King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

442

Adrik

Sephie was awake before me for once the next morning. I could feel her fingen lightly tracing circles on my hack as

she tried to slowly wake me up. I pulled her even closer, burying my face in her neck. She laughed quietly as she

moved her leg over my hips, pressing her body completely against

mine.

“Let’s stay like this the whole day,” I said.

“Are you extra tired? Did you get zapped?” she asked. I could hear the concern in her voice, but I could also feel it.

“No. I just need a break.” I pulled back so I could look at her, finally opening my eyes. Her eyes were swirling, but

they landed on blue as she looked at me. “Let’s go to the house this afternoon. I don’t have that many meetings.

Inight cancel them all.”

“You’ll hear no arguments from me. I think we could all use some time there What about Ilya though?” she asked.

I thought for a moment. I’d actually forgotten about him. If he was going to rk for Vitaliy, it wasn’t the worst thing in

the world for him to know about the house, but I still didn’t like the idea of him knowing just yet. “I’ll give Viktor the

weekend off completely. He can spend more time with Ilya before he starts working for Vitaliy. Viktor will protest,

since he hates taking time off and I’ll suggest we go to the house so he won’t worry about us all weekend.”

“I learned how to plan things out from watching you,” she said, grinning at me

“And I learned how to love you more than humanly possible from watching you.” I said, kissing her. I could feel her

warmth spreading through my body as I buried my face in her neck again.

“Time away will be good for all of us, I think. It’ll give me a chance to catch the other three up on my conversation

with Kostya. Maybe Stephen can experiment with helping Misha this weekend, too. He’s been trying to let go of his

hatred for Giana, but it’s still there. It still comes back now and then when he least expects it,” she said.

I laughed. “I still find it surprising that he got so angry with her. I didn’t know that kid had it in him, but he clearly

loves you. There’s no doubt about that. They all do.”

I felt her mood shift and pulled back from her so I could see her once more. Her eyes were swirling, but they were

mostly amber and white, surprisingly. She saw the look on my face and explained. “I sometimes worry at their

connection with me is keeping them cut off from living their lives. We all joked about it in Italy, but I can clearly see

now that I’ve made ixceptionally difficult for them to find a girlfriend. Stephen might have an easier time, but only

slightly. I don’t want to keep them from making their own lives.”

“I don’t think you are, solnishko. They know that once I’m done for the day, they’re free to go. It’s always been that

way. It will always be that way. If they wanted to find girlfriends right now, they could. They’re choosing to spend

more time with you because you give them what they need right now. They wouldn’t be able to have the same

conversations with a girlfriend that they have with you. At least not right away. What’s happening to all of us is

strange and not everyone is going to be able to handle it. They need to be more secure in themselves and what

they can do before they’re going to have a chance at finding a relationship that lasts. None of them are interested

in just finding a woman to sleep with. They see what we have and they all want the same. They know it’s going to

be worth the wait.”

She sighed, her eyes once again landing on the deepest depth of the ocean blu. Her fingers ran lightly through my

facial hair as she smiled sweetly at me, “Sometimes I wonder what the hell I did to deserve you,” she said.

“I wonder the same thing every single day,” I said, burying my face in her neck once more. She wrapped her arms

around me, holding onto me tightly as she let me have a few more minutes in bed with her before starting the day

The guys were waiting on us when we came out of the bedroom. Viktor was diere with Ilya, as well as Vitaliy and

Aleksei I wasted no time setting my plan in motion. “Viktor, why don’t you take the weekend and spend it with fyd

before he starts work. You guys slept through his first week here. At least you’ll have a couple more days to catch

up,” I said.

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Adrik

Sephie was awake before me for once the next morning. I could feel her fingers lightly tracing circles on my back

as she tried to slowly wake me up. I pulled her even closer, burying my face in her neck. She laughed quietly as she

moved her leg over my hips, pressing her body completely against

mine.

“Let’s stay like this the whole day,” I said.

“Are you extra tired? Did you get zapped?” she asked. I could hear the concern in her voice, but I could also feel it.

“No. I just need a break.” I pulled back so I could look at her, finally opening my eyes. Her eyes were swirling, but

they landed on blue as she looked at me. “Let’s go to the house this afternoon. I don’t have that many meetings.

might cancel them all.”

“You’ll hear no arguments from me. I think we could all use some time there. What about Ilya though?” she asked.

I thought for a moment. I’d actually forgotten about him. If he was going to work for Vitaliy, it wasn’t the worst

thing in the world for him to know. about the house, but I still didn’t like the idea of him knowing just yet. “I’ll give

Viktor the weekend off completely. He can spend more time with Ilya before he starts working for Vitaliy. Viktor will

protest, since he hates taking time off and I’ll suggest we go to the house so he won’t worry about us all weekend.”

“I learned how to plan things out from watching you,” she said, grinning at m

“And I learned how to love you more than humanly possible from watching you,” I said, kissing her. I could feel her

warmth spreading through my body as I buried my face in her neck again.

“Time away will be good for all of us, I think. It’ll give me a chance to catch the other three up on my conversation

with Kostya. Maybe Stephen can experiment with helping Misha this weekend, too. He’s been trying to let go of his

hatred for Giana, but it’s still there. It still comes back now and then when he least expects it,” she said.

I laughed. “I still find it surprising that he got so angry with her. I didn’t know that kid had it in him, but he clearly

loves you. There’s no doubt about that. They all do.”

I felt her mood shift and pulled back from her so I could see her once more. r eyes were swirling, but they were

mostly amber and white, surprisingly. She saw the look on my face and explained. “I sometimes worry that their

connection with me is keeping them cut off from living their lives. We all joked about it in Italy, but I can clearly see

now that I’ve made it exceptionally difficult for them to find a girlfriend. Stephen might have an easier time, but

only slightly. I don’t want to keep them from making the own lives.”

“I don’t think you are, solnishko. They know that once I’m done for the day, they’re free to go. It’s always been that

way. It will always be that way. If they wanted to find girlfriends right now, they could. They’re choosing to spend

more time with you because you give them what they need right now. They wouldn’t be able to have the same

conversations with a girlfriend that they have with you. At least not right away. What’s happening to all of us is

strange and not everyone is going to be able to handle it. They need to be more secure in themselves and what

they can do before they’re going to have a chance at finding a relationship that lasts. None of them are interesten

just finding a woman to sleep with. They see what we have and they all want the same. They know it’s going to be

worth the wait.”

She sighed, her eyes once again landing on the deepest depth of the ocean blu. Her fingers ran lightly through my

facial hair as she smiled sweetly at me. “Sometimes I wonder what the hell I did to deserve you,” she said.

“I wonder the same thing every single day,” I said, burying my face in her neck once more. She wrapped her arms

around me, holding onto me tightly as she Jet me have a few more minutes in bed with her before starting the day

The guys were waiting on us when we came out of the bedroom. Viktor was there with Ilya, as well as Vitally and

Aleksei. I wasted no time setting my plan in motion. “Viktor, why don’t you take the weekend and spend it with

before he starts work. You guys slept through his first week here. At

least you’ll have a couple more days to catch up,” I said.

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Viktor started to protest, but Vitaly surprised me by interjecting. “You can help me find more security for my house,

if you really want to work. But after that, you should spend time with your brother.”

Viktor still looked unsure. He asked me, “you guys will be okay?”

Sephie smiled sweetly at him. “We can go away for the weekend. We’ll be fine and you won’t have to worry about

us, Papa Bear.”

His entire demeanor melted as she smiled at him. He wasn’t going to argue any further.

“It’s settled then,” Vitaliy said, matter-of-factly.

“Were you trying to keep Viktor away or you just don’t want Ilya at the house?” yan asked me as everyone started

conversing.

“Iya. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for him to know about it, but not yet. I really need a break. Sephie

does too, even though she’s pushing through like the boss she is. She needs time to tell the other three about

Kostya, too.”

“We could all use the break. Except Stephen. He’s still on cloud 9.” Ivan said, laughing.

“You were right last night. That kid is a saint. I’m happy to see it. Nobody deserves it more than he does.”

Ivan nodded his head discreetly in agreement and we both returned to the normal conversation going on around

us. Stephen was asking Sephie to come up with a new name for Armando for when we took him to a nursing home.

“Richard. That way you can call him d ick the entire time and no one will know you’re saying it with a lowercase ‘d,”

she said flatly. The guys all laughed.

Dic kie had a drug problem that caused him to have a massive stroke and now he’s catatonic,” Stephen said, his

smile that was showing itself more frequently lately across his face.

“That’s perfect,” Sephie said, grinning at him.

I decided to keep my meetings that day, rather than reschedule them. I asked Sephie if she could come to the last

one, which always surprised her. “Who is it?” she asked.

“You’ll see,” I said. I enjoyed tormenting her maybe a little too much sometimes.

She walked into my office with the Wonder Twins just before the meeting started. Stephen walked in right behind

them. She turned to see who it was and her face immediately lit up. “Vinny!” she said as she walked quickly to him.

He brought his wife, Anna, with him as well. “And A nna!” she said, hugging both of them. Neal walked in shortly

after, a look of amusement on face. “I’m so happy to see both of you!” Sephie said, as they walked in, each taking

a seat.

“Bella, it’s always good to see you,” Vinny said. He shook my hand before sitting down. “You too, sir,” he said,

taking a seat.

Sephie walked around my desk, stopping to kiss me quickly, then hopped on the cabinet behind my desk. Anna’s

salon had been repaired and was reopened, as were all the other businesses in that part of town. Since Niko and

Vito were still in Italy with Sal, all of the underbosses had backed off of enforcing the increased taxes. They had all

heard what happened to Anthony, Lorenzo, and Massimo. They all knew that no one had seen Armando or Dario in

months. They were scared..

I looked to Neal, asking if he’d brought the paperwork. We had one restaurant owner in the new building project

back out for personal reasons, so we had one space empty. I decided to offer it to Vinny at a discounted price so he

could expand and open a second location, should he choose to. Neal got up and set down everything in front of

Vinny.

Vinny started to look at everything, curious as to why I’d asked him here. Ne explained the building project to him.

As he did, Sephie silently asked, “you’re offering the vacant spot to Vinny so he can open a second location, arent

you? I just turned slightly so I could see her, but didn’t respond, “Just when I think I can’t love you anymore than I

already do…”

Neal explained about the empty space and then offered it to Vinny, should he want to expand to a second location,

Vinny looked shocked, as did

Anna.

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“There’s no pressure, Vinny. It’s only if you want to expand to a second location. I’m offering the space to you first

before I make it known there’s a space available,” I said.

Vinny looked at Anna, then back to me. “We’ve been talking about a second location for years, sir. We just could

never find the right spot. This spot is perfect. I can keep that place afloat just on the people in that build

he sail.

“Smart man, Vinny. You’d be surprised how not obvious that is to some people” Sephie said sarcastically. Neal

looked at her, unable to keep his laughter in.