We were close before Sephie came into our lives, but it usually took one of us almost dying before we had a serious. conversation with each other. I don’t know why we couldn’t just talk to each other without the threat of imminent death, but we didn’t. We waited. We held it in. I was probably more guilty than the rest of them at holding things in. I’m the boss. Never weak.
As is her way. Sephie shined a light on all our darkest places, showing us that what we’d been protecting from the world for fear of being seen as weak wasn’t a weakness at all. It made us stronger. Sometimes seeing your own traits in someone else makes you realize that what you’ve been silently dealing with for years has made you infinitely stronger. Sephie has done that for all of us, but I think most of all, me
As I watch her step into her true potential, her true power, I can see the same traits in her that I’ve had for years. She has a mind for my businesses. All of my businesses. Whether legal or not. One of the reasons my father stepped aside and put me in charge when I was still barely 20 years old was because of my business sense. He saw that I was smart enough and mature enough to handle the business side, even though I was still young. I doubled many of his businesses in the first few years and started a few of my own that ultimately became highly successful. It’s what’s allowed him to still live like a king since he put me in charge.
The other bosses have all hesitated to put their sons in charge, despite being many years older than my father. With good reason, for most of them. Their sons are id iots. Or in Salvadori’s case, they’re just plain evil. While everyone needed to have a capacity for evil to make it in the underworld, Anthony took that to the extreme. He made me look forward to his death.
That bothers me now that Sephie is in my life. My bloodlust was never something that I thought much about before her. It was needed. It was necessary. People needed to fear me, especially when I first took over. My bloodlust made that possible. But since Sephie had come into my life, that part of me has taken a back seat. I worried that she would look at me differently once she saw the full extent of that side of me. I worried that it would be too much for her.
Like she was reading my mind, Sephie rolled over to face me. She was still asleep, but she successfully broke me from my worried thoughts. I smiled to myself, watching her sleep. I ran my hand over her back and through her hair, causing her to bury her face in my chest.
I felt the pull in my chest as I thought about just how much I loved her. Every little thing about her made me love her more. Talking about the possibility of Stephen being a vampire and whether that also made him a serial killer in the middle of a thunderstorm made me love her more. The way she tried to stay next to Andre to make me think she was somewhat angry with me for blaming her for the si lly conversation made me love her more. The fact that she couldn’t last longer than five minutes reminded me that she’s the only one for me.
Sephie moved her arm around my waist, pulling me closer to her in her sleep. I still don’t understand how she can read my mind, even when she’s sleeping, but I love it about her. She knows what I need before I do when she’s not even conscious. It makes me try harder to figure out what she needs. I ran my hand down her back to her thigh, pulling her leg over mine so she would be even closer. She inhaled deeply, making her cooing noises. Knowing she was peacefully sleeping after the week she’d just had was one of the best feelings I’d ever experienced. I would give my entire empire, everything I had, to make sure she was safe and happy and knew she was loved. Nothing was worth it without her.
Adrik
“Are we taking bets on whether Chen is going to pi ss himself tonight?” Stephen asked as we were preparing to go to Sephie’s old apartment to meet with the dealers in charge.
“I think he’s ruined at least three pairs of pants since he had to talk to Boss the other day,” Ivan said. We all got a little too much enjoyment out of Chen’s fear.
“You guys better be nice to him. He’s helped us out,” Sephie said, trying to make sure they weren’t going to haze him in some way during the meeting.
“We’re always nice, princess,” Ivan said, pretending to be offended.
Stephen left first, with two other guys, to set up across the street from the apartment building. They had good vantage points and could see everyone coming and going. I did not like surprises, especially when Sephie was involved. It helped to ease my worry to see Stephen growing closer to Sephie. I knew he would do whatever was necessary to make sure she was protected. She’d helped him come out of his shell over the past few months. Like Ivan, he was so much funnier after having been around Sephie. I was convinced we’d all laughed more since Sephie showed up than we had our entire lives. I never wanted it to end.
On the elevator down to the parking garage, I pulled Sephie closer. She looked up at me, her eyes smiling at me. “You stay close to either me or Ivan the entire time, got it?” She smiled her sweet smile up at me, causing my heart to skip in my chest.
“I promise,” she said. She’d told us all over the weekend, a couple of times even, that she was eternally grateful to all of us for making her feel safe. It was a feeling she’d been missing in her life since her m om had died. She said she never realized how much she had missed it until she had us to make her feel safe once again. I could see it plainly on every guy’s face that they would do whatever it took to make sure she always felt safe with us, in any situation.
She stood on her toes, her lips finding mine. It was these little moments, the ones that seemed insignificant, that I found myself enjoying more and more. These moments made me think I’d never get enough of her, never get tired of her, never want to be without her.
We pulled into the parking lot of Sephie’s old apartment building. We were early, but Chen was already there. Sephie giggled. “Stephen, you might be right. He might pi ss himself tonight,” she said. She knew that even though he wasn’t physically with us. he could hear us through his earpiece..
“Stephen said he was here even before they got here. He’s worried. He’s been checking outside constantly,” Ivan said. “If he’s only worried about Boss, that’s one thing. But if he’s worried about something else, I don’t like it.”
“I’ll talk to him. If he’s checking outside, he’s probably looking for us,” Sephie said.
I extended my hand to her to get out of the vehicle. She put her hand in mine, climbing out. I pulled her to me, looking at her seriously, “with Ivan. Then bring him up. I’d like to speak to him before everyone else gets here.” I leaned down and kissed her gently.
“Consider it done,” she said, grinning at me.
Ivan walked around the vehicle, his game face on. He put his hand on the small of her back, directing her toward Chen’s apartment. I caught Misha’s eye, “go with them,” I said nodding toward Ivan and Sephie He couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he jogged to catch up to them.
Viktor walked up the stairs first, with Andrei behind me. Sephie’s old apartment was just how she left it, just without her clothes and mementos. All her furniture was still there. I kept the apartment in the beginning, just in case she ever decided she didn’t want to be with me and wanted to go back. I knew now that was highly unlikely, but I still kept the apartment and kept it cleaned regularly. It was proving to be useful tonight.
We could hear Sephie’s conversation with Chen through the earpieces. Poor guy was terrified to meet me. Sephie was trying to calm his nerves before they came upstairs. She eventually got him calm enough to come up. His eyes went wide when he walked into the apartment to see me standing with Viktor and Andrei.
“Is there like a height and weight requirement to be a part of this? Because I feel inadequate,” Chen said to Sephie. He tried to say it quietly, but we all heard him. Sephie had her own earpiece.
Before she could answer him, I stepped forward, extending my hand to Chen. I was trying to put him at ease. He had done us a huge favor by gathering information and I wanted to make sure he knew I was appreciative. “Chen, it’s nice to meet you in person. Thank you for everything you’ve done so far,” I said.
He looked scared, but he shook my hand firmly, looking me in the eye. That was a good sign. He was trying to be bold.
“Yes, sir. Uh, happy to help, sir,” he 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.