Chapter Sixteen

Adrik

“Have you ever had someone feel different to you from the beginning of a conversation to the end?” I asked Vitaliy.

He nodded. “It happens more than you’d think. People make decisions in haste and their entire existence changes in the course of a few minutes. Why? Did it happen to you already?” I nodded. He cursed under his breath. “It took me years to get that detailed. It took you twenty-four hours of finding out you were like me.”

I nodded toward Sephie. “I have a feeling she has something to do with it. Something changed in the course of a meeting tonight. Because I can feel what she feels, I felt the shift when she picked up on it. It made me pay closer attention. I didn’t feel anything at the beginning of the meeting, but I definitely did at the end.”

“Did you feel what he feels, malishka?” Vitaliy asked Sephie.

“No, I didn’t feel anything, but I noticed he tensed slightly when he shook Henry’s hand. He doesn’t do that. Ever,” she said. “Both Andrei and I picked up on the change in him during the meeting, but neither one of us could get a definite answer on what caused it. We’re going to see if Misha can find the answer after dinner. Andrei works best on a full stomach,” she said, winking at him. He grinned at her as he took another bite of food.

“You can do that?” Vitaliy asked Misha.

Misha just shrugged his shoulders. “We’ve never gone looking for the answer to that specific of a question before. We’ve only looked for people and then pieced together the information we can see when we find them, but when I use both Sephie and Andrei, I can hear conversations. I doubt this guy will be speaking Spanish, so we should be able to understand his conversations.”

“Who is ‘this guy?’”

“Henry, the police commissioner. We found out from Sephie’s old neighbor that the mayor wants Henry out, but Henry is also working on a plan with the police chiefs to get the mayor out. Only, two police chiefs met with the mayor three days after they met with Henry. One is from Armando’s area, the other is from Niko’s area. We’ve been working on solid proof that the mayor is in either Sal’s or Ricardo’s pocket,” Ivan said.

“But we also think Henry decided that he can run the city. Sephie picked up on something the first time we met with him. He was very uncomfortable when Boss told him he was getting rid of all the bosses. She said she thought it was because he was worried Boss would become a tyrant. We think he changed his mind tonight and now he wants to be the tyrant,” Stephen said.

“We’re hoping Misha can confirm that,” I said.

Vitaliy looked stunned for a moment, then looked at Sephie. “How did you know this before?”

“I saw the subtle change in his demeanor when Adrik told him he was getting rid of the bosses. I don’t go fishing through people’s heads unless I have a reason. When I saw his demeanor change, I took a peek. He was going through possibilities of how to rein in Adrik once he was in power. It was almost comical what he was thinking about. I imagine it’s what the city would look like if Sal or Lorenzo had taken over, but not Adrik,” she said.

“Was he thinking specifically about Sal or Lorenzo? Can you remember, Seph?” Stephen asked.

She thought for a few minutes, but ultimately shook her head no. “That was during my Sleeping Beauty era. I don’t remember as much as I should,” she said. “Why? What are you thinking?”

“If that’s where his mind went when thinking about Boss having power, then that’s a good indication that he knows Sal or Lorenzo better than he knows Boss. Everyone knows the peace Boss brought to the city. The entire population is richer because of him. No offense, Vitaliy, but the city has prospered since he took over. It doesn’t make sense that Henry would be worried about Adrik being in power. He doesn’t want the city to continue to prosper? He hates making more money than he’s ever made before? That line of thinking doesn’t make sense. Unless he knows Sal or Lorenzo or even one of the other bosses better than Boss and knows the kind of tyrant they actually would be,” Stephen said.

“What are your plans for this Henry?” Vitaliy asked.

“We were going to help him defeat the mayor in the next election, but that might be off the table depending on what Misha can find. He has everything we have on Ricardo, but he can also use that to come after Boss instead, should he choose to. We have the same guy that gave us all the information on Ricardo looking for something on the mayor, we just haven’t heard back from him yet,” Ivan said.

As he said that, Viktor pulled his phone out of his pocket. He looked at it for a few seconds, obviously reading something, then said, “We did hear back from him. He’s got something, but he said it’s not enough. He said he’s looking for more and will get back to me as soon as possible.”

It was always hard to read my father, but he looked proud as he listened to us tell him everything we knew. More so on how we knew it. He looked to me, after listening to everyone and said, “Your mother was right. You’re going to realize everything I couldn’t and more.” He was thoughtful for a moment, then asked, “This information you have on Ricardo, what is it?”

“It frames him as being the one running the city behind the scenes. It makes him look like he’s Boss. The guy that got us the information is very thorough, just not thorough enough to find Boss. Or you,” Viktor said. “Originally, we handed it over to Henry, thinking the mayor was a stand-up guy since he’s the one who appointed Henry, but Sephie caught on that the mayor was questionable during that meeting too. Henry said he can’t prove it, but he’s been looking into the mayor for a while now. We started helping him, feeding him information that we could find, but now that’s compromised because he shared it with the police chiefs who are loyal to the mayor, apparently.”

“And what of the information on Ricardo? Did he share that too?” Vitaliy asked.

“No. Or at least he said he hasn’t. We can’t be sure,” Ivan said.

Vitaliy thought for a few minutes. He looked at Aleksei, saying, “We need to meet with Battista again before he leaves.” Aleksei simply nodded, then walked away as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. Vitaliy looked back at me. “Battista likes politics. He knows the right people in damn near every city in the world. Sephie impressed him at the first meeting. He will gladly help you find all the information you never knew you needed on the mayor.”

“I thought you said his English was shit?” Sephie asked.

Vitaliy grinned at her. “It is shit, but he still speaks it when he has to. Knowing he doesn’t have to with you was incentive for him to make extra effort. He can be fickle. After your performance at lunch, he’ll bend over backwards to help you. Everything happens the way it’s supposed to, malishka. Sometimes you have to trust the process,” he said, winking at her.

“You’re like a really grumpy evil genius,” she said quietly, her eyes slightly wide in appreciation at his scheming.

Vitaliy looked at her, not knowing whether to laugh along with everyone else or be mad at her. In the end, he couldn’t contain his laughter and ended up laughing along with everyone else, as she walked to him, sliding her arm around his shoulders. I watched my father laugh harder than I’d ever seen him laugh and relish in the affection he got from her as a result of doing so.

She was still showing everyone around her the best parts of themselves.

“I think it’s worth taking another look at Henry, no matter what Misha can find tonight,” I said. “Something feels very off with him now. Like we missed something last time. I don’t like surprises.”

“I’ll see what I can start to find in the morning,” Viktor said.

Sephie stood up, extending her hands to both Misha and Andrei. They readily stood up and took her hands, walking a short distance away from the kitchen. She looked back over her shoulder, asking, “Who has it that he wants to be the evil overlord of the city?” She waited for a few of us to raise our hands. Then she asked, “Who has it that Henry’s the one in Sal’s pocket instead of the mayor?” She put her own hand up, along with me.

“Oh, that’s not fair. I change my bet,” Misha said.

“I could be wrong, my adorable Russian guardian. It’s happened before,” she said, grinning at him.

“Yeah, like once. Seven years ago before you knew us,” he said. He just shook his head and grabbed her hand. “Let’s see what we can find,” he said, getting that faraway look in his eye.

Vitaliy was extremely curious to watch what was happening, even though it didn’t look like much. They all looked like they were in a trance when it happened, but once they saw something, it was obvious. They were watching something in front of them that the rest of us couldn’t see. I could still feel what Sephie was feeling when she was watching the movie only they could see, but I couldn’t see what she was seeing.

It took them a few minutes, but we heard Misha say, “Got him.” He squeezed both Sephie’s and Andrei’s hands harder, which always meant he had found what they were looking for. Vitaliy looked to me, his eyebrow raised. I walked closer to him, so I could be quiet, not wanting to interrupt anything.

“Misha sees a movie playing in front of him, basically. When Sephie touches him, she can see it too. We recently learned Andrei can do it as well, since he’s like her. They both give Misha extra clarity. He would only get snapshots before Sephie started helping him,” I said.

“They discovered this when the Colombian was under attack?” he asked. I nodded my head. “That’s a useful skill,” he said, going back to watching them, patiently waiting for the results.

I could feel Sephie’s anger rise the longer they watched, so I knew something was happening. Vitaliy picked up on both me and Ivan focusing on her. “She’s feeling something, isn’t she?” he asked.

“I can feel her anger. It likely means Sal is involved,” I said.

Ivan moved closer, so he could speak quietly as well. “Her anger feels different for different situations. Whenever Sal’s name is brought into the picture, it feels like she’s going to burn the world to get to him. She’s still dealing with being taken by him and Armando. It’s a lot for her to process,” he said.

Vitaliy scoffed. “She has good reason to be that angry. Sal is evil. It sounds like he’s only gotten more so over the years. His son was no better. She has every reason to hate that entire family.”

Misha, Sephie, and Andrei watched the movie only they could see for much longer than they usually did. Sephie’s anger levels stayed high the entire time, so I was almost positive Sal’s name had come up in the conversation somehow. We finally saw Misha relax and look down at Sephie. He looked concerned, but slightly amused.

“Gazelle, you feel like you’re going to explode. Like, for real, for real. Spontaneous human combustion is a real thing. You need to be careful,” he said.

“I’m guessing that Sal is involved somehow?” I asked.

She turned to look at me, her anger still clearly visible, but she was also surprised. “How did you know?” she asked, walking to me.

“Your anger feels different when he’s involved, princess,” Ivan said.

When she walked to me, Vitaliy extended his hand to her. “Come, I want to feel,” he said, motioning for her to give him her hand.

I tried to shake my head no discreetly, warning him that was not a good idea. He definitely wasn’t ready to feel her anger when it was this high, but he insisted.

Ivan just laughed. “You better be ready, Vitaliy.”

She reluctantly placed her hand in his. His eyes went wide, his cheeks flushed, and his breathing immediately sped up. He dropped her hand, almost like it had burned him. Her eyes went wide in response, looking apologetic. She was suddenly scared she’d hurt him. She tried to hide herself behind me. Ivan, Andrei, and Misha all felt her panic and quietly moved to surround her.

“It’s okay, princess. You didn’t hurt him. He just wasn’t ready for it,” Ivan said quietly. His voice was soft, like he was trying to coax her out of her panic. She turned to him, burying her face in his chest while I kept an eye on Vitaliy to make sure he really was okay. His giant arms engulfed her, making her look tiny standing in front of him.

“I told you the level you felt before was nothing. This isn’t even the highest it’s been,” I said, smirking at my father.

Vitaliy took a few moments to get his wits about him again. He was stunned, literally and figuratively. Finally, he shook his head, asking, “How does she contain all of that?”

Ivan laughed, his arms still protectively around her. “Told you. It’s enough to cripple all of us and she walks around like it’s completely normal.”

Misha, ever the instigator, said, “You should really pay attention when people try to warn you, Vitaliy.”

We heard Sephie quietly laugh, but she kept her face hidden in Ivan’s chest. I could feel the fear slowly subsiding, but it always took longer than other emotions. She still really struggled with controlling it. We were quiet for a few moments, when Stephen broke the silence.

“Seph has been hiding all of this for a very long time. She’s only showing it to everyone now because she knows we can protect her. She’s become a master at covering up the fact that she’s different for fear of what will happen if someone finds out. That’s how she walks around like it’s a normal Tuesday,” he said. “That’s also why her fear is harder to control, for the record. She’s scared for all of us more than she’s scared for herself.”

I watched Andrei’s eyes glaze over as I knew he was confirming what Stephen had just said. He was quiet for a minute, then he looked at me, nodding once. Stephen had nailed it.

We heard Sephie sigh, then she said, “I told you your first instinct was always right, Yoden. Bubba confirms it.” Her face was still hidden in Ivan’s chest, so she didn’t see Andrei double-checking what Stephen had said. “You should listen to it more. You’ve been right multiple times tonight,” she said, finally turning to look at us once again. She smiled sweetly at Stephen. Whatever they had discussed this afternoon was clearly working.

“You’re getting better at that, princess. You didn’t see him checking,” Ivan said. He kept his arms around her shoulders in a bear hug as she stayed leaning against him, just turned toward us instead of hiding.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I can say the same for you two,” she said, looking up at Ivan and then looking at me. “You were right. Sal is involved.”

“What could you guys see?” I asked Misha.

“Once again, it was different. It was like someone was scrolling through the movie to find the right scene to answer our question. Once we found it, we heard Henry on the phone. We didn’t hear the other side of the conversation, but he addressed Sal by name. He was in the middle of a park, at night, so he spoke freely,” Misha said.

“It is Henry that’s in Sal’s pocket. The mayor might be also; they didn’t speak about him, but Henry has been getting money from Sal. They were extra sneaky with how he got it, so no one ever caught on. From what I could gather, he’s been paid mostly in cash, so no one can trace it,” Sephie said.

“What’s their plan?” Ivan asked.

Misha laughed. “It’s funny, but it’s not. We gave them the plan. Sal is backing Henry to get the mayor position. Once there, he’s coming for Boss.”

“He never gave specifics, but he said he has enough information to put Boss away for a long time. It’s going to be his first major move as mayor,” Andrei said.

It was my anger that rose very quickly. Sephie felt it, walking quickly to me. She knew immediately that I was struggling against it, livid at yet another betrayal. “Close your eyes, Bubba,” she said, right before her lips crashed into mine. She kissed me with such passion; my anger subsided so quickly, I didn’t even hear the laughter from her warning to Andrei. There was just her lips on mine, her desire for me growing with each second. I felt her knees start to go and pulled her to me tightly, holding her up as she deepened the kiss even more. I felt myself finally under control and she broke the kiss. She looked up at me, her desire still very evident to no one but me, as she smiled sweetly at me. “Better,” she said, turning around to lean back against me as she kept my arms wrapped around her.

When she turned to face everyone else, Vitaliy was understandably surprised at what he’d just witnessed. “It’s his kill switch,” she said. I could hear the smile when she spoke. “He has a harder time controlling his anger when it reaches nuclear levels. That makes it go away. Sorry for the impromptu show,” she said.

Vitaliy nodded once, giving me a smirk, then asked, “Do you know what Sal is planning on doing while he waits for Henry to be elected? That’s not until next year, correct?”

“They didn’t discuss that part, but I’m sure he’s thinking he can lay low until then,” Andrei said.

I looked at Misha. “How many times can you do this before you get zapped or you zap her?”

“I’ve got a couple more in me tonight, for sure. I think with Andrei too, it helps keep her from getting zapped. As long as he stops ‘holding back,’” Misha said, adding air quotes for hilarity.

“I think it’s worth checking on Sal to see what we can find out with him. Or Ricardo. Or both, if you have enough energy for that tonight,” I said. “I also think we need to check into the mayor even more than we have.”

“It’s entirely possible that Henry has been framing the mayor this whole time, making it look like he’s the one getting money from Sal, when really it’s been Henry. Or Henry is fabricating what he has on the mayor to deflect attention away from himself. Most people are easily distracted. If we’re busy looking into the mayor, we’re not going to look into Henry. I’m starting to think he thinks he’s smarter than us, which really pisses me off,” Stephen said.

“Like normal pissed off, or you-want-to-destroy-his-mind-so-completely-that-he-no-longer-wishes-to-exist pissed off?” Sephie asked.

Stephen chuckled. “Not the latter option. Yet.”

“Noted.” She looked back at Misha and Andrei. “Ready to find Sal? Bubba, do you want a snack first?” she asked, unable to hide her smile as she teased him.

“Shut up and come here,” he said, still standing with Misha. He was smiling at her as he extended his hand to her. Misha did the same. Before they started looking for Sal, she asked, “Do you have a specific question you want answered for Sal? That seemed to work last time.”

“See if you can find out if Sal is working with the mayor. Maybe we can eliminate two birds with one stone,” Ivan said.

“At your service,” she said, giving him a curtsey before they started trying to find Sal.

Once they were quiet, Vitaliy looked to me and Ivan. “You both can feel all of her anger when she’s like that?”

We both nodded. “I’m guessing it works differently for us than it did for you. She shares her control with us when she shares her anger,” I said. “She’s the one who taught me how to get mine under control. She can kill the bloodlust in me instantly with one look.”

Vitaliy’s eyes went wide. Viktor overheard our conversation, moving closer so we could stay quiet. “It’s true. I didn’t believe it when I saw it happen the first time, but she’s done it many times now. When we got to her and Ivan, Boss was about to kill Armando, but Sephie’s lung was collapsing and she was having trouble breathing. Me, Andrei, and Misha were downstairs in the building. Ivan called us to try to get Boss off Armando so we could get her to the hospital. But she just walked over to him and said she needed him before we could make it upstairs. He stopped instantly and picked her up. He was in a complete rage when we got to that building. Between him and Stephen, the rest of us didn’t have to do anything. She stopped it with one touch and three words though,” Viktor said.

“It becomes more and more obvious that she was made for you, the more I learn about her,” Vitaliy said, looking at me.

“They were made for each other. He brings out things in her that no one else can, just like she does for him. Their connection is other-worldly,” Stephen said.

We saw Misha move and knew that the movie was over. This time, I didn’t feel Sephie’s anger at all while they were watching the movie. We all looked toward them, expectantly.

“I think we watched the same conversation, just from the other side this time,” Misha said. “But at least Sal was speaking English so me and Andrei could understand him as well.”

“Stephen was right. Henry is on the take, not the mayor. He’s framing the mayor so we’d look at him. Sal made a comment about not being able to get to the mayor. He was angry about it. He’s also angry with Henry. It looked like he’s just angry in general, really,” Andrei said, smiling.

“He and Lorenzo were close. He’s not going to take his death lightly,” Vitaliy said.

“I still find it interesting that he’s grieving more for his brother than he is his own son,” Sephie said. “I’ve not heard him mention Anthony’s name one time in any conversation.”

Stephen suddenly inhaled. “What if Anthony wasn’t really his kid? Didn’t Andy say something like he would’ve believed Anthony belonged to Massimo more than he would Sal?”

“Why would Sal steal Massimo’s kid though? Isn’t that a little extreme, even for Sal?” Misha said.

Stephen was thoughtful for a minute, trying to make the connection. Sephie, in her quiet way, walked to him, taking his hand while he was deep in thought. He glanced down at her. It was obvious he was fighting more than making a connection. She smiled up at him, saying something quietly so only he could hear. He nodded once. She was still for a few seconds, then said, “What if Sal was trying to hurt Massimo the same way Massimo hurt Dario? I don’t know how Massimo was about women, but judging by the rest of them, they probably have plenty of children they may or may not know about. What if Sal found out Anthony was Massimo’s and took him before Massimo found out? Talk about a ‘fuck you.’”

“Dario might know. I definitely think the story of Dario and Sal hating each other all these years was really Sal and Massimo hating each other,” Ivan said.

“We can talk to him again. I don’t mind Armando knowing we have Dario now. He might not even be lucid enough to recognize him at this point,” I said.

“I’m surprised you’ve let him live this long,” Vitaliy said.

“I’ve never wanted someone to suffer as much as I want him to suffer. I’m going to drag it out as long as possible. I’ll get him medical care, even. He’s not allowed to die until I say he can die,” I said.

Once Sephie and I were alone that night, I asked her what had happened with Stephen, both while they had disappeared during the afternoon and then when he looked like he was struggling earlier.

She exhaled loudly. “Ugh. So, I want to kill his sisters now. I got him to open up a little bit this afternoon. We were making Viktor’s favorite cookies, by the way. He gets very grumpy when I haven’t cooked in a few days and it shows,” she said, laughing quietly.

“Why do you want to kill his sisters? I didn’t even know he had sisters. He never talks about them,” I said.

“For good reason. His sisters were always mean to him growing up. Much more than normal sibling-bickering mean. He told me that’s why it took him so long to warm up to me. He was waiting for me to turn mean too,” she said. She’d taken her contacts out already and I watched her eyes change to the amber brown that meant she was sad. She climbed on top of me, straddling my lap. “There’s more to the story, but I wasn’t going to make him tell me. He really struggled even just with that. That’s what happened in the kitchen earlier. When Misha questioned him, it made him insecure. Stephen doesn’t like me in his head, but I asked him if I could look tonight. I told him I knew he’d made the connection already, but he was frozen by his insecurities. I was right. It was easy to find, but he was over-analyzing because he was worried he was wrong.”

She chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes still golden amber. I could feel how upset she was, but it was different. She was upset for him. She looked at me, her fingers tracing lightly over my facial hair. “I told him this afternoon that he should always trust his first instinct. He’s so smart, but he doesn’t believe how smart he is. He’s so freaking hilarious too. I love him a little more each time he makes a joke about Vlad in front of Vitaliy,” she said, leaning her head on my shoulder in a fit of giggles. I laughed with her. It was quickly becoming one of my favorite things as well. My father was convinced that Vlad was a living person at this point. I certainly wasn’t going to tell him any different.

While we were still laughing, my phone beeped on the nightstand. Sephie sat up so I could check it. It was a message from Viktor.

Tell Sephie thank you and I love her. She knows why.

I showed her the message. “The cookies?” I asked.

She nodded. “He told me his wife used to make these cookies for him when they first got married. He said he couldn’t get enough of them. I almost didn’t try to make them, because they’re not going to be the same. She was the secret ingredient. But he’s been so grumpy since I haven’t cooked the past few days that I decided to give it a try. It gave me a reason to kidnap Stephen, so I think it worked out. I think those two are slower about figuring out how they’re special because I don’t spend as much time with them.”

“You can kidnap whoever you like, solnishko. They all know what to do. One of the other ones will step in to take care of things,” I said, twirling one of her curls around my finger.

“I might start stealing Stephen a little more often. Viktor is going to be more difficult. I need your help with him. He enjoys his job too much. He’s very good at it, don’t get me wrong, but he doesn’t like to leave his regular duties.”

“He would if it meant spending time with you. They would all much rather spend time with you than anything else they have to do.”

“Viktor always grabs one of the other guys when I try to steal him though. He was also the most unnerved about my eyes changing. I might scare him now,” she said.

I laughed. “You don’t scare him, love. You don’t scare any of them. Viktor loves you just as much as the rest of them.”

She narrowed her eyes at me like she didn’t believe me, but she didn’t argue further.

“What about Andrei? You said earlier that he had levels you didn’t even know about? What happened?” I asked.

She looked at me, wide-eyed. “That kid can see auras and he never told anyone.”

I laughed at her response. “Explain.”

“He didn’t call it an aura. He said there’s a glow to certain people. He sees it on the acupuncturist. I didn’t tell you, but she works with my dad. And probably your mom, now that I think about it. She told me. Andrei and I were talking about my reaction to their shock at seeing my eyes when we woke up today. He said I was the reason he can do what he can do now and that’s when I told him he was the youngest and that nobody expected him to figure it out in this lifetime. He asked me how I knew. I didn’t say anything about the acupuncturist and he said it was her. He can see a different ‘glow’ about her than the rest of us.” She moved to get off my lap, stretching her back and lying down next to me. “Of course, I was curious to know if he saw it on anyone else. He said he sees it now on Ivan, since the first kidnapping attempt when he almost died. He didn’t notice it on him before that happened, but that makes sense. He also sees it on you and me. But he doesn’t see it all the time on us, where he does on the acupuncturist. He said he doesn’t walk around looking at glowing people all day, either. It must only come up sometimes for him, but he said he’s seen it since he was a kid.”

I thought for a minute. “What if it’s the opposite of what Ivan can see? Ivan sees the evil, Andrei sees the good. That might be why it’s not around us all the time. We’re both, but the acupuncturist is only good.”

“That would make sense. I want to talk to him about it more. It’s best to ease into those conversations with him right now. He’s still a little overwhelmed with everything. He’s handling it well, but it’s a lot for him,” she said.

“It really cuts into his cheeseburger thoughts,” I said. Sephie’s laughter was music to my ears, effectively making me forget the stress of the day.