We all erupted in laughter as we stood over Mike’s body. A strange scene, for sure.
Misha caught her as she was walking back to me. He wrapped his arms around her, picking her up. “Please never stop, Gazelle. Never ever,” he said. She giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“I promise, my adorable Russian guardian,” she said as he set her down.
I took Sephie upstairs while they guys dealt with everything in the gym. I took her straight to the shower, knowing she would want to get any and all traces of him off her as quickly as possible. She was quiet. I pulled her to me, the warm water running over both of us. I looked at her, trying to figure out what she was thinking. She looked at me, a questioning look in her eye. “What does it mean that I don’t feel bad for what just happened? I felt the same standing over Mike as I did standing over my uncle. Completely void,” she said. I could see the hint of fear in her eyes as she contemplated what she was capable of.
“Ivan was right, Sephie. He sealed his fate with ine when he said your pretty face was all you had going for you. Ivan too. It just kept getting worse as he got angrier. Do you believe me now that what’s said in anger is someone’s true feelings?” I asked, running my fingers through her wet hair.
She smiled sweetly at me, nodding her head. “He really didn’t know when to shut up,” she said. She turned around, leaning hack against me. She held her hands up, looking at the bruises that were already becoming visible. I massaged her shoulders, running my hands down her arms to grab her hands. I looked them over. The skin on her knuckles was broken in a few places and they were starting to swell and change colors as the bruising settled in.
“I have a trick to help this,” I said, holding her hands gently in mine.
“From all those punching bags you used to break?” she asked, looking up at me.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “How do you know about that?”
“Tori told me about it. She said they thought you had anger issues because you were constantly breaking punching bags. That one was hard for me to believe, honestly,” she said. She pulled my arms around her waist, leaning her head back against my shoulder.
“She was right. They used to have to keep an extra supply of bags because I went through them so quickly. I think I’ve only broken one bag since I met you, though.” She looked up at me again, surprised. I smiled at her. “I told you, solnishko. You made that side of me go to sleep.”
She chuckled. “Not entirely, though, I could feel your anger when Mike made the comment about my sexual charms,
I looked at her, now surprised. “Seriously? I did wonder how you knew I had made a move toward the ring noticed it the other night when we were talking to Andy about the kidnapping attempt. It’s like your anger feeds mine. 1 don’t know how to describe it, but I could feel it then and I could feel it today.” She turned to face me again, her eyes searching, worried I was going to think she was crazy for saying it out loud. “You do read my mind already. I don’t know why it would be any different that you can feel what I feel,” I said, smiling at her. “It’s one of the many things I love about you.”
Andrei
I’ve never seen Sephie get that angry and be able to control it so well. I knew she was going to be lethal once she learned how to control her anger and she proved it today. Mike didn’t know what hit him. We all knew she’d been holding back, but I think it surprised everyone just how much she’d been holding back.
I glanced at Chris and Keith a few times, trying to gauge their reactions to watching their team member get obliterated by her. I knew there was a chance this could cause problems with them, and I wanted to be ready in the event it did. I caught Misha looking toward them too. I raised an eyebrow, silently asking if it would be okay once the inevitable happened. He got that faraway look in his eye, but quickly nodded his head. He said quietly, “I don’t think they like him, either.”
The greatest part of watching Sephie finally realize her potential was watching her improvise with Mike. She was playing with him for the first half, trying to make him think she was weaker than she is and keep him convinced he had the upper hand. It made me proud. Not only was she a formidable opponent physically, she was a formidable opponent me ntally as well. I had to say, I was happy to see her messing with his mind as much as possible. And I couldn’t help but smile as I watched her try new things that we hadn’t even taught her as she fought him. Sephie’s strength came from her legs. While she was quick with her punches, she was a woman. She’d never be able to deliver the same kind of punch that I could. It just wasn’t physically possible. She knew that, which is why she’d started relying on her legs to deliver the most amount of damage when she’d train. Her kicks were just as fast as her punches, but with four times the power behind them. When she delivered the final kick to Mike’s head, I knew he was done for. I’d been kicked by her when she was still holding back. I knew the power she could deliver even then. She was exponentially more powerful right now that she wasn’t holding back.
Adrik walked into the ring, as Viktor walked to her with a towel. Mike had spat his blood on her at the end. We all made a move to jump in the ring as we saw her kick him. If she wouldn’t have delivered that last bl ow, we would’ve been on him. You don’t get away with calling her a wh ore with all of us standing there.
I noticed Chris and Keith walk into the ring. Chris went to check the vitals on Mike. Keith said something to Sephie, but I was watching Chris. I could see the look on his face when he couldn’t find a pulse. He looked up and told Sephie that he’d hated that guy.
“Hated? As in past tense?” she asked.
“No pulse. I think that last kick to the head did him in,” Chris said.
I looked to Misha. We both walked into the ring at the same time lyan and Stephen did. None of us were sure how she was going to take this, but we were all incredibly proud of her. Ivan and Sephie had grown infinitely closer since he was in the hospital. It was difficult to not be slightly jealous of their relationship now. She did a great job of spending equal amounts of time with all of us, but I always felt like she was slightly closer to me than the other guys. Now, Ivan had taken that spot. I felt si lly for feeling jealous, but I sometimes did. He looked at her, saying, “Sephie, he sealed his fate the second he called you a wh ore. If you hadn’t ended him, we would have. There was no walking out of here alive for him today. You just delivered his sentence, Princess.” The one good thing about he and Sephie growing closer is that Ivan was now just as good as Sephie at saying exactly what you needed to hear, exactly when you needed to hear it. I never knew that guy was so wise. He said exactly what she needed to hear, as we could see the switch flip back off and her face softened. She walked to him as he wrapped his massive arm around her. She always looked extra small next to one of us when she was any kind of upset. ile whispered something to her that we couldn’t hear. She just nodded her head, but kept her face hidden in his shoulder. He smiled and said something else to her, causing her to laugh. We all know if we could make her laugh, It would generally make everything better. He knew the right thing to say to make her laugh. She reached up and kissed his cheek.
“Oh God I’m using my sexual charms again!” she said, dramatically, “Somebody please stop me.”
We all laughed loudly. This one was going to stick around for a while. Somehow, we found ourselves standing over a dead man, laughing like it was a completely normal Monday morning. Once Adrik and Sephie left, we got to work taking care of Mike’s body. It wasn’t the first dead body we’d had to dispose of. It wouldn’t be the last.
I caught Viktor away from Chris and Keith. “What about Chris and Keith? Are you worried they’ll be a problem after today?”
Viktor shook his head no. “I got the impression that both of them were happy about the outcome. Chris, especially. It might be a little more difficult for Keith, since he grew up with Mike. I think we should ask Stephen if he has any insight into that. And Misha.”
“I already asked Misha when Sephie was still in the ring. But it might’ve changed now that he’s dead,” I said.
“I think those two will be fine. I’m a little more worried about Armando. Mike was his guy. I don’t want to cause friction between him and Boss,” Viktor said. “Mando loves Sephie. We just have to tell him what Mike said to her and he won’t care,” I said.
“Once we get the body out of here, I think we all need to have a talk. Sephie is likely going to need some support after this too. I know this isn’t the first person she’s killed, but I want to make sure she’s okay with what happened today,” he said, a look of genuine concern on his face.
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.