King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

380

Sephie

I hooked my arm through Viktor’s as I followed him to his desk while Adrik had his meeting. “What’s his schedule

like today, Papa Bear?” I asked.

“Three more meetings after this one, then he’s done. Unless I hear back from Henry’s office saying he can meet

tonight,” he answered me in Russian, since there were plenty of ears around the office.

“What about Vitaliy? What’s he doing today?”

“He begrudgingly left this morning and said he won’t be back until tonight. I don’t think he’s going to stay much

longer. He’s annoyed at having to see so many people,” he said, trying not to laugh.

“I find it both ironic and hilarious that he’s as popular as he is when he returns to the city,” I said. I thought for a

few moments, then asked, “when will you know if he has an extra meeting tonight? I’m trying to make a plan for

feeding you all since I’ve been slacking on my duties lately.”

He chuckled. “You’ve been exhausted, sestrichka. You haven’t been slacking. I’ve already ordered dinner for tonight

anyway, so you don’t need to worry.” I squinted my eyes at him, but didn’t argue. I decided I would spend the

afternoon making him a treat instead.

I looked around to see who else was in the office. Stephen was the only one, other than Viktor. I couldn’t steal Viktor

since he was on master of schedule duties. “Yoden, are you busy this afternoon?”

He looked up from his computer. “Nope. I’m just staring at the screen pretending to be busy right now. It was

starting to get boring, so I should thank you. What do you need?” he asked as he closed his laptop.

I reached down and grabbed his arm, pulling him up. “You’re coming with me,” I said.

“Where are we going? Do you have a plan? Do we need supplies? How long will we be gone? Am I properly

dressed? Do I need a coat? Never mind, 1 don’t get cold. It’s physically impossible,” he said. He let a sly smile slip

out when I looked up at him. Very uncharacteristic of him, but I loved him a little more for it. He quietly slid his arm

around my shoulders as we walked to the elevator, creating a visual barrier between me and curious eyes.

Once we were on the elevator alone, I said, “have I mentioned how f**king funny the Vlad jokes in front of Vitaliy

are? Like I love you even more each time it happens. The look on his and Alyosha’s faces is just perfection. They’re

so lost. It’s so great.” We were both laughing when the elevator doors opened.

It took Stephen such a long time to warm up to me, but now that he had, I adored him. He was so smart and so fre

aking funny. He was so quietly hilarious that he kept us all entertained. And he could say anything with a straight

face, so those who didn’t know him thought he was completely serious while saying some of the du mbest shi t

you’ve ever heard in your life. It was a true gift.

Because he ended up as backup for Viktor in his master of schedule duties, it meant I didn’t get to spend as much

time with Viktor and Stephen as 1 did the other three. I was starting to suspect that wasn’t helping those two realize

how they were special, so I’d decided to try and change that as much as I could. It was easier to get time with

Stephen on my own. I was going to need Adrik’s help to get time with Viktor.

We walked into the kitchen and I started to pull a few things out of the cabinets. Stephen said, “you know Viktor

already ordered dinner for tonight, right? You don’t have to cook, Seph. You should still rest today.”

I smiled at him. “I know, Yoden. I’m making him cookies. You’re helping”

He groaned. “My stomach is having a love affair with you. I hope you know that. It’s a little weird. It’s very

unorthodox, but he’s very much in love with you. It’s to the point that he almost revolts if I eat food made by

anyone else. He’s not happy about it and he’s very loud about that fact.”

I laughed at him talking about his stomach like it was a whole other person inside him. “My stomach feels the same

about Vinny. So much so that t think Adrik got a little jealous in the beginning.”

It was his turn to laugh. “Is he capable of getting jealous? I’ve never once seen him jealous with you.”

“Not when it comes to you guys, ro. Not usually. Although he did struggle with feeling jealous this last time I got

hurt. I spent so much time with all of you guys since I did nothing but sleep and apparently I’m incapable of sleeping

on my own anymore that he started to feel jealous. It’s why you guys only just found out about my eyes. That’s

been happening for quite a while now. He wanted to keep it just between us for a while,” I said. “But he’s very

possessive in front of other people that aren’t you five.”

“Huh. I never noticed.”

“Because you’re too busy analyzing what’s been said or what you have noticed. Your brain is very busy. You should

cut it some slack for not noticing insignificant things,” I said.

“Guilty. It’s a gift and a curse,” he said. He followed me to the pantry so I could hand him everything I needed for

this project.

“I think it’s more of a gift than a curse. You just struggle with believing in yourself so you’re overanalyzing. Your first

instinct is always right. Stop second-guessing yourself. Whoever told you that you were du mb when you were

younger was completely wrong.”

“You’re not supposed to be fishing in my head, remember?” he said, as I piled ingredients in his arms.

“I wasn’t. It’s so obvious that I didn’t need to fish. Much like Ivan doesn’t want people to know how wise he is

because he values his peace too much, you don’t want people to know how wise you are either. But it’s because

you’re insecure with your wisdom. For the record, I find it endearing, but also hilarious. You’re seriously one of the

smartest people I know. Especially when it comes to how best to mindf**k someone. I’m guessing you felt very

misunderstood as a kid?” I asked.

He squinted his eyes at me, like he was unsure he wanted to answer. He sighed, but agreed. “I was. I was very quiet

as a kid. My sisters are loud as f**k. So are my parents. I stuck out. While they are loud and obnoxious to distract

from what they don’t want people to see, I took the opposite approach. I was always quiet, never talked much. My

middle sister used to tease me relentlessly for it. She would tell her friends that I was re tarded and they would all

pick on me. My youngest sister always went along with everything the middle one did, so when she got old enough,

she would tease me as well. My oldest sister would join in sometimes, but not always. She never stopped it though.”

“Do you want me to kick your sister’s a ss? Because I’ll do it,” I asked.

He chuckled. “No, I think she’s already getting her own Karma. I don’t talk to iny sisters often, but my mother keeps

me updated on them. My middle sister is on her fourth husband. She struggles to keep a job for very long. It’s

because she’s a miserable human being, but of course she blames everyone else.”

“What about your youngest sister?”

“She’s not much better, although she hasn’t gotten married yet. That’s mostly because she has a very loud

reputation for being very easy. She’s slept her way through the entire town we grew up in. She moved to a larger

city, trying to increase her chances of finding a husband. I think she only increased the number of STD’s she has.”

I couldn’t keep from laughing. “I’m sorry. That’s not funny. I shouldn’t laugh at that.”