Chapter Fifty-Seven

Adrik

Sephie was still sound asleep and very much tangled up with me when I woke up the next morning. I went to move and she latched on tighter, without waking up. Apparently, she wanted me to stay for a while longer. Who was I to deny her?

I fully expected her to stay asleep, but she eventually started to stir as I held her, thinking about everything that was going on lately. I felt guilty, as it was likely my emotions that were all over the place that woke her up.

She opened her eyes, smiling sweetly at me. I had to admit to adoring seeing her eyes turn blue first thing in the morning. She hid her face in my chest, pulling me closer to her if that was even possible.

After a few quiet moments, she finally inhaled and went to stretch. She winced when she did.

“Yeah, that’s my fault,” I said, trying to look apologetic and not show how proud I was of it.

She giggled. “You can be proud. I enjoyed it immensely,” she said. “But you might have to carry me everywhere today.”

I got out of bed, pulling her into my arms. “I like this idea. If I keep you so sore you can’t walk, then you’ll have to go everywhere with me and you can’t get away,” I said, walking her to the bathroom.

She cut her eyes over at me but didn’t say anything for a moment, like she was legitimately considering this option in her life. It made me laugh. “I adore you for even pretending to consider this,” I said, kissing her as I set her down.

“What? It’s a good plan,” she said. I kissed her one more time, then went to the closet. I was still laughing when she finally joined me in the closet. She was still completely naked from the night before, giving me plenty to think about the rest of the day. She caught me looking at her, but I tried to cover.

“You’re still excited that Ivan agreed to spar with you more often,” I said.

“You’re still excited that I’m still not wearing any clothes,” she said, smiling at me. “We’re both correct.”

God, I love her.

Vitaliy surprised us all by showing up with his men in the gym when we went down. We had just arrived in the gym and they walked in.

“Did you plan this last night and I missed it?” Sephie asked me.

“Nope. I told you he’d be back to get an explanation for why we feel different,” I said, laughing. I could hear her laughing in her head.

“To what do we owe this pleasure, Vitaliy?” Sephie asked as she walked over to him to give him a hug.

“Ivan said you two were going to spar this morning. I didn’t want to miss it,” he said, smiling at her. “My guys could use new partners as well. Ilya wants to see how his progress is coming too.”

Sephie had told me the night before that Ilya was happy working for my father. She’d shown me what his face looked like as he was talking to her about it earlier in the evening. It was evident that he was very excited with his new situation. It was good to see.

Ivan walked over to Sephie, throwing his arm over her shoulders. “Who do you think should spar with Ilya this time, princess?”

“I get to decide? Why do I get to decide?” she asked.

“You made such a good match last time that it got him a job. You might get him a promotion this time. Choose wisely,” he said, teasing her.

She elbowed him in the ribs, but she said, “I think it should be Bubba this time.” She looked between me and Ivan, saying, “I think they both want to prove how much they’ve improved. It’ll be a very good match.”

“Should we warn Vitaliy he’s going to want to promote him now or should we just let him figure it out?” Ivan asked.

She giggled, then called Andrei over to make sure he would want to spar with Ilya. He just smiled widely at her when she asked him. She knew all of us so well by this point that she didn’t need to snoop in anyone’s head. She just knew.

Andrei pulled her to the side while Sergei and Misha got in the ring. As her trainer, he took everything she did very seriously. I think it made him nervous when she sparred with Ivan. He knew Ivan wasn’t going to hurt her, but Ivan also had more training than everyone but me. Sometimes reflexes can be detrimental in such situations. He was trying to keep her from hurting herself, so he made sure she was warmed up and limber before she got in the ring with Ivan.

Ivan caught me watching them. “I think I make Andrei nervous when I spar with the princess,” he said, chuckling.

“I was just thinking that. He takes his job as her trainer very seriously. I do appreciate it, not gonna lie,” I said.

“It used to worry me too. I had to hold back so much with her in the beginning, but the last time I was in the ring with her, I was surprised at how much she’s progressed.”

“She’s been excited about this ever since you agreed to it. I have to admit to being quite curious to see if there’s a difference since my last level-up gave her so much extra too.”

“Shit. I didn’t even think about that. I better stretch too,” he said, walking over to join Andrei and Sephie.

Vitaliy took advantage of me standing alone. He walked up, asking quietly, “How do you feel so different to me now?”

I laughed quietly. “I got a new level unlocked.” I glanced toward Sephie, who was still warming up. “It’s actually a much better effect if Sephie is here when I tell you the specifics of it.”

“I need your demon eyes, for added emphasis. It’ll only take a moment,” I said to her. She was standing next to me a few seconds later. Vitaliy looked surprised to see her appear without me saying anything.

He snapped his fingers. “I forget you can do that now.”

“It’s quite useful,” I said. I glanced at Sephie, then looked back at my father. “I can now condemn souls and demons to Hell,” I said flatly.

Sephie slid her arm through mine, as she said, “He’s the King of the Underworld now.”

Vitaliy’s eyes went wide as he looked at her eyes. She glanced at me, knowing I enjoyed the red almost as much as the blue, then looked back at Vitaliy.

“What does this color mean, malishka?”

“It’s not so much a meaning as it is homage to the King,” she said. “This one isn’t actually me doing it. It’s my demon. Turns out she loves him just as much as I do.”

Vitaliy cursed under his breath. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes and felt it with my own hands, I wouldn’t believe it. Why did this happen? Who do you need to use it on?”

“Ricardo and Martin, specifically. Maybe Sal too, we’re still waiting to see, but he’s recently made a deal as well. Ricardo and Martin are confirmed.”

He ran his hand through his hair. “We apparently have much to discuss.” He looked at Sephie, saying, “I appreciate you letting Jessica come to dinner last night, but we apparently missed out on very important conversations because she was there.”

“Don’t worry, Vitaliy. She’ll be okay with everything soon. It’s just a little overwhelming for her right now. I didn’t want to jump straight to him being the King of the Underworld the first time she came to dinner,” she said, laughing.

Vitaliy looked surprised again. “They turn red every time you call him that?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t actually know the answer to that question. You tell me,” she said, laughing.

Vitaliy laughed at her. I kissed her temple, then pushed her back toward Andrei and Ivan. She skipped back over to them to continue her warm-up and stretching session.

“How do you deal with her constantly surprising you with the most amazing things?”

I laughed. “You do get used to it after a while. Hang around her long enough and she’ll unlock some new level for you too,” I said, laughing at his shock.

Andrei and Ilya got in the ring together, after Viktor and Aleksei were done, as well as Eduard and Stephen. Sephie was right. They both wanted to prove themselves. It was an even better match than Ilya and Misha had been. Training Sephie had made Andrei pay attention to his own technique. He was also faster now, as he had to stay ahead of her at all times. Aleksei was quite impressed with both of them.

“We should do this more regularly. I think it’s good for all of them,” he said as he stood and watched.

“You guys are always welcome. Sephie talked Ivan into sparring with her once a week for the foreseeable future. Show up when you want in,” I said.

He looked surprised. “She asked to spar with him more?” I nodded my head. “She’s not scared to do so?”

I laughed. “Those two have a special relationship. She couldn’t be scared of him if she tried. She knows he’s the biggest challenge. She’s determined to get good enough that he doesn’t have to hold back with her.”

Aleksei’s sly smile stretched across his face. “I remember someone else who was much the same when he was younger,” he said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “It’s why you’re the only one that doesn’t need to get in the ring very often.”

“I do see some of the same determination in her that I’ve always had. For her, though, it’s so no one can ever hurt her again. She has survival as added motivation.”

“Heaven help the next person that tries to hurt her. We’ll all go after them,” he said seriously, before he walked back to talk to Vitaliy.

I watched the rest of Andrei and Ilya’s match, looking forward to seeing Sephie and Ivan. I never thought I would be waiting to watch my fiancée fight one of my guys, but I couldn’t imagine it any other way. She was perfect for me. Other women no longer existed in my world.

Andrei and Ilya were both pleased with themselves when their match was over. They both stepped out of the ring near me, as Sephie and Ivan were now standing with me waiting their turn. Sephie’s gorgeous smile was making the entire gym brighter. “Ilya! Your training is much better! Bubba is deceptively fast now too. He’s so close to teaching me how to kill people with just my thumbs. So. Close,” she said emphatically, as she hugged Andrei’s neck.

Ilya was all smiles. “My goal is to be able to keep up with Ivan at some point,” he said. Ivan raised an eyebrow at him. Sephie grinned at him.

“Keep sparring with Bubba then. He’s an amazing trainer,” she said, following Ivan into the ring.

I put my hand on Andrei’s shoulder. “Training Sephie has made you better than ever. You’re much faster now,” I said.

He chuckled. “I have to be to stay ahead of her. It’s the only advantage to being so much smaller than the rest of us.”

Ivan and Sephie had a quick conversation in the middle of the ring before starting. They were both clearly happy about being in the ring together. We all saw Sephie flip her switch. She wasn’t angry. She’d long ago figured out how to keep the power without the anger, but she switched to serious in a second. Ivan’s smile faded quickly as he soon realized that my level-up was giving her an unexpected advantage.

Andrei looked at me, his eyes wide. I looked at Misha, Stephen, and Viktor across the ring, all looking just as shocked as they watched her. Not only was she just as fast as Ivan now, but she was perfectly countering every single one of his moves. I’d sparred with Ivan plenty of times. He was not holding back. She was making him work, even more than she did last time.

Vitaliy and his men were just as shocked as all of us. Vitaliy walked to me, asking, “How?”

“When I leveled up, she got a significant upgrade through me because we’re so connected. Ivan got some through her, but not as much.”

I just heard Vitaliy cursing as he watched them. Both of them were having fun, but it really looked like they were trying to kill each other. More than ever before, I could feel Sephie’s power. She had figured out how to let her demon help her, without stepping forward. Her eyes were normal, but her demon was definitely helping her. And enjoying every second of it.

Their match went on much longer this time than the last time they’d sparred. Sephie’s endurance was definitely no longer an issue. She felt incredible. She looked incredible. She was incredible.

When they finally agreed to end the match, with no clear winner this time, everyone else in the gym applauded. Every single one of them was impressed with how well she’d done against Ivan.

Ilya was still standing close enough that I could hear him when he told Andrei, “I think I should make her my goal, not Ivan. I think she could kick my ass.”

Andrei laughed. “I know she could,” he said, a very obvious look of pride on his face.

Sephie hugged Ivan when they were done. He wrapped his massive arms around her, picking her up and holding her in the air for a few moments. He was proud of her as well. When he set her down, she turned to Andrei, running to the edge of the ring straight to him. He wrapped his arms around her, picking her up as well. He swung her around a few times, as she thanked him and he told her how proud he was of her. It was a very sweet moment, as both of them were elated with her performance.

Andrei finally set her down and she walked to me. Her beautiful smile was still spread wide across her face. “I think I might’ve gotten a bigger boost from you than we first thought,” she said, tucking herself in my side.

“I think you figured out how to let your demon help you too,” I said, kissing her temple.

“You felt that?” she asked. “Of course you felt that. I don’t know why that surprises me. Did my eyes switch?”

I shook my head no. “Not that I saw. They looked normal the whole time, but she was definitely helping you. And very happy about it.”

She giggled. “She was very happy about it. She might’ve enjoyed that more than I did, even.”

Ivan walked up to us. “Princess, I don’t think anyone but your goddamn prince has ever made me work that hard.”

“I did have help. Full disclosure,” she said, grinning at him. The rest of the guys joined us.

“What help?” Misha asked. He looked at me, thinking I was going to be the answer to his question.

“Her demon,” I said.

“Really??” Misha asked. He looked quickly to Andrei and then to Stephen. They both nodded at him. “New life goal,” they all said at once.

“Your eyes never changed though, sestrichka,” Viktor said.

“That’s the interesting part. She figured out how to let her demon help without her stepping completely forward,” I said.

“You’re going to have to teach me how to do that as well, princess,” Ivan said.

Vitaliy had overheard the conversation. He was always very curious about how everything worked. “Explain,” he said. He was a man of many words, if nothing else.

“When we use our demons, we relinquish a little bit of control, so to speak. That’s why our eyes turn black. It’s their power, but we’re still mostly in control. Just from behind the scenes, if you will. Sephie figured out how to use her demon’s power without her demon needing to step forward. It’s why her eyes didn’t change. She got a significant power boost and someone on the street would never know where it came from,” I said.

“Will you all be able to do that at some point?” Vitaly asked.

“Not sure. We only just found out she could do it,” I said.

“That’s how most everything works with us. She figures out she can do it and then shows the rest of us how to do it as well,” Ivan said.

“She gives us new life goals to aspire to,” Misha said, grinning at her.

“How do you know you can do these things, malishka?” Vitaliy asked Sephie.

She shrugged her shoulders. “Nobody told me I couldn’t, I guess,” she said, making everyone laugh. Vitaliy’s laugh might’ve been the loudest, even.

She was getting better about panicking when all the attention was on her, but she was very shy about it still. I felt her shrink against me slightly. I just wrapped my arms completely around her, holding her tightly against me. “I love you so much, Sephie.” I felt her relax and take a deep breath, content to have my arms around her.

“Um, Boss. I hate to break this up, but she needs to stretch again. It seems to help her ribs from getting tight,” Andrei said.

Sephie stood up straighter and kissed me quickly, saying, “I have to listen to him or he won’t let me play with Ivan again.” We were all laughing as she walked away, following Andrei.

Ivan looked at me, still amused but quite serious. “I’ve seriously never seen her look so good. I don’t get many challenges, but she was a legit challenge today.”

“I could tell. You rarely have to put in effort. It was hard to tell who was putting in more effort a few times there, her or you,” I said, still very proud that she’d made him work that hard.

He chuckled. “I know I was a few times. She’s quick.”

“Good. It’ll be good for both of you to do this regularly, then. Can’t have her shield getting soft,” I said, walking further into the gym to get my own workout in before we went back upstairs. I smiled to myself the entire workout, thinking about nothing but Sephie the whole time.

My mind was wandering to Sephie for most of my meetings throughout the day. Thankfully, I didn’t have many and the ones I did have weren’t very serious. She never failed to impress me with each new thing she came up with.

I felt her close to my office when my current meeting was wrapping up. Our connection was so strong now that it was getting easier to tell where she was and who she was with at all times. I did have a few moments of guilt that it took me so long to find her when she and Ivan were taken. If it happened now, I’d be able to find her immediately. I did take some solace in that.

I felt her warmth as she broke me free from my thoughts before my meeting had officially ended. She knew.

As soon as my associate walked out of my office, she walked in, her wide smile stretched across her face. She was carrying coffee. Our inability to satiate our sexual appetite was cutting into our sleep. We were both tired.

“I love you so much right now,” I said as she handed me the coffee.

“I know,” she said, grinning at me. “You need to be sharp. We’re leaving to meet with the mayor and DA after your next meeting is over.”

“Oh?” I asked, loving that she knew my schedule before I did. She knew I liked it when she got bossy, so she would be extra bratty sometimes just to drive me a little more crazy.

“Mmm hmm. We’re meeting in a parking garage, apparently, like some kind of clandestine secret meeting, so I get to check that off my bucket list. I’m gonna need everyone to be completely on point,” she said, trying to hide her smile that was threatening to show itself.

I laughed, pulling her into my lap. “You might need to stop. Literally everything you do turns me on right now. I don’t want to have to suffer through my last meeting with a boner,” I said, my lips next to her ear. I felt her breath hitch.

“You like it when I’m all bitchy and bossy,” she said, grinning at me.

“I very much do,” I said, as we both heard the elevator doors ding to signal the arrival of my last meeting of the day. I kissed her quickly, then said, “You’re welcome to stay for this one. It’s Neal.”

“I’ll say hello, but I promised Ivan I would help him be even more aware of what’s going on around him,” she said. “The Wonder Twins are going to be my guinea pigs.”

Viktor walked in with Neal as Sephie stood up to greet him. They exchanged pleasantries and after she had asked him a few questions about the building project, she politely excused herself.

Neal sat down across from my desk, a small smile on his face. “Please don’t take this the wrong way as I say it with the utmost respect, but the more time you two are together, the more beautiful that woman gets.”

“I could not agree more,” I said.

On the way to meet with the mayor and DA, we were all very serious, very focused. Stephen had gone ahead with a team of his own and set up across from the building, but once we were in the parking garage, his cover would be limited. We weren’t necessarily worried about Doug or Eric, but we still wanted to be prepared for anything. To the point that even Sephie was armed for this meeting.

We had also agreed to have Kostya on standby. Viktor and Kostya had devised a way to make it happen very quickly, so Viktor just needed to quickly touch both of them and Kostya could fix them. If I was going to rely on these two, I wanted to make sure I did everything in my power to keep them loyal. I did not want another Henry to deal with.

We’d decided that Viktor was going to check both for weapons when we first arrived. It would be quick; it wasn’t out of the ordinary to do in these kinds of situations, and they likely wouldn’t question it. Kostya could fix them and they would never suspect anything out of the ordinary.

Eric and Doug arrived shortly after we did. They were supposed to be inside the building in a “meeting.” Because the men that Henry had following both Eric and Doug were not well-trained, they never followed them into a building. They would wait outside until the two men emerged and would pick up the trail from there. It was a rookie move. There are plenty of ways to ditch a tail once you enter a building.

Or, have secret meetings, in our case. It did make our lives somewhat easier, so I was always grateful for ineptitude.

The guys were on high alert and didn’t leave Sephie very much space as we walked to meet Eric and Doug. She enjoyed it. She never once got irritated with them for feeling overprotective of her. She would tease me about it occasionally, but only just for laughs. I knew she secretly loved it. She had spent so many years never feeling truly safe when she was with her uncle especially, but even after she had gotten away and was on her own. Now that she had it, she was never letting go of it.

Viktor walked ahead of the group to check both Eric and Doug, making it look like he was checking for weapons. The rest of us watched as their auras lit up while Kostya was fixing them. He made quick work of it. Luckily, neither of the men needed too much work. Doug’s aura had started to heal itself after Stephen had scared off the demon that was trying to attach to him.

We weren’t sure exactly how it worked, but we were noticing that a person could heal their own aura, given enough time. It seemed to work even if the person wasn’t necessarily conscious of it needing to be done. Dario’s likely healed tremendously since he’d been hiding at the building. We were all surprised to see how strong it was when Andrei showed us, especially given how broken that man was when he first got back from Colombia.

To their credit, Eric and Doug were both good sports about being checked for weapons. “I’m guessing you guys have enough firepower to level this building and you’re still worried about two desk jockeys,” Eric said, laughing quietly once Viktor and Kostya were done.

“One can never be too careful,” I said. “Tell me about your plan for Dr. Moretti.”

Eric had a small smile on his face. “We’re getting closer to figuring out a way to charge him with the back-room procedures. We can’t find anyone else who can recognize him, but we have an extensive victim list, thanks to Dr. Williams at the hospital. That, plus a money trail that we’re slowly uncovering points directly at Dr. Moretti. The brawn as well as his very clear ties to Salvadori will land him in jail for sure. It will buy us some time to find more about the illegal procedures, which should keep him in jail.”

“With what you gave us on the connection to Salvadori and Dr. Moretti, it gives us grounds to look more seriously at the connection to Henry. I know you said he’s mostly been paid in cash, but there are still ways to find details. We’re working on that one as well. It’s slightly more difficult, since Henry is trying to do the same to us, from his position,” Doug said.

I was quiet for a moment, making them think I was mulling things over in my head. They had not told me anything I didn’t already know, so far. “Niko and Vito are coming back within the next two weeks. They’re in need of more cash flow, so they’re coming back to try and force the underbosses to collect taxes. We need the people to stop it. They’ll be informed. They’re the reason the underbosses stopped in the first place. This gives you both an excellent opportunity to appear tough on crime. Dr. Moretti can be the first domino to fall, revealing the other connections to Sal and Henry once he’s in custody. The wild card in that scenario is Henry’s allegiance to Sal. If he uses the police to stop the people, the plan won’t work.”

Eric looked from me to Sephie, who was standing just behind me and between me and Ivan. “How much of this was your plan?” he asked her.

“It was a group effort,” she said.

“That job offer is still on the table,” Eric said. He looked to Doug, both of them thinking over the plan I had just laid out for them. They both nodded in agreement.

“I like it. I do, however, want your word that in the event that we get a judge that’s in Sal’s pocket, unbeknownst to us, and the doctor goes free, that you’ll take care of him,” the mayor said. “I don’t want him walking free in this city ever again.”

“That will not be a problem,” I said.

“Do you know when Niko and Vito are coming back?” Eric asked.

“No specific date yet, but we have people watching them. We’ll let you know as soon as we know. Once they’re here, everything needs to happen quickly. Sal and Ricardo don’t need any extra time to react to what’s happening here,” I said.

“We’re ready to move on Dr. Moretti as soon as you hand him over. We have people working round the clock to find a concrete connection between Henry and Sal. Once Henry goes down, most of the police chiefs go down with him, as well as his girlfriend,” Eric said.

“That does seem to be one of her favorite positions,” Sephie said, mostly under her breath, but still loud enough that we all caught it. We even heard Stephen laughing through our earpieces.

“If anything changes, let us know. We’ll do the same. If you have any information we can use that links Henry and Sal, we’ll be happy to take it off your hands,” Eric said.

“Might be worth another look at Sal’s paperwork,” Ivan said silently.

“Agreed.”

“We’ll take another look and see what we can find,” I said. Eric extended his hand to me. I felt Sephie’s hand gently grab my free hand when I went to shake hands with Eric, followed by Doug. She was borrowing my gift. She had likely been snooping through their heads the entire time and was making sure her assessment was correct. Since we’d dealt with so many betrayals, she liked to be as confident as possible in her opinion on someone. It meant using everything she had at her disposal to form that opinion.

As we walked back to the SUVs to leave, Stephen said in our earpieces, “Boss, get in the vehicles, but don’t leave until I say.”

“Is there a problem?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. Henry’s guys have reinforcements we weren’t expecting,” he said. “Eric is leaving now. His usual tail is leaving with him, along with a few of the new guys.”

Doug had gone into the building before leaving, which meant we now had to wait for him to come back out and leave. There was only one entrance/exit into the parking garage, so we would be seen if we left before him, meaning Henry would be able to piece it together that we were meeting with the mayor and the DA behind his back.

Viktor sent a quick message to both Eric and Doug, alerting them to their newest addition in followers. We only had to wait a few minutes and Doug was back in the garage being picked up by his driver. We waited for Stephen to tell us whether all the tails outside left with him or not.

“Doug is leaving. His usual tail is gone. All but one tail left with the mayor. They suspect something is up. He’s waiting to see who else comes out of the garage,” Stephen said.

“Just one person? You’re sure?” Ivan said.

“Just one. He’s parked not far outside the entrance of the garage, waiting. He showed up with everyone else. They’re not discreet in the slightest. They all had a meeting on the sidewalk, then dispersed to their separate cars. He’s the only one left,” Stephen said.

“I could go have a conversation with him,” Ivan said, knowing full well that was not going to happen.

“I have an idea,” Sephie told me. “Stephen, how many car lengths between where this idiot is posted up and the entrance to the garage?”

“One, two … five,” he said.

“And what does the car look like that he’s in?” she asked.

“Dark blue sedan, four door,” he said.

“Which side of the exit is he on?”