Henry stood up to leave, once again shaking Adrik’s hand. When he did, I saw Adrik stiffen ever so slightly. That’s new. I glanced to Andrei, who clearly had seen something as well. Stephen’s phone beeped as Viktor was walking Henry back to the elevator. “Dinner’s here. Be right back,” he said, jogging out of the office to catch the elevator.
Once we heard the doors close, I walked to Adrik. “What happened when you shook his hand before he left?”
“Did you feel it?” he asked.
I shook my head no. “I didn’t feel anything, but I saw you tense. It’s different. You don’t do that.”
Ivan chuckled. “Vitaliy is also a Game Master, it seems,” he said.
I remembered. Adrik was like Vitaliy. “That escalated quickly,” I said, raising my eyebrow at him.
“Did you feel it when he first came into the office?” Ivan asked.
Andrel spoke up, “something changed while he was in here. He made some decision while he was here and something changed. I couldn’t figure out what it was, though.”
“It’s something to do with power. He wants it. He doesn’t like it that Adrik has it. But we should wait for Stephen. Somehow I think he’s going to have Insight into this,” I said.
It didn’t take Jung and Viktor and Stephen returned. We were all waiting for them at the elevator, so we could go to the penthouse, where we knew wo could speak freely. When the doors opened and we were all standing there, Viktor and Stephen both looked surprised. you guys that hungry?” Stephen asked.
I laughed. “No, we just need to be in the penthouse to finish the discussion we started. And we needed your insight and Viktor’s sleuthing skills. We were saving time.”
“I just really feel like Vlad is going to make you his Director of Operations. Logistics, efficiency, systems, you’ve got it all handled. His army is going to run like a well-oiled machine because of you,” Stephen said.
“Da mmit, I was really hoping for Supreme Leader, but Director of Operations does have a nice ring to it. I’m not opposed to working my way up through his organization.”
“Okay, somebody catch us up,” Stephen said as we started dinner.
“Boss felt something different when he shook Henry’s hand at the end. He didn’t feel it when he walked in. Andrei said something changed while Henry was in the office, like he made a decision while he was in there and things are different now,” Ivan said.
“I couldn’t get as many details as I wanted from him, but I think we can fill in more in a bit with Misha. What I did get, however, was that it was related to power. Henry wants it. He doesn’t like that Adrik already has it.” I looked to Adrik. “Do you remember when we first met with him – how uncomfortable he got when you first told him you were getting rid of the other bosses?”
He nodded his head. “You made the comment he thought that was too much power for one man. He was worried I was going to become a tyrant.”
I started to speak, but Ivan said, “he wants to be the tyrant.”
“He got it in his head last time that he could replace the mayor and he would run the city. When Boss knew more than him this time, it pi ssed him off. I bet he made a decision to come after Boss now. I don’t think he’s st upid enough to try it right away, but if we keep the plan of trying to get him into the mayor’s seat, he’ll do it then,” Stephen said.
Adrik looked to Misha. “Do you think you can find out? We’ve never tried to find a specific answer before.”
“I’d be happy to try. Sephie and Andrei help make things clearer. It’s different almost every time it happens,” Misha said.
I looked at Andrei. “I could clearly see your thoughts the last time we did it. Did it happen for you too?”
“You could? What was I thinking about?” Andrei asked.
I started laughing and almost couldn’t stop myself. It took me a few minutes to answer. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about this. “We were looking. for Martin, so you were thinking about him. And a cheeseburger. Not necessarily in that order, either,” I said, still trying to contain my laughter.
“That seems completely accurate,” Andrei said.
“He wasn’t holding back. He was just focusing on cheeseburgers instead, Misha said, laughing. “That’s why it wasn’t as clear with just him.”
“To be fair, I spend a lot of time thinking about cheeseburgers, too,” Viktor said, his deep belly laugh filling the penthouse.
“I mean, who doesn’t love a good cheeseburger?” Andrel said. His cheeks were flushed, but he was laughing just as much as everyone else.
“New rule: we can only look for people after Andrei’s belly is full. For best results,” Adrik said, which caused another round of laughter from everyone.
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.