“Good. I could use Oscar when he’s done there.”
We ended the call soon after. Sephie looked more relaxed than she had when we first got to the apartment. “Your thoughts on Oscar so far?” I asked.
“I feel like he’s telling the truth, but not just because Trino confirmed It for us. I think he can be trusted.” she said. She was still feeling unsure, but I could also tell that she was trying to be confident. I pulled her to me, holding her tightly. “Misha and Andrei were right, love. You’ve been right more times than you’ve been wrong. I’ve come to rely on your unique set of skills and I still have complete confidence in them. When you can’t feel confident in yourself, you can borrow mine,” I said. I felt her inhale deeply and her body completely relaxed. She looked up at me, that spark that I love so much evident in her eyes. “Thank you,” she said sweetly. She stood on her toes, pressing her lips to mine. She wrapped her arms around my neck, burying her face in my neck. She stayed there for a few moments before finally relaxing her hold on me. “We should get back,” she said, reluctantly. “One more minute,” I said, pulling her back to me as she giggled at me. She didn’t resist. She just rested her head against my chest as I held her close.
The guys had been working on revising the plan while Sephie and I were in the bedroom. They heard Trino’s confirmation on the phone through their earpieces, so they knew Oscar could be trusted. He was giving Andrei a tutorial on how he set up remote detonation to work reliably when we walked back out to the living room.
Oscar looked to us, expectantly. Sephie smiled at him. “We appreciate you being here, Oscar. Especially given what Trino’s facing at the moment. We promise to get you back to Colombia as quickly as possible. He’s going to need you again,” she said.
While Oscar had seemed relaxed the entire time he’d been in the apartment, he was visibly relieved that he got Sephie’s approval. “Trino told me how important your opinion of me was. I’m glad I’m in,” he said, smiling broadly at her.
“Knowing Trino, he also told you what will happen if you ever betray us. Whatever he told you, I can guarantee it was not an embellishment,” she said. She crossed her arms across her chest, looking at him seriously.
Oscar laughed. “He did tell me. I’m not that stu pid. You have nothing to worry about,” he said as he went back to the conversation with Andrei about how to set up the detonators.
We eventually came to an agreement on a new plan for the three warehouses. The only variable we weren’t entirely sure on yet was Sephie. Ivan and I had discussed it briefly before, but neither of us liked the options we came up with. We had discussed leaving Ivan with her at the penthouse, but that left them vulnerable and we needed him at the warehouse. He briefly discussed bringing her with us, but I wasn’t happy about that plan either. I didn’t like the idea of putting her in danger just to keep her close to me. She hadn’t brought it up again, but I knew she was still worrying about it.
After the dealers left the apartment, Ivan brought the subject up once more. We needed to make a decision. “The biggest question now is what to do with the princess during this,” he said. She glanced nervously at him, then to me. “What are the options?” she asked. She was definitely still worried about it. We could all see it written all over her face.
“So far, we’ve only come up with two options. I stay at the penthouse with you or you come with us. I can’t say I’m happy about either option,” Ivan said.
“But they need you. You can’t stay behind,” she said immediately. It was no surprise that she was thinking of the guys before she was thinking of herself. She started to chew on her lip as she tried to come up with a solution. “What if you took me to the house and left me there? No one will know where I am. There are plenty of guards. I’ll be safe there.”
“Absolutely not. I’m not leaving you alone,” I said.
“Then that only leaves one option,” she said.
Stephen, in his quiet way, said, “this might be a big help to us. She’s a he II of a shot. She’s fast and she can easily defend herself. It’s not like she’s going to be deadweight if she comes with us.”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Andrei said. “I would be more worried about her if she wasn’t with us. With us, we all know she’s going to do just as much damage as we could do and we know where she is at all times.”
Viktor also agreed with Stephen and Andrei. “You know I don’t like anyone to be distracted. We would all be distracted if she wasn’t with us,” he said. “She’s been training with us for long enough now. She can handle herself and we’ll be able to keep an eye on her, the same as we keep an eye on each other.”
I inhaled deeply. They were right. I just didn’t want to put her in danger because I couldn’t leave her alone. I ran my hand through my hair, looking at the floor. I was still struggling with the decision. I felt her hand in mine. “Misha, what do you think?” she asked.
I watched as he ran through possibilities in his mind. He clearly looked nauseous. “What was that one? That was a definite no whichever one it was,” she said.
“That was you and Ivan staying at the penthouse. I think you’re coming with us, gazelle,” he said. Just to make sure, he ran through that possibility in his head, that faraway look in his eye once more. He ran his hands quickly over his arms, his upper body shuddering with the goosebumps he was obviously feeling. That settles that.
I looked down at Sephie. She looked unsure, but she wasn’t arguing with the decision either. She had the same look when the guys were trying to talk her into going up against Mike. She easily dominated in that situation. I had faith in her abilities. They were right; it would be better to know she was safe with us rather than worrying about her while we were away from her. I smiled to myself thinking about how protective they’d all come to be of her. She meant so much to all of us. We would do everything in our power to ensure she was always safe
Stephen
We were in the penthouse going over the plan one last time before we left the building. Our nerves were on edge, but Sephie’s more so than the rest of us. We were trying to reassure her as much as we could, but I knew that adrenaline was going to prove useful once the chaos started. She could sho ot better than a majority of the guards we had on staff. She was he II in the ring. She also had six attack dogs ready to rip anyone apart that dared to look at her the wrong way.
I found myself thinking about just how much she’d come to mean to me lately. I’d never been close to anyone my entire life. I didn’t have many friends growing up. I was always the quiet kid. That carried over into my adult life. When I figured out I was gay, I retreated even further into my shell. It took me years to tell my parents. There were members of my family that still didn’t know. It was much more accepted now, but my family was very traditional. It was just easier to come up with reasons. why I wasn’t married with kids yet than it was to have the conversation with them about the truth.
I had resigned myself to keeping that secret from the other guys forever. They were all alpha males. I expected them to have a huge problem with it. I was worried they would see me as weak. My perspective changed when Sephie came along. She was always unapologetically herself and the other guys loved her more because of it. It took me a long time to warm up to her, simply because I was worried she would figure out my secret and tell the others. But the more I tried to put distance between me and Sephie, the more she found ways to show me that being myself was the best way to be. In her own special way, she coaxed me out of my own darkness that I’d put myself in..
As it turns out, she did figure out my secret before the other guys, but she didn’t tell anyone. She even swore Adrik to secrecy when she told him. She let me tell them in my own time. And they accepted me even more than they already did once I told them. Secrets kept in the dark can destroy you, but secrets brought to the light have no power over you anymore.
We were gearing up, almost ready to leave. I saw Viktor catch Sephie alone. It looked like he was giving her a pep talk. He’d been worried about bringing her with us, as he ultimately felt responsible for all of us, all the time. But he didn’t like the idea of leaving her behind, either. I was sure she was going to be an asset, so I was happy she was coming along. Andrei was right, we’d all be worried about her if she wasn’t with us.
We knew our individual roles. Sephie was to stick with Ivan or Adrik if something was to happen to Ivan. The rest of us would step in, when and if needed. Misha was certain that it was going to work out for the best. Our plan was solid. Oscar had provided valuable information on how to make the original plan even better, so we were expecting things to go smoothly.
We walked off the elevator toward the vehicles. We were taking a combination of SUVs and bikes, just in case we needed options. It would also be more difficult to separate us if we had more vehicles. The dealers that were helping us were going to meet us at Sephie’s old apartment. Chen had come to the building, with instructions on how to get to the parking garage underneath the building without anyone seeing him. He was taking another SUV, just to add more vehicles to the party. He was waiting on us when we exited the elevator.
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.