“G**damn yelling. I can’t stand yelling. They were right. Your mother taught you zero manners while she was f**king the whole town,” Viktor said, walking back to the door of the room. Armando was still yelling, but now it was m*ffled by the w*d of cloth shoved in his mouth, which admittedly was much nicer than having to listen to him screaming.
“Ricardo and Lorenzo probably knew all of this when they chose you,” I said. As soon as I said they had chosen him, he glared at me. “Oh, they definitely chose you, Mando. You see, you might still be under the impression that you were ‘choosing’ Sephie to be your next conquest, but it’s really been you all along. You’ve been a puppet your whole life. Sephie, on the other hand, well, not only has she survived every single horrid situation she’s been put in, she’s made the perpetrator pay with his life. Don’t worry, you’re going to find this out firsthand soon enough,” I said. “You might think you’re above her, but it won’t feel like that when you’re dead and nobody remembers your name. And Sephie? She’s just getting started. The whole world will know her name.” I stood and watched as Armando struggled, still yelling, still angry beyond belief. I knew we’d found his weakness and I was planning on exploiting it even more. I wanted him to suffer as much as possible.
I turned to the guys, who were standing behind me. I said, in Russian, “I think we should leave him to his thoughts for the night.” They nodded in agreement. It had only been a little over an hour, but I was already missing Sephie. I needed to make sure she was okay. Viktor opened the door and walked out first, giving instructions to the guards.
On the elevator back to the penthouse, Stephen couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, that was way more informative than I thought it was going to be.” We all joined him in laughing, because what else could we do in that situation. While there was a tiny part of me that might’ve felt bad for Armando under different circumstances, he sealed his fate when he took part in grabbing Sephie. He just made sure his death was going to be slow and painful when he decided to beat her.
We walked quietly back into the penthouse, assuming that Sephie would be asleep. The TV was on, which was a rare occurrence for us, and the three of them were somehow all lying on the couch together, with Sephie in the middle still wrapped up like a burrito in a blanket. She was sound asleep, against Andrei, with his arm around her to keep her warm, with Misha laying in the opposite direction, holding onto her legs. I looked at them, clearly amused by the scene.
“She got really cold when you left. This was the only solution that kept her warm,” Andrei said. Misha slowly untangled himself from her legs. I watched him do it and still had no clue how he was lying the way he was and still able to watch the movie. Or how there was room on the couch for all three of them. Andrei and Misha were not small men.
“We offered to help her to bed when she started to get sleepy, but she didn’t want to be alone. She said she still didn’t trust that she wouldn’t start shaking,” Misha said.
“You don’t have to justify anything to me. That’s why I left you two with her,” I said, laughing quietly. I walked to the couch, looking down at her and Andrei, trying to weigh my options. It was not as easy to pick her up and carry her to bed now that she was hurt. Moving her was painful. I hated to wake her up, but I didn’t see a way around it given the way she’d fallen asleep against Andrei. I looked at him, saying, “tighten your grip just a little so she doesn’t move when she starts to wake up.” He nodded and I could see his arm flex around her. I knelt down in front of her, my hand against her cheek. “Sephie, I need you to wake up,” I said softly, my thumb rubbing her cheek lightly. She mumbled in her sleep and started to move, but Andrei stopped her. Her eyes opened, seeing me in front of her. I was immediately hit with her warmth, causing me to smile at her.
“You’re back,” she said, quietly, lazily blinking away the sleep.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed. I didn’t want to hurt you by moving you in your sleep,” I said. “I still don’t understand how the three of you could fit on that couch.”
Her gorgeous smile made my heart threaten to stop. “It’s simple, really. Magic,” she said as she started to try and unwrap herself from the blanket. Andrei helped her and then kept hold of her as he sat up slowly while I moved her legs so she was sitting. She was able to stand up almost on her own, with only a little bit of help from me this time. “How long have you been gone? What time is it?” she asked. Ivan answered her, telling her we’d only been gone a little under two hours. “I can take more superprofen before I go back to bed, then,” she said, walking slowly toward the kitchen. I caught her, steering her toward the bedroom instead.
“I’ll get it, love. It’ll be faster this way,” I said, grinning at her.
“Solid logic,” she said, walking toward the bedroom.
Sephie
I managed to sleep through the entire night. I’m not even sure I moved at all once I went back to bed. I was so happy to be in our bed, with Adrik next to me. I was warm, I was comfortable, it was Heaven. Instead of trying to position me to lay on his chest, I slept on my good side, my back pressed against him, and under the covers. It helped me stay warm, which helped me sleep the whole night.
I felt him start to stir and felt his grip on me tighten slightly as he tried to wake me up, but made sure I wouldn’t move too suddenly. I opened my eyes, but was disappointed that I couldn’t see him right away. “I like it much better when I can see you first thing when I open my eyes,” I said, still feeling very sleepy. I felt the vibration in his chest as he laughed quietly at me. He moved so his cheek was against my neck, brushing his facial hair against my neck softly. I felt his lips on my neck, kissing me softly. “I also like it much better when I can respond without completely killing the pleasure,” I said.
He laughed again, but pulled his arm from under my head. He got up and moved so he was lying in front of me, his boyish grin on his face. “Better?” he asked as he lied down in front of me, his hand on my cheek.
“Much,” I said, feeling the warmth that I always felt when I thought about just how much I loved him.
“You slept the whole night. I’m surprised,” he said.
“I was happy to be back in this bed, apparently. With you,” I said, loving the feel of his hand running lightly over my face and neck. “You weren’t gone very long last night. I expected it to be later when you got back.” I closed my eyes again, concentrating on the feeling of his touch.
“We got unexpected information from Armando that made it clear he needed to have to sit with it overnight,” he said. I opened my eyes, curious as to what information they could’ve found out that would’ve prolonged things. Adrik laughed. “As Stephen put it, he has mommy issues,” he said.
“Does he now? What kind of mommy issues?” I asked.
“Stephen nailed it. That guy will use psychology as a weapon when he wants to. He’s just as good as you about figuring people out, he just doesn’t want to until he wants to destroy the person,” he said.
I smiled. “Stephen is much like Ivan, but instead of not wanting anyone to know how wise he is to protect his peace, Stephen doesn’t want anyone to know how wise he is because he’s insecure about his knowledge. I’m guessing his parents were hard on him or he had a sibling that told him he was st*pid a lot as a kid. He’s still not over it, which is hilarious because he’s seriously one of the smartest people I know.”
Adrik just grinned at me. “You two should start working together. No secret is safe.”
I laughed weakly, trying to not cause pain in my ribs. “What did he say about Armando?”
“I’m still not sure if he was guessing or if he knew for sure, but he said Armando’s mom was probably an addict and h**ked to get money for drugs. He said she likely neglected him because she was always either whoring or so high she forgot she even had a son.”
I/3
It suddenly all made sense. My eyes went wide as I said, “that’s why he chooses the women he does and why he gets them addicted. He’s trying to be their savior, but then he’s disgusted that they become addicts like his mom so he disposes of them.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.