I felt Adrik’s warm hands around my waist as everyone helped themselves to food. He was watching everyone with me. “I might love it when you get possessive,” he told me.
“I might love you,” I responded, turning toward him, I was still laughing about the exchange as he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. I turned around, leaning back against him once more as we watched everyone laughing and eating.
“We definitely needed this,” he said.
“I agree. I’m glad we stayed one more night. We need to be better about coming here more regularly. I have a feeling once Trino gets security set up, it’s going to get chaotic real quick.”
He sighed. “I think you’re right. We’re going to need to come up with a plan for everything. It all needs to happen quickly, so we don’t miss our chance at Ricardo and Martin.”
I pulled his arms around me a little tighter. “We’ll think about that tomorrow. Let’s enjoy tonight,” I said.
Trino stopped by the office toward the end of the day so Viktor could start going over setting up a security team for him. He had Chris and Keith show up as well so they could meet Trino and talk about their options.
It’d been a few weeks since any of us had seen Trino. He had plenty of his own people in the city. We were all sure he preferred them to having to listen to Russian any more than absolutely necessary.
Gus and Oscar were with him when he arrived. He also surprised me by bringing a woman with him. I was with Andrei and Misha at their desks when Viktor stepped off the elevator with all of them. They felt my surprise, immediately turning to see.
“He brought her for your approval,” Andrei said. He could barely contain his grin..
I thought for a minute. “This could actually prove useful to us if she’s not Trino worthy. It’ll give him a first-hand look at what we can do now,” I said. “I mean, I hope she’s a nice girl and all. Just saying. I’m not hoping we have to expose her darker side.”
Misha laughed. “I mean, I am. Not even gonna try to pretend I’m not.”
I cut my eyes over at him. “I do love your love of the f**kery, Misha.”
“It’s my best quality.”
Viktor took Trino and the other three into the conference room. Chris and Keith arrived shortly after, also joining them in the conference room. The elevator doors dinged once more, signaling Ivan’s arrival. He immediately locked eyes with me once the doors opened.
Andrei chuckled. “He feels the f**kery.”
Misha and I were still laughing when Ivan walked over. “What are you three getting into? Because I want to be a part of it,” he said in Russian as he walked up.
I discreetly nodded toward the conference room. He turned to look, seeing the newest member of Trino’s posse. “That is unexpected,” he said.
“Can you see anything on her?” I asked. I tried to sound innocent, but it failed. It failed miserably.
Ivan laughed. “Now I understand. He studied her for a few minutes. “I don’t see anything yet, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing there.”
“Sephie is pretending to hope that nothing is there, I don’t give a f**k. I want there to be something there,” Misha said.
“I’m Team Misha on this one. I would love it if there was something there. J haven’t gotten to intimidate a love interest in a very long time, Ivan said. Misha just held his hand up so Ivan could high-live him.
I looked at both of them as sternly as 1 could muster. “Only if there’s a reason, Trino’s very lonely. He just lost his mother. He needs someone to console him,” I said. “Just not if she’s a legit demon,” I added, grinning at both of them.
King of the UnderworldSephie
Once Adrik had hnished with his last meeting of the day, we waited for Stephen to come back after escorting that last meeting back to the lobby and we all joined Adrik in his office. Both Adrik and Stephen knew we were up to no good, just like Ivan did.
“One part of me loves that you’re all automatically in on it whenever something funny happens, but another part of me is frustrated because it ki Ils. the suspense,” I said as we walked into the office. I quickly shared an image of Trino and his new lady friend to Adrik before Viktor brought them all to his office.
“That was unexpected,” he said. He thought for a minute, then added, “he wants your approval, no doubt.”
“I think he needs all of our approvals. He just doesn’t know it yet,” I said.
“Diabolical. I might love you a little more right now,” Adrik said, standing up and walking toward me.
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.