing what time it was, or what day it was. I was fully expecting to have slept for multiple days once again, as I felt super groggy. I felt around on the bed for Adrik, but he was gone. The room was dark, so I felt my way toward the bathroom to turn on a light. I closed my eyes before switching the light on. I’d learned it was easier to not completely shock my eyes.

I felt nauseous again, which is why I hadn’t wanted to take any of those pills to begin with. Looks like food is off the table for today. As I opened my eyes, it wasn’t as bright as I was expecting. I left the light on and found a pair of leggings to put on. I left the bedroom to find Adrik.

He was again at the kitchen counter, looking over files. He saw me come into the kitchen. He stood up and walked to me. “How are you feeling?” His face had a worried look on it.

“Better now. Please tell me I didn’t sleep for a day and a half this time.”
He smiled. “No, just twelve hours this time. It’s only Saturday afternoon.”

“Well, that’s progress, I guess.”

“Are you hungry?”

“Noooooo. No food. Food is a bad idea right now.”

He clicked his tongue. “I don’t like that you don’t eat. You’re too skinny.”

“Trust me, I don’t like it either. I’d like nothing more than to eat a giant sandwich right now,” I said. My stomach churned, making me feel like I was going to vomit. I put my hand over my mo uth until the feeling passed. “Bad idea. No food talk.”
He looked at me, still somewhat concerned, “I think you should take it easy the next few days. Maybe you overdid it with your trip to the dress shop? Is that the only place you went yesterday?”

“Yep. We weren’t even gone that long.”

“You still have another week of bed rest. Maybe you shouldn’t leave. Maybe it’s too much?”

I sighed. “Boring. But if it keeps me from having another headache like that one, I’ll do it.”

He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to his chest. “I’m sorry you must deal with this, solnishko. All of this.” He sighed as he held me close.
“None of this is your fault. You have nothing to be sorry for. You’ve done nothing but keep me safe and take care of me,” I said, hugging him closer and inhaling his intoxicating scent. We stood in silence for a moment, until the buzzing of his phone interrupted the silence. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the kitchen with him.

He glanced at his phone, looking to me. “Ivan. Would you like to answer?”
I shook my head, placing my hand on my stomach again. I still felt like I was going to pu ke. He raised his eyebrow, clicking his tongue. As he talked to Ivan, I sat the on the kitchen counter, hoping my queasy stomach would settle down. He set his phone down and stepped between my legs. His hand cupped my face, concern all over his face. “I don’t like this, solnishko. Do you need to see the doctor again? I can call my personal doctor to come here, so you won’t have to leave.”

I closed my eyes and leaned into his touch. “No, I don’t think there’s anything they can do for me. I don’t think there’s much a person can do for a concussion, other than wait it out. I think this is from the st upid pain pill. I don’t want to take another one of those.”

Before he could respond, I heard the guys walking into the penthouse. Ivan walked in the kitchen, looking somewhat concerned. “Princess, you look terrible.”

“I feel terrible, Grumplestiltskin,” I said with my eyes still closed, still enjoying Adrik’s warm touch against my face.
Viktor had walked in behind Ivan. He stood against the opposite counter, his arms folded across his broad chest. “You hit your head harder than you thought. You have another headache?”

“Not right now. I did last night. I took a pain pill to make it go away and I think that’s why I feel like sh it now.”
Ivan clicked his tongue. I opened my eyes to see him nod his head to Adrik, who stepped to the side. Ivan stood in front of me and took my hand in his. He motioned for Adrik to look, then he squeezed a spot in between my thumb and forefinger. Initially it hurt, but the longer he squeezed, the better my head felt. I looked at him, my eyes wide. He smirked at me, then moved to a spot just below my wrist, showing Adrik the new spot. This one took a little longer, but as he held the pressure there, my stomach started to feel better and the nausea slowly passed. I looked up at him, my mo uth hanging open in shock. “How did you do that?”

He smiled at me. Winking, he said, “you’re not the only one that ha tes doctors and taking pills.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Don’t tell Andrei, but you’re my favorite now.” I kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

He looked at Adrik and said, “I can show you more spots to help her. Some on her foot too. Acupuncture will help her get relief.”

“Whatever she needs. I can have someone come here for acupuncture every day if she needs it. Whatever makes her feel better and not have to sleep for days at a time. It’s getting boring without her,” he said, winking at me.

Viktor laughed from across the kitchen. “We all tried to hang out with Tori, since she’s here this weekend. It’s not the same. Not the same at all.”

I put my hands over my mouth. “Oh no! Is Bubba okay? Is he in trouble now? Do we need to save him?”
Viktor chuckled. “When is he not in trouble?”

“Harsh. But fair. She is wound much tighter than I thought she was going to be. I’m somewhat regretting facilitating that arrangement,” I said.

Ivan had taken my other arm and was pressing on the acupuncture points on that arm to help give me more relief as we talked. Adrik watched him closely, like he was taking mental notes. I thought for moment, then added, “it is a unique situation that you guys are in, though. It’s a lot for someone to walk into.”
Ivan looked down at me, changing the pressure point to the one below my wrist. “You did just fine.”
I smiled up at him. “Because I embrace the chaos.”

He laughed. He let go of my arm. “Better?” he asked as he stepped away.

I patted my stomach. “So much better. I feel like I can eat soon. Maybe.”

Adrik returned to stand beside me, his arm around my waist. He kissed my cheek. “I’m so happy you feel better, solnishko.” He looked genuinely relieved. I leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder. “I will get you acupuncture. Whatever helps your appetite. You’re too bony now,” he said poking my hip bone. “You’re going to start bruising me. I’m very delicate.” He smiled down at me, kissing me quickly.

“You’re the reason I have to wear a dress in public, so you did this to yourself.”

Ivan said, “hey hey hey, no fighting you two. You sound like Andrei and Tori. We need one couple that’s happy.”

I laughed, pulling Adrik in front of me. I turned him to face Viktor and Ivan so he could still talk to them and hung my arms over his shoulders, resting my chin on his shoulder. He grabbed both my hands and held them in his. “Have you met me, Ivan? Don’t you know by now that I’m rarely serious?”

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Sixty-Five
Adrik

Sephie managed to eat a little bit, after Ivan showed me the pressure points to help give her relief. I was hopeful that she would be able to get some sleep without having to take another pill. I’ve been worried about her since the attack. She’s so strong, but she hasn’t been completely herself yet. I hated seeing her in pain in any way. Of course, she was still fun to be around and always looking after everyone else, but we could all tell that she was having to make an effort to be that way. Normally, it came so naturally. Now, she was having to force it.

At least now I had a way to get her some relief. I felt like I could do something finally. I’ve felt mostly useless throughout this whole situation, which drives me crazy. It only adds to my frustration with everything that’s going on with Salvadori and Anthony. Salvadori had tried his best to get the other bosses to turn against me. There were six bosses under me. Salvadori managed to take two to his side, but the other three came to me immediately when Salvadori approached them. This showed me they were loyal to me.

I was working on ways to get more information from Sicily on Anthony and Lorenzo. One of the bosses that was loyal to me, Armando, had extensive family in Italy. His family was powerful in Italy, as well as in the city. He was helping to set up an information network from Sicily. We had gotten bits and pieces of information so far. Nothing substantial, but information takes time to collect.

It looked like Salvadori wanted to start a war in the city. I was trying to avoid that, at all costs. The people of the city didn’t need to be involved in this petty dispute. I would take the fight to Sicily and strike first before I would let Salvadori unleash chaos on the city like he was planning.

I looked down at Sephie, sleeping soundly on my chest. I ran my hand through her hair lightly. She loved it anytime my hands were in her hair, even in her sleep. It would make her snuggle into me, sometimes making the cutest little cooing noises as she slept. It was one of my favorite things to do when she was sleeping. It made me smile every time.

She wrapped her body around mine tighter as my hand ran through her curls. I groaned quietly. I wanted her so badly, right now. She still had another week to go for her bed rest. I didn’t want to mess that up, so I was trying my best to refrain. With each day, it got more and more difficult to keep my hands off her. Especially on days when she was feeling well and showed glimpses of being her old self. Her sense of humor, the brightness she would bring to everything she did, was sexy as he ll.

At this point, she could smile at me, and I’d be ready to rip her clothes off.
Her fingers lightly started to move on my chest. She was still sound asleep. This was something she would do occasionally. I’d decided she was playing the piano in her sleep. Her fingers always moved rhythmically when she would do it and she was always sleeping peacefully when it happened. I ran my hand down to her waist, holding her close. I drifted off to sleep as she played lightly on my chest.

The next morning, I woke up to Sephie’s hands running lightly over my back. Her body was pressed against mine, her arms wrapped around me. When she noticed me stirring, she reached up and kissed my lips lightly.

“Good morning,” she said as I opened my eyes. Her sweet smile the first thing I saw..

“Mmm. Good morning, my love. How do you feel this morning?”

“Better. Ivan is magic, apparently.” I heard her stomach growl as she talked. “My stomach agrees,” she said, as she smiled bigger.

“This is very good news. I will have someone come today for acupuncture. You’ll feel normal again in no time.” | pushed her onto her back, folling half on top of her. “Which means I can wake you up the way I really want to once again,” I said kissing her deeply.

She moaned into my mouth, making me want her that much more. I kissed her neck, biting softly. I heard her gasp. “Fuck this week can’t go by fast enough,” she groaned.

I laughed as I kissed her chest. “You and me both, solnishko. You and me both. I want nothing more than to be deep inside you right now.”

Her breath caught. “You are not making this any easier.”

“I’m sorry…that’s a lie. I’m not sorry,” I said, grinning at her.

She pushed me off her, getting out of bed. “I don’t want another headache. You stay away from me!” she said, laughing.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. For real. I’ll behave. I promise.”

Ivan knew of an acupuncturist, and she was able to come to the penthouse that afternoon. I gave them privacy in one of the spare rooms, but I was close by. I heard a few painful cries from Sephie and wanted to go in the room, but Ivan stopped me. “She’s okay. The pain is short-lived.”

I refrained from barging into the room. Sephie was quiet the rest of the time. Well over an hour later, the acupuncturist came out of the room, closing the door behind her. “She will be out in a minute. She’s a strong woman. Her body has been through a lot, but she’s healing.” She looked at me. “You’re her boyfriend?” I nodded. “You’re helping her more than you know. Her qi would spike when she talked of you. You make her even stronger than she already is.”
I ran my hand through my hair, not knowing what to say. I looked to Ivan and back to the acupuncturist. “What do I do? How do I help her more?”

She smiled. “Keep loving her.” She grabbed my hand and pressed on roughly the same spot as Ivan had used on Sephie yesterday. She closed her eyes while she pressed, then said, “she’s doing the same for you. You two make each other stronger. You each have what the other needs. You are the yin; she is the yang. Together you find balance.” She let go of my hand, still smiling at me.
I stood, speechless. Ivan looked at her, “how often does she need acupuncture to help with her concussion? The pain pills they gave her at the hospital make her sleep for days and make her nauseous so that she can’t eat. We don’t want her to take them, but she had a crushing headache the other day after going out,” he said.

“She’s got blockages, some from the attack, some from her past. I can come everyday for this week, but as she clears, she won’t need it as often. She’ll start to feel better right away, and she should have an appetite again.”

I extended my hand to her. “Thank you for making her feel better. Whatever she needs she will have.”
The door to the spare room opened and Sephie walked out, looking more relaxed and yet more alert than I’d seen her since the attack. Her light was coming back. She walked to me, tucking herself in my side where she fit perfectly. Ivan looked at me, he had clearly noticed it too. He walked the acupuncturist out, after Sephie had thariked her once again.
I looked down at Sephie. “How was it?”

“Painful at first. But then it was so much better. I don’t know, I feel lighter if that makes sense?”

I smiled at her. “I can see it. You look more like your old self. It makes me happy. She will come tomorrow again.” I kissed the top of her head. “She says you’re very strong.” She hid her face in my shoulder. “You’re cute when you’re shy, my love.”

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Sixty-Six
Adrik

We spent the evening together with the guys and Tori before she went back to the house. She cooked for the house staff when we weren’t there, so she was still needed during the week while they were there. Sephie’s appetite was better than it had been in days, making me happy. Misha was also very relieved to see her eating again. He’s been beating himself up since the attack, thinking about all the alternative things he could’ve done. It’s taken a toll on him. He hasn’t been sleeping well.

Of course, Sephie noticed that he was more stressed than usual. She found the perfect moment to go to him when everyone else was busy talking amongst themselves so they could have a semi-private moment. I saw her talk to him, somewhat sternly it looked like, and then he just crumbled. She stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. He held onto her like he was drowning and she was his lifeline.

They both wiped their eyes as they smiled at each other. As always, she knew exactly what Misha needed to help him feel better. She was the only one that could’ve said the words he needed to hear and have him actually hear them. We had all been telling him the exact same thing she likely just said to him, but he wouldn’t listen to any of us. She was the only one that could’ve saved him from his own mind.

She walked back to me, that smile that could stop my heart across her beautiful face. I pulled her to me. Leaning down to her ear, I whispered, “I’m in love with you. Completely in love with you.”

She leaned back, looking at me with wide eyes, her mo uth slightly open. I smiled at her, kissing her gently. “You have my heart, Persephone. It’s yours.”

“Adrik…I…” she stammered.
I smiled down at her. “You don’t have…” She didn’t let me finish my sentence. Her lips were on mine, her passion for me the only thing I could feel. I knew she felt the same for me. She didn’t need to tell me. I know I surprised her with my declaration, but after what the acupuncturist said earlier today, watching Sephie’s light return, and watching her with Misha, I needed to tell her. I’ve loved her since that first night I saw her in the restaurant. I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.

She broke the kiss, pressing her forehead to mine, breathing heavily. “Adrik…”

I loved hearing her say my name. For someone who rarely used it, I loved hearing it roll off her tongue. My name was one thing that not many people knew. Even Tori didn’t know my name and she’d worked for me for a few years now. I preferred to remain anonymous. It allowed me more freedom. But thinking back to that first night in the parking lot of the restaurant, talking to Sephie, I didn’t hesitate to tell her my name.
She was the only one I wanted. For as long as she would have me.


Sephie
The second week of my bed rest went much better than the first. With the daily acupuncture, I felt so much better. I felt stronger, more like myself. My appetite had returned, even though I was still slightly paranoid about eating too much. I still had a week to go before the ball and fitting into that dress.

Adrik was on the phone with Armando. He was pacing back and forth in the kitchen as he talked to Armando. Not because he was angry, it was just his habit to walk back and forth on long calls. I watched him from the couch, where I was waiting for the acupuncturist to show up for my session of the day.

I smiled, thinking about the events of last weekend. We had spent Sunday night together with all the guys and Tori. It was a nice time, but I noticed that Misha was struggling. Adrik hadn’t told me that Misha had been beating himself up me ntally about what happened. I managed to catch Misha slightly away from everyone else so we could have a private conversation.

“Misha, you look like blo ody he ll. You’re beating yourself up over what happened, aren’t you?” He just nodded, without saying a word.

“Misha, look at me. Listen to me. Stop it. Stop it right now. Nothing about what happened was your fault. Stop replaying it in your mind. Stop keeping yourself in a me ntal prison because you feel responsible. You did everything right. I’m grateful you were there. I’m grateful you were at the hospital with me. I’m grateful for you, Misha.” I saw him struggling to keep it together, so I reached up and hugged his neck. He latched onto me tightly. Poor guy. I didn’t know he’d been struggling all week while I was mostly sleeping. I should’ve had this conversation with him sooner. “You’re my favorite. Don’t tell the others.”
He laughed and stepped back slightly. He wiped his eyes as he stood up, which made me have to wipe my own. “Thank you, gazelle.”

“Anytime, kiddo.”
I walked back to Adrik, who was looking at me with even more adoration than usual. He pulled me to him, whispering in my ear, “I’m in love with you. Completely in love with you.” I was shocked that he said it. I knew he loved me, just as I knew that I loved him, but he hasn’t said the words yet. Nor had I.

I laughed at myself for not knowing what to say to him. It didn’t even bother him that I hadn’t said it in return. I just kissed him with as much passion as I could transmit in one kiss. I think he knew that I loved him, but I needed to tell him. I was just waiting for the right moment to tell him and as always, he was giving me the space to be unapologetically me.
That was one thing I adored about him. He was so confident in my love for him. He had five chiseled, handsome men working as his bodyguards that he would leave alone with me regularly and he never once acted jealous. I was allowed to goof around with the guys as much as I wanted and he would just laugh at my antics. I never looked at any of them the same way I looked at Adrik, but not every man would’ve been okay with my goofiness around the guys. He accepted me for me, and I loved that about him.

He had ended his call and caught me staring at him, completely lost in thought. He walked to me, leaning down to kiss me. “What are you thinking about, solnishko?”

I sighed, smiling up at him. “How much I love you.”

His breath caught. He stared at me intensely for a moment, then pulled me off the couch to stand in front of him. His hands pulled me close, his blue eyes never leaving mine. “Solnishko, you’ve made me the happiest man.”

“I can say the same. You make me the happiest woman,” I said, standing on my toes to kiss him. He kissed me passionately, lifting me off the ground without breaking the kiss. As he spun me around, I smiled against his lips, laughing.

I heard Ivan come in with the acupuncturist. Adrik set me down, still holding onto me. The acupuncturist smiled broadly when she saw us together. “You’re feeling better, Miss Sephie.”

I nodded. “Much better, thanks to you.”

She nodded toward Adrik and said, “not only thanks to me.”
I looked up at him and grinned, knowing she was right. I kissed him again, quickly, before walking to the spare room with the acupuncturist.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Sixty-Seven
Sephie

Once the session was done, I asked her, “um, do you think it’ll be okay for me to start doing more stuff? Like can I leave the building now?”

She nodded as she was packing up her things. “You’re much clearer now. You feel stronger, no?”

“I do. I’m just paranoid about the headache coming back. I also, uh, want to do more physical activities.” I was thinking about Adrik when I said that but trying so hard to make it sound like I wanted to workout again.
She gave me a knowing look. “Your boyfriend.” My cheeks flushed and I nodded. “He will help you heal, Sephie. You two find balance within each other. You need him as much as he needs you. You’re good for each other.”

I smiled and hugged her. I couldn’t help it. This was the best news I’d gotten in two weeks. She laughed and continued to pack up her things. “If your headache comes back, you call me. Your boyfriend is paying me extremely well to come here. Even if it comes in the middle of the night, I’ll be here to take care of it.” She looked at me seriously, handing me
her card.

“Thank you,” I said.
We walked out of the spare room, finding Ivan and Adrik in the kitchen talking. Ivan stepped toward us so he could walk the acupuncturist out. Adrik thanked her, then looked to me, smiling but slightly perplexed. I couldn’t stop smiling.

He raised his eyebrow, looking at me. I walked to him, “is Ivan coming back?”

He shook his head no. “He’s taking care of a few things for me this afternoon.” He still had a look of slight confusion on his face.

“Good,” I said, standing on my toes to kiss him. I kissed him gently at first, having fun keeping him confused. It didn’t take very long and I couldn’t help myself. I deepened the kiss. I tugged at his shirt, untucking it. My fingers fumbling quickly to unbutton it. He pulled it over his head, his lips only briefly leaving mine. He picked me up and set me down on the counter. I could feel the fire in his kiss, like he was incapable of holding back anymore.

He ripped my shirt off quickly, his hands roaming over my bare skin, giving me goosebumps everywhere he touched. He pushed me back, grabbing the waistband of my pants. He lifted my hips and pulled them off. His blue eyes darker, as he looked at me with intense desire. I chewed my bottom lip, looking at him standing in front of me shirtless. He stopped and looked at my bottom lip, gently swiping his thumb over it. He leaned down and su cked my bottom lip in between his lips, biting it gently. I moaned in his mo uth, grabbing onto his neck and pushing my hips toward him.

He reached behind my back, unhooking my bra, throwing it on the floor. His hands ran down to my hips. He hooked his thumbs in my panties, ripping them off me. I threw my head back laughing. “I’ll buy you new ones, solnishko,” he said as he kissed my neck. He bit my neck harder than normal, causing me to inhale sharply. My hands found his belt, undoing it with lightning speed. I unbuttoned his pants, pulling on them to unzip him like he always did to mine. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me close. I wrapped my legs around him, as he groaned against my neck.
He stopped long enough to rid himself of his pants. He pulled me to the edge of the counter, wrapping my legs around him again. He pulled me close, kissing me deeply as he entered me. I gasped, not realizing how much I had missed this feeling. He stopped for a few seconds once he was all the way in, letting me adjust. His blue eyes dark with lust, he whispered in my ear, “I don’t think I can hold back for very long, love. I don’t want to hurt you.”

I pushed my hips into him slowly, holding onto him. “Then don’t try,” I said, nipping at his ear. He groaned against my neck, slamming into me. I threw my head back, reveling in the feeling of fullness that came with his intensity. I wrapped my legs around him tighter as he grabbed onto my a ss and started thrusting into me hard and fast. I braced myself with one arm to meet his thrusts, knowing I wasn’t going to last long either. I was already close to the edge. I could feel my body building to explosion, tingles exploding over my entire body. My body exploded into an orgasm. He managed to keep his rhythm until I started to come down and then he exploded in his own orgasm. He stilled, still holding me close, both of us breathing heavily against the other.

“I missed you, solnishko,” he said kissing my neck gently.

“I missed you, my love,” I said quietly in his ear. He leaned back so he could look me in my eyes, a small smile on his lips. He kissed my lips, su cking my bottom lip in between his teeth again.
*I love you, Persephone,” he said, his blue eyes staring intently into mine. I looked into his eyes, feeling like I could get lost. “I love you, Adrik,” I said, never taking my eyes off his.
The next few days were a blur. Adrik and I would take every opportunity to sneak off by ourselves like we were teenagers. We couldn’t get enough of each other. It had always been that way, but it felt like it was at a new level now. The more time we spent together, the better I felt.

We were lying in bed, both sweaty and exhausted, he pulled me to him. “You’re sure this isn’t too much for you? I don’t want to hurt you or have your headache come back.”
I rested my chin on his chest so I could look at him, my fingers running lightly over his chest. “I feel better, I promise.

It’s not too much. My headache hasn’t come back and we’ve been screwing like rabbits the last couple of days. If it was going to come back, I would think it would’ve done so by now.”

He smiled, but still had an air of concern on his face. “Maybe we should get you acupuncture again, just to be safe. Before the ball in two days. Your light shines brighter when you have it done,” he said as he lightly ran a finger over the features of my face. “You look even more beautiful.”

I closed my eyes, enjoying his touch. “I won’t argue. It does make me feel better. But I also feel fine without it, too. And if it makes me prettier, then maybe that will help keep the other women off you at the ball,” I said ginning at him.

“It will mean the guys will be busy keeping the other men away from you.”

“What other men?”
He laughed. “Good answer.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Sixty-Eight
Sephie

I had gone with Ivan the day before the ball to pick up my dress. I needed to try it on one more time, just to make sure all the alterations were good. Ivan was even more comical in the dress shop than Viktor was. Ivan was so serious all the time, he looked like he was mad at all the dresses. I asked him if he wanted to see the dress before we got there. He said he did, so I swore him to secrecy.

“You can see it, but Adrik doesn’t know what it looks like, so you’re not allowed to tell him. I want it to be a surprise. I’ll hurt you if you tell him,” I said, as threatening as I could.

“I saw what you can do. I won’t say a word to him,” he said, his hands up in surrender, a small smile on his face.
When I came out of the fitting room, he was speechless. He just stood and looked at me for a moment.

“Princess…”

“You think he’ll like it?” I asked, showing him the 360 view.

“He will love it. You look like a princess.”

I laughed. “Do princesses wear black?”

“Maybe not. But Queens of the Underworld do.”

I raised an eyebrow at him, then smiled widely at him. We dropped the dress off at Ms. Jackson’s apartment. She was going to help me get ready, as I really had no girlfriends and I had no clue about makeup or how to put my hair up into anything other than a bun, a braid, or a ponytail. Ms. Jackson said she knew exactly what to do, which was 100% more than I knew, so I trusted her.

When we walked into her apartment, Ivan surprised us both by asking her, “when’s your next Bingo night, Ms. Jackson?”

She laughed. “Are you offering to be my date?”

“Yes, ma’am. Anytime you want one, you have a standing date.” I hung my dress up on the door frame of her spare room, my mo uth open in shock.

She cut her eyes to me and just smiled. She walked to him and put her arm through his. “You guys get through the ball and we’ll talk,” she winked at him.

As we were leaving her apartment, Mr. Turner was walking down the hall toward his door.

“Miss Sephie, Mr. Ivan, how are you both today?”

“Great, Mr. Turner, how are you? How was work?”

“Oh, it was fine. Fine. They’re getting ready for tomorrow night. You’re all going to be there, right? It is a special night for your boss, after all.”

“Yes, Mr. Turner. We’ll all be there,” Ivan said.

“Good, good. You know there’s supposed to be a lot of people attending. I feel better knowing you’ll all be there,” he said as he looked from Ivan to me and back to Ivan. Ivan nodded his head and put his arm around my shoulders.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Turner. She’s going to be safe. We can’t live without her anyway. We’ve got everything covered,” he said, a small smile on his lips.

“That’s what I like to hear, young man,” Mr. Turner said as he tipped his hat to us, continuing to his apartment.

Ivan left his arm around my shoulders and walked us to the elevator. I wrapped my arm around his waist when we stepped into the elevator. “Ivan the Squishy,” I said, leaning my head against his shoulder.

I had more acupuncture the morning of the ball, per Adrik’s request. He said he wanted to make sure I would be okay and able to handle the evening’s event. Since it made me feel so much better, I wasn’t going to argue with him. I skipped breakfast and only ate a few bites here and there at lunch. I was paranoid about fitting into the dress, since it had been taken in.

I went to Ms. Jackson’s apartment in the afternoon. Misha escorted me down. Once I was in the apartment, he left me with Ms. Jackson. He said one of them would be back to get me, but they needed to get ready to go as well. I had to admit, I was looking forward to seeing them all in tuxedos.

Ms. Jackson went to work on my hair. She had looked at my dress and said I needed to wear my hair up. I did not argue with her. It took her a while to get my mass of hair contained. She was much more skilled than I was and once she was done, she had braided a few small strands at the front of my head and worked those into an intricate updo in the back. She left a few stray curls around my face, as she said it was somewhat my signature and I didn’t look right without them.

Once my hair was done, she got to work on my makeup. She knew I hated wearing makeup, so she kept it very light. She made me look like a classic movie star. “Makeup is meant to accentuate what you’ve got, not make you look like a completely different person,” she said as she worked on my face like she was a makeup artist in a former life.

“How did you learn how to do all this?” I asked, my eyes closed as she applied God knows what to my eyelids.

“When I was a spy, my cover was as an American movie star. I had to be glamorous all the time, so I learned to do my own hair and makeup to play the part. Once you learn a few tricks, it becomes quite easy.”

“Ms. Jackson, you’ve lived such an interesting life. How did I never know this about you?”

“Well, child, I don’t really broadcast that I used to be a spy to many people. There are probably still Russians out there that are still looking for me. I barely made it out of there alive, but that’s a story for another time.”

“I would love to hear it. When you get back from Bingo,” I said smiling at her. “Have you decided which one you’re taking to Bingo first? Are you going big and walking in with like three of them at once, like you’re the boss, applesauce?”

She put her hand over her mo uth as she laughed at the thought. Her cheeks flushed. “I hadn’t thought about that option, but now that you mention it, I might as well go big or go home.”

“Be fierce, Ms. Jackson. You own that fucking Bingo Hall.”

She continued laughing as she finished my makeup. She took a step back, to admire her work. “Okay, child. Take a look and tell me what you think,” she said holding up a mirror.
I checked myself out in the mirror.

“Ms. Jackson! You’re a miracle worker! I look like a girl! Like a real girl!” I was grinning from ear to ear as I looked at my reflection. It still looked like me, just enhanced. “It’s so perfect!”
She smiled at me, crossing her arms across her chest. “Let’s get you in your dress so I can see the whole picture.”

She helped me into the dress. I was so nervous she wasn’t going to be able to zip it up, but it fit perfectly. I exhaled, relieved that no additional help was needed to get me into the dress. She handed me my shoes and stepped back to take in the full picture. As I slipped into my shoes, I turned to look at her. She was leaning against the chair I had been sitting in. I could see the tears welling up in her eyes as she looked at me, almost like a mother would look at a daughter.

"Persephone, I am so proud of you. You are one he ll of a woman and you’re living up to your namesake.”
I felt the tears collecting in my eyes.

“Oh, Ms. Jackson. I’m going to ruin all your hard work.” I quickly dabbed the tears from my eyes so it wouldn’t mess anything up. I walked to her, bending down, and hugging her tightly. “Thank you. For everything. I love you, Ms. Jackson.”

“Oh, child. You deserve it all. And more.”

We heard a knock at her door. I stood up, still dabbing my eyes. “That’ll be one of the guys to take me upstairs.”
She took both of my hands in hers and looked me in the eyes. “I know you’re going to be nervous tonight; anybody would be. But I want you to remember who you’re named for and walk in like you own the da mn place. Queens don’t bow to anyone but their King. Remember that.”

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Sixty-Nine
Sephie

I smiled at her as we heard another knock on her door, a little louder this time. She walked toward the door and opened it. All five guys were in the hall outside Ms. Jackson’s apartment to escort me upstairs. They all looked incredibly handsome in their tuxedos. My mouth fell open, looking at each of them.

Ivan spoke first. “We couldn’t decide who would come get you, so we all came to get you.”

I walked toward them all, as they all stared at me like it was their first time seeing a girl. “I know, I know. Ms. Jackson works miracles, right?” I said, laughing.

“Ms. Jackson only helped bring out what was already there,” Viktor said, winking at me. I felt my cheeks flush. He offered me his arm. I slid my arm through his, thanking Ms. Jackson one more time before I left her apartment.
“You boys can show up looking like this anytime you please,” she said as she watched us walk down the hall toward the elevator.

When the doors opened to the penthouse, the two guards standing outside who usually didn’t pay me much attention, both stared at me as I walked by. Must be something to this whole looking like a girl thing

Before we walked into the penthouse, I suddenly got nervous. I stopped Ivan from opening the door. I looked at all of them, shaking my hands in front of me. “Fuck, I’m so nervous. Do you guys really think he’s going to like this?”

“Are you serious right now, spider monkey?” Andrei asked.

I nodded my head, still nervously shaking my hands in front of me. I chewed on my bottom lip. S hit. I have lipstick on. I shouldn’t do that. Oh jeez, I already messed up my makeup.
Misha stepped in front of me, both hands on my shoulders. “Gazelle, look at me. We’ve seen every one of Boss’s girlfriends. Not a single one of them can hold a candle to you. Trust us. He will LOVE it.”

I exhaled and closed my eyes. Ivan opened the door and stepped aside for me to walk through. “We’ll be waiting out here when you’re ready to go, princess.” He winked at me as I walked past.

I walked through the door, hearing Ivan close it behind me. My shoes clicked on the hard floors, announcing my arrival. Adrik was standing at the windows, looking out over the city as the sun began to set. He had laid his tux jacket over the back of one of the couches. While all the guys had a regular wh ite shirt with their tuxedo, his was black. I loved him in all black. There was something so sexy, so dangerous about him in all black.

He turned slowly to look at me, his hands in his pockets. As he turned toward me, I could see he had left the tie off and chose to leave his top two buttons undone. His hair was neatly in place, his day-old stubble giving his se x appeal an extra edge. I caught my breath as I took in his full picture.
As he caught sight of me, that sexy smirk appeared on his face. He slowly looked me up and down a few times. I had stopped walking, so he hadn’t seen the slit in the skirt yet. “Come here,” he said, extending his hand to me. As I took a step, revealing almost my entire leg, his eyes widened. He cursed under his breath, inhaling sharply. I took his hand and he twirled me around, so he could see the back.

“Sephie. I have no words. Beautiful doesn’t begin to describe it. You’re breathtaking.”

I turned to face him, still nervous. “You really like it?”

“I love it. You’ve exceeded all my expectations. The guys were right. I won’t be able to keep my hands off you.” He pulled me closer, kissing my lips gently. “They’re going to be busy tonight keeping the other men off you.”

I felt my cheeks flush, looking down. “At least there’s five of them. There’s only one of me. You’re going to have to let me have at least three of them to run interference with the women that are going to be vying for your attention.”

“They can try to get my attention, but none of them are my solnishko. I won’t be able to take my eyes off you.” He wrapped his hands around my waist, pulling me close. He put his face close to mine, lightly brushing mine with his facial hair. I giggled as he whispered, “you are living up to your namesake, my queen.”

I pulled him to me, holding him close to me. As soon as I felt his hands on me, I calmed down. I was going to need his touch tonight to help me keep my cool.

He kissed my cheek. “Come, we should go.” He walked to the couch, slipping his jacket on. He offered his arm. I slipped my arm through his. He stared at me for a moment, his blue eyes dark, before heading toward the door.

As he opened the door, we were met by all five guys, patiently waiting for us. They all had smirks on their faces as they Jooked at me. I smiled at them, knowing they all wanted to tell me “told you so” but they were trying to be nice to me.

“You guys were right.”

“I’m sorry, can we get that on a recording, princess?” Ivan said, smiling at me.

“Don’t push your luck.” I said, winking at him.

There was a red carpet set up to the side of the entrance of the hotel. I saw it as we dr ove past; my eyes went wide. Adrik smiled down at me, pulling me closer to him. “We’re skipping that. I don’t do press pictures.”

“This. This is why I love you.”
He chuckled, kissing my cheek. “I’m so glad you’re back. I missed the normal you.”

The SUVs pulled up to the sidewalk, away from the press and the red carpet. Adrik stepped out, extending his hand to me. I slid over to get out, trying not to flash everyone as I stepped out. Andrei, Viktor, and Misha stepped out with us. Ivan and Stephen would park the vehicles and meet us inside.

I looked at the three of them. “You boys clean up well. Eye candy, indeed,” I said smiling at them.
Viktor and Andrei led the way, with Misha behind us. We were far enough away that no one really noticed us walking toward the entrance. Mr. Turner was there at the door. His smile stretched across his face when he saw us approaching. He took his hat off, bowing to me.

“Miss Sephie, you look absolutely stunning tonight, young lady.”

I walked to him, reaching up to kiss his cheek. “You’re too kind, Mr. Turner.”
“I only speak the truth, my dear,” he said as he opened the door for us to enter the hotel.

The main floor of the hotel had several ballrooms of varying sizes and grandness for such occasions. We would be going to the largest one, as this was one of the biggest events the hotel held each year.

As we entered the ballroom, there were people everywhere. Adrik pulled me a little closer, whispering in my ear, “you stay with me or within sight of one of the guys tonight, okay?” I nodded my head. That would not be a problem. No way was I going to be left on my own with this many people around.

We were met with waiters carrying glasses of champagne. Adrik waved them away each time. His aversion to alcohol was one of the many things I loved about him. There was a live orchestra playing, with a large dance floor in one area. A stage with tables below it in another area. There were other waiters walking around with plates of food, as well as a bar toward the back of the ballroom. It was a sea of tuxedos and gowns.
Almost immediately, people began approaching Adrik. They would speak to him, shake his hand, and inevitably thank him for something he helped them with at some point. Somehow, he managed to remember every person’s name.

I leaned over to Andrei while Adrik was talking to yet another person. “How does he remember everyone’s name? I feel like I would fail that test miserably.”

“Me too,” he grinned at me.
Ivan and Stephen joined us. They stayed close, always within sight, but they tried to give Adrik and I room to mingle. Well, Adrik room to mingle. I didn’t know anybody. After like the 20th person came to speak to him, he walked to me. I felt his arm around my waist. He leaned down to my ear, “I need a break already. May I have this dance?” He stepped back and extended his hand to me. I took his hand, reluctantly.

“You know I don’t know how to dance, right?” I said quietly as I followed him to the dance floor.

He turned to me, holding one hand in his, wrapping his other arm around my waist. “Somehow, I think you’ll be a natural at this.” He pulled me close, so that my body was against his. “All you have to do, my love, is look at me and follow my lead.” He took a few steps, my legs following his motion instinctively.

“And I happen to know for a fact, solnishko, that you are excellent at following my lead.”

I felt my cheeks flush as he effortlessly guided us around the floor. It felt like we were floating across the floor. Suddenly, everyone else disappeared and it was only he and I in the room with the music in the background. As the song came to an end, he slowed to a stop. We still hadn’t taken our eyes off each other. We heard clapping, breaking my daze. I looked around to discover we had been the only couple on the dance floor. The orchestra began a new song while people still clapped for us. I felt my cheeks flush. I looked down, not wanting to see everyone looking at me.

He leaned into me, kissing my cheek. “You’re the most gorgeous woman they’ve ever seen.”

I looked at his dark blue eyes, filled with so much love, and couldn’t help but smile at him. His lips to my ear, he quietly said, “why do I want to rip that dress off you every time you smile at me?”

I coughed, not expecting him to say that. He laughed, pulling me toward the bar. “Let’s get you some water, my love.”

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Seventy
Sephie

The first half of the evening turned out to be quite predictable. Several people would come talk to Adrik, thanking him for some various business deal or philanthropy, Adrik getting tired of talking to people and dragging me onto the dance floor, only to have everyone else stop and watch us. Lather, rinse, repeat.

After the first dance, he never let go of me, which meant I also had to talk to people that I didn’t know. I had to turn on all my charm and act the part, even though I think a little piece of me died each time I fake smiled at someone. I caught each of the guy’s line of sight at some point, doing something ri diculous without anyone else seeing us. They all laughed and shook their heads at my silliness. I would make a ri diculous face at one of them, then go back to straight face, completely engrossed in yet another boring life story. It wasn’t much, but it kept me entertained.
Eventually, I needed to visit the little girl’s room.

Before someone else could walk up to us, I pulled Adrik as far away from people as I could. I told him what I needed and he was just about to walk with me, when someone caught his arm. He looked to Ivan, who was closest to us, nodding toward me. Ivan was quickly beside me, offering me his arm.

“Princess?” he asked.

I leaned close to him, so I wouldn’t be overheard, “I’ve gotta p iss like a fu cking racehorse and these people won’t give us two seconds alone.”
He laughed, walking me toward the restrooms. He stood outside the door, looking at his watch. “You have five minutes or I’m coming in after you.”
I rolled my eyes, but then said, “I can make it in three.”

I heard him laughing as I walked into the bathroom. There were two women already in there, talking to each other in the stalls. I tried not to listen, but they were somewhat tipsy and louder than they normally would’ve been. They were. talking about Adrik.

“I heard he was gay because he hasn’t been seen in public with a woman in years,” the first one said.

“Well, either she’s a beard for him or he’s clearly not g ay. I never believed the g ay rumors anyway. One of my friends knows one of his former girlfriends. She said he was always an as shole to her. He would regularly call her the wrong name,” the second one said.

Yep, that’s my Adrik.
I heard them come out of their stalls, the water in the sinks running. The second one adding, “you know, he never even told her his real name. No one knows his real name. It’s like he’s doesn’t exist.”

The first one said, “mysterious. And sexy.” I heard her sigh. “I’d even settle for one of his bodyguards. Have you seen the men he has protecting him? I’d love a ride on one of them.”
I was on a tight time schedule here, so I couldn’t wait for them to leave before I came out. I walked to the sinks, looking at both of their shocked faces. As I quickly washed my hands, I looked at both of them. They both looked like the type of woman that Max would regularly go for. The kind that Adrik said he used to date when he was younger.

They probably spent hours putting on their makeup each day. I could almost guarantee that none of the guys would find them attractive enough for anything serious. They might sleep with them and then never speak to them again, but I was fairly certain it wouldn’t go beyond that.

As seriously as I could, I said, “I could introduce you, if you like, but I know for a fact they appreciate boldness, so you’ll get farther if you introduce yourself.” I turned and walked out. I opened the door wide enough to let them see Ivan waiting for me just outside, staring at his watch. He smiled at me as he said “Just under three minutes, princess. Impressive.” He offered his arm to me as I glanced back at the two women in the restroom, winking at them as I slid my arm into his, just before the door closed.

Of course, Ivan noticed. “What was that, princess?”

I giggled. “So those two were talking about you guys. One of them wants to ride one of you. I told them I could introduce them to you, but that you guys appreciated boldness so they should introduce themselves.”
He looked down at me, a devilish grin on his face.

“You’re a little evil. You know we can’t talk to anybody while we’re working.”

“I may have known that. That may be why I told them to come talk to you.”
He squeezed my arm in his and patted my hand. “I’m glad you’re back, princess. Life is more fun with you around.”

I rested my head on his shoulder as we walked to find Adrik.
The second half of the evening was the fundraising dinner, so everyone shifted to the tables that had been set up below the stage. I was happy enough to be able to sit down for a bit. Adrik kept me much more active than I was expecting to be in heels. I hadn’t fallen yet, but I think it was more to do with his support on the dance floor than anything.

The guys were standing in the shadows, keeping a close eye on literally everything and everyone. There were several speakers and then Adrik was to get his award. He leaned over to whisper in my ear, “you’ll be alone at the table just for a few minutes. They’ve got eyes on you. If anything happens, they’ll be to you within seconds.” He looked at me, the intensity in his eyes like he was discussing business. “No matter what, you will be fine.” He leaned in to kiss me, surprising me with the passion of the kiss. It felt like he was trying to tell me something with the kiss.

They started to introduce him, so he stood to walk to the side of the stage. He kissed me once more quickly, before standing and disappearing from my sight behind the curtains. He had taken his jacket off and left it on his chair.

There were only a few other people at our table, as most who had been there earlier were now on the stage, or waiting to go on the stage. The other people were on the other side of the table, turned away from me to watch the speaker at the microphone. I glanced behind me, spotting Ivan step just far enough out of the shadows that I could see him.

Adrik’s introduction ended and everyone stood to applaud. He walked out to accept his award. He was supposed to say a few words after accepting his award, then he would be back. The applause grew louder. Everyone was on their feet. I glanced over the crowd, proud that all these people loved Adrik so much. Just as I glanced away, there was a commotion on stage. I looked back to the stage as I saw Adrik clutch his chest, falling forward. I glanced behind me, to see Ivan and Viktor rush to the stage. I froze for a second. Just as I was about to rush to the stage as well, I felt hands. grab me.

One arm around my waist, another over my mouth so I couldn’t scream.
I knew immediately this was not one of the guys. I had sparred with all of them. I’d escaped their grips. I knew what their arms around me felt like. This was a stranger. I struggled against their hold on me, bringing my knees up as we approached the back door to the ballroom, hoping to grab the doorframe with my legs. I managed to just catch the doorframe, causing the person holding me to stumble to the side. I stomped on his foot and elbowed him as hard as I could. He bent over, loosening his grip. I was standing on my own, but his arms were still around me, albeit lo oser. I turned toward him, putting both hands together, I swung my arms toward his face, hitting him with both fists. He fell backward momentarily before shaking his head and grabbing me again. I went limp, causing his grip to loosen again and managed to get a few steps away from him when he grabbed me again. This time he threw me over his shoulder and ran from the ballroom. We ran through a kitchen. I tried to grab anything I could to hit him with, but nothing stopped him. I was pounding my fists into his back as hard as I could as he ran with me.

We made it outside and he was met by another man. The guy that had me said something to the second guy who ran to a waiting vehicle, grabbed a zip tie and came back to me. Within seconds, he had bound my hands together. They pushed me toward the vehicle and into the backseat. They both jumped in the front seats and the vehicle took off.

We were still downtown. They were weaving through the side streets. I sat up, waiting for the next turn. As soon as he slowed to make the turn, I opened the door and jumped out. I rolled down the street, taking longer than I expected to stop. I heard the brakes screech and the vehicle reversed quickly. I got up as quickly as I could and started running. I wasn’t sure where I was. I just knew I needed to get away from them. The vehicle sped up even more, closing the distance to me. I ran as fast as I possibly could, but they eventually caught up to me. The second guy jumped out and grabbed me. He threw me back into the back seat and climbed in beside me. He kept a tight grip on my arms as the
vehicle sped off again.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Seventy-One
Sephie

We left downtown and d rove away from the city. They pulled up to the small, private airport just outside the city. Sh it. They’re never going to find me. As soon as I saw the jet on the runway, I started to panic. I couldn’t let them get me on that plane.

The SUV pulled up beside the plane. Both men jumped out. They tried to pull me out of the backseat, but I kicked one of them in the face. I heard him curse me in Italian, confirming my fears that they were bad news. The other one came to the other side and grabbed me by the shoulders. “Don’t make me hurt you,” he said as he dragged me toward the plane. He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder to walk me up the few stairs to the plane. I grabbed the door frame and tried to get free, but he broke my grip and walked me onto the plane. He threw me into a seat toward the rear of the plane.

“You, stay. Or I shoot you,” he said, pulling a gun from his boot. He slipped my shoes off before leaving me, his anger clearly visible on his face that I had kicked his buddy. Might be the only perk for wearing heel.

I pulled my knees to my chest, burying my head in my arms. All I could think about now was Adrik. I kept replaying everything over and over in my head. I had only glanced away for a second. When I looked back, he was going down, grabbing his chest. I remember seeing Ivan and Viktor running to him. I couldn’t see the other three guys. Then I was grabbed. What the fu ck happened? And more importantly, how was I going to get out of this situation?

There was only one exit from the plane. And it was guarded. Why weren’t we taking off? They were just standing around, like they were waiting for something. I buried my head again, the tears coming full force now. For all I knew, Adrik was dead. How was I supposed to live without him?

I was sobbing now. I couldn’t imagine a life without him. My body started shaking uncontrollably. I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything. The only thing I could feel was the gaping ho le forming in my chest as I replayed the scene of Adrik going down over and over again.

I heard vehicles pull up outside the plane. Voices. Doors being opened and sh ut on the vehicles and then the underside of the plane. Footsteps coming up to the plane. I didn’t pick my head up. I didn’t care to see who had taken me. Nothing mattered anymore if Adrik wasn’t in my life.
I kept my head down, hugging my knees as tightly as I could with my hands bound. I heard another vehicle pull up outside. More voices. More doors opening and closing. More footsteps coming up to the plane.
I heard someone walk toward me and stop in front of me. I just curled into a tighter ball, expecting the worst. I heard the click of a knife blade being extended and flinched. I felt warm hands on mine and then my hands were free.

“Princess. You’re very difficult to kidnap. You look like h ell. Boss is going to be pissed.”

I was still so scared that his familiar voice didn’t register. I just kept my head down, my body still shaking, still convinced of my imminent death. I heard him kneel in front of me, his hands on my shoulders. I flinched at his touch, still trying to get away from him. I heard him curse in Russian.

“Sephie.” He shook me gently. “Look at me, Sephie. You’re safe.”

I peeked at him. I recognized him. Ivan. My brain still not registering what was happening. I just buried my head again, rocking back and forth, shaking uncontrollably. I heard loud voices outside this time. One sounded familiar. Rushed footsteps up the steps to the plane, toward me. They stopped short of me.

His loud voice, “WHAT THE FUCK! YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO HARM HER!”
The voice that had threatened to sh
oot me said, “she fought back. Hard. She jumped out of the vehicle. We barely caught her. You guys didn’t tell us she was so fucking fast. Or strong. I think she broke Alfredo’s face. She kicked him in the face when we tried to get her out of the vehicle.”

Footsteps. Hands on me. These hands were different. My body instantly relaxed when I felt these hands. I was still too scared to look, still rocking back and forth.

“Persephone, love. Look at me.”
I hugged my knees closer to me, shutting my eyes tighter. That voice. That was the voice I wanted to hear more than anything in the world. The one voice that I would never hear again. The tears started flowing again. I started rocking back and forth.

“No, no, no. It can’t be. It can’t be.” I said quietly to myself.

“Sephie. Look at me, please. Solnishko. It’s me, Adrik.”

“No, I saw him go down on the stage. This is a cruel joke.”

“It was fake. We needed everyone to believe I was killed. I’m very much alive, I assure you. Please look at me.” He turned his head, giving orders in Russian. I heard activity outside the plane, more footsteps boarding the plane. My head was starting to pound. I peeked at him while his head was turned. The lights were so bright, but there was something familiar about his profile. I squinted, trying to adjust to the light. I reached out and touched his face lightly.” He didn’t move. He just closed his eyes, leaning into my touch. A single tear fell from his eye.

“It can’t be you. I saw you go down. I saw everybody run to you.”
He took a deep breath. He turned his head, his blue eyes filled with tears as he looked at me with nothing but regret. “This was not how this was supposed to go. You were not supposed to get hurt.”

He tried to find a place that he could rest his hands, but my road rash was even worse this time. Pro tip: don’t jump out of a moving vehicle in lace and satin. It offers zero protection from the hard concrete. As he looked me over, another tear fell from his eye. I reached up and wiped his eye with my thumb.

“Please forgive me, solnishko. Please forgive me.” His head dropped, resting against my legs. I felt fresh tears welling up in my eyes. I wanted to touch his hair. I wanted to console him. My head was pounding so badly that I could barely think.

I lightly touched his hair. “Is it really you?”

He looked up at me, hopeful, his eyes wet with tears. “It’s really me, solnishko.”

I stared at him for a few minutes, not anything. My brain still struggling to process everything. He never took his eyes off me. I reached out and touched his face again.

“You know your old girlfriends are still mad because you never told them your name?” He laughed, his smile pulling at something in my chest.
The plane moved forward on the runway, taxiing for take-off. I tensed. Before I knew what happened, he had lifted me from the seat to a couch on the other side of the plane. He put me in his lap, his arms wrapped tightly around me. I rested my head on his shoulder.

“My head really hurts,” I said before closing my eyes and letting the darkness take over.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Seventy-Two
Sephie

I was back in the ballroom, watching Adrik go down, over and over. Each time, I was frozen in place, like I couldn’t move until I was grabbed from behind. Each time the guy grabbed me, he said something that I couldn’t hear or understand. I heard voices. Familiar voices.

“Princess…”

“Gazelle…”

“Spider monkey…..”

“Sestrichka…”

“Solnishko…”
A different voice would pull me briefly out of the ballroom each time, only to return to have to watch the scene again and be frozen in place again. It felt like I was drowning, watching him go down, not being able to do anything about it. I couldn’t save him. I couldn’t even save myself.

I felt arms around me, shifting me, holding me. Warmth that made my body relax. Fingers in my hair. Back in the ballroom, watching him go down again. This time, I found myself crying. I couldn’t watch anymore. I sh ut my eyes. I can’t watch anymore. I can’t take it. I would rather have the darkness than be forced to watch this over again.

I hear a voice, calling my name. Everything is darkness. I can only see my body, nothing else. It’s like I’m swimming in the nothing. The voice is still there. Calling me. I try to go toward it. It gets louder. I can hear it clearer.

“Sephie, please come back to me. I can’t possibly live without you. Please just follow the sound of my voice. Come back to me. I love you.”

I know that voice. I want to go to that voice. I try to go toward that voice, only to hear a new voice. “He’s lying. He doesn’t love you. No one loves you. No one will ever love you.” I know this voice too. I know those words. Grant would say those words over and over to me as he was beating me. Like he was beating those words into me.
No, no, no. It can’t be him. I got away from him. I locked that voice away tight.

“You didn’t lock it up tight enough, stu pid girl. I’m still here.”

Again, the voice calling me. “Sephie, please come back to me. Follow the sound of my voice. I love you.”

The other voice, laughing. “He’s so pat hetic. Begging you to come back to him, like you’re worth a damn. Sickening.”

I feel the familiar pull toward the voice calling me. I want to go toward it, but every time I move toward it, the other voice comes out.

“Solnishko, you have to wake up, my love. You have to come back to me, malishka.”

I move toward it again. The other voice, yelling now, “YOU THINK HE LOVES YOU? YOU’RE MORE STU PID THAN I THOUGHT. NOBODY WILL EVER LOVE YOU, STU PID GIRL.”

No, no, no.” It can’t be right. He can’t be right. It’s not right. I bring my knees to my chest, hugging them tightly.

“YOU THINK THAT’S GOING TO PROTECT YOU?! YOU CAN’T GET AWAY FROM ME, GIRL.”

“Solnishko, I love you. I’ve loved you since the first time I laid eyes on you. You have my heart. You will always have my heart. You’re the only woman who knows my name.”
Suddenly, I’m in a bathroom, listening to women talk. One of them says,

“you know he never even told her his real name? No one knows his real name. It’s like he doesn’t exist.”

“LISTEN TO HER. HE DOESN’T EXIST.”

“Sephie, you know my name. I love hearing my name on your tongue. I can’t get enough of you saying my name. I never hesitated to tell you my name that night in the parking lot. You’re the only woman that knows my name.”

Adrik. Adrik is calling me! I have to go to him. Wherever he is, that’s where I need to be.

“YOU CAN’T GET AWAY FROM ME AGAIN, ST UPID GIRL.” SHUT UP! You’re not real!

“OH, I’M VERY REAL. I’M NEVER GOING AWAY AGAIN NOW THAT I’M OUT.”
Stop it! You’re not real. I got away from you. You can’t hurt me anymore.

“Sephie, I love you.”
I have to go to him. I need him. I love him.

“YOU AIN’T GOING ANYWHERE.”
I’d had enough. Enough of the doubt, enough of his abuse, enough of carrying him around with me for years, enough of his voice in the back of my head anytime I was unsure of myself. Enough!

“YOU CAN’T GET RID OF ME”
I’m not the same Sephie you knew. This Sephie fights back. This is the Sephie that would drive that knife through your heart instead of slicing your Achilles tendon and not shed a tear over it.

I’m suddenly back in the basement. My back is on fire, there’s blood everywhere. My blood. Grant is a few steps away from me, catching his breath. This is my chance to get away from him. I try to get up, feeling the familiar object in my pocket. I discreetly pull it out of my pocket, clicking it open as quietly as possible.

He must’ve heard the click, because now he’s walked toward me. I grip the handle tightly, waiting for my chance.
He stops beside me, swinging his leg back like he’s going to kick me. I grab his foot as he’s about to kick me and slice as hard as I can across the back of his ankle. He crashes to the floor, screaming in pain. The knife is still in my hand. I stand up as quickly as I can, looking at him writhing on the floor in pain. He rolls onto his back and all I see is red. Without even thinking, I jumped on him, plunging the knife as deeply into his chest as I can get it to go. He sputters, coughing up blood. I stand up once again, watching him struggle to hold onto life. He reaches for me, trying to grab my leg. I raise my leg out of his grasp, letting my heel land with as much force as I can muster on the knife sticking out of his chest, driving it farther into his chest. I hear him take his last breath as I’m running up the stairs.

I run to my room, grabbing my stuff. I glanced at myself in the mirror, realizing that I’m covered in blood. I look for something to cover my back.

“Sephie, I love you. Please come back to me.” I’m coming. I have to get away. Please wait for me”.

I find a jacket and throw it on. When the fabric hits my back, I scream.
I’m no longer in my bedroom. Everything is so bright. I feel arms around me and I flinch, trying to get away.

“Sephie, it’s me. You’re safe.”
say something I blink, trying to get my eyes to focus. Everything is still so bright that I can’t see anything. I hear him in Russian and hear movement around me. Sliding. Suddenly it’s darker. I open my eyes slowly. They’re able to adjust better in lower light. I see a face in front of me and hear that voice. The voice that pulled me out of my nightmare.

“Sephie, it’s me. It’s Adrik. You’re safe now. Look at me.”

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Seventy-Three
Sephie

I blink again, this time able to see his eyes. Those blue eyes that I love. I search them, trying to figure out if it’s really him. He looks at me with nothing but concern at first, but when he sees me searching his eyes, he looks at me with nothing but love and adoration. He smiles faintly, “It’s me, Sephie. Pinky swear.”

I climb into his lap, holding onto him like he’s the only anchor in the middle of a hurricane. Tears fall uncontrollably. He wraps his arms around me, running his hands over my back, trying to calm me down.

“Shhh…you’re okay now. You’re safe now. No one will ever hurt you again. Especially not Grant.”

I sobbed harder, clinging to him. “I think I killed him,” I said, mumbling in between breaths. “I think I stabbed him in the heart, I think I killed him.”
He wrapped his arms around me tighter. “I love you, Sephie. Nothing will ever change that.”

“It’s really you?” I asked, leaning back to look at him. “How are you not dead?”

“Before I went on stage, I put on a bulletproof vest. That’s why I left my jacket at the table. Made it easier to get it on and my shirt back on quickly. We needed everyone to believe I died and you were kidnapped. I’m sorry, solnishko. I should’ve told you. We underestimated how much you would fight back.”

I suddenly remembered being grabbed in the ballroom and everything that happened after. I reached back and slapped him as hard as I possibly could. “YOU LET THEM KIDNAP ME!”

Suddenly, Ivan was pulling me off his lap. “Easy, princess.” He set me down, which was his mistake. I delivered a punch squarely to his nose, causing him to step back, blood gushing from his nose. “AND YOU! YOU LET THEM TAKE ME TOO. YOU WERE THE CLOSEST ONE TO ME. YOU STEPPED FORWARD SO I COULD SEE YOU ONLY TO RUN IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION WHILE THEY FU CKING TOOK ME!”

I was seeing red at this point. I was so angry; I couldn’t see past that. I felt Andrei’s hands on my shoulders.

“Spider monkey…” I didn’t give him time to say anything else. I grabbed his shoulders and kneed him as hard as I could in the groin. He doubled over in pain. “DON’T FU CKING TOUCH ME!”

Misha and Viktor both stood in front of me, neither of them touching me, but both trying to calm me down. They both had their hands up, like they were trying to corner a caged animal.

“Gazelle, I wanted to tell you. I told them it would end horribly if they didn’t tell you the plan. I saw what happened to that guy that attacked you. I knew it was a bad idea.”

I looked at Misha, glaring at him. “What fu cking plan. And if you lie to me, so help me, I’ll rearrange your face too.”

1 heard Viktor’s deep voice, trying to calm me down, say, “we got word that they were going to try to assassinate Boss at the ball. They were going to kidnap you at the same time, just in case the assassination attempt didn’t work. It would be the only time you were vulnerable. The people they put in place for the plan were loyal to us. The guys that took you work for Armando, not Salvadori. They clearly had no idea what they were signing up for, though. You were not an easy target.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, my headache coming back in full force. “Why in the fuck did nobody tell me about this plan?”

Misha said, “the guy that grabbed you says he told you on the way out, but he thinks it was so loud that you didn’t hear him. You fought back so hard that he just wanted to get you to the plane by any means necessary.

That’s why they zip tied your hands. They definitely were not expecting you to jump out of the vehicle. You almost killed yourself.” I felt his hand on my shoulder. My eyes were still closed, as my head was still pounding.

I held a finger up. “Don’t. Touch. Me.”
“Okay, gazelle. Just breathe.”

“Why the fuck did nobody tell me about this plan before some random a ss mo therfucker grabbed me? And if you don’t tell me the truth this time, you’re all going down. I will take this fu cking plane down with all of you in it. I have no problem destroying myself in the pursuit of destroying every go ddamn one of you right now.”

I heard Ivan’s muffled laughter from behind me, which only served to make me angrier. I looked at Misha.

“TALK. NOW.”

“We needed everyone to believe the original assassination attempt had been successful and we needed the kidnap attempt to look believable. The place was crawling with cameras, on purpose. Salvadori wanted ample proof of what happened. We had to sell it. The only way to sell you being kidnapped was to actually kidnap you. We didn’t expect it to go so…. poorly.”

I looked from him to Viktor. They both looked awful. I glanced at Stephen, who was standing behind them. He looked equally as bad. I turned to look at Andrei, who was still in pain, sitting in one of the seats. Ivan wouldn’t make eye contact with me. Adrik was standing behind me. He wanted to come to me, I know he did, but he was scared I was going to hurt him.

The look on his face made my heart hurt, but at the same time, I was still so angry they had all agreed to lie to me that I didn’t know what to do.
I stood for a moment, pinching the bridge of my nose. I just wanted to cry. I felt so betrayed. I had trusted every one of them with my life and they had all lied to me. I was never going to be able to get the image of Ivan running away from me out of my head. I was never going to be able to unsee Adrik going down on stage.

I turned and walked toward the back of the plane. Toward Adrik. For a moment, he looked relieved, until I stepped around him. He went to grab me, but I moved away from his grasp.

“Don’t touch me. Don’t fucking touch me right now.”

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Seventy-Four
Adrik

We fucked up. I fucked up. She almost died because of me. The guy that grabbed Sephie was supposed to get her to the back and tell her it was all fake, but she was fighting so hard that he didn’t have a chance. Nobody expected her to jump from the vehicle and almost k ill herself. Now her headache was back and she was in pain, but I couldn’t do anything.

She wouldn’t let anyone touch her.
I can’t say I blame her for being angry with us. I was furious with myself. I almost told her the plan before I went on stage. I tried to warn her, but it didn’t work. The part of the plan that involved her didn’t work. In fact, it failed miserably. Now she clearly needed help, but no one could get close enough to her to help her.

I’m sure her concussion is back, only worse this time. It took her so long to recognize me. I’m worried she’s really damaged her brain this time. Ivan pressed on her acupuncture points while she was out, but I don’t know how effective it was. She was talking while she was out. She was back in the basement with her uncle. We all heard the whole thing. She was fighting that memory. She was fighting the thought pattern that he’d beat into her.

I was terrified I was going to lose her. She’s angrier than any of us had ever seen her. She’s furious with the guys, but when she looks at me, all I see is the pain I caused her. And what’s worse, I have no idea how to make that pain go away.

We were still an hour out from Switzerland. We would land in Switzerland, transfer to a helicopter over the Alps to just inside Italy. We were extremely limited on where we could land in Italy without it being known we were there, but Armando had family with a ranch on the border of Switzerland where we could land a helicopter without being seen. From there, we would drive south to Naples. Sicily was a short boat ride from Naples. Armando’s family controlled Naples, so we could move about in that city freely.

The plan was to find Anthony and Lorenzo in Sicily and take them both out as cleanly and quickly as possible. Without those two to back him, we doubted Salvadori would continue with his plan in the states to start a war. But he would be dealt with in much the same manner if he did decide to go through with it.

At this point, they were all under the impression that I was dead and that they had successfully kidnapped Sephie. Armando’s men were to stage an “escape” in two days, to make it seem like she got away from them. They would spend time and manpower looking for her while we executed Anthony and Lorenzo.

Now I was more worried about Sephie than I was about Anthony and Lorenzo. I wanted to punch something I was so frustrated with how things turned out. It broke me to see her hurting, knowing I couldn’t do anything to help her. She just sat quietly in the corner, not looking at anyone. Not saying anything. She cries now and then, rocks back and forth. I can see her shaking from across the plane. I’m dying to go to her. To hold her.

It always seemed to calm down the shaking when I would touch her. I want nothing more than to be able to go to her now, but she won’t let anyone near her. Andrei, who is usually one of her favorites, tried and the glare she gave him was enough to stop him in his tracks.

We would be landing soon. We had packed clothes for her and wanted her to be able to change before we started the next leg of our journey. We all consulted with each other, trying to decide who should take her clothes to her. We decided that she was less mad at Misha, so he got volunteered. I’ve never seen that kid so scared in his life.

He walked slowly to her, talking to her so she wouldn’t be surprised. She had her head down again. We could all hear her quietly crying, as she hugged her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth.

“Gazelle. Sephie. We brought you some clothes to change into. We should also get you cleaned up. Your road rash needs attention. Adrik can help you. We don’t want anything to get infected. Please, Sephie. We want to help.”

She looked up at him. Her face was red, her eyes puffy from the constant crying. She reached for the clothes without a word.

“You can change in the back. There’s a door that closes so you have privacy. I can get you the first aid kit too.”

She nodded her head but put her head back down. She laid the clothes beside her on the seat. Misha came back with the first aid kit for her. She reached for it too, without saying a word. She barely looked at him. But at least she didn’t punch him. I guess that counts for progress.

The look on Misha’s face as he went to sit back down was one of utter despair. He looked like he was barely able to keep it together. We were all barely keeping it together right now.

She quietly got up and went to the back, shutting the door behind her. We could hear her sniffle now and then. It sounded like she had opened the first aid kit. Then we heard her cursing. She was putting antiseptic on her wounds. By herself. Because of me.

I leaned forward, putting my head in my hands. Tears fell from my eyes. I felt so helpless. We should’ve told her the plan. I wish I would’ve told her. She could’ve handled it.

Fuck! Why didn’t I tell her before I went on stage?

ed for Misha. He I wanted to punch something. I heard her curse louder and cry out. She was quiet and then she walked back to the door. “I need help,” was all she said. He walked in, closing the door behind him. I tried not to be jealous. I tried to be grateful that she was at least letting one of us help her, but this was killing me.

I heard Misha quietly say, “that one’s deep, Sephie. That doesn’t look good.” Then silence. Then, “it’s okay. It’s okay. We’ll get it fixed. We’ll get it bandaged right now and we’ll get it looked at once we land. It’ll be okay. Please don’t cry.”

He came out from the back a few moments later. The look on his face worse than before if that was even possible. He quietly said to me, “she’s got a wound almost down to the bone on her hip. I packed it as best as I could, but it should definitely be looked at by someone other than me. Soon.”

As soon as we landed, I would call ahead to Armando’s family and ask them to have a doctor waiting for us when we got there. The flight from Switzerland to his family’s ranch was a short one.

I heard the door open and she walked out in fresh clothes. She was visibly limping now. Her adrenaline rushes were beginning to wear off. I’m sure she was in excruciating pain right now. She walked back to her seat in the back, not looking at anyone. She tried to pull her knees to her chest again but flinched in pain. Definitely in excruciating pain. Goddammit.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Seventy-Five
Adrik

We landed soon after and transferred to the helicopter quickly. She allowed Misha to help her on the helicopter. Progress. She still said nothing to anyone. It was a quick flight to Armando’s family’s ranch, just inside Italy. They took us to the house right away. The doctor was waiting for Sephie. He didn’t speak much English and we didn’t speak any Italian, but he could see she was hurt. The lady in charge of the house, Isabella, could speak some English. Enough to get by. She went in with the doctor to help translate.

I paced in the courtyard of the house, waiting for the doctor to be done with her. He came out, with Isabella. He would speak, she would translate.

“He says most cuts not bad, heal soon. But cut on her hip bad. Can’t stitch up. Might need, uh, more skin?” she pressed her hands together and placed them over her hip. Skin graft. She might need a skin graft.

“He gave her antibiotics. Must take all of them. No infection or it get into her bone. That’s very bad. Also gave her light sedative to help her sleep. She say her head hurt. He gave her pain pills too.”

Good. And bad. We couldn’t afford to have her sleep for three days again.
Ivan spoke up, “what pain pills? Name?” Isabella asked the doctor to clarify, “Tramadol. Light pain pill. Shouldn’t make her sleepy or make…” she pointed to her stomach and drew circles around her stomach.

It shouldn’t upset her stomach. Good. Hopefully she wouldn’t go for a week without eating again.

Ivan looked at me, “that’s different from the one they gave her at home. Hopefully this one won’t knock her out. We’ll adjust the plan if it does. We’ll just have to make new arrangements for travel.”

We hadn’t noticed Sephie come out of the room. “By all means, don’t adjust anything on my account. I’m not taking them. I’m not risking sleeping for three days again.” She had one hand pressing on her hip, the other on her head. I couldn’t help it. I went to her without thinking. She flinched when I touched her, but she didn’t slap me this time. My hands went to her hair, trying to give her some kind of relief from her headache. She sighed. She was exhausted. I think that’s the only reason she allowed me to touch her. She didn’t have the strength to fight me right now. At this point, I was so desperate to touch her that I would take any in I could get.

I gently took her hand from her hip. I pressed on the spot that Ivan had showed me. She closed her eyes tightly. Ivan walked to her other side, taking her other hand from her head. She didn’t resist. She also wouldn’t open her eyes. He pressed on the spot on her other hand, trying to give her the most relief we could. We both saw the tears falling down her cheeks as she stood there.

Isabella showed the doctor out and came back to show the other guys their rooms. Ivan and I stayed with Sephie. If she was going to allow us to touch her, we weren’t leaving until she told us to. Especially not when we could maybe give her some relief. We stood there for twenty minutes before she started to show signs of relaxing. She finally took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She didn’t have, as she called it, a murderous aura any longer. She just looked tired. She looked broken.

Misha came back to show us to our rooms, as Isabella had gone to prepare dinner. We were staying here tonight, but then we had planned on leaving first thing in the morning to make it to Naples by tomorrow late afternoon. However, it now all depended on Sephie. We were traveling by motorcycle, as they were faster, and we could get through city traffic faster on bikes than in a car. I was worried about her riding that long while her hip was in pain.

Misha showed Ivan his room, then showed me where Sephie and I would be staying. I wasn’t sure she would want to share a bed with me, but we really didn’t have a choice. She walked in and sat down on the bed. She looked like a shell of herself. She wouldn’t look at me. She just stared ahead at the wall.

“Do you want to shower before dinner?” Tears welled in her eyes again. She looked down at the floor, trying to control the tears threatening to fall. I sat down on the bed beside her, pulling her to my side. She rested her head on my shoulder, but she made no attempt to touch me. She usually couldn’t keep her hands off me, just like I couldn’t keep my hands off her. It broke my heart.

“Come, we’ll shower. I’ll wash your hair.” She didn’t say a word, but she followed me when I pulled her toward the bathroom.

It took me a little longer than I thought to get all the hair pins out of her hair. She was right. That’s a lot of effort for nonsense. I found myself thinking back to when I first turned around to see her in that dress. It was absolutely perfect for her. She was modest, so it covered everything she was concerned with strangers seeing, but she showed enough leg that there was no missing her sex appeal.

I thought about that first dance we had. The other girlfriends I’d had were never good dance partners. They were always fighting to lead. Sephie was different. She let me lead, completely surrendering to me, making the dance magnificent. She trusted me completely.

And I completely destroyed that trust.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Seventy-Six
Adrik

I was lost in my thoughts in the shower, busy beating myself up over what had happened. I looked down, catching her staring up at me. She had a confused look in her eyes but said nothing. I was grateful for any eye contact, so I held it as long as she would let me. Trying to silently let her know I was sorry and that I loved her more than anything. She’d always been able to read my mind just by looking me in the eyes before. I’d hoped she was capable of doing so now. She stared at me for a few minutes, her eyes searching.

Constantly searching. I let her read whatever part of my soul she was interested in. It all belongs to her. A tear fell from my eye as I looked into her sad eyes. She reached up and wiped it away with her thumb, leaving her hand on my face for a moment before dropping it along with her gaze. She allowed me to pull her to me and hold her. Her arms stayed limp at her sides, though.

She barely spoke at dinner, but she did eat. She ate a lot, even for her. She’d barely eaten the past three weeks, so it was good to see her appetite come back with a vengeance. The guys were quiet as well, all still feeling ho rrible about everything that had happened.

Viktor asked me in Russian, “should we change plans for tomorrow? Do we need to arrange for a car instead? Or do you want to wait a day to leave?”

I thought for a few moments. “Let’s see how tonight goes and how she is in the morning. The drive to Naples will still be faster if we take the bikes. I don’t know which is worse, extending the trip out or making her ride a bike for 7 hours.”

“Stop trying to change the plans because of me. I’ll be fine,” she said as she stood up and walked slowly back to our room for the night, leaving us all stunned.

We cleaned up after dinner and then all retired to our rooms. Sephie was laying on the bed, on top of the covers. She was laying on her good hip, which meant she was facing the door. She had taken her pants off, her road rash on full display. I took my shirt off and slipped out of my jeans, crawling in bed behind her. I was suddenly exhausted and wanted nothing more than to hold her for a few hours.

As carefully as I could, I wrapped my arms around her. I had hoped she would snuggle back into me. She did not. But she made no moves to get out of my grasp, either. This will have to do for now.

Sometime during the night, I woke to her struggling in her sleep. She called my name and then she called for Ivan. She was replaying the scene in the ballroom. She did it over and over on the plane. She would call out my name, then Ivan’s name, then she would struggle. That’s when I started to talk to her. It seemed like it would help to calm her and it seems like it’s what eventually broke the cycle.

I tried it again. “Sephie, I love you, solnishko. Please come back to me. I can’t live without you.”

She sighed and I felt her push her body back into mine. I held her tighter. She was calm for a few minutes. Just when I thought she had fallen into a peaceful sleep, she called out for me again. Then Ivan. Then she began struggling.

“Sephie, I love you. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. I don’t care how many times I need to tell you for you to believe it again, but you’re my everything.”

Quiet. Instead of waiting for her to start the cycle again, I kept talking to her. “I’ve loved you since the first night I saw you, when you were standing at the bar. Your eyes were so wide when you saw Viktor and Andrei walk in. It was adorable. But then you locked eyes with me and I saw the look in your eye immediately change, giving me that spark that only I can see. Your friend Max had to push you to come show us to the meeting room. You almost tripped on your way to us. I was trying desperately to control myself as you walked closer. You were so cute.

When you asked what you could get us to drink and Viktor told you waters for all of us, you cocked your head to the side and said “different.” Then you immediately got worried you had offended me. It was all I could do not to kiss you right then. I stepped close to you, able to smell the floral scent of your shampoo. It dr ove me crazy. I sat down at the table and all I could think about was running my hands through your hair and what it would look like not in a braid.”

She sighed and made the quiet cooing noise she sometimes made when I would run my hands through her hair while she was sleeping. I reached up and ran my hand lightly through her hair. She started to roll over to face me but cried out when she hit her bad hip. She sat up, cursing, but still asleep. I got up and moved to the other side of her so she could lay across my chest, without having to lay on her bad hip.

She settled onto my chest, my hand still running through her hair. After just a few minutes, her fingers were lightly playing on my chest, and I knew she was having better dreams. I drifted back to sleep, while she played her favorite songs on my heart

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Seventy-Seven
Ivan

We all retired to our rooms for the night. I laid on the bed, trying to sleep. I was physically and me ntally exhausted, but there was going to be no sleep in my immediate future. My mind kept replaying the look on Sephie’s face in the ballroom as she saw Boss going down. She looked to us for help and we had to run right past her. I glanced over my shoulder as Armando’s man grabbed her. I’ll never be able to forget her face when she felt him grab her.

Fear. She was legitimately scared for her life, but I think she was more scared for Adrik. I’ve seen that look before. When the one you love more than life itself is dying in front of you. That’s a look I wish to never see again.

When we were on the plane, Sephie had finally passed out from stress, but her mind was replaying the nights events too. We’d never heard her talk in her sleep. She’s fallen asleep around all of us at least once and never once had she talked in her sleep. Adrik thought she was awake at first.

She would desperately call for him, but then she would desperately call for me. She knew I was the closest one to her before everything happened. She trusted that I would save her and I ignored her. I could hear her voice calling to him, then me, over and over again while we were on the plane. It felt like it went on for hours. My heart broke & little more
each time.

Now I was stuck replaying those scenes. Thinking about how I had let her down. The one woman I had let get close to me again. I knew she and Adrik belonged together, but I couldn’t help but love her too. We all did.

After a few hours of staring at the ceiling, I got up to get a glass of water from the kitchen. I stood against the counter, now staring at the floor, my mind still on the loop of everything that had happened. I knew we had fu cked up bad when she wouldn’t look at me on the plane. I was the first one to see her. She was so scared that she couldn’t see past it. She didn’t trust her own brain to recognize me. Or Adrik. We fucked up bad.

I refilled my glass, sighing. I heard footsteps approaching the kitchen. Misha. He looked at me, “you can’t sleep either, huh?”

I shook my head no. “I can’t stop seeing her, first in the ballroom, then when she was curled up in the seat on the plane when we first got to her, and I can’t stop hearing her calling for Adrik and me while she was out.”
Misha nodded.

“Not gonna lie, I did get some enjoyment out of replaying her decking you,” he said, his hand on my shoulder. I knew he was just trying to make me laugh, but I deserved the hit. I deserved so much more than what she did.

He grabbed a glass and filled it. We stood in silence until more footsteps could be heard coming toward us. Viktor. “At least I’m not the only one,” he said.

“Yeah, man. I gave up. It’s not going to happen,” Misha said.

No sooner had Viktor filled his glass with water than Andrei came into the kitchen. That dude probably got it the worst out of all of us. Hits to your junk are one of the worst spots possible. Stephen walked in shortly after Andrei. We all stood in silence for a few moments. Misha broke the silence.

“Well, now that we’re all here, how are we going to fix this?”

I was proud of that kid. I had no idea how she was doing it but being around Sephie had made that kid step into his own. He was the youngest of all of us, only barely older than Sephie. He had always been good at his job, but he lacked confidence. Sephie managed to somehow get that kid to believe in himself. Even after the attack on the sidewalk. I was worried he was going to take a few steps back in his progress. It was a bl ow to his ego, really. She pulled him aside one night and read him the riot act in her subtle way and he turned it around after. None of us knew what she said to him, but she was the only one that could’ve saved him from himself in that situation.

I was surprised at how well he was handling this situation. He told her the truth on the plane. He had argued with us for hours about telling her the plan. He told us he had a bad feeling it would go bad if we didn’t. Turns out the kid was right. We were so worried about making it look authentic that we didn’t stop to consider what it would do to her. Misha was the only one that thought about that, but four against one meant that he was now paying for our poor decision just like the rest of us.

Andrei sighed. “We can’t leave today. There’s no way we can move her when she’s like this. I don’t know how long it’s going to take or what it’s going to take to make her better, but she can’t leave like this.”

Everyone agreed. “So, we stay here a couple of days. Shouldn’t alter the plan too much, honestly. We still have eyes on Anthony and Lorenzo. We’ll know what they’re planning. I would prefer to be closer, but we can make this work,” I said.

“What about Adrik? He wants vengeance for Sephie. He wants Anthony dead. Will he be willing to push pause for a day or two? I know Sephie means more to him than anything, but his taste for blood is unparalleled when it comes to those that wrong him. I’ve never seen him give that up,” Viktor asked. Viktor had been with Adrik the longest out of all of us. Before I showed up, even. Adrik was very much like his father when he first took over the business. He would personally take care of people that had wronged him. He had as much blood on his hands as the rest of us.
Stephen spoke.

“We don’t give him a choice. There are things in life that are more important than vengeance.” He paused, adding, “if he’s h ell bent on getting revenge, then he can send a few of us to take care of Anthony and Lorenzo. Without him.”

I considered the options for a moment. I rubbed my face with my hand. My nose still didn’t feel right. She had almost broken my nose. If she had been able to eat and train for the three weeks before, she would have, but she had lost some of her strength. I did have a black eye from it though, so she still landed a solid hit.

“I don’t think it will be that difficult to talk him into staying an extra day or two. Not if she’s not feeling better when she wakes up this time.”
We stayed in the kitchen talking about variations to the plan until the sun came up. In the original plan, we were supposed to be leaving shortly. We heard nothing from Adrik’s room. We weren’t sure if he had overslept or if something was wrong. We had ditched our phones before getting on the plane. We had burner phones in our bags, but we hadn’t turned them on yet.

I went to his door and knocked quietly. I heard him softly tell me to come in. He was on the bed, in his underwear, on top of the covers, with Sephie laying across his chest, sound asleep. She was just in her t-shirt, giving me a full look at the wounds on her legs. It was bad. He put his finger up to his lips, but motioned me to come in.

I walked next to the bed, as quietly as possible. The other guys were outside in the hallway, looking in through the open door. I saw the slight relief come to all our faces when we saw she was sleeping peacefully on him.

He whispered, “I can’t move. Anytime I try to leave, she starts crying out for me in her sleep agairt, then she’s calling for you. Stuck in that loop that she was in on the plane. I come back and put her on my chest, and she sleeps peacefully again.” He pointed to her fingers, lightly moving on his chest in a rhythmic pattern. “This is how I know she’s in a happy place. She plays the piano.” I couldn’t help but smile. Seeing her happy made me suddenly happy.

He looked down at her, lightly running his hands through her hair. She snuggled into him more, making a quiet whimper noise. He looked back at me pain evident in his eyes. “She wants nothing to do with me when she’s awake, but she won’t let me go when she’s asleep.”

I sighed. “She will come around. Her subconscious is still clearly attached to you. She just needs time to process everything. It will take her time to forgive all of us.” I paused, not really wanting to talk business now.

“Boss, we can’t leave with her like this. She needs time. We all discussed it this morning. We don’t think we should leave with her. Either we stay here for a day or two more and give her a chance to recover, or you stay here with her, and we go on with the original plan.”

He was quiet for a moment, thoughtfully running his hands through her long curls. “We’ll stay. Nothing matters more than her. I won’t ever risk losing her for anything again. They can take my empire. I don’t want it if I can’t have her.”

I stood, placing my hand on his shoulder. I turned and walked back to the expectant looks on the guys in the hall. I closed the door quietly behind me, motioning for everyone to move from the door so we could give her quiet to sleep. We walked back to the kitchen.

“He agrees,” I said. “He said he won’t risk losing her again for anything and I agree. His empire is replaceable. She is not.”

There was a collective exhale. We were all happy to stay a little longer. If she couldn’t go with us, none of us wanted to leave.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Seventy-Eight
Sephie

I was so exhausted that I fell asleep quickly, despite feeling as awful as I did. Adrik came into the room and climbed into bed behind me. He was trying to be as gentle as he could, which I appreciated. I wanted him to hold me, but I was still so mad at him that I couldn’t tell him that.

I had no dreams at first, but eventually I found myself back in the ballroom. I watched Adrik fall to the ground, screaming for him. Then I would look toward Ivan, running away from me. I would scream for him, and the vision would restart.

This time, when I screamed for Adrik, I heard his voice. The scene around me faded and I was back to the abyss. The void where I could see my body, but nothing around me. I heard his voice clearly now.

“Sephie, I love you, solnishko. Please come back to me. I can’t live without you.”

I tried to go toward the voice. It felt warmer. It was a stark contrast to the cold of the void. The warmth was surrounding me, making me feel safe. I lost his voice though. I couldn’t find it and I was back in the ballroom, screaming for him once again as I watched him go down.

“Sephie, I love you. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. I don’t care how many times I need to tell you for you to believe it again, but you’re my everything.”

The warmth was back with his voice. I could feel it envelope me. I looked down at my arms and legs. They were brighter. I could see them more clearly. I could see just barely in front of me.

“I’ve loved you since the first night I saw you, when you were standing at the bar. Your eyes were so wide when you saw Viktor and Andrei walk in. It was adorable. But then you locked eyes with me and I saw the look in your eye immediately change, giving me that spark that only I can see. Your friend Max had to push you to come show us to the meeting room.

You almost tripped on your way to us. I was trying desperately to control myself as you walked closer. You were so different from any woman I’d ever seen. When you asked what you could get us to drink and Viktor told you waters for all of us, you cocked your head to the side and said “different.” Then you immediately got worried you had offended me. It was all I could do not to kiss you right then. I stepped close to you, able to smell the floral scent of your shampoo. It dr ove me crazy. I sat down at the table and all I could think about was running my hands through your hair and what it would look like not in a braid.”

The void no longer felt cold at all. I could see in front of me. I could see where I was going. I could get out of here.

There was a path that I followed to a vaguely familiar house. As I got closer to the house, I could hear music coming from inside. Something felt right about this. Like I knew this house, even though I didn’t recognize it. I walked the path to the front door. I pushed on it, opening it slowly. The music was louder now. I knew the song. It was my mother’s favorite song. Who would be playing that song?

I walked inside, trying to be quiet so I wouldn’t disturb the person playing. I couldn’t see them yet, but the music was getting louder with each step I took inside the house. I could almost feel my fingers wanting to play the next note before I heard it.

I peeked into the first room I came to, revealing a grand piano. A man was sitting at the piano, absorbed by the music.

He hadn’t heard me come inside the house, he just continued to play my mo m’s favorite song. I stood, motionless, watching him. Who was he? Why didn’t I feel scared of him? How does he know that song?

When the song ended, he sat for a moment and stared at the keys. He sighed. Without turning to look at me, he said “Hello, Sephie baby. It’s been a long time since you’ve seen me.”
I looked at his back, confused. Just as I was about to speak, he turned around to face me. His face. It looked so familiar, yet not, at the same time. Like I’d looked at his picture for years and now that I was seeing him in person, it wasn’t the same.

I gasped. “D-Dad…?”
He smiled, his eyes squinting like mine did when I smiled. He stood up and walked toward me, his arms wide. “Hey peanut.” He wrapped his arms around me. “I’ve missed being able to hold you, little one. That’s the one thing I miss the most. But I’m so proud of you. I’ve watched you grow up. I’ve been there the whole time and Sephie, I’m so proud of you.” He hugged me tight.

“How? How are you here?”

“Eh, the logistics are a bit complicated. You can say I’m a bit of a guardian angel, if that’s easier for you to understand.”

I stepped back to look at him, my eyes wide. “You saw…everything?”
He chuckled.

“Well, not everything everything. I know when to give you privacy. But every tough situation you’ve been in, I was there in case you needed me.”

He looked at me thoughtfully, brushing a curl from my face. “You know, you’ve never once needed me, Sephie.”

“No, that’s not true. In the…basement?” my voice cracked as I thought about that ho rrible night.
He closed his eyes, sighing. “That was the first time I thought you might need me. I was just about to step in when you saved yourself.”

He put his hands on both of my shoulders. “Sephie, look at me. What you did that night, it was meant to happen. Sometimes Karma uses you to deliver justice, if you will. You were simply the one that delivered his
sentence.”

I sucked in a breath. “So, I did. I did kill him that night?”

He nodded. “Nobody found him for months. The knife was mysteriously gone.” He looked at me, raising one eyebrow.

“You?”

“Okay, maybe I helped just once. But I mean, seriously. Do you know how boring it is being the guardian of such a… capable child? You gotta throw me a bone once in a while, peanut.”

I smiled at him. Clearly, he was where I got my sense of humor from.
“There’s my beautiful girl. You know you can light the way for ships into harbor with your smile? You almost give Adrik a heart attack every time you smile at him. I’m not even joking about that one. We’ve had extra angels on standby because it got close a few times.” My smile faded, thinking about Adrik.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Seventy-Nine
Sephie

“You’re still mad at him. You have every right to be mad at him, peanut. He should’ve told you the plan, but I know he will never, ever underestimate your strength again as long as he lives. Do you know he hasn’t moved from underneath you for twelve hours now? He got up once to pee and you got su cked back into your nightmare. He hasn’t had anything to eat or drink since then and he won’t move so you can sleep in peace and your body can heal.”

“No, it hasn’t been that long. It’s only been a few hours.”

“Peanut, time is different here. He’ll lay there as long as it takes. I’ve never seen him so determined. And he’s got a bloodlust that is, well, impressive.”
I just looked at him, dumbfounded.

He smiled down at me. “You can remember being in the nothing, the darkness, before you found your way here?” I nodded my head. “Do you remember how every time you heard his voice, when he would tell you he loved you, how you got a little brighter and could see further into the darkness?” Again, I nodded.

“It’s because he can’t exist without you and you can’t exist without him. You’re light, he’s dark. One cannot exist without the other. His darkness allows your light to shine. The brighter your light, the darker your shadows. You figured that part out on your own.” He made a fist and pressed it to my chin.

“Seriously, chip off the ol’ block, you are.” He looked at me, a look of pride on his face. He cleared his throat and continued.

“But Adrik hasn’t figured that out yet. Guys are sometimes slower on the uptake. You’re helping to show him that even though he has very dark shadows, he also has a very bright light. And right now, he’s the spark you needed to remember that your light is always within you. You’re the only one that can ever turn it off. You just momentarily forgot that part. Which is understandable. You’ve had a hectic few weeks. Years,” he added, clearing his throat again.

“But what happened needed to happen. Not just for you, but for all of them. Each of them has something special to offer the world, but it never would’ve happened without the events at the ball. Misha, for example, has a gift that warns him when something isn’t right. He started to believe it more after the attack on you two, but the others didn’t. Now they do. That never would’ve happened otherwise. There’s always a reason, peanut. It’s your job to figure it out.”

I stared at him, trying to understand everything he just told me.

“You already know everything I’m telling you right now, peanut. You just have to let go of the fear. Sure, he fu cked up. They all did. Big time. You got hurt in the process, but you have yet to quit in situations much worse than this one. Don’t start now. You’ve got a 100% survival rate, remember that. And know that I’ll be there, ready to swoop in when needed. You should see my swoop. I practice a lot, because you know, you never need me. Whatever. It’s magnificent.”
I laughed at him. I definitely got his sense of humor.

He looked down at me, smiling. “You know you need him just as much as he needs you. They all need you and you need all of them. You’re destined for great things. Always have been. Why else would we have given you your name if you weren’t meant for great things?” He hugged me once more, then pulled me toward the piano. He sat me down on the bench.

“Now, make an old man happy and play me your song.”

“My song? I don’t have a song.”

“You do. You call it your mo m’s favorite song, but it’s really your song. I used to sing it to you when you were a baby. I wrote the melody just for you, hoping that one day you would finish it. I didn’t even tell your mother that it was your song. She just thought it was some melody I had picked up somewhere and sang to you, but it’s yours. It’s always been
yours.”

I looked up at him, with tears in my eyes. I suddenly missed all the time I had missed out on with him in my childhood. As if he was reading my mind, he said, “I know, peanut. I miss it too, but can you imagine both of us in the same room at the same time? I don’t think the world is ready for that many emotional support sloths.”

I laughed, tears falling on my cheeks. He sat down next to me, looking every bit a proud father. “Now, play for your old man, peanut.”

I played my song, as he sat next to me watching intently. When the song ended, he leaned his shoulder against mine. “It’s time for you to go back, kiddo. You’ve still got great things to accomplish, one of which is to love that man as hard as he loves you.”

“Will I get to see you again?” I asked.
“I’m always around. Practicing my swooping,” he made a swooping motion with his arm in front of me. He winked at me. “I love you, peanut.”

“I love you too, Dad.”
My eyelids fluttered open slowly. I heard Adrik snoring softly, felt his warm body beneath me. I lifted my head to look at him, but the slight movement jolted him awake.

“Sephie? Are you okay??” I rested my chin on his chest, looking at him. He looked stressed, his blue eyes were now also red. He looked like he hadn’t slept very much, if at all. He sat up a little so he could look at me better. I looked into his eyes, searching. I found what I was looking for immediately. He was looking at me with all the love and adoration as he always had, but now there was fear there. Worry that he had ruined it all.
I wasn’t sure what to say to make it go away, but I remembered what my father had said.

“You almost give Adrik a heart attack every time you smile at him.” I closed my eyes for a moment, remembering my dream. When I opened my eyes, he was still looking at me, clearly worried about what I was going to do or not do.

“Sephie?” he asked, his voice cracked with worry.

I smiled at him. Like I hadn’t seen him in days, like I thought he was dead and now he was underneath me, watching over me while I fought my own darkness, like I loved him more than anything in the world.

It took him a moment. He was still concerned and confused, but he couldn’t help but smile back at me. I slowly lifted my very sore body off him, moving so I was sitting on his hips, straddling him. He sat up a little more so he could look me in the eyes. I reached out and ran my fingers lightly over his face, the way I knew he liked. He closed his eyes at my touch, his breath hitched. A single tear fell from the corner of each eye. I leaned into him and kissed him gently. He went to put his hands around me but stopped himself. He was still worried he was going to hurt me or I was going to do something rash. I leaned back so I could look into his eyes again.

“I love you, Adrik. I will always love you. I love you more than anything I’ve ever known.” I looked into his eyes, relief washing over him. I added, “but if you ever let me think you’ve died when you haven’t again, I will ki ll you myself.”

He sat up, still wanting to grab me, but uncertain where his hands could go that wouldn’t hurt. He put both hands on either side of my face, looking deeply into my eyes.

“I swear I will never leave you out of any plan ever again. I will never withhold information from you again. I almost lost you. I’m so sorry, Sephie. Can you ever forgive me?”

I put my hands on top of his, enjoying the warmth. I closed my eyes, remembering how cold the darkness felt, but how warm it got when I heard his voice. I opened my eyes, his eyes pleading, searching mine.

“I forgive you. Besides, you’re my spark. I can’t get rid of you,” I said smiling at him again, enjoying the thought of extra angels on standby in that moment.

He raised an eyebrow at me, but instead of asking what I meant, he just leaned forward and kissed me. He was gentle, at first. His hands still on each side of my face. I pressed my body against him, timidly, and wrapped my arms around his neck. I deepened the kiss, feeling his body relaxing from the stress he’d been under for the past how ever many days.

“I love you, solnishko,” he said, pressing his forehead to mine. “I will spend every day of the rest of my life trying to make sure you know that and how sorry I am.”

I kissed his lips once more. “Don’t hang on to this. Don’t keep beating yourself up. You made a mistake. I mean, a big one, but I’m still here. I’ve got a 100% success rate at surviving hor rible situations so far. But I have been thinking that we should get a whiteboard or something that says, ‘it’s been this many days since Sephie got seriously hurt. That way we can keep track. You know, data is king and what not.”

His smile stretched across his face. “There’s my Sephie.”

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Eighty
Adrik

I can’t even begin to describe the relief I felt when she woke up this time. I had my Sephie back. I would’ve given anything to see her smile again.

“How long have I been asleep this time? I know you laid here for at least twelve hours without moving, just so I could sleep peacefully,” she said, her fingers still running over my facial hair, her unique eyes taking inventory of my face like she still wasn’t sure I was really here with her.

“How do you know that, Sephie?” I raised an eyebrow at her.
She started to say something, but then stopped herself. “Um, it doesn’t matter right now. How long have I been torturing you?”

I smiled at her. My hand slid up the back of her neck, pulling her to me. I kissed her lips gently. “It wasn’t torture, solnishko. I was happy that you needed me when you were sleeping. Especially since you didn’t want anything to do with me when you were awake. It was killing me.”
“I was still mad at you,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

I chuckled. “You have every right to be mad at me. I fu cked up.”
“And then I made you lay here with no food or water for days. Consider your penance complete,” she said, grinning at me.

“It wasn’t days. The second day isn’t over yet. You’ve been out for a little over 24 hours this time.” I ran my hands through her hair, as she closed her eyes. Her hands went to my shoulders to steady herself. I loved watching her get lost in my touch. She had no idea how sexy she looked.
Her eyes snapped open, “weren’t we supposed to leave though? What happened?”

I smiled at her. “The guys all came to me yesterday morning when we were supposed to leave and told me they weren’t going anywhere until you were better. I had already made the decision to stay until you were better but hadn’t told them as I couldn’t leave you. They discussed it among themselves and said they weren’t going until you could go too.” Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment. I cupped her cheek with my hand, my thumb gently stroking her beautiful face.

“They love you, Sephie. They’re fairing almost worse than I have been. At least I’ve been able to hold you while you were sleeping. I don’t think any of them have slept since we got here. They come in occasionally to check on you. They look terrible.”

She groaned. “Part of me wants to make them suffer for a few more days, but I should let them all know they’re also forgiven. There is a grander plan in play here.” She pouted, then grinned at me. God, I’ve missed her.

She rested her head on my shoulder for a few minutes. I rubbed her back lightly, trying to avoid hurting her. She had road rash over almost her entire body from hitting the ground and rolling. She had to be in tremendous pain.

She sighed, sitting up to look at me again. “I need a shower,” she said climbing off my lap slowly. I didn’t move, as I still wasn’t sure how much she wanted me close to her. I was going to let her have privacy.
She stopped at the bathroom door and turned back to look at me. “I need help.”

I jumped off the bed and was next to her immediately. She was laughing at my exuberance, but I didn’t care. I was so happy that she wanted me near her again that I would do whatever she asked me to.
She asked me to help her with the bandage on her hip before she got in the shower. Since she’d been sleeping for a day, she hadn’t taken her antibiotics. I’d completely forgotten about them. The wound looked red and angry. It looked painful. She held her breath as I tried to peel the bandage off as gently as I could. A single tear ran down her cheek. I knew it hurt.

“Since you’ve been sleeping, you haven’t taken an antibiotic. You need to do that when we get done. Do you want to try a pain pill? I don’t want you to be in pain, my love.”

“I’ll take the antibiotic, but I don’t know about the pain pill. Maybe half of one? I hurt, but I also don’t want to go through what the other pain pills did to me again.”

I pulled her to me, careful of the wound on her hip, and held her close. I rested my chin on the top of her head, my eyes closed. I was relishing having her in my arms again, but I felt so guilty still. She almost died because of me. “I’m so sorry, solnishko.”

I felt her rest her hands on my chest. “If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m apparently difficult to kill. I’ll heal. I can manage in the meantime.”

I laughed. She was so unpredictable. One of the many things I adored about her.

We walked slowly to the kitchen. I offered to carry her, but she said she needed to move her stiff body, or it would get worse. I couldn’t argue with her logic. So, I settled for letting her lean on my arm as she walked. She had a pronounced limp because of her hip. She had deep bruises, along with the wounds. How she didn’t break anything, I’ll never understand.

Misha was in the kitchen when we walked in. His face brightened seeing Sephie not only awake but also allowing me to help her. She stopped and opened her arms to him. He rushed to her, but I stopped him with a hand to his chest before he could grab her. “Gentle, Misha.”

He nodded and gently leaned down to hug her, like she was a live porcelain doll. “I’m so happy to see you, gazelle.”

“Ugh, worst hug ever. We need a do-over once I’m better,” she smiled at him.

His wide smile spread across his face. “Deal.”

She looked to me and cleared her throat. “Can I have a moment alone with Misha?”

I raised an eyebrow but nodded. I went to step away, but she pulled me back and kissed me gently. “I just need a minute,” she said, looking at me with that spark that only I could see.

I smiled at her, stepping out of the kitchen. The kitchen opened to a large living room area that then opened onto the back patio. The weather was pleasant, which meant that the large sliding doors could be opened, giving the house an
open-air feel. Viktor and Andrei were outside on the patio. They both looked surprised to see me up, especially without Sephie.

“Everything okay, boss?” Andrei asked, concern evident on his face.

I nodded. “She’s awake. She’s inside with Misha. She asked for a moment alone with him.”

Viktor, also concerned, asked, “how…is she?”

“In pain, but she somehow found the strength to forgive me. She did say that she wished she could make you all suffer a little longer, but she’s not going to,” I said smirking at them.
Both looked shocked. And relieved. But mostly shocked.

“Is she, uh, still angry?” Andrei asked, crossing his legs, probably remembering her knee in his groin.

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Eighty-One
Adrik

Misha walked outside. His face was red and his eyes were misty, but he looked better than he had since the ball. I raised my eyebrow at him. He put his hand on my shoulder, “she’s asking for you.”

“You good, kid?” I asked.

“Yeah, Boss. Better than good. I don’t know how she does it, but she always knows exactly what to say.”

I put my hand on his shoulder with a knowing look. I walked inside to find her getting a glass of water in the kitchen. She drank half of it and handed the glass to me. I finished it and refilled it, handing it back to her. I went to grab her antibiotic and gave her one. She swallowed it easily.

“What do you think about a pain pill? I can tell you’re hurting. Maybe half? It will at least help to take the edge off the pain, maybe?”

She thought for a moment. “Do you think they have just regular ibuprofen here? I know that won’t knock me out and it’ll take the pain away. That’s all I took for my back.

I cursed under my breath. “Really? That’s all you took?”

She nodded and shrugged her shoulders. “It worked. It should work on this too.”

I called for Misha and asked him to find Isabella to ask if they had ibuprofen. It would be time for dinner soon, so she had to be around close.
He wasn’t gone long and he came back with a full bottle of ibuprofen. He handed it to me as she said, “see, Misha, this is why you’re my favorite. Don’t tell the others.” He smiled widely at her.

I opened the bottle. “How many do you want?”

She took the bottle from me and read over the label. It was all in Italian, but she found whatever answer she needed.

“Four. In eight hours, four more. I call it ‘superprofen,” she grinned, popping them in her mouth.

Ivan walked into the kitchen, looking worse than I’d ever seen him. He stopped, surprised to see Sephie awake and upright. She looked at him, her eyes wide at his state. She looked to me quickly, glancing toward the patio. I knew she wanted a moment alone with Ivan, so I turned to Misha and motioned for him to follow me to the patio.

We were on the patio longer for Ivan than Misha. Viktor and Andrei were reluctant to go to her. They still felt so awful about everything that happened that they weren’t sure how to approach her. I couldn’t blame them. I would be scared if I were them, too. Truthfully, I was still nervous for Andrei’s ba lls and his future ability to have children.

I was starting to worry about Ivan’s well-being when Sephie walked out to the patio, leaning on Ivan’s arm. His face was also red, his eyes misty. Two down, three to go.

Viktor was the first to make a move when he saw Sephie. He stood up and went to her. Ivan made sure she was stable on her feet and walked away. They were still far enough away that we were mostly out of ear shot.-Viktor always towered over her, but he looked so defeated standing in front of her that he appeared shorter.

Smaller. We were trying to give them privacy, but we couldn’t help but watch the scene unfold. We saw his shoulders crumble in a single sob
and her comparatively small arms reach up and wrap around his massive shoulders.

Ivan broke our silence. “I don’t know how she does it, but she always knows exactly what to say.”
I knew exactly how he felt.

Viktor walked back to us after a few more moments with Sephie. He looked at Andrei, who looked terrified. We heard Sephie say loud enough for everyone to hear, “Bubba if you don’t get over here right now, I’ll make doubly sure you aren’t able to have children.”

His face went wh ite as he stood up slowly and walked toward heri
“Where’s Stephen? He might as well get this over with as well♫” I asked.

“He went to try to get some sleep. None of us have been able to sleep much since we got here. He said he was going to try one more time.”

I looked back toward Andrei, who looked like he had been sent to the principal’s office. It was much the same scene as with Viktor. She said exactly what he needed to hear to save him from himself. He held onto her gently, but still like she was his anchor in the storm of his own sea of emotions.

Andrei turned back toward us, letting Sephie lean on him as they walked toward us. Her eyes found mine. That spark was back as she walked slowly toward me. I felt my heart threaten to stop as she smiled at me. She tucked herself into my arms. She still felt more fragile to me. Like she was apprehensive. I hoped it was because she was in pain and not anything else.

She looked up at me, “so what’s the plan now? Don’t we need to leave?”
Ivan spoke first. “It can wait until you’re ready to travel. We still have eyes on Anthony and Lorenzo. Everything is still fine until you can make the trip.”

“What does the trip consist of?” she asked.

“We had originally planned on riding bikes to Naples. Now, we’re thinking we should take a different vehicle. It’ll just slow us down,” he said.

She thought for a moment, leaning against me. “How long is the trip?”

“Bikes, we should be able to make it in 7 hours or less. Cars, 8 hours or more.”

“I can probably do that. As long as I can take the superprofen first.”
Ivan raised his eyebrows.

“Superprofen?”

“She took a high dose of ibuprofen instead of a pain pill. She said that’s all she took with her back and it worked. No ill side effects either,” I said.

Ivan cursed under his breath. “Really? That’s all you took?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess I’m a weirdo, but it works. Whatever lets me fu cking eat again, I’ll gladly do.”

As if her stomach was waiting to be invited to the conversation, it growled loudly. Everyone laughed. Andrei ran into the kitchen and came back with a partial loaf of bread from earlier in the day.

“Here, spider monkey, this will tide you over until dinner.”

“Bubba. Let’s get married in Naples. I’m tired of waiting,” she said ripping a huge piece off the chunk of bread and shoving it into her mo uth.
She handed the bread to me, knowing I was likely just as hungry as she was. She was right. Between us both, we finished it quickly.

Viktor asked, “you think you can do the car?”

She shook her head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I can do the bikes with the superprofen.” They all looked at her, surprised. “What? This sh it works.” Laughing, I kissed her temple.
God, we all missed her.

She spent almost the entire dinner convincing the guys that she’d be able to travel the next day. They were willing to wait a couple more days until she was better.

“Once we get to Naples, what’s the plan?” she asked, in between bites of food.

“Armando is meeting us there. We’ll spend a couple days there before going on to Sicily,” Viktor said.

“See. I can rest there after the trip. It’ll be fine,” she said. “You guys all need to sleep since I’m apparently the only one that’s done that lately. We can leave like lunch time tomorrow and still get to Naples before it gets dark tomorrow.”

They thought about her suggestion for a few moments. I had to admit, it wasn’t a bad plan. I could use some extra sleep right now, as could everyone else, including her. She could time her superprofen to where she could take it before we left and then she’d be able to take it soon after we arrived in Naples. If she said she’d be up for the trip, I wasn’t going to argue with her. She was, after all, apparently difficult to kill.

Ivan looked at her, a serious expression on his face. “If it becomes too much, you tell me. We’ll stop for the night before reaching Naples.”

“I will tell you if it becomes too much. I promise,” she said. As we were finishing dinner, Stephen appeared in the kitchen, looking just as ho rrible as everyone else had and not at all rested. The guys all saw him before he saw Sephie. We all quickly walked outside to give them their moment alone, without him even realizing she was up yet.

Once we were outside, Misha spoke up. “That was kinda mean, but I would’ve loved to have seen his face when he realized he was alone with her.”

It didn’t take long and we heard her yell, “it’s safe. You can come back in.”
We filed back into the kitchen.

Stephen’s face was red, but he looked relieved. He looked at all of us as we walked in.

“You guys are as sholes. I nearly sh it myself.”

We all grinned at him. Sephie said, “you’re lucky I’m slow right now or I would’ve tested that.”

Laughter erupted in the kitchen. Everyone needed that little bit of comic relief. I looked at everyone as we laughed and they continued to tease Stephen. They were all going to sleep well tonight now that they knew she was back and they were forgiven.

I felt that pull in my chest toward her as I watched her bring light back to every one of them. I hadn’t realized how much her light shone on each one of them until it was gone briefly. My breath caught as I looked to her, finding her eyes on me and her smile wide across her face. God, we all missed her, but me most of all

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Eighty-Two
Sephie

We all woke much later than normal the next morning. I spent time walking around the house and the patio behind the house, trying to loosen up my still sore body. Adrik stayed by my side the entire time. I could walk by myself, but it was easier if I could lean on someone. He wouldn’t let me take a step without him there. Always there. Always ready to help me.

By mid-morning, everyone was awake. Isabella had left some food out for us, since none of us had made it to breakfast. We were all picking at the food while getting organized to leave in a few hours. Six motorcycles showed up in pairs, Andrei and Viktor moving them from their storage spot to the house. I had to admit, I was slightly nervous about how I was going to feel by the end of the day, but I had spent so much time last night convincing everyone I would be okay that I couldn’t go back now.

Misha walked up to us, carrying a leather jacket in one hand. He handed it to me, “here, gazelle, this is yours. Make sure it fits.”

I took the jacket from him, realizing it was a motorcycle jacket, with extra protection and reinforcements built into it. Where was this thing a few nights ago…?

It fit like a glove. I looked up to see Adrik’s eyes filled with lust as he watched me. I knew he was struggling. He wanted so badly to hold me tightly, to kiss me with every bit of passion he could muster, but I was so bruised and battered that he had to be gentle with me.

As I slipped out of the jacket and handed it back to Misha, I whispered to Adrik, “we might need a bike when we get home just so I can wear that more often.” I winked at him as his cheeks flushed.

Everything was packed up and divided between backpacks that the five guys had. They somehow managed to also fit my few things and Adrik’s into their packs, so I wouldn’t have to wear one. I was both grateful and impressed with their packing abilities.

I pulled my hair into a low ponytail to get it out of the way of the helmet. Viktor saw me and walked over to me.

“You will regret this later, sestrichka,” he said, pulling on my ponytail elastic. I looked at Adrik, confused.

Viktor just silently started to braid my hair for me. When he was done, I turned to look at him, shocked that my giant Russian bear knew how to braid. He shrugged his shoulders.

“I used to have long hair. You would’ve never been able to get the knots out of your hair by the time we get there.”

I opened my arms to him. “Come on. Bring it in.” I kissed his cheek when he bent down to hug me gently.
Adrik walked up to me, inspecting Viktor’s handiwork after Viktor had walked away. He was looking at me, but he was also lost in a memory. I knew he was thinking back to the night we met. His finger lightly trailed down the side of my face and my neck, his blue eyes taking in every detail of me. His fingers gently lifted my chin, and his lips were on mine. He was still holding back, afraid he would hurt me still, but I still closed my eyes and enjoyed his touch.

“You took your antibiotic and your superprofen, solnishko?”
I nodded. “An hour ago. It’s kicking in already. I feel a little better.”

“Good. You should be able to take it again when we get there.” He kissed me one more time and handed me my helmet. He climbed on the bike and looked toward me. I didn’t see Ivan walk up while I was putting on my helmet. I just felt his hands under my arms as he lifted me up and set me on the bike. I grinned; thankful I didn’t have to try to step onto the bike with my hip. I signed a “thank you” to him as he walked to his bike.

Adrik sat up, pulling my arm around him. I heard him in my helmet, “you hold on as tight as you need to, solnishko.”

“Wait, I can hear you in my helmet. Are we psychic now? Did that just happen?”

I heard Misha laughing in my helmet too. “Gazelle, they’re all connected so we can talk to each other.”

“Wait, I can hear all of you? Dam mit. That means I can’t talk sh it about you guys to Adrik the whole way. That’s it. I’m not going.” More laughter. Ivan spoke up.

“Remember you promised to tell me if this is too much, princess. I’m holding you to that. We’ll have to stop a few times anyway, but if you need to stop more, tell me.”

“I promise, Grumplestiltskin.” I felt Adrik’s arm on top of mine, his fingers laced through mine. We started to move, and he leaned down, pulling me with him. We pulled out of the driveway, Ivan and Viktor in front, Misha beside us, and Stephen and Andrei behind. Misha looked over, pointed to me, and gave me a questioning thumbs up after a few miles. I nodded my head as he pumped his fist once in the air. I smiled and shook my head.

I spent most of the ride enjoying the scenery as we sped through the countryside. I couldn’t see over Adrik’s body to see how fast we were going, but we weren’t taking a leisurely ride, for sure. We would weave in and out of traffic effortlessly as we passed through small towns. We would only slow down as we entered small towns where people were walking on the side of the road. We had to wait for one man to get his go ats across the road.

As soon as we left the towns, it was back to pushing the upper limits of the bikes. I held on tightly to Adrik anytime we accelerated. He would feel me squeeze tighter and would place his arm over mine, lacing his fingers through mine.

We finally made it to a larger city and stopped for gas. It had been a few hours and I was happy to be able to stand up for a minute. Before I could even attempt to get off the bike on my own, Misha had jumped off his bike and was lifting me off. He set me down gently, making sure I was steady on my feet before he took his helmet off.

There were a few customers trying not to stare, but very obviously staring at our little group. There was a car full of what looked like college-aged girls. Their jaws dropped when Misha took his helmet off. He hadn’t noticed as he was busy filling the gas tank on his bike. I walked to his side and asked quietly, “are we coming back this way when everything is done?”

“Maybe? We haven’t decided. We might leave from Naples. Why?” He looked puzzled.

I discreetly nodded my head in the direction of the car full of girls. “Because you can have an Italian baby in about nine months if you want one.”

He was still looking at me but cut his eyes toward the car full of girls. His wide smile stretching across his face. He ran his hand through his hair. I heard not so quiet exclamations from the group. “You could have all of them, without even trying.” I said as I winked at him, walking back to Adrik.
He had left his helmet on but took it off when he saw me coming toward him. More exclamations from the group of girls. While I was more than willing to be a wingman for Misha, they were lusting after the wrong one when it came to

Adrik.
I glanced in their direction to make sure they were watching as I walked to him, wrapping my arms around him, and kissing him. He smiled against my lips, “did you just pu blicly claim me, solnishko?”

“Da mn straight I did,” I said with my best devilish grin.

He kissed me once more. “You’re allowed to pub licly claim me anytime you feel the need, my love.”

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Eighty-Three
Sephie

We all made a pit stop, with Adrik waiting outside the restroom for me. As I was washing my hands, one of the girls walked into the bathroom. She spoke to me in Italian, but I shook my head no.

“English?” I asked. She continued in English, “how do you have so many attractive men with you?”

Without even thinking, I looked at her as seriously as I could, “I’m a movie star. They’re my bodyguards. I can’t believe you don’t recognize me.” I smiled to myself as I left her stunned in the bathroom. I was still smiling when I walked out of the bathroom. Adrik looked at me, smiling back at me, looking especially handsome in his leather jacket.

“Why are you smiling so big, solnishko?” he asked as he wrapped his arm around my waist to help me walk back to the bikes. The more I walked, the easier it got, but I was still grateful for the help.

“I’m now a movie star and you guys are my bodyguards.”

“Remind me to get your autograph later.” He kissed the top of my head, chuckling.

Before we left, the car full of girls pulled out ahead of us, turning in the same direction we were going. I was sure we were going to catch up to them quickly. I put my helmet on and Misha was there to pick me up, putting me on the bike once again. I wrapped my arms around Adrik’s waist.

We’re going to need to do this more often when we get home. It didn’t take very long, and we caught up to the car full of girls. Viktor and Ivan pulled beside them, both waving at the girls. Adrik and Misha doing the same. I looked back and Andrei and Stephen had done the same. The girls were so embarrassed that they could hardly look as we passed.

“They’re going to remember this day for the rest of their lives, gentlemen. You guys just shaped their future love interests,” I laughed as we sped away from them. I heard laughter from everyone in my helmet.

“We should be coming into Rome in the next few minutes,” Ivan said.

“We’re making better time than I thought we would be. You’re a fuc king beast, princess.”

“I don’t know about all that. I’m literally just sitting here hanging on to the man I love. This doesn’t feel like a lot of effort on my part.”

Adrik reached back and grabbed my leg, pulling me closer to him. I squeezed his waist a little tighter.
Traffic got heavier as we got closer to Rome, forcing us to slow down. We could split the lane with cars, allowing us to jump ahead of slower traffic. I’ve never seen so many cars in the same place. Driving through Rome was chaos, yet everyone seemed to stay out of the way of other cars. I found myself gasping a few times thinking that one of us was going to be hit, but it never happened. Each time I would flinch, Adrik would squeeze my hand or would talk to me, assuring me it would be okay.

The other guys figured out I was nervous and started talking to me as well, telling me stories to take my mind off the traffic or telling me how much longer we had until we were through the city. I could feel the anxiety coming on. I didn’t think I would be able to ignore it.

“Once we get through this clusterfuck, I’m gonna need a minute, if that’s okay,” I said. I could feel my legs starting to shake a little.

Ivan asked, “do you need to stop now? We can pull over right now if you need it.”

“No, no. I want to get out of this place first. It’s making me anxious,”

“You got it, princess,” he said as he accelerated through traffic)
Andrei said, “close your eyes, spider monkey. It’s easier for you and we can get you out of here faster.”

I gave him the thumbs up sign, as he was right behind us. I sh ut my eyes tight and held onto Adrik. I felt his hand on my leg again briefly. He put both hands back on the bike as we started to weave through traffic faster. My breaths were coming faster, as my body started to shake a little more with each je rk of the bike.

“Three minutes, princess.”
That three minutes took forever. My legs were shaking, and I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. We stopped and Misha was pulling me off the bike immediately. Adrik ripped his helmet off as he climbed off the bike, he pulled my helmet off and crushed me to him. His hands running up and down my back, trying to calm my panic.

“Shhh…it’s okay now. We’re out of the city now. It’ll be smooth from here.”
I nodded, my head against his chest.

“I’m okay. I just need a minute.”

I heard Ivan say behind me, “you can have as long as you need, princess. Nobody likes driving through Rome.”
Adrik’s hands continued to rub my back, occasionally running over my hair. The longer I stood in his embrace, breathing in his scent, the more relaxed I got. I didn’t know what it was about his touch that could calm me down, but I hoped it never went away. I took a deep breath in.

“Better?” he asked, stepping back to look at me, his face full of concern.
I nodded my head. “Sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“It doesn’t matter. You’ve been through a lot lately. Rome is…a lot, even for someone who hasn’t been through even a fraction of what you have,” he said, tucking a stray curl behind my ear.

I leaned against him again, resting my head on his chest. His arms felt so nice around me that I didn’t want to give up that moment just yet. I had a memory of the coldness of the void. Cold that penetrated down to my bones, down to my very soul. I closed my eyes, thinking about how his voice brought warmth back. A small smile came to my lips, thinking about how much I needed him. How he was always ready to do anything I needed. How they all were. I really was the Juckiest girl.

“Okay, I’m ready. We can go again. I don’t want to make us late.”
“You’re sure? We can stay here a little longer,” Adrik said, looking in my eyes, searching.

“I’m positive. I’m okay. Promise.” I stood on my toes and kissed him gently.

He nodded, putting his helmet back on. He climbed on the bike. Ivan was next to me, as I was putting my helmet on. He caught my elbow as I raised the helmet to put it on. He looked me in the eyes, seriously, “You did good. You tell me if it comes back, okay? We’ll stop again. We’re well ahead of schedule. We can afford to stop as much as you need.”

I pulled the helmet over my head and tapped it. He chuckled as he lifted me onto the bike

 

[Muhindi Wa Kuchoma]

Chapter Eighty-Four
Sephie

Outside of Rome were more small towns, which I could easily handle. We stopped one more time before we got closer to Naples, just without the car full of fan girls this time.

“This stop was boring. I like it better when you guys have fans,” I said as we pulled away from the station. “Nobody tell Tori I said that.”

Andrei sighed. “That might not be a problem when we get back.”

“Bubba! What happened now?”
“I couldn’t tell her we were leaving. I ditched my phone before we got on the plane. No contact until this is done. I doubt she’ll be waiting for me.”

“Oh, Bubba. I didn’t even think about that.” I couldn’t help but think back to my own anger at the situation. I didn’t mean to, but I laughed. “She’s gonna be So pissed.”

Stephen spoke up. “We’re all more scared of her than we are of you, if that gives you an idea of what he’s dealing with.”

“Shu t up.”

“No, it’s true, gazelle,” Misha said. “She gets angry at the slightest thing. It’s like we can’t say anything around her. I mean, you had a very good reason to be angry with us. But she gets mad at us for st upid stuff.”

Andrei said, “she doesn’t have the same confidence that you do, spider monkey. She tends to see the negative before she sees the positive. It’s exhausting.”

“Bubba, I’m sorry. I feel bad for facilitating this relationship. Max never keeps girls longer than a few weeks, so I don’t vet them thoroughly enough, apparently.”

“Don’t apologize, Sephie. Whatever happens will happen,” Andrei said. I could hear the sadness in his voice.

“Well, if it doesn’t work out with her, I promise to vet the next one thoroughly before I give her my blessing,” I said.

“We have to get your blessing now?” Ivan asked.

“Um, yes. I can’t believe you would even question that, Grumplestiltskin.” I fired back. I was sure he was going to argue with me after saying that.

“You realize you’ve set a next to impossible standard for other women to live up to, right? You honestly expect us to be able to find someone that can pass that test?” he said.

“Ivan the Squishy has entered the chat, gentlemen.” I heard laughter from everyone, then Viktor spoke up.

“He’s right, you know. You’ve made it infinitely harder for us to find a suitable woman now.”

I was silent for a moment, trying to think of what to say. I started to say something a few times but changed my mind and shu t my mou th. I felt Adrik’s hand on mine, his fingers laced through mine.

“It’s not her fault she’s amazing, guys. Nor should you be discouraged that she set the bar higher for you. Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait,” he said. I squeezed him tighter, resting my head on the back of his shoulder. I quickly got lost in my own thoughts, thinking about how easily I had formed a unique bond with each of them. Wondering if another woman could ever do the same or if I really was ruining their chances of ever finding their own person.

I thought back to the conversation I had with my dad and how what had happened was needed, not just for me, but for all of them as well. I could easily see how it was needed for Misha. The guys now gave credit to his gut feeling, which would likely come in handy in the future. I was going to have to wait to see how things played out to understand why Andrei was going through this with Tori. Not to mention what the other three gained from this whole experience. I spent the remainder of the trip lost in my thoughts.

Adrik
Sephie had been quiet for the last part of the trip. I kept checking on her, either grabbing her hand or her leg. Each time, she would squeeze me just a little tighter. I was worried she was starting to feel pain, as it was close to time for more superprofen. I was anxious to get to Armando’s villa so she could take more and rest for the remainder of the evening.

As we got closer to the villa, I found myself thinking back to our first stop that day. When Sephie had made sure the girls that were eyeing Misha knew that I was off the table. I’ve never been pub licly claimed before. I can’t say I disliked it, either. I know I want to make sure that every man knows she’s mine anytime we’re in public. I’m so relieved that she’s forgiven me and still wants me after what happened. I was so sure I had lost her. I had no idea how I was going to live without her. I was so grateful I wouldn’t have to figure out how to.

It was like she was reading my mind, because Sephie tightened her grip around me, breaking me free from my thoughts of what almost happened. I found her hand, against my stomach, lacing my fingers through hers. Her hands were starting to get cold, as the sun was getting lower in the sky. We still had about half an hour before we reached the villa. I unzipped my jacket halfway and stuck her hands inside my jacket, hoping to keep them warm until we could stop.

The early fall air had a bite to it that we weren’t yet used to. As we got closer to the coast, we could smell the sea air and feel the breeze pick up. I was hoping they would have a bath I could run for her once we got there. It would help with her soreness, warming her up in the process. I was looking forward to at least one calm day once we arrived.

I’d been so worried about Sephie that I hadn’t thought much about the situation with Anthony and Lorenzo. I was so close to wanting them all dead. I just wanted to be done with it at this point. Lorenzo was looking for a way back to the city. He felt Anthony was his ticket to come back, even though Anthony was also banished.

They were using Salvadori to stir the pot, trying to create enough chaos that they could sneak back in without me noticing. Once there, they would take over. Their plan was to unleash he ll on the people of the city, causing as much mayhem as possible. With the city a war zone, it would be easier to get to me and the other three bosses that stood loyal to me.