She turned to look at me, her sweet smile on her face. “I never thought about it like that before, but you’re absolutely right. I might love this dingey little apartment a little more right now,” she said.
“I, for one, am grateful for it. It’s proven to be very useful,” I said, pulling her closer as walked into her apartment.
“I, for one, am grateful for you,” she said, reaching up to kiss my cheek.
Misha, who had followed us up the stairs, said, “I can feel you two being disgustingly cute right now.”
Ivan, who was still in the parking lot, but heard Misha over his earpiece, started laughing. “I am so glad I’m not the only one that’s happened to,” he said.
Sephie’s cheeks turned red. She went to apologize, but Misha stopped her before she could even get it out. “Don’t apologize, gazelle. I’m having jealousy issues. That’s why I brought it up,” he said, grinning at her. She went to him, laughing as he ached down and picked her up in a bear hug.
As everyone else finally made it upstairs, Sephie’s apartment got very small, very quickly. We eventually decided that Vitaliy’s men would stay outside, mostly to give us more room. We asked that all the leaders from the resistance in the city were there tonight, not just the ones from Niko and Vito’s area of the city. We wanted to make sure things were as quiet as we’d been told and we also wanted to make sure this everyone was as prepared as possible. It was clear that Sal cared nothing for the people of the city, given his brawn operation, so the idea that he would use the people of the city to cause more chaos was not off the table for him.
Stephen, who was across the street monitoring things from above, alerted us to everyone’s arrival. Surprisingly, Dr. Williams showed up along with the rest this time. He was just as surprised to see us standing in the apartment as we were to see him walk through the door.
Battista laughed, telling Sephie in Italian, “I knew I liked that doctor for a reason other than his willingness to accept massive donations.” She couldn’t help but laugh isfore sharing the translation with all of us silently.
“Dr. Williams, it’s nice to see you here. Unexpected, but nice,” Sephie said as she went to shake his hand.
“That feeling is mutual, although I don’t know why I would be surprised. Of course it’s you,” he said. “I think you enjoy your legend in the hospital more than you let on and you’re looking to add to it.”
“I mean, who doesn’t want to be immortalized with a few legends told about them? no different,” she said, nonchalantly. Dr. Williams just laughed quietly, shaking his head as he moved off to the side. Both Ivan and I were somewhat uncomfortable with so many people in such a small stepped quietly behind both of us. I felt het hand find mine, which helped me keep step forward to begin the meeting. ice. Sephie, of course, felt it. After speaking briefly with the doctor, she murderous aura under control. I squeezed her hand lightly before taking one
We discussed Niko and Vito coming back, as they were scheduled to arrive the follow day. “The reason you’re here, gentlemen, is that it will send a much bigger message to Sal, as well as the underbosses that are left in the city, if you stop them from collecting taxes once they return. We can and will support your efforts as much as possible, making sure you have everything you need to resist. The message 1 be much clearer if coming from you, however,” I said. “The only request I make is that you leave Niko and Vito alive and hand them over to me.”
“What happens after they’re gone? Are we just going to be fighting you next?” one dlder gentleman asked.
I chuckled. “That would be somewhat foolish of me to provide you weapons for this or not expect you would use them on me should I attempt the same thing later,” I said. “Things will go back to the way they’ve been for years before the other bosses got greedy. I don’t need your taxes. Your communities do. The more money you make, the more you can invest in your local areas of the city. That’s what want and that’s what will happen once the other bosses are taken care of.”
“How do we know you won’t change your mind?” someone else asked.
“You don’t,” Sephie said. “But you do remember how good things were a few years ago, compared to now. This is a much bigger conspiracy than exorbitant taxes. Without the other bosses to harass you, you’ll essentially be left alone. Just like you were before.” She took one step closer to me, pointing at me, as she said, “he is not the problem here. The other bosses are the problem.”
Dr. Williams, stepped forward, adding, “he’s the one that found the doctor that’s been terrorizing this city for a decade. You’ve all heard of someone that’s had some back-room procedure done on them. He’s the same doctor that created brawn, which has been plaguing the city for years as well. This man found that doctor when the police couldn’t. He’s on our side. He wouldn’t be here right now if he wasn’t.” “Why hasn’t the doctor been arrested then?” someone asked.
“He will be, soon. We needed to make sure we had enough solid evidence that he would be convicted,” I said. “We have that, so now he can be handed over.”
We continued our discussion, as well as making a strategy for how to handle the undebosses when they come to collect taxes once more. It would be dangerous, but the people had strength in numbers. It didn’t hurt that Boris had access to enough power to completely level a block of the city in under two minutes.
He was also willing to donate his supplies to the cause, which he very rarely did. Sephie had been worried that he would also supply the bosses with extra firepower, since I had told her he enjoyed arming both sides of a conflict.
“Most conflicts do not include Ricardo De Luca,” Boris had said. “Whatever it takes to make sure his side is crushed, I will happily provide,” he had told her.
She had studied him for a few minutes before answering, “is it wrong that I find your hatred of Ricardo to be one of your finest qualities?”
Boris had laughed, but Vitaliy actually spoke up in Boris’s defense, telling her, “he’s such a bad guy, sladkaya. Maybe a little rougher than some of us, but not a bad guy
My father had known Bons for most of my life. Boris had helped him get out of a few ticky situations, even. Vitaliy spoke the truth. Boris wasn’t all bad. He just preferred everyone think the worst of him. It meant less effort he had to put in to nang an impression. When everyone thinks the worst of you, it’s easy to prove them right or wrong. Boris was simply saving his energy.
Once a plan was in place, the weapons were loaded into their vehicles and everyone separately. Dr. Williams hung back for a few minutes before taking his leave, wanting to check in with Sephie one more time. He fought it most of the time, but there was still a scientific fascination with her after her time in the hospital that he couldn’t always suppress. It irritated Ivan
Adril
I admittedly stayed a few steps away from Sephie on purpose because I was enjoying the irritation I felt from Ivan when Dr. Williams approached Sephie again. I felt his bubble go up around her. I was sure there was no reason for it other than he didn’t like it when the good doctor showed too much interest in her.
“I know you said you’ve been healing well, but you were very beat up. Still no issues with your lung?” Dr. Williams asked Sephie.
She looked surprised when she felt Ivan’s bubble, but at least he allowed her to hear Dr. Williams through him. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he cut her hearing off completely just to be a s*it. I was going to be her ears if he did, just because I was enjoying this a little too much. She answered Dr. Williams, saying, “only if I exert myself a little too much do I have problems catching my breath, but it happens very rarely. My arm and shoulder are mostly back to normal and my ribs only hurt if I do way too much. I have very good trainers who insist that I properly stretch just so that doesn’t happen though.” She threw a glance at Andrei who was listening in on the conversation and winked at him.
“How often do you struggle to catch your breath? Is it frequent?” he asked.
Andrei walked over, catching on to what was happening as well. He wasn’t as irritated as Ivan, but he wasn’t thrilled about this conversation either. “It’s only happened twice in the last month. Both times she was doing more than she should’ve been doing.” Andrei said, smirking at her.
Dr. Williams looked from Andrei to Sephie, silently asking for confirmation. “It’s true. Sometimes I forget and try to be normal,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “But they all take very good care of me, so nothing to worry about, doc.”
Dr. Williams ran a hand through his hair, looking between her, Ivan, and Andrei. “Well if it continues to happen, don’t hesitate to come in for a check-up,” he said.
“No offense, doc, but I would rather avoid that. That being said, they will drag me to the hospital kicking and screaming if they have to should they think something is wrong with me.”
He laughed, studying her for long enough that both Ivan and Andrei stepped slightly in front of her. It was enough of a move to break him from whatever thoughts he was having. I was still enjoying watching when I noticed Andrei’s demon was angry Andrei still looked completely calm, but his demon was raging.
It was completely different from everyone else. He was actually much more frightening I would much rather deal with someone who was visibly angry than to deal with Andrei. He was completely cool, outwardly, but I could tell he was thinking of at least 47 different ways to kill the doctor in that moment.
As Dr. Williams pulled out of the parking lot, I walked to the three of them. Sephie knew Andrei was mad; they were having a silent conversation between the three of them. When she felt my arm around her waist, I could feel the worry as she looked up at me.
“Tell me what he was thinking.” I said. She chuckled softly, amused that I already knew what was going on.
“I felt Ivan’s irritation through Sephie, so I paid attention. The doctor has some weird fascination with Sephie since he saw her shaking in the hospital when she was away from you. It’s turned into somewhat of an obsession, but he can’t bring himself to ask her about it.” Andrei said.
“That’s what has you ready to follow him and rip his head off?” I asked. Sephie looked up at me, grinning. “You can feel him too?” she asked.
I shook my head no. “Andrei? No. Andrei’s demon? Absolutely. He’s going complete aehit in there right now.” Sephie giggled.
“No, it was him replaying checking her over in the hospital in his mind that did it. When he lifted her hospital gown to check for internal injuries.” Andrei told me.
I felt Sephie grab both of my arms and wrap them around her waist as she held onto them. Her grip tightened as she felt my anger making an appearance, which only served to make Andrei and Ivan even more angry.
“Boys,” Sephie said, sternly. “You all intimidate the absolute f*ck out of that man. It will never be an issue unless I’m left alone in a room with him.” She paused, then added, “under heavy sedation, since he clearly knows how to paralyze me.” Her body shuddered at the thought.
I looked at Ivan. “Your bubble was just because he irritates you? Or did you actually see something on him?”
Ivan laughed. “No, he’s clean. I’m just irritated with him. I didn’t know what he was thinking about, but I knew he’s been strangely fascinated with her. That’s not a good combination in my world.”
“You were right to do so. I knew he was fascinated by her. I did not think it was to that extent or I would’ve come over,” I said, still smoldering.
Sephie was somewhat indignant with us. “You three act like I can’t handle myself.” She held her thumb and forefinger up, with barely any space between them. “I’m this close to being able to kill him with just my thumbs,” she said, giggling
“It’s not a matter of whether you can handle yourself, love. It’s more a matter of his disrespect. It’s not something I tolerate. I know he wouldn’t stand a chance against you,” I said, turning her to face me. I pushed a few curls out of her face, enjoying that they immediately returned.
“He also suspects something is different about her eyes. I didn’t think he ever caught it, but he did a few times when she was in the hospital and when she went. back for check-ups,” Andrei said. “He only ever caught glimpses, but his curiosity is getting the better of him.”
“We should only ever be in situations where we’re wearing our contacts around him, and hear me out here, we just all show up one day and switch them to black and enjoy watching him s*it himself,” Ivan said. I laughed, along with Sephie. “See? I told you that idea would work for someone at some point,” I said, pressing my lips to hers.
Once we were back at the penthouse and alone, I brought the subject up again with Sephie. “I don’t want you to think that I think you can’t take care of yourself,” I started. Her sweet laugh cut me off. She immediately pressed her lips to mine, wrapping my arms around her waist and pressing her hands on my chest.
“I don’t think that. I was teasing. I absolutely adore how protective you all are of me. It’s a massive confidence boost for me. Honestly, you’re all lucky that I’m not more of a s*it than I am. I could just be a major bi*ch to everyone knowing that you guys would clean up my mess,” she said, grinning at me. “I know that no matter who’s with me, I’m always safe. From anything and anyone. Hell, I even know that about Vitaliy’s men, too.”
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.