Chapter Fifteen

“South.”

“Misha, can I borrow you?” she asked, extending her hand toward Misha, who was in the front seat. He turned to look at her, curious where she was going with this but also excited to see the end result.

“What are you thinking, Seph?” Stephen asked.

“There’s a restaurant in the building next door. I can smell it. I’m looking for a delivery truck,” she said.

Stephen chuckled. “You’re a genius,” he said.

She grabbed Misha’s hand, borrowing his gift as they searched the area for a delivery truck large enough to block our watcher in, allowing us to leave without him following us. Preferably without him seeing us to begin with.

“Got it,” she and Misha said together. “Stephen, there’s a truck a block and a half away, to the south. Can you and your guys borrow it?”

“Nothing would make me happier right now,” he said. He quickly gave orders to the team that was with him and they put their plan in motion. Stephen was very capable, but one of his greatest attributes was his speed. Once he knew the objective, he wasted no time in completing his assignment.

It was under ten minutes and he was back, saying, “Be ready. The truck will be here in two minutes. Kyle is driving. I want to see if we can provoke your watcher into an argument before you guys leave.”

We could hear what was happening through the earpieces. Kyle parked the truck alongside our tail’s car, effectively blocking him in. He then went to the back of the truck, opened it up, and proceeded to act like he was about to make a delivery. Just as we hoped, our watcher got out of his car, trying to get Kyle to move the truck. He pretended to not understand English very well, drawing out the conversation, while giving us instructions in Russian.

“Not yet. He’s pretty pissed, but he can still see the entrance. I can bait him to the back,” Kyle said in Russian, as he pretended to not know what the guy was saying to him.

We waited for his signal, leaving quickly when he said, “Now.” We could hear them arguing as we pulled out onto the street and turned down a side street, completely out of view.

Stephen was laughing as he said, “This might be making Kyle’s day. He loves a reason to yell at someone. We’re going to return the truck and we’ll meet you at the penthouse.”

We didn’t have to wait long for Stephen to join us. He was still laughing when he walked into the penthouse. Sephie had tried to not be worried after we lost contact with him, but she couldn’t help herself. She was visibly relieved when he walked in, walking quickly to him to give him a hug. It never failed to make me smile when I saw just how tightly he held onto her. He had taken so long to warm up to her in the beginning, for good reason, but now she was an anchor for him, just as she was for everyone else.

“Very good call on the delivery truck, Seph. Kyle said to thank you as well. He said that was the most fun he’s had in a while. He really enjoys making people angry,” he said as he relaxed his tight hold on her.

She chuckled. “Please tell me he’s still sitting outside the parking garage waiting for us to leave.”

“He was when we left. I almost wanted to leave someone to see how long he would stay there,” he said.

“You, sir, are a little bit evil,” she said. “I’m totally here for it.”

As strange as it sounded to say, it was kind of the perfect end to our day. Sephie managed to make us laugh through every tough situation we found ourselves in now.

“Would you still call me evil if you knew I ordered Thai for us on my way back here? I feel like you shouldn’t have to cook dinner if you save the day,” he said, his uncharacteristic smile that was slowly becoming more characteristic for him slowly spreading across his face.

She grinned at him. “Same order as last time?” she asked, hopeful he would say yes.

“Of course,” he said.

“You’re my favorite. Don’t tell the others,” she said, once again hugging Stephen’s neck.

“I wish I would’ve known I could do this when I was a kid. I would’ve been much more rebellious,” Misha said, shaking his head as he thought about the day’s events.

“You would’ve spied on the girls’ locker room all day, don’t kid yourself,” Andrei said, teasing him.

“Shots fired, Bubba,” Sephie said, laughing. She looked at Misha and said, seriously, “He’s not wrong though.”

Once again, we found ourselves narrowly escaping trouble, faced with a seemingly insurmountable hurdle ahead of us, but we were all laughing with each other like it was completely normal and not the least bit stressful. Because of her.

It had been a few days since the meeting with Doug and Eric when Viktor walked into my office, followed closely by Ivan. “We just got word from Battista that Niko and Vita are coming back. They’ll be here in two days,” Viktor said.

“Is Battista still here?” I asked.

“No, he’s on his way back too though. He said he’s bringing his friend, the arms dealer,” Ivan said, a mischievous grin on his face.

“We need to meet with the same leaders we met with before. Is Chen still the one setting that up?” I asked.

Viktor nodded. “He still won’t let me put him on the payroll for it either.”

“I can take care of that. He thinks I’m overpaying him for his contractor work so he’s reluctant to take anything more. Truth be told, I’m not. He does fantastic work. I’ll just add to that. And have Neal hand his name out to a few more people,” I said. Chen was a good guy. I was grateful to have his help in all of this. I always took care of those who helped me.

“I’ll set it up right away. You want them here?” Viktor asked.

I thought for a moment. Last time we met with them, it was in my office. Something didn’t feel right about that this time, but I didn’t know what. I looked for Sephie, to ask her opinion on it.

“You have a question,” I heard her say to me as I was looking to see where she was.

“I do. We need to meet with the people who have organized the resistance against the bosses. Something doesn’t feel right about them coming here this time, though,” I told her.

She was quiet for a moment, then she said, “That’s because it’s not. They’re watching the building to see who comes in and out. We should meet somewhere else to protect them.”

Before I could answer her, I heard Misha’s voice, through her head, as well. “Same for me, Boss. Somewhere else is the way to go.”

“Thank you, both,” I responded. I looked to Viktor and Ivan, saying, “Apparently, they’re watching the building to see who comes in and out. I don’t want to put them in danger by coming here. We need to meet elsewhere.”

Viktor nodded, leaving to make the necessary arrangements while Ivan stayed in the office. “Do you want me to have them removed?” he asked.

“No. Leave them. We’ll make sure they don’t follow us, but if we remove them, Henry will know we know.” I couldn’t help but smile a little at the situation. “I think he still thinks he’s smarter than us,” I said.

“I know he thinks that. Wait until Stephen hears about this,” he said, laughing. “He’s gonna be so pissed.”

I laughed with him, looking forward to Stephen’s reaction when he learned that Henry was still trying to outmaneuver us. He was definitely looking forward to being able to break Henry. Stephen was so quiet most of the time, but much like Ivan, we would occasionally find people who simply rubbed Stephen the wrong way. Henry was definitely one of those people. Henry had no idea what was coming for him.

I found myself enjoying that fact more than I probably should.

Sephie’s old apartment was proving to be more useful than I ever would’ve imagined it would be. I originally kept it in case she ever changed her mind. I knew she was never going to change her mind at this point, but I still kept her apartment for the convenience of an out-of-the-way meeting spot when I needed one.

Chen met us downstairs. If nothing else, he was always early to every meeting he attended with us, proving once again that one could be professional no matter their profession. He was slightly taken aback, as Vitaliy and Battista were with us this time, which meant all of Vitaliy’s men were with us as well.

“You guys are multiplying. This must be serious,” Chen said as he walked up to us in the parking lot of the apartment building.

“Why use six Russians when twelve will do?” Sephie said, her mischievous grin on her face.

“Hey, you miscounted, pretty lady,” Boris said in his very thick Russian accent. Battista’s arms dealer turned out to be exactly who we thought it would be. Boris was so tough and crotchety on first impressions that he made Vitaliy look like a nice guy.

“My bad. We have a baker’s dozen, Chen. Because one can never have too many Russians on their side when the shit hits the fan,” Sephie said, grinning at Boris. Like all of the men in her life, she found a way to politely put Boris in his place when he tested her. Mostly polite. Afterward, he’s shown her nothing but respect.

“This maybe lesson your country don’t learn too well,” Boris said, laughing as he walked to join the rest of Vitaliy’s men, who were unloading weapons from the back of their vehicles.

Sephie and Chen looked at each other, trying not to laugh. “My entire life, I’ve been told that Russia is the enemy. Now I find out these people are just as crazy as we are, only much larger,” Chen said thoughtfully.

“It’s the governments that are the enemy, Chen. Never the people,” I said, pulling Sephie with me toward the stairs to her old apartment. She looked at the building as we walked. I could feel her emotions as she remembered her life before she met me.

“It always looks so run-down when I see it now. It never used to seem that bad to me when I lived here,” she told me as we followed Andrei up the stairs.

“When it’s all you have, you cherish it. It did its job. It got you through until you found me,” I told her.

She turned to look at me, her sweet smile on her face. “I never thought about it like that before, but you’re absolutely right. I might love this dingey little apartment a little more right now,” she said.

“I, for one, am grateful for it. It’s proven to be very useful,” I said, pulling her closer as we walked into her apartment.

“I, for one, am grateful for you,” she said, reaching up to kiss my cheek.

Misha, who had followed us up the stairs, said, “I can feel you two being disgustingly cute right now.”

Ivan, who was still in the parking lot but heard Misha over his earpiece, started laughing. “I am so glad I’m not the only one that’s happened to,” he said.

Sephie’s cheeks turned red. She went to apologize, but Misha stopped her before she could even get it out. “Don’t apologize, gazelle. I’m having jealousy issues. That’s why I brought it up,” he said, grinning at her. She went to him, laughing as he reached down and picked her up in a bear hug.

As everyone else finally made it upstairs, Sephie’s apartment got very small, very quickly. We eventually decided that Vitaliy’s men would stay outside, mostly to give us more room. We asked that all the leaders from the resistance in the city were there tonight, not just the ones from Niko’s and Vito’s areas of the city. We wanted to make sure things were as quiet as we’d been told and we also wanted to make sure that everyone was as prepared as possible. It was clear that Sal cared nothing for the people of the city, given his brawn operation, so the idea that he would use the people of the city to cause more chaos was not off the table for him.

Stephen, who was across the street monitoring things from above, alerted us to everyone’s arrival. Surprisingly, Dr. Williams showed up along with the rest this time. He was just as surprised to see us standing in the apartment as we were to see him walk through the door.

Battista laughed, telling Sephie in Italian, “I knew I liked that doctor for a reason other than his willingness to accept massive donations.” She couldn’t help but laugh before sharing the translation with all of us silently.

“Dr. Williams, it’s nice to see you here. Unexpected, but nice,” Sephie said as she went to shake his hand.

“That feeling is mutual, although I don’t know why I would be surprised. Of course it’s you,” he said. “I think you enjoy your legend in the hospital more than you let on and you’re looking to add to it.”

“I mean, who doesn’t want to be immortalized with a few legends told about them? I’m no different,” she said nonchalantly. Dr. Williams just laughed quietly, shaking his head as he moved off to the side.

Both Ivan and I were somewhat uncomfortable with so many people in such a small space. Sephie, of course, felt it. After speaking briefly with the doctor, she stepped quietly behind both of us. I felt her hand find mine, which helped me keep my murderous aura under control. I squeezed her hand lightly before taking one step forward to begin the meeting.

We discussed Niko and Vito coming back, as they were scheduled to arrive the following day. “The reason you’re here, gentlemen, is that it will send a much bigger message to Sal, as well as the underbosses that are left in the city, if you stop them from collecting taxes once they return. We can and will support your efforts as much as possible, making sure you have everything you need to resist. The message will be much clearer if coming from you, however,” I said. “The only request I make is that you leave Niko and Vito alive and hand them over to me.”

“What happens after they’re gone? Are we just going to be fighting you next?” one older gentleman asked.

I chuckled. “That would be somewhat foolish of me to provide you weapons for this and not expect you would use them on me should I attempt the same thing later,” I said. “Things will go back to the way they’ve been for years before the other bosses got greedy. I don’t need your taxes. Your communities do. The more money you make, the more you can invest in your local areas of the city. That’s what I want and that’s what will happen once the other bosses are taken care of.”

“How do we know you won’t change your mind?” someone else asked.

“You don’t,” Sephie said. “But you do remember how good things were a few years ago, compared to now. This is a much bigger conspiracy than exorbitant taxes. Without the other bosses to harass you, you’ll essentially be left alone. Just like you were before.” She took one step closer to me, pointing at me, as she said, “He is not the problem here. The other bosses are the problem.”

Dr. Williams stepped forward, adding, “He’s the one who found the doctor that’s been terrorizing this city for a decade. You’ve all heard of someone that’s had some back-room procedure done on them. He’s the same doctor that created brawn, which has been plaguing the city for years as well. This man found that doctor when the police couldn’t. He’s on our side. He wouldn’t be here right now if he wasn’t.”

“Why hasn’t the doctor been arrested then?” someone asked.

“He will be, soon. We needed to make sure we had enough solid evidence that he would be convicted,” I said. “We have that, so now he can be handed over.”

We continued our discussion as well as making a strategy for how to handle the underbosses when they come to collect taxes once more. It would be dangerous, but the people had strength in numbers. It didn’t hurt that Boris had access to enough firepower to completely level a block of the city in under two minutes.

He was also willing to donate his supplies to the cause, which he very rarely did. Sephie had been worried that he would also supply the bosses with extra firepower, since I had told her he enjoyed arming both sides of a conflict.

“Most conflicts do not include Ricardo De Luca,” Boris had said. “Whatever it takes to make sure his side is crushed, I will happily provide,” he had told her.

She had studied him for a few minutes before answering, “Is it wrong that I find your hatred of Ricardo to be one of your finest qualities?”

Boris had laughed, but Vitaliy actually spoke up in Boris’s defense, telling her, “He’s not such a bad guy, malishka. Maybe a little rougher than some of us, but not a bad guy.”

My father had known Boris for most of my life. Boris had helped him get out of a few tricky situations, even. Vitaliy spoke the truth. Boris wasn’t all bad. He just preferred everyone think the worst of him. It meant less effort he had to put in to making an impression. When everyone thinks the worst of you, it’s easy to prove them right or wrong. Boris was simply saving his energy.

Once a plan was in place, the weapons were loaded into their vehicles and everyone left separately. Dr. Williams hung back for a few minutes before taking his leave, wanting to check in with Sephie one more time. He fought it most of the time, but there was still a scientific fascination with her after her time in the hospital that he couldn’t always suppress. It irritated Ivan.

I admittedly stayed a few steps away from Sephie on purpose because I was enjoying the irritation I felt from Ivan when Dr. Williams approached Sephie again. I felt his bubble go up around her. I was sure there was no reason for it other than he didn’t like it when the good doctor showed too much interest in her.

“I know you said you’ve been healing well, but you were very beat up. Still no issues with your lung?” Dr. Williams asked Sephie.

She looked surprised when she felt Ivan’s bubble, but at least he allowed her to hear Dr. Williams through him. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he cut her hearing off completely just to be a shit. I was going to be her ears if he did, just because I was enjoying this a little too much. She answered Dr. Williams, saying, “Only if I exert myself a little too much do I have problems catching my breath, but it happens very rarely. My arm and shoulder are mostly back to normal and my ribs only hurt if I do way too much. I have very good trainers who insist that I properly stretch just so that doesn’t happen though.” She threw a glance at Andrei who was listening in on the conversation and winked at him.

“How often do you struggle to catch your breath? Is it frequent?” he asked.

Andrei walked over, catching on to what was happening as well. He wasn’t as irritated as Ivan, but he wasn’t thrilled about this conversation either. “It’s only happened twice in the last month. Both times she was doing more than she should’ve been doing,” Andrei said, smirking at her.

Dr. Williams looked from Andrei to Sephie, silently asking for confirmation. “It’s true. Sometimes I forget and try to be normal,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “But they all take very good care of me, so nothing to worry about, doc.”

Dr. Williams ran a hand through his hair, looking between her, Ivan, and Andrei. “Well, if it continues to happen, don’t hesitate to come in for a check-up,” he said.

“No offense, doc, but I would rather avoid that. That being said, they will drag me to the hospital kicking and screaming if they have to, should they think something is wrong with me.”

He laughed, studying her for long enough that both Ivan and Andrei stepped slightly in front of her. It was enough of a move to break him from whatever thoughts he was having. I was still enjoying watching when I noticed Andrei’s demon was angry. Andrei still looked completely calm, but his demon was raging.

It was completely different from everyone else. He was actually much more frightening. I would much rather deal with someone who was visibly angry than deal with Andrei. He was completely cool, outwardly, but I could tell he was thinking of at least forty-seven different ways to kill the doctor in that moment.

As Dr. Williams pulled out of the parking lot, I walked to the three of them. Sephie knew Andrei was mad; they were having a silent conversation between the three of them. When she felt my arm around her waist, I could feel the worry as she looked up at me.

“Tell me what he was thinking,” I said. She chuckled softly, amused that I already knew what was going on.

“I felt Ivan’s irritation through Sephie, so I paid attention. The doctor has some weird fascination with Sephie since he saw her shaking in the hospital when she was away from you. It’s turned into somewhat of an obsession, but he can’t bring himself to ask her about it.” Andrei said.

“That’s what has you ready to follow him and rip his head off?” I asked.

Sephie looked up at me, grinning. “You can feel him too?” she asked.

I shook my head no. “Andrei? No. Andrei’s demon? Absolutely. He’s going complete apeshit in there right now.” Sephie giggled.

“No, it was him replaying checking her over in the hospital in his mind that did it. When he lifted her hospital gown to check for internal injuries,” Andrei told me.

I felt Sephie grab both of my arms and wrap them around her waist as she held onto them. Her grip tightened as she felt my anger making an appearance, which only served to make Andrei and Ivan even more angry.

“Boys,” Sephie said sternly. “You all intimidate the absolute fuck out of that man. It will never be an issue unless I’m left alone in a room with him.” She paused, then added, “Under heavy sedation, since he clearly knows how to paralyze me.” Her body shuddered at the thought.

I looked at Ivan. “Your bubble was just because he irritates you? Or did you actually see something on him?”

Ivan laughed. “No, he’s clean. I’m just irritated with him. I didn’t know what he was thinking about, but I knew he’s been strangely fascinated with her. That’s not a good combination in my world.”

“You were right to do so. I knew he was fascinated by her. I did not think it was to that extent or I would’ve come over,” I said, still smoldering.

Sephie was somewhat indignant with us. “You three act like I can’t handle myself.” She held her thumb and forefinger up, with barely any space between them. “I’m this close to being able to kill him with just my thumbs,” she said, giggling.

“It’s not a matter of whether you can handle yourself, love. It’s more a matter of his disrespect. It’s not something I tolerate. I know he wouldn’t stand a chance against you,” I said, turning her to face me. I pushed a few curls out of her face, enjoying that they immediately returned.

“He also suspects something is different about her eyes. I didn’t think he ever caught it, but he did a few times when she was in the hospital and when she went back for check-ups,” Andrei said. “He only ever caught glimpses, but his curiosity is getting the better of him.”

“We should only ever be in situations where we’re wearing our contacts around him. Or, and hear me out here, we just all show up one day and switch them to black and enjoy watching him shit himself,” Ivan said.

I laughed, along with Sephie. “See? I told you that idea would work for someone at some point,” I said, pressing my lips to hers.

Once we were back at the penthouse and alone, I brought the subject up again with Sephie. “I don’t want you to think that I think you can’t take care of yourself,” I started. Her sweet laugh cut me off. She immediately pressed her lips to mine, wrapping my arms around her waist and pressing her hands on my chest.

“I don’t think that. I was teasing. I absolutely adore how protective you all are of me. It’s a massive confidence boost for me. Honestly, you’re all lucky that I’m not more of a shit than I am. I could just be a major bitch to everyone, knowing that you guys would clean up my mess,” she said, grinning at me. “I know that no matter who’s with me, I’m always safe. From anything and anyone. Hell, I even know that about Vitaliy’s men too.”

I smiled at her, some of the irritation from earlier managing to come back. She searched my eyes for a moment, then asked, “You’re just irritated with him? Not anything else?”

“Having my mind go back to your time in the hospital was unexpected,” I said.

“I see,” she said, chewing on her bottom lip. She looked up at me, her eyes wide and innocent. “I think we need to take your mind off that.” She raised her hand to my face, her finger running lightly over my facial hair. “How should we do that?” she asked, one side of her lips curling up into a smirk, her bottom lip still between her teeth. In one instant, I completely forgot everything but my need for her.

Fuck. I love her.