Chapter One Hundred Six

Chapter One Hundred Six

Sephie

We were all somewhat impatient to get news from the cell phone Viktor gave to Ms. Jackson the next day. Finally, Viktor started to get info in the afternoon. He checked the number that she called. "It's Trino's Martin," he said. "She called him. They talked for two minutes."

"I'm impressed she memorized his number, not gonna lie. Did not expect that amount of brain capacity from her," I said.

Adrik exhaled loudly. "Trino is not going to be happy about this," he said.

Misha's phone beeped. He checked the message, laughing as he read it. "Oh, our lives are about to get so entertaining. Ms. Jackson said Giana stole the phone. She thanked us for giving her an extra one."

"Isn't that bad though? Like won't she figure out it's not Ms. Jackson's phone now that she has it?" I asked.

"Clearly, you need to reduce your brain capacity expectations once more," Ivan said.

"Fair. Totally fair." I said, laughing.

"She's texting him now," Viktor said. "They're talking about the plan to rob Armando, it looks like. He said the plan can still go on and will be even easier now that we have Armando. So far, no mention of getting her from the building." His phone beeped again. He looked at the message, but got up and handed me the phone. "She's texting him in Italian now."

I looked at the text, confused as to why she would be texting him in Italian. As I read through the text, I could feel my cheeks flush. "Oh. My. I know why Martin is willing to risk his life for this crazy bitch now. She's got sexting down to a fucking art. Jesus, if nothing else works out for her, she can get a job as a phone sex operator." I read through the rest of the text. "Wow. She really puts it all out there. In graphic detail."

"Gross," Misha said. "Although I would want to know what she was saying if it were anybody but Giana. Damn this hatred I have for her!"

"He might be in love with her," I said as he responded to her very graphic text. "Oh. Oh! Something happened at the island house. He says he thinks about that night constantly."

"When could anything happen? We were there for only one night and we all saw her with Armando at the club," Andrei asked.

"You guys left before Armando got drunk off his ass though," Stephen said. "Maybe he passed out when they got back to the house, which gave her the chance to sneak off with Martin."

"He told us that she was the one that got drunk off her ass," I said, somewhat surprised.

"She might've been, but she holds her liquor better than he does from what I saw. She had to help him out of the club," Stephen said.

"Did you see her leave with him?" Viktor asked.

"They left the club together. What happened outside the club, I don't know. She might've sent him back to the house and she left with Martin. I didn't follow them outside to see," Stephen said.

I felt myself getting angry at all the lies that Armando had told us. This one didn't even matter in the grand scheme of things, but I still felt myself getting angry at just how easy it had been for him to make up a complete alternate reality in front of us. Adrik's warm hand slipped underneath my shirt, his thumb rubbing my bare skin lightly. He pressed his cheek gently to my neck, kissing my neck lightly. "I know, solnishko. It makes me angry too," he said quietly.

I leaned back against him, taking a deep breath. I grabbed his arms and pulled them around my waist. "You're getting so much better at that," I said, kissing his cheek.

Viktor's phone beeped once more. I looked at it, reading the latest message. "Aww, that's all for tonight, gentlemen. She says the only charger she can find won't work on this phone, so she's going to turn it off until she can lift a charger from Ms. Jackson. Rude," I said.

"You called it, princess. Serial user," Ivan said, laughing.

Viktor sighed. "So, let's assume that they're going to steal the artwork from Armando's house, since that's really all they can get to. I'm sure there's more stuff of value there, but the artwork is the main thing. Artwork is really hard to move as far as stolen items go. They're not going to finance much with that loot."

"What are Martin's finances like? I know Trino's wealthy and has legitimate businesses, but what about Martin?" I asked.

"From what I know, Martin is doing fine financially. He's not quite the businessman that Trino is, but he has his own investments that allow him to live quite comfortably, plus whatever Trino pays him," Adrik said.

"This still doesn't make complete sense to my brain. Why would he risk so much for her? Can one woman be that good in bed? Legitimate question, by the way. I really want to know," I said.

Adrik laughed, holding me tighter. "I'm not the one you should be asking that question to, my love. I would risk everything for you."

"You guys don't count," Ivan said.

"It's not about Giana, I don't think. I think she's an excuse," Stephen said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I could always count on Stephen to fill in the psychological gaps for me.

"Martin likely hasn't been happy with Trino, for whatever reason, for some time. It's only just now coming to a head. He's using Giana as the excuse he needs to finally make a move. It just so happens that he can feel like the white knight coming to her rescue if he risks everything to get her safely away from Armando. That cancels out whatever guilt he feels for leaving Trino for whatever trivial reason he has," he said.

"The user is getting used. That's somewhat satisfying," I said.

"Are you going to wait to tell Trino?" Ivan asked Adrik.

"Let's give them more time to see what they give us. You know what kind of temper Trino has. He might not be able to sit on this one if we tell him too early. With his guys' loyalty already in question, it puts him in a dangerous position," Adrik said.

"Shit. I didn't think about that," I said. "His guys might side with Martin and help him overthrow Trino. Giana definitely isn't as weird as me, although it could be argued that she's definitely put some kind of spell on Martin. Shit, shit, shit."

"Boobies, am I right?" Stephen said, completely straight-faced. Everyone erupted into laughter.

It was two more days before Viktor got more information from Giana's stolen fake phone. Viktor had one of the guards that was watching her leave a charger for the phone in the hallway like someone had dropped it outside Ms. Jackson's apartment. Of course, she picked it up.

Adrik and I were in his office when all the guys came in, clearly amused. "Is she back?" I asked, excitedly.

"She's back," Misha said, grinning at me. I clapped my hands, waiting to hear what had been said.

"I think we all need to get out more," I said, shaking my head.

"It looks like they're finalizing the plans for Armando's house. Martin said he has a few guys that can do it," Viktor said.

"Does he give names, by chance?" Adrik asked. "Trino's dealers are very loyal to him. I would like to know if any of them are doing this for Martin without Trino knowing."

"No names," Viktor said. "But they're planning on making it happen this weekend. We can have guys watch Armando's house to see who it is."

Adrik nodded. "Make that happen. If they're Trino's guys too, he needs to know. Maybe Martin has his own guys here, but if that's the case, I want to know. He doesn't get to have guys in my city," he said. I was across the room from him, but I felt his anger loud and clear. I knew my eyes were dark. It seemed like any level of anger would make them go dark now. I went to Adrik, even though I was enjoying feeling his anger. I didn't necessarily want it to stop this time. Trino was the only one staying loyal through all this, so a betrayal of him felt like a betrayal of us. Adrik pushed his chair back from his desk, opening his arms for me.

"Do we let this robbery happen?" Ivan asked.

"I don't necessarily care if they steal from Armando. Serves him right. But I want to know if Martin is bold enough to think he can operate in my city without my knowledge. If that's the case, I won't need to tell Trino anything until after I've killed Martin," Adrik said.

"Giana is asking about Martin getting her out of the building," Viktor said. "He didn't know she was being held there, under guard, apparently. He says he thought she was at Armando's house."

There was silence for a few minutes, then Viktor's phone beeped. He looked at the message, but stood up to hand me the phone.

"Is now really the time to be sexting?" I asked as I took the phone from him. I looked at the message and immediately started laughing. "She's cussing him out. She must type faster in Italian than in English." I kept reading, laughing more as I went. "She's calling him a donkey, which is hilarious."

"Why would she call him a donkey?" Misha asked.

"For Italians, it's an insult. It's the same as telling someone they're stupid. She also tells him to go get fucked, basically," I said, still laughing. Martin began to reply, apologizing for not knowing. "He says he couldn't have known. She hasn't contacted him in weeks. He didn't know they were living there. He assumed she would be at Armando's house."

"I have to side with Martin on this one. I would've assumed the same thing," Misha said.

"Right? It seems like the logical assumption here," I said as we waited for Giana's response. "She's asking him again how he plans to get her out."

"This could go very badly for Martin," Andrei said.

"He says he needs time to come up with a plan to get her out of the building. He's asking her if there's any way she can ditch her guards and he says trying to send a team into the building is going to be next to impossible," I said.

"Well, at least we know he's not a complete moron," Viktor said.

I laughed at Giana's response. "She's still mad. She's cussing him more and wants to know how long he needs. She said she's starting to regret sleeping with him that night, so now we know the answer to that question."

"Plot twist, she popped Martin's cherry and that's why he's completely in love with her," Ivan said, causing a round of laughter from everyone.

"You're not wrong, Squish," I said. "It would explain quite a lot. I'm starting to question whether you guys have been telling me the truth about my extra spicy side though. Seeing it in Giana doesn't seem very fun."

"Not even in the same ballpark, gazelle," Misha said.

Adrik held me tighter, saying quietly, "Never compare yourself to anyone ever again. There's no comparison."

Before I could react to his words, Martin replied to Giana. "He says he needs a day or two to scope out the building and see what his options are. He said his guys can watch the building and find out if there's any way in."

"So, Ivan was right. This guy is pussy-whipped. Clearly, he's not had enough of it," Andrei said.

"She says she can't wait much longer. She's going to try to escape with or without him," I said. "She's acting like she's in a dungeon. I mean, granted, she's being held against her will, but she's got everything she needs for fuck's sake. Nobody's chaining her to the fucking floor while they beat one of the people who mean the most to her in this world in the next room. While she hears everything." My anger came on so suddenly and so strongly that it almost surprised me, but it was also mixed with fear. I wouldn't let myself feel the fear when everything was happening. I knew I had to keep my wits about me, so I pushed all the fear down, but it was still there. Waiting to be acknowledged. It all came flooding back to me, overwhelming my anger. I immediately started to shake, even worse than I had days before when I was scared of being apart from Adrik.

He felt it right away, whispering to me to try to keep me calm. He took the phone from my hand and threw it on his desk. "Close your eyes, love. Listen to my voice. You're safe. You're with me. Nobody can hurt you here," he said. He just repeated those words until he felt me take a breath and my body relax slightly. He turned me around in his lap, so he could stand up with me in his arms. He walked us both to the couch, keeping me in his lap. He kept repeating that I was safe and I was with him and that nobody could hurt me now. His hand ran up and down my back lightly, trying to calm the shaking.

I took a deep breath, lifting my head from his shoulder to look at him. I could tell from the look on his face that my eyes had changed. I shut my eyes again and rested my head on his shoulder again. Viktor's phone beeped a few times. I heard one of the guys get up to get it. I felt Adrik shake his head, telling them to wait. We sat in silence for a few more minutes. I took another deep breath, looking at Adrik once more to see if my eyes had returned to normal yet. He smiled sweetly at me, nodding his head once. He reached up and put his palm against my cheek, his thumb rubbing gently back and forth.

I sighed once more, turning to look at the concerned faces looking back at me. I started to apologize, but Ivan cut me off. "That is never something you should apologize for, princess. You never let yourself feel the fear while everything was happening, but it doesn't mean it went away," he said.

"It's important that you admit to yourself you were scared in that situation, Seph. We all were," Stephen said.

"You were?" I asked, moving so I was sitting in between Adrik's legs and leaning back against him so I could see everyone again. I pulled his arms around me, resting mine on top of his.

"Of course, we were. How could we not be?" Andrei asked.

"Well, now that you ask it like that, I don't know," I said.

"Just because we've been in similar situations before doesn't mean we weren't all scared this was the first time we weren't going to get to you in time," Misha said.

"Having to be careful and patient when it came to looking for you was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do," Viktor said.

"We were all worried we would be able to get you both back," Adrik said.

I smiled at them. "I was sure you guys would find us. I was scared that I wouldn't be able to hang on long enough for you to find us. Armando doesn't know how to punch very well, but he's strong and I was completely defenseless," I said quietly, looking at the floor.

"You were worried about the one thing I was sure of," Stephen said. "Once we found you, I knew you'd be able to hold on long enough for us to get you out. I've never met anyone as strong as you, Seph. I was more worried they would get rid of Ivan. Armando beating you was completely unexpected for me. I knew they needed you. I didn't expect him to lose it."

"I might've provoked that," I said. "I'm mostly accountable for that."

Adrik clicked his tongue, turning me so I would look at him again. "You bear none of the responsibility of that. I don't care how angry he was about anything. He had no right to touch you," he said. He was angry when he said it. I knew on some level he wasn't angry with me, but it still surprised me enough that I felt a twinge of fear return and I tensed. He felt it, pulling me toward him. He whispered, "I'm sorry, Sephie. Keep your eyes closed again. I didn't mean to frighten you."

Viktor's phone beeped again. Without raising my head or opening my eyes, I asked what was being said. "Martin is assuring her that he's going to get her out, one way or another. He's begging her not to try to escape on her own," Viktor said.

"I can't handle the back and forth between semi-smart Martin and dumb-as-fuck Martin. I'm getting whiplash," I said. I felt Adrik laugh as he put his hand on my neck, pulling me up so I would look at him. He smiled, saying quietly so only I could hear, "Green does mean sarcasm, it appears." He pulled me to him, kissing me gently. He left his hand on my neck as I rested my head on his shoulder, my face buried in his neck once more.

"She's giving him a few days to get a plan together, but she said she's tired of waiting. She says she can't stay here any longer," Viktor said.

"Jesus, she's dramatic," I said. "I mean, it's not her fault, but seriously. Shut the fuck up already."

They all laughed. "I'll have the guys at the building try to find out who's watching the building. I'll also put a few guys on Armando's house. He only has a few guys there normally. They might've given up since we've had him."

"I want to know who's working for Martin. It does not make me happy if he has guys in my city," Adrik said. "I want to wait to see if Martin is dumb enough to make a move against my building before telling Trino about all this." He pulled me up, so he could look at me again. "Do you think you can find the answer to that? Can Misha see if he's planning on trying to use force to get Giana out?"

I thought for a second before answering. "I need to be around him or hear him to get something from him," I said. I glanced at Misha. "Do you think we can find him and see what his plans are? We can use Bubba too. Maybe we'll get sound again."

"It's worth a try," he said.

"I think we need to give it a day or two though. I'm not sure we'll get anything useful right now, because he doesn't know what the hell to do yet," I said. "And also, I'm scared of seeing him thinking about her graphic text from earlier. I don't need that seared into my brain."

"Ewww, gross! Why would you even think about that, gazelle? Now I'm going to be paranoid to try to find him," Misha said, acting like he was going to vomit.

"You. Are. Welcome, my adorable Russian guardian," I said, laughing.

"I hate you," Misha said, trying not to laugh.

We waited three more days for Martin to come up with a plan for getting Giana out. She went silent on him while she waited for him to figure out how to be her savior. We had moved back to the penthouse, as Adrik had several meetings for a few days straight. We'd been able to spend almost the entire week at the house, which felt a little bit like Heaven for all of us.

The messages from Martin came in while Adrik was in a meeting and Viktor was in his normal master of the schedule duties. The rest of us were oblivious until that evening when they came upstairs after Adrik's day was finished. I was working on dinner, with help from Misha and Andrei when everyone else walked in.

I put everything I had in my hands down, walking to Adrik. His wide smile stretched across his face as soon as he saw me walking toward him. He opened his arms, hugging me tightly to him. He lifted me off the floor, holding me against him as I giggled. I could feel the stress melt away the longer he held me.

Ever since I'd told him about my fear of being away from him as well as finally admitting that I was terrified when Ivan and I were kidnapped, he'd been even more affectionate with me, if that was even possible. It was like another intimacy level was unlocked for us. We both felt like we were even more in sync with each other.

My eyes continued to change, depending on my mood. So far, I'd been able to hide it from the guys, but it was starting to happen so frequently that I was getting worried I wouldn't be able to keep it from them for much longer. Although, I had to admit that I loved having a secret that only Adrik and I shared. I loved every single one of the guys, but I was enjoying the extra intimacy that Adrik and I had lately. The secret of my ever-changing eyes was something for him alone. For now.

Once Adrik put me down, I turned to see Ivan's devious grin. "She's back?" I asked.

"She's back," he said.

"Come on, Papa Bear. Out with it," I said, pulling Adrik back to the kitchen with me so I could finish dinner while listening to the latest development.

"Martin finally got back to her. She's been completely silent. He's sent a few texts to her, checking on her, but she hasn't responded to any of them," Viktor said.

"Rude, but not unexpected from her," I said.

"She's got serious Tori vibes sometimes," Misha said.

Andrei laughed. "That's why you hate her so much. You also hated Tori," he said.

Misha looked at Andrei like he'd never put that together before this moment. "How did I not figure that out before now?" Misha said.

"Martin said he's come up with a plan to get her out, but it's going to take time. He says, and I quote, ‘The security at the building is next level,'" Viktor said proudly. "He said he's planning on creating a diversion, so he can get her out without too many people seeing it."

"Please tell me he's going to walk in the lobby and yell "Fire,'" I said.

"He does not specify, but that's really his only viable option," Ivan said.

"What about Armando's house? Did that happen?" I asked, setting the food out for them.

"Sephie, this smells amazing, for the record," Viktor said.

"New recipe. Tell me if you want it to be in regular rotation," I said, grinning at him.

"They did clean out Armando's house over the weekend. Our guys got pictures of the guys that did the job, but nobody knows them," Ivan said.

"Uh oh. That doesn't bode well for our dear recently deflowered Martin," I said.

Stephen choked on his food as he was laughing. "Warning next time, Seph. Not while I'm chewing," he said, still laughing as he took a drink of water and trying to stop coughing and laughing at the same time.

"No jokes at the table, children," I said sternly, causing more laughter. "How much did they take from Armando?" I asked after everyone had calmed down.

"Everything but the safes. They legit brought in trucks and cleaned everything out. Furniture, everything. It looked like a moving company was there," Ivan said.

"I'm surprised they left the safes. I would've thought they would have moved those, thinking they'd be able to break into them later," Stephen said.

"Same. I had our guys move the safes here. I'm not above cutting his finger off and popping an eyeball out to get it open," Ivan said.

I coughed this time. "We don't use that kind of language at dinner, Squish," I said, pretending like I was going to vomit. He looked at me, only somewhat apologetic.

"I support this line of thinking," Stephen said.

"Of course, the inventor of enabling would agree with that," I said. Stephen simply grinned at me. Completely unapologetic for his support of such behavior.

"What about Trino?" Misha asked.

"It's looking more like I'm going to tell Trino after I kill Martin, given he's got guys here without my permission. I am curious to see what his plan for getting Giana out of the building is though. I had planned to let her go after I'm done with Armando. She's fairly insignificant and I don't care that she cleaned out his house. But now, she might not survive this either," Adrik said.

I suddenly had a thought come into mind. "I don't disagree about killing either one of them, but I think telling Trino before you do anything to Martin will be better than waiting until after. Out of respect, sure, whatever, but I think it has to do more with his guys' wavering loyalty. Martin disappearing is going to cause a riff with them. Trino needs to have new guys in place before it happens or he's going to be in danger," I said.

Adrik nodded, looking to Misha for confirmation. Misha had his faraway look for a moment, then came back to the present moment. "I agree with Sephie. He needs notice about Martin. It doesn't seem like he's going to disagree with you. I think they're still arguing, but his guys are a problem."

"Totally accountable for that one," I said quietly, taking a sip of water.

Ivan heard me, laughing. "I think your demons have been hanging out with my demons a little too much, princess. You just showed them for who they really are. You were right when you said if you saving Martin was enough to cause them to question their loyalty, they were never loyal in the first place. Trino needed to know that. It's going to save him in the end."

"I still question the sanity of anyone who's completely fine with chopping people's heads off but me knowing the future is out of line. Makes no sense," I said.

"It does though. People fear what they can't explain. They can't fathom you being any different from them and they don't have anything special about them, so that means you can't either. At least in their minds," Stephen said.

"This is why they burned so many villages to get to you, isn't it?" I asked.

"Fifty-fifty. Half were insurance scams, the other half were attempts on me," Stephen said.

After dinner, while everyone else worked on cleaning up the kitchen for me, I pulled Misha and Andrei to the side. "So, I'm really not sure how we got sound last time, but I want to see if we can get sound again this time. Although if he's speaking Spanish the whole time, it'll be useless anyway. But let's give it a go and see what we can find out about the dumbest Colombian to walk the earth," I said. They both laughed at me, each one taking one of my hands. "I have both hands available this time. Maybe it'll be an extra power boost."

It was different this time. I could clearly see Andrei's thoughts while Misha worked on finding Martin. I wanted to ask if he could see mine, but I didn't want to interrupt Misha. It took a few moments for Misha to find Martin, but once he did, we could clearly see him and hear him, like he was standing in front of us.

This time, instead of it being a movie playing in front of us, we were in the movie. It was like we were standing in the room with Martin, only he couldn't see us. He was talking on the phone, in Italian, which was incredibly surprising but ended the call before I could tell who he was speaking to. He dialed another number, waiting for the person to pick up. I vaguely heard Viktor's phone beep in the background, so I knew he must've been calling Giana before I heard her voice answer his call.

They talked briefly, but he told her his plan for trying to get her out. In English, thankfully. She started crying. She was switching between Italian and English while she told him how happy she was and how she couldn't wait to see him. She started to tell him all the dirty things she was going to do to him once he got her out. Of course, she said that part in Italian, so I was the only one made to suffer through that part of the conversation. I must've made a face or said how gross it was to have to listen to out loud because I could hear the guys laughing quietly behind me.

After their conversation, the fast-forward button was pushed and we saw Martin making another phone call. He was in a different location than before, but I still didn't recognize it. I fully expected him to speak Spanish when the person on the other end of the line answered, but I was wrong. He had a conversation in Italian, but I understood everything. Then, we all heard it. He said Sal's name. Both guys squeezed my hands when he addressed Sal by name. "Shit," we all said at the same time. The vision ended shortly after, leaving the three of us in stunned silence.

I felt Adrik walk up behind me, touching my shoulder gently. I think he could feel my emotions going completely off the rails as my mind raced through possibilities. "Sephie?" he said quietly. I instantly knew he was worried about my eyes giving everyone a show. I let go of Misha and Andrei's hands and turned to look at Adrik, immediately seeing the look on his face that meant my eyes were doing their own thing. I groaned, then put my head on his shoulder, hiding my face from everyone else while I tried to get a handle on my emotions. I felt Adrik's arms around me, holding me firmly against him. "It's okay, solnishko. We can show them. I don't think you're going to be able to hide it forever," he whispered to me.

I took a deep breath, trying to get a handle on everything and just concentrate on my anger. They already knew about my demon eyes, so I could show them that. I just needed to let my anger overtake everything else and it would be okay. When I looked at Adrik, he smirked at me. "Demon eyes for added emphasis," he said, still barely above a whisper.

"I can do this," I said quiet enough that only he could hear me. I felt the pull in my chest from him as he leaned down and kissed my forehead.

I turned to look at everyone else. "Holy shit, spider monkey, they're black now."

"It's her warning system," Adrik said, laughing.

"No shit," Misha said. "What were they saying, gazelle?"

"Wait, she can understand Spanish now?" Stephen asked, completely confused. "That's impressive for a mere human brain."

Andrei laughed. "Martin apparently knows Italian. I assumed he was using a translator for her texts, but he was speaking Italian almost the whole time we saw him."

"Unexpected from the dumbest Colombian to ever walk the earth," Ivan said.

"He's still vacillating between semi-smart and dumb as fuck. His plan for Giana is actually pretty solid. I did not expect such strategy from him," I said.

Ivan was thinking over what I'd just said, running his hand over his goatee the whole time. He looked at me and I could see him figure out his plan. I grinned at him, knowing he'd nailed it. "He's going to have Giana fake an illness to get her out of the building. He can get to her away from the building," he said.

"Winner winner chicken dinner," I said. "She's supposed to fake being in so much pain that they have to take her to the ER. He's either going to grab her en route or at the hospital."

"What about his last conversation?" Misha asked.

I looked at Misha, somewhat amused that he didn't want to be the one to say it. "Coward," I said. His wide smile stretched across his face and he eagerly agreed with me.

"Who was he talking to?" Viktor asked.

"Sal," Andrei and I said at the same time.

"WHAT?!" Adrik asked, his level of anger now completely overtaking mine, but also feeding into mine. I was secretly happy I wouldn't need to worry about my eyes for the foreseeable future. I turned to him, putting my hands on his chest, helping to keep him calm.

"This was actually quite helpful, if you think about it. It was the missing piece. Everything is now connected nicely," I said, smiling up at him and loving the fire that was building in both of us. We were about to unleash chaos.