Chapter Fifty

Adrik

“We’re still working on the plan, to be completely honest. We have people watching Ricardo in Italy. We’ve also gotten word that Niko and Vito are planning on coming back to the city. Since they’ve all been gone, the underbosses have stopped enforcing taxes. The people pushed back enough and the underbosses heard what happened to Lorenzo, Massimo, and Anthony. We think the cash flow is drying up, which is why they’re planning on coming back to the city,” I said.

“And what will happen when they come back? If you grab them, then it might mean you ruin your chance at getting Ricardo,” Trino said. His eyebrows were furrowed. He was thinking deeply on this matter.

“That’s also what we think, which is why we haven’t made a solid plan yet. We’ve been keeping tabs on Martin, but I think you know more about him than we do. Whatever we decide, it all needs to happen quickly. Martin can’t get word that Ricardo has been taken care of and vice versa,” I said.

We ordered dinner and kept talking for several more hours. To her credit, Emilia actually had a few good ideas along the way. She didn’t seem intimidated by the subject of the conversation and the more time she spent with us, the more relaxed she became. Even after finding out everything about us. Trino noticed. It was evident he fell a little more in love with her throughout the evening.

“Watching Trino and Emilia makes me feel like I need to apologize to everyone. We really are disgusting,” I told everyone silently.

Sephie laughed, making the others look at her. She took a page from Misha’s book and said, “Remember when Trino used to beg me to come to Colombia to help him find a girlfriend? Turns out he needed to come here instead.” Trino smiled broadly at her.

“Nice save, princess.”

After a few more minutes, the conversation turned back to the matter at hand. Stephen, who had been quiet for most of the evening, asked, “What are you thinking about the Mexicans once Martin is taken care of? Is that going to be enough to make them stop? There’s still the potential for war with them, I think.”

“Once I’m back in power, they’ll heel if they know what’s good for them. The messages I sent when I took over are still fresh for most of them. They’re only doing this now because they have the backing of Sal and the other bosses. That’s the only reason they’re bold enough to move against me. They know Jefe supports me, so they know if they want to keep their lives, they’ll do the same,” Trino said.

Stephen seemed satisfied with his answer, but both Sephie and I knew he was still mulling over something in his head. Misha too. There was more to that question, but since he didn’t continue the conversation, I let it drop as well.

“What about Dario? What happened to him?” Trino asked.

“He’s still here. I’ve kept him well hidden. When I agreed to let him go, it was before most of this had happened. Sephie and Misha were the only ones who had any extra knowledge about people. We’re going to talk to him again to make sure we didn’t miss anything. As long as he checks out, he can still go free at the end of this,” I said.

“You think he was lying?” Trino asked.

“Not necessarily. But I want to make sure we didn’t miss anything. Now that we know what we’re dealing with on a larger scale, the likelihood that he was lying is much higher. Demons are tricky. That’s why it took us so long to pick up on Armando. His demon was savvy enough that it knew to step back anytime he was around Sephie,” I said.

“That’s why Armando appeared to be a moron, for the record. He had no recollection of anything that happened when his demon was running the show,” Ivan said.

Trino inhaled deeply. “That makes so much more sense. I was really wondering how someone as wealthy as him could be that fucking stupid. Does Giana know about all this? I wonder if she ever saw the differences in him.”

“If she did, we don’t know about it. He got her hooked on coke, so it’s possible she was just high as fuck for most of the time while she was with him,” Sephie said.

Emilia turned to look at Trino, surprise evident on her face. She said something to Trino in Spanish; her tone was deadly. He raised his eyebrows, trying not to laugh at her as the rest of his group snickered.

“She just told him she’d kill him if he ever did that to her,” Sephie told us. “I picked up a few words and pieced it together. I have to say, I like her.”

Trino responded in Spanish, pulling her closer to him. He was trying to reassure her that he would never do such a thing. Trino enjoyed partying, but he was never known to partake in his own product. The most I’d ever seen him do was have drinks while he was at a club. I had a feeling even that would calm down if he stayed serious about Emilia.

“Disgusting,” Ivan said, laughing in his head.

“In the most adorable way possible,” Sephie added. “Is it wrong that I find her threatening his life really endearing?”

The rest of us couldn’t help but laugh quietly. The others were beginning to suspect that there was some kind of communication they were missing out on. We might’ve left that part out when we told Trino everything. It was the only detail we kept back.

We were still deep in discussion, even as it was approaching midnight. I was thankful for the extra sleep Sephie and I had gotten over the weekend. It was coming in handy now.

“Gus, Oscar, what are the people in the city saying now? Do you know?” Sephie asked.

“They’re happy the bosses are gone, from what we can tell,” Gus said, looking to Oscar to see if he agreed.

Oscar nodded in agreement. “It got dicey with a few of the underbosses right after Sal left with the other two bosses. I’m sure that’s also a reason they stopped collecting taxes. One of them almost died because the people in that part of town came together and ambushed him and his guys. They’re much happier now that things are quiet.”

“They know Jefe was the reason that the brawn operation got shut down and they know he’s the reason the other bosses have run. They fully support him, from everything we’ve heard,” Gus said.

“We’re close to handing over the doctor who created brawn to the police. The DA came across some evidence that shows Sal paid him to create brawn in the first place. He thinks he can prosecute him. There are a few other things that need to happen at the same time, but it will all benefit the people and make them happy with the mayor,” I said.

“It’s important to keep the people happy. I relied heavily on them when I took over. I have a feeling I’ll rely heavily on them when I go back to take care of Martin,” Trino said.

“You’ll have our help as well,” I said. Trino sighed. It was obvious the betrayal by Martin was still weighing heavily on him.

“Don’t worry, Trino. It’s all going to work out eventually. It’s just going to be messy first,” Sephie said, grinning at him.

We finally made it upstairs around 2:00 a.m. Both Sephie and I were exhausted.

“While I know it needed to happen, I would’ve preferred to end the conversation like two hours ago,” Sephie said. “How does he stay up so late and still have so much energy?”

I laughed. “I can almost guarantee that he does not get up anywhere close to the same time we do, solnishko.” I watched her climb in bed and joined her after turning off the lights. As she lay across my chest in her favorite spot, I asked, “You still have a good feeling about everyone who was here?”

“Mmm hmm. I do want to know why Stephen brought up the Mexicans again though. I’m not sure what he was thinking, but I know he had a reason. I try to refrain from fishing with him as much as possible. Viktor too.” She paused, then giggled. “We also need to have a talk about how in love Keith is with Stephen still. Not sure how much time Stephen is spending with Keith anymore, but Keith is still very infatuated with him.”

“Stephen’s changed since he figured out his gift. He’s not so shy anymore. He’s got a quiet confidence to him that’s really evident now. I’m sure Keith has noticed. He probably finds it very attractive,” I said, running my hands over her back and through her hair.

“He is a sexy beast now. You’re right,” she said, snuggling into me more. I could feel her happiness and contentment. It made me feel the same. Even though we were facing the biggest hurdle we likely ever would, I was finding myself enjoying every single moment with her.

When I woke the next morning, Sephie was just starting to stir next to me. Neither one of us had thought to close the blinds the night before so we could sleep a little longer. I was surprised that she woke up at all. I expected her to sleep in, but she lifted her head, resting her chin on my chest.

“Good morning. I think,” she said. She was still very sleepy, which made her a thousand times more adorable. She was so sleepy she didn’t catch me trying not to laugh at her struggling to wake up.

“You can go back to sleep, love. I know you’re still tired,” I said. “I’m still tired too.”

“It’s not fair that you have to get up and I don’t though. Feels rude,” she said, rolling over to stretch beside me. “What kind of day do you have today?” she asked as she yawned, stretching her arms and legs, making her joints pop.

“It’s light and I want to keep it that way. I want to talk to Dario tonight. That keeps getting pushed off, but I want to get it off my mind. It’s kind of been eating at me since Stephen brought it up,” I said.

Sephie rolled back toward me, once again lying across my chest. She rested her chin on my chest so she could look at me. “Me too. I’m still not convinced we made the wrong decision before, but I think we can find out more now. Do you want me to make Viktor schedule a nap for you this afternoon?” she asked, trying to hide her grin from me.

I laughed, flipping her onto her back. “Only if you take a nap with me. I wouldn’t say no to that,” I said, pressing my lips to hers. She wrapped her arms and legs around me, holding me tightly.

“I wouldn’t say no to that either. I’m still feeling extra needy when it comes to you lately. Like I don’t want to be any farther apart from you than absolutely necessary,” she said.

I smiled at her. “I feel the same,” I said. I sat up, pulling her up with me. “It’s strange though. I can feel you just as well when we’re apart as I can when we’re in the same room now, so it’s almost like we’re never really apart. But I still want you with me at all times. I’ve been thinking of ways to get you to come to more meetings.”

She grinned at me. “There is that meeting with everyone on the building project at the end of the week that I must attend now. And if I have to sit through all your meetings, that’s much less time I have to spend spreading the fuckery around with all of the guys. I feel like the world will suffer as a result.”

God, I love her.

I laughed as she threw my shirt she’d worn to bed at my head. “See? Fuckery,” she said, grinning at me.

I waited until she was pulling her shirt over her head when I grabbed her, picking her up. “I love your fuckery, Sephie. I would never deny the world such a thing,” I said as I carried her out of the closet with me. She giggled as she tried to finish putting her shirt on in my arms. She finally gave up, instead wrapping her arms around my neck and resting her head on my shoulder. I could feel her contentment at being in my arms. It made it that much harder to let her go.

She sighed as I set her down so she could finish putting her shirt on before we walked out to the kitchen. We both knew that the guys were waiting on us already. She was still grinning at me as she straightened her shirt. When I went to open the bedroom door, she hopped on my back.

“The fuckery. It abounds,” she said, wrapping her arms around my neck once again.

The guys all looked just as tired as we were when we walked into the kitchen. Andrei was already making coffee for everyone as I deposited Sephie on the counter.

“Is it wrong that I want you to call Trino to wake him up since we all have to be up right now?” Misha asked.

Sephie caught my eye, her mischievous grin still on her face. I stood in between her legs, leaning in to kiss her. “You were right. It does abound,” I said, laughing with her.

“My schedule is light today and I want to keep it that way. Do what you absolutely have to do today, but try to get some rest. I do want to talk to Dario tonight to get that out of the way. I don’t want it to get pushed back again,” I said to everyone. I had turned to face them. Sephie wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her chin on my shoulder.

“Stephen, what were you thinking about the Mexicans last night? I know there was more to your thought process than what you said. Just like I still think there’s more to why you brought up Dario,” Sephie asked.

“Something just doesn’t feel right about the Mexicans. I don’t know what though,” he said.

“Same for me. There was nothing specific that I was trying to find last night, but there was plenty of uneasiness when thinking about the Mexicans. I think we need to be careful with them,” Misha said.

Sephie looked at Andrei, who was standing beside us. “Bubba, have you gotten anything about either of those things?”

He shook his head no. “Not exactly. There’s something nagging at me about Dario, but I don’t know what. I haven’t thought much about the Mexicans, but when Stephen brought it up last night I noticed that Emilia got a little tense. She’s Mexican. She had an uncle who was killed when Trino first came to power,” he said.

I immediately felt Sephie’s worry come on strongly. “How does she feel about that? Could you tell?” she asked.

“Either she’s a very good actress or she’s mostly okay with it. I didn’t find anything nefarious, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he said.

We felt her worry lessen, but only slightly. I turned toward her, only to find her eyes swirling. The white was clearly present in all her colors. “I’ll find a time to bring it up to Trino. I can’t imagine she would’ve been able to get that past all of us if she’s holding a grudge against Trino for it and wants some kind of revenge,” I said, placing my hand against her cheek.

She chewed on her bottom lip as she contemplated everything.

“It’s worth keeping an eye on, at the very least. Trino has been the only one who’s stayed loyal. I would hate to see him taken down by someone he loves,” Ivan said.