Chapter Forty-Nine

Sephie

When Viktor came out after Stephen helped him one more time, he looked remarkably better. He’d looked better each time Stephen had helped him, but it looked like he was finally relaxed and happy this time. The rest of us were in the back room, on the couches, being ridiculous about something when they walked in.

“Papa Bear, you look much better this time,” I said, smiling at him. The smile I got in return was enough to tell us all everything we needed to know.

“Even I can tell you feel better now and I don’t usually pay attention,” Misha said.

“I think I got it all this time,” Stephen said. “I was somewhat concerned for my effectivity the other two times.”

“He’s been holding on to it for a long time. You could’ve asked for a boost, like with Sergei,” I said.

“I know. Maybe I wanted to see if I could do it on my own,” Stephen said, grinning at me.

“Independent. I’ll allow it,” I said.

“Okay, who has Andrei next or Stephen next?” Misha asked.

We all looked at both Andrei and Stephen. That was a tougher decision to make than I would’ve thought. They were both progressing at rapid rates. Andrei has had his gift for longer, but Stephen jumped in with both feet once he discovered his. It could go either way.

“My money is on Andrei,” Ivan said. Adrik agreed with him.

“I’m going with Stephen,” I said, which shocked everyone. “I know it should technically be Andrei who gets it next, but he’s been more cautious about his gift the entire time. I also think he’s more worried about controlling his anger when it happens, so it’s going to take him longer. Stephen has more experience with that. I think he’s going to be more willing to take that leap much sooner than Bubba,” I said.

“You know that feeling that I assume one has when they’re a kid and their parents tell them they’re proud of them? That’s what I’m feeling right now,” Stephen said, his uncharacteristic smile stretching across his face.

“She’s not wrong, Stephen. I agree with her. My money is on you, too,” Andrei said.

“Apologies for snooping, but I noticed your uneasiness when I told Misha to get angrier. I’ll show you what I showed him when you’re ready. You’ll be just fine, Bubba,” I said to him silently.

“I know you’ll help. I’m more worried about not breaking anything. The few times it’s happened, I’ve always smashed something. Or someone. That’s what I’m most worried about,” he told me.

“We won’t let that happen. But now you have to wait until Stephen figures it out so we’ll win the bet pool,” I said to him. I could hear him laughing along with me in my head, but neither of us gave any outward signs we were having this conversation. I do have to admit to enjoying my little private conversations with all of them probably more than I should.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and enjoying spending time together. They all got up and followed me to the kitchen while I started dinner. They all chipped in to help when needed but continued on with the conversation.

Viktor’s phone beeped. He pulled it from his pocket, chuckling as he read the message. “It’s Trino. He wants to know if I can help him find a security team. He said he’s not having the luck he thought he was going to.”

“At least he can admit he was wrong,” Adrik said, laughing.

“We do need to figure out how we’re going to tell him about everything,” Ivan said.

“Let’s just spring it on him. Let’s wait until Stephen and Andrei can switch their eyes too and then just all show up one day like that. I feel like that’s the best plan,” I said, trying not to laugh.

Misha, who was standing next to me helping, looked at me. “It’s like you took the words right out of my mouth, gazelle,” he said, his handsome smile beaming at me.

Adrik laughed. “As much as I would like to see that, I think we are going to need slightly more tact than that. But let’s keep that shelved. I’m sure there’s someone we’ll be able to use it on at some point.”

Misha glanced at me, then looked to Adrik. “Are we soulmates now too? Did that just happen? Because I feel like it did.”

I elbowed Misha in the ribs. “I don’t share.” They all erupted into laughter as I finished up dinner.

I felt Adrik’s warm hands around my waist as everyone helped themselves to food. He was watching everyone with me. “I might love it when you get possessive,” he told me.

“I might love you,” I responded, turning toward him. I was still laughing about the exchange as he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. I turned around, leaning back against him once more as we watched everyone laughing and eating.

“We definitely needed this,” he said.

“I agree. I’m glad we stayed one more night. We need to be better about coming here more regularly. I have a feeling once Trino gets security set up, it’s going to get chaotic real quick.”

He sighed. “I think you’re right. We’re going to need to come up with a plan for everything. It all needs to happen quickly, so we don’t miss our chance at Ricardo and Martin.”

I pulled his arms around me a little tighter. “We’ll think about that tomorrow. Let’s enjoy tonight,” I said.

Trino stopped by the office toward the end of the day so Viktor could start going over setting up a security team for him. He had Chris and Keith show up as well so they could meet Trino and talk about their options.

It’d been a few weeks since any of us had seen Trino. He had plenty of his own people in the city. We were all sure he preferred them to having to listen to Russian any more than absolutely necessary.

Gus and Oscar were with him when he arrived. He also surprised me by bringing a woman with him. I was with Andrei and Misha at their desks when Viktor stepped off the elevator with all of them. They felt my surprise, immediately turning to see.

“He brought her for your approval,” Andrei said. He could barely contain his grin.

I thought for a minute. “This could actually prove useful to us if she’s not Trino-worthy. It’ll give him a first-hand look at what we can do now,” I said. “I mean, I hope she’s a nice girl and all. Just saying. I’m not hoping we have to expose her darker side.”

Misha laughed. “I am. Not even gonna try to pretend I’m not.”

I cut my eyes over at him. “I do love your love of the fuckery, Misha.”

“It’s my best quality.”

Viktor took Trino and the other three into the conference room. Chris and Keith arrived shortly after, also joining them in the conference room. The elevator doors dinged once more, signaling Ivan’s arrival. He immediately locked eyes with me once the doors opened.

Andrei chuckled. “He feels the fuckery.”

Misha and I were still laughing when Ivan walked over. “What are you three getting into? Because I want to be a part of it,” he said in Russian as he walked up.

I discreetly nodded toward the conference room. He turned to look, seeing the newest member of Trino’s posse. “That is unexpected,” he said.

“Can you see anything on her?” I asked. I tried to sound innocent, but it failed. It failed miserably.

Ivan laughed. “Now I understand.” He studied her for a few minutes. “I don’t see anything yet, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing there.”

“Sephie is pretending to hope that nothing is there. I don’t give a fuck. I want there to be something there,” Misha said.

“I’m Team Misha on this one. I would love it if there was something there. I haven’t gotten to intimidate a love interest in a very long time,” Ivan said. Misha just held his hand up so Ivan could high-five him.

I looked at both of them as sternly as I could muster. “Only if there’s a reason. Trino’s very lonely. He just lost his mother. He needs someone to console him,” I said. “Just not if she’s a legit demon,” I added, grinning at both of them.

Once Adrik had finished with his last meeting of the day, we waited for Stephen to come back after escorting that last meeting back to the lobby and we all joined Adrik in his office. Both Adrik and Stephen knew we were up to no good, just like Ivan did.

“One part of me loves that you’re all automatically in on it whenever something funny happens, but another part of me is frustrated because it kills the suspense,” I said as we walked into the office. I quickly shared an image of Trino and his new lady friend to Adrik before Viktor brought them all to his office.

“That was unexpected,” he said. He thought for a minute, then added, “He wants your approval, no doubt.”

“I think he needs all of our approvals. He just doesn’t know it yet,” I said.

“Diabolical. I might love you a little more right now,” Adrik said, standing up and walking toward me.

I giggled as he wrapped his arms around me. We heard Viktor’s deep voice talking to Trino as they walked to the office door. Adrik quickly said to everyone, “I don’t care that she’s a potential love interest. Everyone gets thoroughly vetted now. That means Gus, Oscar, Chris, Keith, AND Trino. I’m taking no chances. You guys see or feel anything suspect on anyone, you let me know.”

I glanced over to see Andrei discreetly touch Stephen’s arm, so he got the message as well. We were still trying to think of ways to communicate with him that didn’t involve touching him, but we hadn’t figured out how to make it happen quite yet. He still required physical touch to get the message, but it happened instantly and someone could just brush his arm and convey the information to him.

We all carefully studied everyone as they walked into the office. Viktor was at ease with everyone, as everyone was at ease with Viktor. The woman who was with Trino seemed nervous, but she was walking into an office with six more giant men she didn’t know who were hired based on their abilities to intimidate people with one look. I could understand her apprehension.

“Trino. Now I understand why you’ve been MIA,” I said, smiling at him as he walked in, his arm around her.

He smiled at me, walking to me and Adrik. After he shook Adrik’s hand, he said, “Miha, I want you to meet Emilia.” She smiled shyly, extending her hand to me.

“Keep your hand on me, please. I’m borrowing your gift,” I told Adrik as I went to shake her hand. I didn’t feel Ivan’s bubble, which was a good sign for her. Bad sign for Misha. When my hand touched hers, I felt nothing but a moment of joy from her. Poor Misha was going to be so disappointed …

Emilia was practically a midget compared to the rest of us. She even made Trino look tall, but she was beautiful. She had jet black hair, olive skin, and golden-brown eyes. Her smile, while nervous, was genuine. Trino noticed me looking her over. He couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he said, in Italian, “You know I want your approval, Miha.”

My mouth fell open. “Since when did you learn Italian?” I asked him, still in Italian.

“It’s closer to Spanish than Russian. Baby steps,” he said, smiling proudly at me.

“That gives me hope for learning Spanish easily,” I said.

“If you picked up Russian that quickly, Spanish will be a breeze,” he said.

“Noted.” Trino was still smiling, but he was also looking very expectantly at me. I couldn’t help but laugh. “So far, so good, Trino. I need to hear her speak to give you the complete okay,” I told him. He nodded, pulling her with him toward one of the couches.

I quickly gave the guys a translation of what he’d just said to me. “I’m impressed he learned Italian,” Ivan said.

“Apparently he hated the thought of being left out of most of the conversations between us and Vitaliy if I didn’t insist on English for him,” I responded.

“Misha, stop pouting. There will be other chances,” Adrik said.

Misha couldn’t keep from laughing at being chastised for that. Everyone else looked at him, wondering why he was laughing. “So remember that one time when Giana cussed Martin out in Italian? Yeah, that was a good time,” he said, trying to cover. It was so absurd that it made me also laugh, which made the rest of the guys laugh. Trino and his group just thought they were being left out of a joke.

“Nice save, kid,” Ivan said, still laughing in his head.

“I gotta work on that. Clearly,” Misha responded, pretending to shove Stephen over so he could sit down next to him. To everyone else, it looked like they were clowning around. In reality, he’d just let Stephen in on our conversation. Even Stephen had trouble hiding his smile once he learned what Adrik had said.

“So, Emilia, how did you meet Trino?” I asked. She immediately looked petrified that I’d asked her anything. Poor thing was scared out of her mind.

I could feel Andrei zero in on the fact that she seemed overly scared. Before, I could never tell when he was actively fishing through anyone else’s head. I could feel him in mine, just as he could feel me when I went snooping through his, but I had never felt anything when he looked at anyone else. I knew he was just being thorough with her, which I appreciated.

She cleared her throat, looking at me. “We … we met kind of by accident,” she said. She glanced up at Trino, like she wasn’t sure she should say anything further.

Oscar laughed. “Trino literally ran into her on the street and knocked her down. She got up and cussed him out. Most romantic meeting ever,” he said.

Trino was laughing with Oscar. “She ripped me a new one. I think she might’ve bruised my sternum from her finger poking me as she cursed me and pretty much my entire family in Spanish.”

I raised my eyebrow, glancing around the room quickly. I could see that everyone else shared in my so-far favorable impression of Emilia. I looked between Oscar and Gus, asking, “And what did he do in response?”

They both laughed. “He didn’t say anything at first, then he asked her to dinner. We were sure she was going to smack him, but she accepted instead,” Gus said.

I looked to Trino, unable to hide my smile. “I like her,” I said, in Italian.

“Me too,” he said, his smile stretching across his face.

“Bubba, did you find anything?” I asked. He glanced at me, shocked that I knew he’d been looking. I laughed, internally. “You were very discreet. I can feel you looking now, apparently.”

He exhaled, visibly relaxing. He shared what he could see of her aura, as he said, “Nothing out of the ordinary. She actually really likes Trino. He told her everything right away. She knows who he is. She doesn’t know the extent of what we’re facing, but she’s fine with who he is. Sorry, Misha.”

“She needs Viktor though. I can see that,” I said, looking at what Andrei could see.

Ivan looked to Viktor, asking him in Russian, “How long does it take Kostya to fix someone? Like could you do it from a handshake?”

Viktor thought for a moment, then said, “It’s possible that’s all it would take. Unless there’s extensive damage. It takes longer in that case.”

“Judging by the others we’ve seen, I would not call this extensive damage,” Andrei said.

“Can Kostya be ready to help you tonight? Headlights off this time,” Ivan asked.

Viktor simply nodded. “I say we look at everyone. Viktor can fix as many as possible tonight without drawing too much attention to it. We can come up with a plan on how to tell Trino everything later,” Ivan told us all.

Adrik steered the normal conversation toward Trino’s security team, giving the rest of us time and space to go through everyone else in the room. Everyone checked out, much to my relief. I was beginning to get slightly paranoid at the constant betrayals we couldn’t seem to get away from.

The longer we talked, the more relaxed Emilia got too. She laughed along with everyone, she gave Trino a hard time a few times, and she seemed to be more at ease than when she first arrived. She whispered something to Trino at one point. He looked to me, asking where the bathroom is.

I stood up, along with Ivan and Andrei. “I can show her,” I said. While she had been relaxing, she was once again petrified that Ivan and Andrei had stood up with me. I laughed. “Don’t worry. They’re just very protective of me. They’re much nicer than they look.”

As we walked across the floor to the bathroom, Emilia very shyly asked me, “How long have you known Trino?”

I thought for a few minutes, glancing at Ivan and Andrei. “I actually don’t know the answer to that question. I’m terrible about keeping up with information like that. Like six months or so? Sure, that seems right,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

She laughed. “We’ll go with that,” she said as she walked into the bathroom. I waited outside with Ivan and Andrei. Almost everyone in the office had gone home for the day, but there were still a few overachievers still working. Ivan and Andrei both put themselves between me and anyone left in the office without me having to say anything.

Ivan said, in Russian, “I haven’t seen anything on her. I also don’t have my usual murderous rage when it comes to chicks around her.”

“If ever there was a glowing endorsement, that should be it,” I said, laughing.

“She needs Viktor, but otherwise, I think she checks out. So far, everyone in the office has checked out from what I can see. Although I think we need to have a discussion about how much Keith hearts Stephen,” Andrei said.

I giggled. “I caught that too. Like maybe a little stalkery, even. Does Stephen still hang out with him?”

“When would he have time? He’s always with us now,” Ivan said, his sly grin curling up one side of his mouth.

“And this is how Keith came to hate us all so he decided to revenge move to Colombia,” I said as Emilia walked out of the bathroom. Her eyes were a little wide when she heard us speaking Russian. “Don’t worry about that either. We were actually making jokes. Russian is just such a coarse language that anything sounds like a threat.”

“You could say the same for Spanish and Italian, honestly. My neighbor is Arabic though. They win the prize for harshest language ever,” she said as we walked back to the office.

“You might have a point there,” I said. Adrik’s eyes landed on mine as we walked back through the door. Since he couldn’t see that my eyes changed, I pushed my warmth to him.

We heard Ivan laughing in our heads. “I can feel you two being fucking adorable right now,” he told us. I glanced at Ivan, completely surprised he could feel that and also apologetic he could feel that. “Don’t apologize, princess. I think I’m just extra sensitive to you both right now. It’s not a normal occurrence,” he told us.

I climbed in Adrik’s lap, wrapping his arms around me as Ivan sat down on the couch with us. I did catch Trino kissing Emilia’s hand as she sat down next to him. It was a very sweet moment.

One that was short-lived, as Adrik asked, “Have you heard anything on Martin?”

Trino sighed, then cursed in Spanish. I don’t know why his cursing tirades always made me laugh, but they did. I think it only served to increase his anger each time, but I just couldn’t help myself. He finally said, “He’s still trying to take over while I’ve been gone. There are some pendejos that are working with him now, but some have stayed loyal to me. There are more that have stayed loyal to me in my network than are working with him, which is advantageous to their survival rate.”

“And what of the Mexicans?” I asked.

A devilish grin stretched across Trino’s face. “That’s where it gets really good. Since he switched sides, they’re trying to work with him again. But now he won’t work with them. My people tell me he’s severed ties with Sal and Ricardo. Something about him not getting payment he was owed. He’s dumb enough to think he can take over everything on his own.”

We couldn’t help but laugh. “We’re the reason he didn’t get that payment. We put her on a plane with a new ID so no one could find her,” Ivan said.

Emilia’s eyes went wide. “You’re talking about him getting paid with a girl?”

I laughed. “It was not our idea. We’re the ones who stopped it. Her godfather was the one who arranged it, for the record. We’re very pro not using any humans as payment for anything.”

Trino cursed again. “Giana was the payment? Really?” he asked.

We all nodded. “Martin wanted in on Lorenzo’s human trafficking. He threatened to kidnap and sell her if she didn’t obey. She was payment for something happening in the city, but we never got that detail. She’s safe now. As long as she’s smart, no one will ever find her,” Adrik said.

Trino sat in stunned silence for a few moments, clearly shocked that Martin was capable of such things. He finally looked at Adrik, anger clearly visible on his face. “I’m going to enjoy killing him.”

Adrik felt me tense, but he just chuckled. “Yeah, so about that. It’s slightly more complicated than that.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

Adrik hesitated, not sure how to answer without just spilling everything right now. I squeezed his arms, answering for him. I said, in Italian, “Remember those times we saved you from dying and then that one time my eyes went black in front of you?”

Trino nodded, saying, “That is not something I could easily forget.”

“The answer is connected to all of that. It’s much bigger than you know. Much, much bigger. We don’t know how much you want us to say in front of … everyone,” I said, glancing quickly at Emilia.

“How bad is it?” he asked.

“Worse than you could ever imagine,” I said.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he considered his options. He glanced toward Chris and Keith, asking, “Do they know?”

“Not yet. We’ve been trying to come up with a way to break it to you slowly, but that’s one of the tests they have to pass to be your security. Your previous security team almost met with an untimely end because of their issues regarding me,” I said.

He scoffed. “You would’ve done me a favor, honestly.” He looked at Gus, then Oscar, then glanced at Chris and Keith one more time. Finally, he looked at Emilia. He looked back to me. “She’s passed your approval process so far, Miha?” I nodded. “Good. We’ll see how she does in the advanced round,” he said, leaning back and sliding his arm around her shoulders.

“You’re sure?” I asked him in English.

“Miha, I owe you my life. You’re the reason I got to see my mother one last time. Whatever you’re about to tell me, pales in comparison to those two things,” Trino answered in English.

“Oh boy,” I said, getting up to close the office door.

As I walked to the door, I quickly updated the guys on my conversation. Ivan grinned as he got up and went to Adrik’s bathroom to take his contacts out. I could feel the excitement from all of them. They were looking forward to the shock they were about to deliver.

When I returned to the couch, Adrik stood up, pulling me with him to the bathroom. We walked in as Ivan walked out. It took just a minute to take our contacts out and then we sat down with everyone once again. Since Misha’s eyes had only changed once so far, he hadn’t gotten contacts yet.

Andrei quietly leaned over and explained what was happening to Viktor, in Russian, so Chris who was sitting close by wouldn’t understand.

As Adrik pulled me back into his lap, he said, “It started with Sephie and her ability to know things she shouldn’t necessarily know. Not just the conversations in Italian. She knew details about the other bosses that most people would’ve missed. Over time, that ability grew. She started reading my mind very early on in our relationship, as well as all of the guys. It seemed like the stronger the connection got with her, the more she was able to do. Then Misha’s ability to see the outcome of a plan morphed into being able to see you under attack the night the Mexicans came for you. One by one, we’ve each discovered a gift that we have that nobody else does. It sounds somewhat crazy, but you’ve seen the result of it several times now.”

“It’s why I’m sitting here right now, Jefe,” Trino said.

“It is, but it’s much more than just that,” Adrik said. He squeezed me just a little tighter, glancing at Ivan. “Martin and Ricardo have both made deals to get further ahead in this lifetime.”

“What kind of deal?” Trino asked.

“Deals that have eternal consequences,” I said. I knew my eyes had switched to black without needing to see anyone else’s. I saw the surprise on Trino’s face, followed quickly by the sheer terror as he looked at Adrik’s and Ivan’s black eyes. I glanced over at Misha. His eyes now changed with ours as well.

“Misha, you’re going to need contacts now, too. Yours are already changing with ours,” I told him.

“No deal! I’m not wearing contacts,” he said. I could hear him laughing in my head. How he managed to keep a straight face, I’ll never know.

Trino took a deep breath, trying to gain composure. “I knew Miha’s eyes changed, but I had no idea the rest of you could do it. I also don’t know what it means. I just know that I kinda wanna run when I see it.”

“I feel like running is a good life choice,” Gus said, his eyes still the size of dinner plates.

“Martin and Ricardo have both made deals with very powerful demons. We are what can stop them,” Adrik said.

I grinned, telling Trino, “Brace yourself for what I’m about to say next, Trino, because you’re not ready for it. He is the true King of the Underworld now,” I said. I could see Trino’s color drain from his face, which confirmed that my eyes had turned red again.

Stephen glanced at me, then looked back at Trino. “That’s not even the scariest color, Trino. She’s got others that are much more disturbing.” The way he said it made it seem like my eyes changing colors was the most normal thing in the world. Normal really is relative .

All Trino could do was curse under his breath for a few moments. Finally, he composed himself enough to simply ask, “How?”

We spent the next hour or so explaining everything to Trino. We didn’t leave much out. He now knew about Armando. He knew of the end game for Martin and Ricardo, as well as the other bosses. We told him everything.

To our surprise, once he got over his initial shock, he became quite curious about how it all worked. I ended up showing him what Andrei could see, as well as what Ivan could see. We showed him what it looked like when Viktor used Kostya to fix someone as well, telling him that they all needed Kostya’s and Viktor’s help. We even gave him a glimpse at what Armando looked like after Stephen broke him, just because he asked.

“Jefe, I remember telling you that Sephie was always meant to meet you when I first met her. I had no idea how accurate that was,” Trino said, scratching his head. “I wish my abuela was here. She would be so excited right now.”

“What’s an abuela?” Misha asked.

“Babushka,” I told him.

“Sweet, I’m trilingual now,” he responded.

“It’s a lot to take in, Trino. It’s been a lot for us to take in even. It hasn’t always been easy, but we’ve had help along the way. The demons that Martin and Ricardo made deals with are very old and very powerful. They could wreak a tremendous amount of havoc if they’re allowed to remain for much longer. It might seem like Martin is fighting a losing battle right now, but I wouldn’t put it past him to start recruiting other demons to his cause to strengthen his numbers. Same for Ricardo. We haven’t gotten word yet that any of the other bosses have made deals, but that’s not to say it hasn’t already happened or won’t happen in the future. We’ve been told that you’re a key figure in this. You know I reward those who stay loyal to me. That will never change,” Adrik said.

Trino exhaled loudly. “After knowing this, I would be a fool to not remain loyal. And not just because I’m scared of your girlfriend, Jefe.”

I held my hand up, showing him my ring as I cleared my throat. “Future wife, thank you very much.”

He cursed as he jumped up to come for a closer look. “Dios mio, Miha. Does your arm get tired carrying that around?”

“We’ve increased the weight training to compensate,” Andrei said very seriously.

Trino laughed. “It’s perfect. Congratulations.” He leaned in closer, saying quietly in Italian, “I might need the number for that jeweler sooner rather than later.” He winked at me as he went to sit back down beside Emilia.

Ivan looked at Chris and Keith, who were still sitting in mostly stunned silence. “What about you two? Still in or you’d still like to run right about now? I’ll open the door for you if it’s the latter,” he said.

“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would think you’re all full of shit. I knew there was something different about Sephie when I saw her go against Mike. No offense, Sephie, you’re incredibly talented and fast, but you’re still a girl. It never made complete sense in my head that you dominated him so easily,” Keith said. “Now it does.”

“Except that really was all Sephie. Her demon only started stepping forward well after that happened. She really is that good,” Ivan said.

“Okay, right back to not making sense,” Keith said.

“She could still do the same to you both. She would just break a sweat now because you’re catching up in your training,” Andrei said, slightly miffed.

“I love you both, but you’re not helping them feel any more comfortable right now,” I told both Ivan and Andrei, trying not to laugh at how white both Chris and Keith had gone.

“Shit. My bad. I got confused. I forgot we were trying to make them feel better,” Ivan said, cutting his eyes at me.

“I still love you. It is slightly irritating they would think I’d need help with that hot mess.”

“While I do find it somewhat offensive you would think she’d need help to beat someone as clearly inept as Mike was, it’s not what matters at the moment. What matters is that you can handle knowing this is going on and you still want to be a part of it,” Adrik said, making me laugh quietly.

“What exactly is the plan? Are they coming here? Are we going there?” Chris asked. He glanced around the room, adding, “I’m only asking because I need to make arrangements for my mom if I’m going to be gone for an extended period of time. If I’m moving somewhere, then she comes with me.”

“Your mother will be taken care of. Whatever she needs. Don’t worry,” Trino said. “But he does bring up a valid question. Do you have a plan?”