“Don’t you forget it, either,” I said, poking him in the arm.
“When you stitched me up, despite me being an as shole to you, I knew you were completely different. I started to see what Adrik saw in you the first time he looked at you. That’s when I knew I would always protect you.” He Inhaled deeply. “When that truck hit us, all I could think about was making sure you were okay, even if it was the last thing I did
I felt the tears burning my eyes, threatening to fall. I sniffed, trying to hold them back. I leaned my head on his shoulder, grabbing his hand again. “Well, if we’re connected, you’re not allowed to leave me. The princess says so. You have to listen to the princess.” He chuckled. “I don’t think that’s how it’s going to play out, anyway. My dad said what is coming is bad. Very bad, even. But there’s a grander plan for all of us. No idea what that plan is, but it’s grand.”
We sat in silence for a minute. “Ivan, I want you to know that I can pull you from your darkness, the same way Adrik pulled me from mine. You don’t need to be scared of it ever again.”
He didn’t say anything, he just put his giant arm around me and pulled me to him. He kissed the top of my head as he held me close. I could feel him trembling as he fought back the tears. He sniffled, then said, “I do a good job of keeping it away, but hospitals…”
“You don’t need to explain anything about that to me. I share your hatred of those places.” He squeezed my shoulders.
“I remember what you told me before we got to the house, princess. He really will love you no matter what. We all love you no matter what.”
Sephie
It was my turn to fight back the tears. I laughed, trying to smile through the pain. “It seems like a small thing, comparatively. But most normal people want to reproduce at some point. I look at all the other bosses and it’s like they’re single-handedly trying to boost the world’s population they have so many kids. I assume Adrik would be the same, which makes me worry that he’s not going to want me when he finds out. Or worse, he’ll keep me around while he has a child with someone else.”
He cursed under his breath. “He would never do that, Sephie. We wouldn’t let him do that. And he doesn’t even like kids. You should hear what he says about the other bosses and their affinity for procreation.” I sat up straighter to look at him. “Really?”
He nodded. “He won’t care that you can’t have kids. He might try to ki Il the doctor that did it to you. I’m assuming it was not a happy situation if it made you ha te doctors in general. But it won’t make him love you any less.”
I chewed on my bottom lip for a minute. “Ivan, I’ve literally never told anyone about this. Even Ms. Jackson doesn’t know. It happened before I met her.” “You can tell me, Sephie. Sometimes it’s good to get stuff out. I felt better after I told you my secret.”
I took a deep breath. “When my uncle would beat me, his favorite thing to do was kick me in the stomach. He thought that because all the women he hung out with were, uh, easy, that I would be too. He would scream at me, calling me a wh ore, and tell me that he would make sure I wouldn’t have a little brat to feed as he was kicking me in my stomach. As I’m sure you can feed figure out, he did a lot of damage there. I started hemorrhaging blood one night. I tried to hide it from him, but all I could do was sit on the toilet and bleed. It was bad. There was so much blood. Of course, he was drunk, so he couldn’t take me to the emergency room and he wouldn’t call an ambulance. He called one of his buddies who ‘knew a guy’ that would do back-room. abortions and procedures for the seedier side of town. He was a respected doctor during the day, but would perform procedures for extra cash at night. My uncle was convinced I was pregnant and was having a miscarriage, so he got his buddy to take us to this ‘doctor.’ That guy did an ultrasound and found a bunch of scar tissue on my uterus from my uncle’s repeated beatings, but my uncle just knew it was because I’d been pregnant and didn’t tell him. He told the doctor to take my uterus. was still 16 at the time, so not legally an adult. My uncle had legal rights over me, so the doctor performed the surgery, despite me trying to tell him it was because my uncle had kicked me so many times.” I felt the tears falling. I wiped my nose on my sleeve, not even slightly concerned what I looked like in front of Ivan. “I never really thought much about kids until I met Adrik. I assumed he was like the other bosses and would want like his own army of children at some point. It’s the last thing that scares me. I’m terrified he’ll leave because I can’t give him children.”
He pulled me closer to him, his giant hand rubbing my arm lightly. “You have to tell him, Sephie. He won’t look at you any differently.” He kissed the top of my head again. “Sephie, we all think you’re the strongest woman we’ve ever met. This only- adds to that. You’ve endured things that would cripple most men and you’ve done it all on your own. I just want you to know that you’re not alone anymore. We’ll always be here for you. No matter what.”
The tears were coming full force now. There was no stopping them. I couldn’t talk. I just rested my head against his giant shoulder. I su cked in a breath, trying to talk a few times, but couldn’t get the words out in between sobs. I just held up my pinky, completely giving in to the pain when he readily grabbed it with his.
AdrikI tried to hurry my meetings up as much as possible so I could get back to the house. It made me nervous to be away from Sephle right now. I had wanted her to come with me, but I knew she wouldn’t want to leave Andrel and Ivan. So, I was left to rush through meetings.
My last meeting of the day was with Armando. At least he would understand my desire to get back to Sephie,
Viktor walked in with Armando and Giana. I was surprised to see Glana with him but greeted her warmly. Sephie seemed to get along with her and Ivan didn’t totally ha te her, so that was all I needed to know. She smiled shyly at me.
“Is Sephie not with you?” Armando asked, sitting down across from my desk.
“No. We had a, uh, situation yesterday,” I said.
Armando looked shocked. “Is she okay? What happened? You didn’t tell me!”
“They tried to grab her in the city. She had Ivan, Andrei, and Misha with her, but they separated them. Ivan almost died but managed to get her to safety. Andrei got shot, but he’s also okay. She’s safe. She wanted to keep an eye on Ivan and Andrei today.” Armando looked shocked. I looked at Giana, who looked completely terrified.
She surprised me by speaking up. “Why do they want her so bad?”
I exhaled. “Various reasons, depending on who you’re talking about. She’s been privy to more information about the organization than pretty much anyone else, including me. That makes her a target now.” Giana looked down at her hands in her lap. “Ig norance really is bliss,” she mumbled.
Sephie was right. She is funny in her own right.
Adrik
I looked at Armando, preferring to get to business. “Any news on Dario and Massimo?”
He nodded. “They’ve made plans to visit Trino at the end of this week. I’ve got people within Trino’s organization that are keeping tabs on Lorenzo and Anthony for me. With Trino’s blessing, of course. They’re still down there, with no immediate plans to leave. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing if they all end up there together, or if it’s a bad thing.”
I rested my head in my hand, thinking of the potential outcomes. I guess we’ll know more by the end of the week. After yesterday, I’m daring them to join forces. It’ll give me more reason to ki II them all. I’m beginning to wonder why I need any of them, at this point.”
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.