Chapter Twenty

Adrik

I had talked Sephie into taking a bath. She was stressed, but she wouldn’t tell me why in front of the other guys. I’d felt her anger briefly that afternoon, but she wouldn’t come clean on why that happened either. I knew she’d tell me once we were alone. Or I could fish it out of her head. The more I practiced, the better I got at reading her. There wasn’t much she could get by me now.

“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you, love?” I asked after she’d been quiet for a few minutes. She was enjoying my hands on her body. I could feel her relax more, the longer we stayed in the hot water.

She sighed. “I know Stephen’s past now. I had my suspicions after I got him to open up to me the other day, but he somehow managed to share all his memories with me when I touched his arm today. I saw everything. What’s worse is I felt everything he felt while it was happening. I don’t know how I managed to get through it without breaking down or why I haven’t broken down since,” she said. I heard her sniffle once, but she continued. “He’s so insanely private that I don’t want to tell you too much out of respect for him, but it’s bad. His sisters are evil. I legit asked if I could kill them today. Like, for real. I’d do it and not think twice about it.”

I could feel her anger starting to rise. It felt different from her normal anger. It almost felt more like mine. There was more chaos to her anger than usual.

“How did he share all his memories with you?” I asked. This seemed like it was different from how Sephie usually got information from people.

“I have no idea. He was frozen in terror because he’d just gotten a message that his sisters are coming to the city in two days. He’s terrified to see them. I went to comfort him and I saw everything. It went from him not wanting me in his head at all to him sharing literally every detail with me. He said he was trying to share it with me. That it’s easier than having to tell me what happened.”

“What do his sisters want when they come here? He knows he doesn’t have to see them, right?” I asked. I’d never once heard Stephen talk about his sisters. I didn’t even know he had sisters until Sephie told me.

“I told him the same thing, but I just have this feeling like he needs to see them. I think on some level he does too, but he’s understandably scared. I told him I’d be with him the entire time. He shouldn’t face them alone. I’d also love a reason to punch them, sooooo, I’m hoping that happens,” she said. I could hear the smile in her voice when she said it.

“We will all be with him. If they’re as bad as you say they are, then we’ll all help him face them. I can throw them out of the city and make sure they never return as well. I can give shoot on sight orders,” I offered. She giggled, wrapping my arms around her. “I’m serious. I can feel your anger. It’s different with this. It feels more like mine, which means you’re having trouble controlling it. That never happens. I don’t need details to know this is very serious and that you’re feeling very protective of him.”

She sighed, hugging my arms that were tight around her. “I love you.”

I leaned down, kissing her neck. “I love you, solnishko. And I love that you love my men as much as you do too. It’s very endearing that you’re as protective of them as you are. You have no idea how adorable you are,” I said, not able to hide my smile as she giggled again, her body finally relaxing.

Sephie asked me to call Ivan to the penthouse before everyone else came up for breakfast. “I know he’ll be up. He’s a complete psycho who wakes up at the ungodly hour of 4:00 am like every day. I want to talk to him alone before everyone else comes up. I think he can help with Stephen’s situation.”

I sent a quick text to Ivan the night before, making sure he was in the kitchen before everyone else. Vitaliy and Aleksei were usually the last to come out, so we didn’t need to worry about them. He looked somewhat concerned when we came out of the bedroom, wondering why he’d been summoned. His face softened when Sephie smiled at him as she walked to him.

“Good morning, Squish,” she said, as he wrapped his arms around her, engulfing her completely as he hugged her.

“Princess. Wanna tell me why I’ve been summoned?” he asked, a small grin on his face.

She stepped back from him, already chewing on her bottom lip. We both felt her mood shift quickly. “Uh oh. That’s not good. What’s going on?” he asked, now visibly more worried. We could both feel her anger coming on once more.

“So, it was slightly different, but Stephen shared all of his memories with me yesterday. I know everything. I felt everything.” She paused, trying to maintain control of herself. “His sisters are completely evil. I don’t want to say much more than that, as he’s so insanely private. The issue is that his sisters are coming to the city. They’ll be here tomorrow. He’s terrified to see them. I told him he won’t have to face them alone, and I know all of you will agree with that. I think he needs to face them. I keep getting the feeling that it’s what’s holding him back. I really need your help to bring out their demons for everyone to see. It’s probably going to be horrific, but I think we need to help him face them. Can you—”

He put his hand up, stopping her. “Say no more. You never have to ask me if I’m willing to make bitchy girls uncomfortable. That answer is always going to be a yes,” he said.

She smiled at him, but it was short-lived. “These are more than just bitchy girls, Squish. I’m thinking what happened with Battista’s associate at the hotel might happen again. As much as I don’t want you to go through that again, I think it’ll be what Stephen needs to see happen to give him the strength to cut them out of his life for good.”

“If I know there’s a chance it’ll happen, I can at least be prepared. The surprise at the hotel didn’t help,” he said.

“You know I’ll be there for you, but I’m also very worried about Stephen. He went white when he got their message yesterday. He couldn’t speak for a few minutes.”

“If you keep your anger the way it feels right now, it’ll cancel out everything else. It feels different,” Ivan said.

I looked at him, agreeing. “It feels more chaotic, right? Like it feels like mine does, not hers.”

He nodded his head. “Yeah, this is a new level. Even more so than what she feels with Sal. I said before it feels like she’ll burn the world to get to Sal, but this feels even worse than that.”

“Like I want to rip their souls out and deliver them to Hell myself,” Sephie said quietly, her eyes completely black.

Sephie’s anger levels stayed at a smoldering level throughout the day. Andrei and Misha felt the difference, both asking me about it instead of asking her.

“Boss, is Sephie okay? She feels different and not necessarily in a good way,” Andrei asked when he and Misha walked into my office. Sephie had taken Stephen upstairs to help her, before any of the others could offer. She also asked me to keep them as busy as possible so she could have a little extra time with Stephen.

“Close the door,” I said.

Misha closed it, now concerned. “What’s going on, Boss?”

“Sephie found out about Stephen’s past. I don’t know details but it has to do with his sisters, who will be here tomorrow. Her anger is justifiable, but it’s different than it normally feels. It has me worried, to be honest. Her anger feels like mine. It’s very chaotic, which means she’s struggling to control it,” I said.

“Does he have to see his sisters when they’re here? I mean, if it’s that bad, why not just tell them to fuck off?” Misha asked.

“I said the same thing. So did she, but she also feels like Stephen needs to confront them. She feels like this is what’s holding him back from realizing what his gift is,” I said.

“What does he need from us?” Andrei asked.

“He’s not going anywhere near his sisters without all of us with him. I think we’re going to have to keep an eye on her to keep her from snapping his sisters’ necks. She already asked him if she could kill them and she wasn’t joking. Other than that, I think we let it play it out. Between Ivan and Sephie, those girls don’t stand a chance. I think Stephen might need to see his sisters for who they really are for once, instead of the monsters he remembers from his childhood.”

Misha clapped his hands, rubbing them together. “I love a good unraveling.”

That night, Stephen told everyone that his sisters were coming. He didn’t go into details, but he made it obvious that he was not in any way excited to see them.

“Don’t worry, man. We’re going with you. Or are they coming here?” Andrei asked.

“Noooo. They aren’t coming anywhere close to here. There’s no way in hell I would tell them where I live,” Stephen said. I had to admit to being slightly relieved about that. “I’m supposed to meet them for dinner tomorrow night. Surprisingly, they’re staying at Battista’s hotel.”

I knew how I could help. Sephie caught my mood shift and glanced at me, searching for the answer to her silent question. She didn’t say anything, but she added her own plans on top of it. We silently had a conversation that no one else in the room was aware of and I loved every second of it.

Later, once we were alone, I made sure I read her correctly. “I just want to make sure I’m correct. You caught my idea about the hotel?”

“I did. Battista seems to be very willing to help us out, but mostly because he thinks there’s something special about you and me that can be useful to him.”

“You’re okay with him seeing your eyes?”

“I’m okay with scaring the ever-loving shit out of Stephen’s sisters. If Battista helps us out and seeing my eyes is the payment for that, then I’m okay with it. Vitaliy can see too. He doesn’t know about them yet either,” she said. She was chewing on her bottom lip, still worrying over something.

“What’s going on in your head? What else are you thinking about?”

“I wish there was a way to push everything I felt when he shared his memories with me onto them. I don’t usually get emotions with memories like that, but it was very clear that I was experiencing it as he did, feelings and all. I want them to feel what he felt. I want them to know that pain. I want it to haunt them the same way it has him. They’re the ones who need to carry that burden, not him.”

“I agree with you, but I don’t know how to make that happen. Nor do I want you to hurt yourself by trying to make something happen that shouldn’t happen. You could push your anger to Andrei and Misha, but you’re also connected to them. You don’t have that connection with Stephen’s sisters, so I don’t know that it would work the same with them.”

“I know. That’s what I can’t figure out. Doesn’t mean I still can’t wish for it to happen, though.”

I pulled her to me, kissing her gently. “I have no doubt you will figure out how to make them suffer as much as possible while in your presence.” I had a small grin on my face, as I was loving the thought of being able to witness it. “Let me call Battista before it gets too late, love. Don’t stress about this too much. Otherwise we’ll have Ivan and the Wonder Twins back up here because they’re worried you’re going to burn the building down.”

She cut her eyes at me, a sly smile curling up one side of her plump lips. “Call Battista. I won’t burn anything down in the meantime,” she said. God, I love her.

Battista answered promptly when I called him. I told him as few details as I could while still explaining the situation to him. He was understandably hesitant, so I sweetened the deal for him. “You think there’s something special about Sephie and me, don’t you?” I asked. I heard him inhale. Then silence. “You’ll be able to answer that question if you make this happen.”

“The restaurant is yours,” he said. “I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”

The next morning, I told Vitaliy what was happening. “There’s more to Sephie that you still don’t know about. She plans on using it on Stephen’s sisters tonight, but we needed Battista’s restaurant to give us a somewhat private venue to make it happen. His sisters aren’t coming here to the building. We told Battista he’d be able to answer his questions about us if he makes it happen. He agreed. You’ll also get a show if you join us,” I said.

“What more can she do?” Vitaliy asked.

“You’ll see,” I said, a smirk on my face.

He scoffed. “Now Battista is going to want to stay here longer. He drags me to so many lunches,” he said, rolling his eyes.

I chuckled. “You’ve already stayed much longer than you’d planned anyway. What’s a little longer?”