Chapter Seventeen

Sephie

The next afternoon, we were all on our way to the hotel where Mr. Turner worked, to meet with Battista once again. “You’re sure that woman won’t be with him this time?” I had asked Vitaliy as we were leaving.

He chuckled. “No, she will no longer be an issue, malishka.”

“Um, do I want to know what that means?”

“Battista told me he got into an argument with her over her behavior at the last meeting. He told her she embarrassed him and he refused to do business with such an inconsiderate person. She threatened to destroy him, which was what he was wanting to happen. It will be her who is destroyed. He just needed a reason,” Vitaliy said.

“Remind me to stay on his good side,” I said.

Vitaliy laughed loudly. “You never have to worry about that. Battista is a smart man. He knows there’s something about you that’s different. He knows of my ability. He suspects it in Adrik. He’s almost certain you have something that can prove to be very beneficial to him, should he ever need it. He will keep you close, malishka.”

“I mean, no pressure.”

We walked to the front door of the hotel, again like modern-day royalty with so many heavily armed guards. Mr. Turner was happy to see us as always. “Miss Sephie, I’m so happy I get to see you again so soon,” he said as I stepped away from everyone to give him a hug.

“How are things today, Mr. Turner? Good? Uneventful?”

“It’s a fine day, Miss Sephie. A fine day. Made better since I get to see you,” he said. His grandfatherly smile stretched across his face.

“You’re my favorite, Mr. Turner,” I said as he opened the door for us to walk inside. This time, Vitaliy wasn’t surprised at me talking to Mr. Turner, but he did have a small smile across his face as we walked inside. I stepped closer to him and said quietly, “You’re being a cheeseball, old man. Tighten up before Battista sees you.”

I was not prepared for the laughter that came out of that man as we were walking to the restaurant. The guys were all shocked, but most of all, Adrik was completely taken aback at his father losing his composure in public. I just shrugged my shoulders and tucked myself into Adrik’s side as we continued on our way. The guys silently closed in around us to keep me as out of sight as possible.

Battista was waiting on us in an empty restaurant, but this time, only the male associate who was with him before was present. No woman to be found. I found myself completely relieved that she would not be there, more for Ivan’s sake than anything else.

Battista greeted Vitaliy and Adrik warmly. This time, Adrik didn’t let go of me when he went to greet him. Battista’s attention quickly shifted to me. He took my hand, turning it over to kiss the back of it, just like he’d done before. “Sephie, I still cannot thank you enough. You have no idea what a gift you’ve given me,” he said to me in Italian.

“Well, if I knew you took this much pleasure in destroying deserving people, I wouldn’t have waited so long to expose her. Next time, give me warning that’s what you want. I’ll make it quick. You won’t have to wait,” I responded. Both Vitaliy and Battista laughed, exchanging a quick glance between each other.

Battista motioned toward the tables. “Come, let us discuss business,” he said. As we walked to the table, Adrik searched my eyes, wanting a translation. He laughed quietly when he found his answer. He pulled the chair out for me, leaning down to kiss my cheek after I sat down.

After everyone was seated, Battista spoke English. He spoke it quite well. I wasn’t sure whether I should be irritated with Vitaliy or impressed. “So. You’re looking for information on the mayor as well as the police commissioner?” he asked Adrik.

Adrik nodded his head. “We think the commissioner is framing the mayor so he can get rid of him and take his spot. We thought the mayor was in Sal’s pocket, but now it looks like the commissioner is the one in his pocket. He has quite a bit of information on Ricardo too. Enough to put him away for a very long time. He could use that information against me, however. That’s what we think he’s planning on doing. We’re trying to figure out if the mayor is an ally.”

“If the mayor is an ally, he will help get rid of Ricardo then?” Battista asked.

“Possibly, yes. The information is there, but he’s going to need help since his police commissioner is dirty. It’s likely most of the police chiefs are too. We don’t even know about the DA yet. But aside from all that, the information is good against Ricardo. It makes it look like he’s the one who’s been running the city behind the scenes. Which ironically is what he’s been trying to do for years, apparently,” Adrik said.

“And what if the mayor is dirty, along with everyone else?” Battista asked.

“Then Ricardo dies, along with Sal,” I said flatly.

Battista looked at me for a moment, his hand on his chin. He looked at Vitaliy and said in Italian, “I really like her.” He looked back at Adrik, saying, “I will get you the information you need on the mayor. I can look into the rest of them as well. I’ve heard very little about Sal and Ricardo since they’ve been in Italy. It’s almost like they’re hiding. Niko and Vito are still with them. I do know that for sure.” He sighed. “There are very influential people around the world who would be willing to help you get rid of Ricardo De Luca. He’s greatly disliked by very powerful people. They’ll have no problems also getting rid of anyone who’s aligned with him if they know he’s going down for sure.”

“I have no problem erasing Sal from history. I have a feeling that Ricardo has been behind much of what Sal has done recently, which means I have no problem with also erasing him from history,” Adrik said, his anger clearly visible.

Battista raised an eyebrow, curious as to what Adrik was referring to. He looked between Adrik and Vitaliy. “Sal kidnapped her and was going to sell her,” Vitaliy said. It surprised me that he said it in Italian. Battista looked to me, asking in Italian if that was true. I nodded my head. Battista was silent for a moment. He looked to Adrik. “Whatever you need to make this happen, I will help you. Ricardo must be stopped.”

I caught Vitaliy smirking at me. He just winked at me when he saw me look at him.

In the parking garage underneath Adrik’s building, Vitaliy placed my arm through his as we walked to the elevator. “Battista’s help comes with a price. He’ll eventually confirm his suspicions that there is something special about you. He’s going to ask for your help at some point in the future.”

“Please tell him that I can’t move anything with my mind so moving Disney’s Animal Kingdom to Italy is completely out of the question. I don’t care how much he loves okapi. I’m not doing it,” I said.

Vitaliy and Aleksei came with us to the penthouse once we returned from meeting with Battista. Vitaliy declared he was sick of meeting with people he hadn’t seen in years. “There is a reason I haven’t seen them in years,” he said, grumpily.

Adrik couldn’t hide his smile as he looked at me. I think it still surprised him to see this side of his father, but the more he saw it, the more he was enjoying it. It made me happy to see him finally comfortable around his father. I knew he’d spent much of his life feeling intimidated by Vitaliy and worried that he would end up just like him. Now, he was starting to see that wasn’t necessarily all bad. Vitaliy had some very good parts to him. He just struggled to show it to the people he cared about.

“Vitaliy, I think it’s time to maybe consider that you are a warm and fuzzy guy. Despite what you think,” Stephen said, placing his hand on Vitaliy’s shoulder. We could always count on Stephen to be as sarcastic as possible while delivering a heartfelt message.

Vitaliy cut his eyes over at Stephen as they both laughed. It made my heart so happy to see both of them laughing.

As I made dinner with everyone’s help, Vitaliy and Aleksei both relaxed and talked more than they had previously. They both seemed to genuinely enjoy our company. They entertained us with stories from the days when Vitaliy ruled the city. They both gave us funny anecdotes about the current bosses, as well as the bosses before them.

Apparently, Vitaliy had a habit of causing his own chaos between the bosses, just for fun. He finally admitted that he would interfere with the bosses’ plans, but make it look as if it was one of the other bosses who did it. He liked to keep them fighting among themselves so they would leave him alone.

“Clearly, that’s not a lesson I ever learned. I thought keeping the order between them would mean peace in the city,” Adrik said, shaking his head at his father’s antics.

“Eh, it did mean peace. But there’s something about humans that needs adversity in order to be happy. If you make conditions too good for too long, people forget what bad is. The good starts to feel less good. Sometimes you need bad to remember what good really is,” Vitaliy said.

The guys looked at me. I stopped what I was doing and smiled at them all. “He speaks no lies.”

Viktor caught me to the side of the kitchen while everyone else was deep in discussion after dinner. He gently caught my arm, pulling me toward him. He didn’t say a word, he just wrapped his massive arms around me. I knew he was thanking me for baking him a treat and giving him a reminder of the good times of his past.

“She was the secret ingredient, but so are you, sestrichka. I won’t say no to those anytime you want to make them,” he said softly.

“I’ll happily take suggestions for improvements next time, if you want to give them,” I said, my arms still wrapped around his neck.

He loosened his hold on me, standing up straighter once more. “They were perfect, Sephie. They were exactly what I needed.” He kissed my cheek before stepping away to join the conversation once more. Stephen caught my eye as Viktor was walking away from me. I winked in appreciation for his help in making it happen.

Even though Vitaliy complained about being in the city, he still stayed for several more days. He kept himself busy during the day. We rarely saw him, but he almost always made it back so he and Aleksei could eat dinner with us each night.

“You know you can tell your other guys they can come up too. I can make more food,” I said one night.

Vitaliy and Aleksei looked at each other and laughed. “The little flowers don’t want to. I need the other two to keep an eye on them. I don’t trust them when they’re on their own in a new place,” Vitaliy said.

“Unexpected side effect of teaching them manners,” Aleksei said.

“If you don’t trust them, then why do they work for you?” I asked.

“It’s hard to find good people these days. They’re better than nothing. For now,” Vitaliy said.

Viktor spoke up. “We’re still working on getting guys for Trino. I can help you find guys to replace them while you’re here, if you like,” he said.

Aleksei thought for a minute, looking to Vitaliy as he said, “Might be worth a look. If we can find better replacements, we can get rid of the little flowers.”

“You can send them to Turkey. The Ottomans are going to need as much help as they can get soon,” Stephen said, completely straight-faced, like it was the honest truth.

Both Vitaliy and Aleksei were shocked, looking to Stephen like he knew something the rest of us didn’t. We all tried to hold in the laughter, but we couldn’t make it happen. Vitaliy and Aleksei knew something was off but still had no clue that Vlad wasn’t a real, live person and Turkey was safe.

For now .

Later that evening, once the guys had gone back to their apartments downstairs and Vitaliy and Aleksei had retired to their rooms on the other side of the penthouse, I caught Adrik watching me as I undressed for bed. He was leaning against the door to the closet, his sexy smirk on his face.

I watched him watching me for a few moments, then said, “You don’t know whether to be really happy with me or mad at me right now, do you?”

He laughed. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. I’m finding myself enjoying spending time with my father. He’s completely different from the man I’ve known my entire life. But I’d also prefer to have the place to ourselves once more. You’re terrible at staying quiet,” he said, cutting his eyes at me.

“You only have yourself to blame for that one,” I said, pulling my shirt over my head, standing in front of him in only my underwear.

“Who said it was a bad thing?” he asked as he walked to me. He ran his hand lightly up my arm to the back of my shoulder as he took another step, now standing behind me. He lightly ran his hand over my back, unhooking my bra. Both hands pushed the straps off my shoulders, causing it to fall to the floor.

I felt his hot breath against my skin as he left gentle kisses across the top of one shoulder, then the other. I could feel his body heat as he moved closer to me, but just far enough away that I couldn’t feel his skin on mine yet. His warm hands roamed from my shoulders around to my breasts. He was slow, deliberate in his touch. I could feel his desire, but I could also feel he was trying to contain it.

I knew he was worried about me being able to catch my breath. He was also worried about me staying quiet while we had guests.

His hands massaged my breasts, then slowly traveled down my stomach. He still kept his distance from me. I made a move to lean back against him, but he moved as well. He was enjoying torturing me. He ran his hands over my hips, then back around to my ass. I felt his lips on my shoulder once more.

I was starting to breathe harder, the longer he kept up his slow torture. Finally, he pulled me back against him. I moaned softly, finally able to feel his warmth against me. He wrapped one arm around my waist, holding me against him. The other ran up in between my breasts to my neck. His touch still soft and slow, he tilted my head to the side giving him full access to my neck. He left a trail of kisses down my neck. I gasped when I felt his teeth graze my neck just above my collarbone.

The hand that was around my waist, moved down my stomach, into my soaking wet panties. When his fingers felt my wetness, he groaned quietly. I pushed my hips back into him, leaning my head back on his shoulder. His lips were on my neck once more, his free hand on one of my breasts.

I felt both hands on my hips as he slid my panties down my legs to the floor. His hands slowly running back up my legs. I felt his teeth bite my ass. He laughed as I squealed, jumping away from him.

“You know what trying to get away from me does to me,” he said, pulling me back to him.

When he pulled me to him, he turned me to face him. His hands continued to roam slowly over my body, but now I could do the same to his. I could feel his hardness pressed against my stomach. My hands roamed over his chest, his shoulders, down his arms. He grabbed my hands in his, moving my arms behind my back. He held both my arms in one of his hands while the other hand moved to my neck, once again tilting my head to give him full access.

His grip on my arms was soft, but I didn’t like having my arms restricted. I pulled them out of his grip, but he caught them and put them back, holding me a little tighter. His lips went back to my neck. I tried to concentrate on his lips, but all I could think about was having my hands tied behind my back while Armando beat me. I tried to pull my arms free once more, but his grip tightened. I whimpered, my panic fully setting in.

He felt it immediately. “Sephie, what’s wrong? Why are you panicking?” he asked. He loosened his grip and I ripped my arms free, hugging my chest. His arms were around me instantly, his voice soft in my ear, telling me that I was safe. I was with him. No one was going to hurt me.

“My arms. I don’t like having them behind me. I don’t like having them restricted since …” I didn’t need to finish. He knew.

“Sephie. Sephie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think …” he said, holding me tightly.

“It’s okay. I’m okay. Just not behind me like that.”

He put his hand on the back of my neck, pulling me far enough away from him that he could look me in the eyes. The look in his eyes told me my eyes were likely still white. He searched my eyes for a moment, then I saw the look of confusion on his face. “Why are you sad?” he asked as I closed my eyes, trying to get a handle on my emotions.

I stayed quiet for a moment, not sure how to answer his question. I felt so out of control lately. I couldn’t get a handle on my fear. Little things would make me panic that never bothered me before. My eyes were doing their own thing. I still worried that the guys were all scared of me because of my inability to control my constantly changing eyes. Now I completely killed the mood because of something silly. I knew he wasn’t going to hurt me when he was holding my arms. But I couldn’t fight off the fear of feeling that vulnerable again.

I felt his fingers under my chin, gently lifting my face. “Sephie, look at me. Please,” he said. His voice was soft, but urgent.

I opened my eyes, letting him search. It only took him a moment. He pulled me close again, hugging me tightly. “You’ve been through so much. I can’t believe you’re beating yourself up for struggling with processing everything. This was my fault, Sephie. I didn’t think about you not wanting to have your arms behind you. You have a very good reason for not wanting that. I should’ve known.”

“It’s okay. I’m okay,” I said quietly, my face in his chest.

“It’s not and you’re not, love. Not all the way. You’re dealing with so much just on your own. Not even considering how you’re helping everyone around you all the time.”

“I want to help them. I don’t want them to be scared.”

Of me, I wanted to add, but didn’t.

He pulled me away from him to look at me again. He searched for a few minutes, but didn’t respond right away. He picked up his shirt that he had left out for me, holding it out for me. He quietly buttoned it up after I slid my arms through the sleeves. Then he rolled up the too-long sleeves. He reached down, taking my hand, and pulled me toward the bedroom with him. He climbed into bed first, then pulled me into his lap so I was straddling him. He looked at me for a few minutes, his hands in their usual battle with my curls before he finally broke the silence.

“Sephie, I don’t know what to say to make you believe that we’re not scared of you. The things that are happening are strange. It’s a lot to take in. But all of it is made so much easier because we all have you to help us through it. If this were happening without you, we would all be admitted to the psych ward. You’re what’s kept us sane through all of this.” He pulled me down, pressing his lips gently to mine for a moment before he continued. “I’m worried that we’re depending on you too much, without giving you what you need in return.”

“I don’t think that’s true. You’re all becoming experts at feeling my shifts in mood. Even Stephen, who can’t feel what I feel can read me now, apparently. I think you’re putting too much pressure on yourself and the guys,” I said. He raised an eyebrow at me. “I’ve been through some shit, Adrik. Even without the past I have, just what has happened since I’ve met you has been a lot. Most of it I’m dealing with and trying to move past, but there’s going to be times when something triggers bad memories and feelings. That’s unavoidable. Only this time, I have you and I have the guys to help me through it when it happens.”

He had a small smile on his face as he looked at me. “You always do that,” he said quietly.

“Do what?”

“End up making me feel better when I’m trying to make you feel better.”

I ran my fingers lightly over his stubble, loving the feel of it against my fingertips. “You do an excellent job of taking care of me. It’s not your fault I’m high maintenance,” I said, smirking at him.

He laughed loudly. “You’re the most low-maintenance woman I’ve ever met in my entire life. But it makes me love you even more than I thought possible.”

I leaned down, putting my head on his shoulder as he ran his hands over my back. I sighed, loving just being close to him. “I love you, Adrik. Always and forever.”

I woke up at some point in the middle of the night to noises coming from the kitchen. I quietly got out of bed and grabbed a pair of leggings before walking out of the bedroom. Vitaliy was in the kitchen rummaging through the cabinets, searching for something he very obviously wasn’t finding.

“Can’t sleep and you’re looking for something to help you with that?” I asked. I didn’t mean to startle him, but I did.

“Malishka, what are you doing up? You should be in bed,” he said, almost firmly. Like it was an order.

“I could say the same for you. Don’t you need more sleep as you get older?” I asked innocently. He squinted his eyes at me as I walked to the cabinet where we kept the tea. I pulled out my favorite tea that helped me sleep. “Don’t be grumpy or you’ll get none of this and you’ll be awake the rest of the night, having no one to blame but yourself.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “I didn’t know how much I would miss having someone who was never afraid of me.”

“I think you’ve done an excellent job of showing your warm and fuzzy side just since I’ve known you. You’ll have even more friends soon,” I said, filling the electric kettle and turning it on.

He scoffed, but then he smiled at me. He looked at me for a few moments. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like there were tears welling up in his eyes. “You’ve given me a second chance with my son. I wasn’t the best father to him the first time around. Maybe I can make up for that, even if it’s just a little bit,” he said.

I looked at him as we waited for the water to boil. “I think you’re being too hard on yourself again, Vitaliy. You did the best you could with what you had at the time. There’s a part of him that understands now where your pain came from and he knows he would’ve been in the same shape you were if the roles were reversed. I can’t imagine how difficult it must’ve been for you to lose your soulmate but have to be reminded of that loss every single time you looked into your son’s eyes.”

His eyes got wide. “You’ve seen a picture of Lena?”

I smiled at him. “I’ve seen Lena. We had a talk when we were still in Panama. I told you she still watches over you,” I said, looking at him sternly as I poured the hot water into two mugs.

“How is this possible?”

“Eh, the logistics are somewhat complicated. She’s the person to ask that question to, but she made it happen. She said she wanted to thank me. She said she always knew I was coming for Adrik, but she never realized the role I would play in your life as well.” I handed him the cup of tea, adding, “She had a message for your son, as well as his men. But the important thing for you to know is that she is still very much in love with you, old man. She’s also always around, keeping an eye on you. So on nights when you can’t sleep, you should try talking to her. She’s very resourceful. She can get messages to you.”

He sat in silence, mostly stunned at what I’d just told him. I could see his emotions clearly visible on his face. His cold, tough exterior completely non-existent as he sat in front of me. I suddenly didn’t feel like tea anymore. He was still staring at the counter as I walked quietly back to the bedroom.

Halfway down the hallway to the bedroom, I was met by Adrik, leaning against the wall, his arms folded across his chest. He’d been listening to our conversation. He didn’t say anything, he just wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my neck.