“I wouldn’t have caught it if her dad wouldn’t have told me it was going to happen. I knew hers started when she would get insane level angry. I felt her anger go off the charts to contain yours, I figured that’s when it would happen. I knew you were also trying to figure out a way to keep her from seeing Armando again. The best way to keep him from seeing her eyes to make your eyes do the same thing. For the record, I do agree with her on what to do about him, but it doesn’t mean I’m happy about not watching him die.”
“I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that one. I still don’t like it. I’ll arg with her. I’m not sure I should argue with the universe though,” I said. Ivan laughed as he saw my anger start to rise over not being able to kill Armando myself.
“You might need to get contacts too, Boss. At least for your business meetings, he said, smirking at me.
“No sh it? Right now? I’m barely angry.”
“No sh it. They’re not as dark as hers, but they’re darker than what they were last night. It took her a long time to get all the way black.
“Sh it. I didn’t even think about my meetings. That’s gonna be awkward until I can get a handle on this,” I said, somewhat amused at the thought of scaring my business associates.”Maybe avoid eye contact for a while until we can figure this out,” he said, laughing at my predicament.
“Get out of my office, as shole,” I said, laughing with him.
Sephie
“What’s up, my girl?” Chen asked as he walked into Adrik’s office.
“Chen! My favorite French person!” I said, jumping up to give him a hug. Shar Chen had been helping us out for so long, the guys no longer got overprotective of me hugging him. Not gonna lie, I miss that. “Are you ready to just straight up lie to someone’s face yet again?” I asked, laughing. Chen had discovered that not only did he love being able to lie to someone’s face, but he was actually quite good at it. “You know me so well. It’s disturbing how much I enjoy this,” he said, chuckling;. “Also, the three amigos say hi. Trino still wants to know if there’s a chance you’ll move to Colombia.”
“One has to admire his tenacity,” I said, rolling my eyes.
All the guys but Ivan got ready to go with Chen to meet the journalist. Ivan was staying behind with us at the building. Adrik and Ivan clearly had a plan, but neither had let me in on it yet, so I was waiting until everyone was gone to see what they’d cooked up.
I caught Andrei before they left. “Have you snooped in the journalist’s head before?” I asked.
He shook his head no, looking at me quizzically. “No, do you think I should?”
“I didn’t before today, no. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but I feel like you should snoop today. Just to be sure, if nothing else,” I said.
“If you tell me to snoop, then I’ll snoop. There’s always a reason that something like this comes up for you. Let you know what I find out,” he said, his boyish grin on his face.
“Be careful,” I said, hugging his neck before they left.”Always.”
Once they left, I turned to Adrik and Ivan. “I know there’s a reason we stayed behind. Are you two going to fill me in on that reason? Or are you enjoying keeping me in the dark?”
“We wanted to have a conversation about Viktor and how best to help him. Without the chance of him finding out. We need your brain, princess,” Ivan said as he walked to one of the couches and sat down. I followed him, sitting next to him while Adrik finished up what he was working on at his desk.
I thought for a few minutes. “I’m not sure how to help Viktor. I’m not sure how I helped any of you, if I’m being honest. It just sort of happened.”
“I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit on that one. You were the 5st to call Stephen’s mindfucking ability, you called my ability to see demons, and you hyped Andrei up enough so he started trusting what he was seeing. The only one you didn’t do much on was Misha. I know you’ve picked up on something with Viktor that hints at what his ability is,” Ivan sald
“We’re all somewhat opposites of each other, with the exception of Misha. You can see and feel when something is off, but I have to touch someone to get the same. Ivan sees evil, Andrei sees good. Now, Stephen can mi ndfuck someone and trap the demon. Viktor’s ability should complement that somehow, if we’re keeping to the same pattern,” Adrik said.
I was chewing on my lip, trying to think of what it could possibly be with Viktor. They were both quiet, waiting for me to make the connection that I wasn’t convinced was there.
“What about the nicknames you have for him? Or inside jokes with him?” Ivan asked.
“I don’t have as many for him as I do for everyone else. I spend the least amount of time with him. He’s always on master of schedule duty,” I said. “I call him Papa Bear because he silently goes around making sure we all have what we need and he’s kind of like the father figure of the group. He’s arguably the most mature of all of us,” I said, cutting my eyes at Ivan, unable to hide my grin.
Adrik, who had been quietly contemplating everything got up and moved to the couch. I leaned over on him, stretching one leg across Ivan’s lap as we 1/3 all struggled to figure out this puzzle.
“So, master of schedule. I think you’ve called him the security master before as well. And he’s like a father figure,” Ivan said, rubbing his goatee.
“He’s also the one that’s most terrified of me, I think. Maybe that’s why it’s so difficult for me to get anything from him. He’s gotten quieter as things have gotten more weird. I used to get little things from him now and then that he needed to talk about, but since you all know I can read your minds, that’s stopped, now that I think about it. Like Stephen, I don’t think he likes the idea of me being in his head,” I said. “Does he have sisters?”
They both chuckled. “No sisters. Brothers. But he gets along well with them, Adrik said.
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.