Chapter Seventy-Nine - 3

"Sephie, how did you know he was angry from up here? I mean, you were right. He was hot, but how did you know?" Viktor asked.

"You felt it, didn't you?" I asked her, before she could answer. She grinned at me, nodding her head. I looked at Viktor, saying, "Told you. I don't know how it works, but it does."

The other guys were now curious. "She felt what? She can feel when you're angry now?" Andrei asked.

She turned back toward the kitchen, grabbing my hand and pulling me with her. "Yeah, that's the only way I know to describe it. It's happened a few times now, but we've never not been in the same room before. This one was different," she said as she went back to finishing dinner.

"Does it only happen with anger, or can you feel other emotions too?" Stephen asked.

I looked at Sephie, who was thinking. I knew she likely didn't want to get too detailed on our sex life, but the truth was it was happening with other emotions too, especially when we had sex. It felt like it was getting more intense every time. I think she's been feeling it longer than I have, but I'm finally feeling what she feels. She glanced up to see me looking at her. She couldn't hide the smirk on her face. I knew she wasn't going to answer either. I looked to Stephen, saying, "The anger seems to be the strongest and, therefore, the easiest one to feel, but it's happening with other emotions as well."

"How long has she straight up been reading your mind?" Misha asked.

I laughed. "That one has been happening for a while. But that shouldn't surprise any of you. She does it to you guys too," I said.

"Not like what she just did to you. Although, I'd be willing to bet she probably could do it to one of us if we tried it," Misha said.

"I don't know. It works the best with Adrik. He's the only one I know for sure. The rest of you is usually my best guess," Sephie said.

"Christmas isn't that far away. What size crystal ball were you thinking you'll need to get this side hustle off the ground?" Ivan asked, causing Sephie to grin at him.

"It does make sense that you two would be so completely in sync. I've never seen two people as connected as you two are. It makes sense that you two feel what the other one feels, but not even being in the same room is pretty impressive," Stephen said. Out of all the guys, he was the most scientifically minded, especially when it came to psychology and matters of the mind. I'm sure he was constructing an experiment to carry out to prove that what he'd just seen was real.

"Surely you've seen something similar in your 900 years on this Earth?" Andrei asked Stephen.

"Once before," Stephen said, completely straight-faced. We all laughed. Sephie had set out the food on the island as we were talking and laughing. She walked to me as the guys helped themselves to food, tucking herself into my side where she fit so perfectly. I looked down at her, reveling in her smile.

"This is exactly what I needed, solnishko," I said, brushing a curl from her face. She just smiled her sweet smile and stood on her toes to kiss me. Suddenly, the stress from the day was completely gone.

"So, tell us what happened with Giana," Misha said after we had all started eating.

Viktor couldn't hide his amusement. "You missed a good one, Misha. You would've been so happy, especially after you were so angry last week," he said.

Misha looked at me, clearly still angry as he thought about Giana's behavior last week. "I hope you made her feel terrible."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know if she actually heard anything I said, that's the issue. It seemed like Armando had said the same thing to her over and over and she's still not hearing it. He was almost trying to force an apology out of her, like she was a child. I question whether she's really heard anything that's been said to her if she can't even apologize on her own," I said.

"Thankfully, Boss didn't accept it. Honestly, I was shocked that Armando did it," Viktor said.

"I do feel bad for Mando. He's in an awkward spot with this one," I said.

"What did you say to her?" Sephie asked.

"I told her she should come and apologize on her own, first and foremost. Then I think I told her you were smarter than she was and that her insecurity with herself was no excuse to try and use a falsely perceived fault to tear you down to make herself feel better. Then I listed everything you've done for her since she's been here and tried to make her feel bad for thinking the worst of you. I also might've thrown in a veiled threat about how angry we all were with her last week," I said that last sentence quietly. I wasn't sure how happy Sephie was going to be with that one. Misha, on the other hand, was ecstatic.

"Oh, please tell me you told her how angry I was last week. She can't keep from staring at me. Like literally all the time. I hope it crushes her to know I was pissed," he said.

"Not just you, Misha. I told her all of us were angry with her," I said.

"He told her that if she hurts Sephie, she deals with us," Viktor said.

Misha threw his fists in the air, "YES! Please tell me she was scared."

"Serves her right," Ivan said. "Sometimes you have to learn lessons the hard way. This is definitely one of those times for her."

"I think Sephie was right about her leading a sheltered life up until recently. Armando made a comment about her parents fixing everything for her but teaching her nothing or something like that after Boss ripped her a new one," Viktor said.

"So, her parents have been covering for her?" Sephie asked.

"That's what he made it seem like, but I don't know anything else about it," Viktor said. "This kind of has spoiled rich kid vibes, don't you think?"

Sephie was quiet for a moment. I could tell she was thinking about things; she chewed on her bottom lip, lost in thought. "Okay, so who here thinks she's going to want to go back to Italy in the next week?" she asked, a devilish grin on her face.

Four of us raised our hands. Stephen, one of the ones that didn't raise his hand, said, "I think she'll try, but I think this is the pivotal moment where Armando forces her to grow up. I don't think he'll let her go back to Italy right now. Not without him and I don't think he's dumb enough to think it's a good idea to leave the city right now."

"We're adding this to the white board in the morning," Andrei said.

Sephie was still lost in thought as we cleaned the kitchen up from dinner. We'd settled into a routine where she would cook, with the help of whoever was around to help her, but we all pitched in to clean up after, so she didn't have to. The guys would happily wash dishes if it meant she cooked more. Viktor still hadn't even advertised that we needed a chef. At this point, I was convinced he wasn't going to until Sephie told him she was tired of cooking.

We would order takeout regularly, just to give her a break. I didn't want her to feel like she had to cook. Only when she wanted to. We were just incredibly lucky that she wanted to cook more often than not.

She was still sitting at the island in the kitchen, lost in thought, as we cleaned up and kept chatting about everything going on. Ivan noticed her blank expression before I did. He called her name to try to get her attention, but she didn't respond. The other guys noticed she didn't respond right away too, so we all stopped. Ivan walked to her, placing his large hand on her shoulder.

"Princess?" he asked. As soon as she felt his hand on her, she looked up at him. She was almost surprised that he was standing next to her.

"Shit. I did it again," she said. He chuckled at her as he slid his arm around her shoulders.

"Tell me what's going on, princess," he said quietly. I stood and watched this giant bear of a man that could strike fear into any person he chose to be gentle and soft with her. I had never seen him be this way until Sephie. I didn't know it was possible. He generally never liked being touched and, from what little I know about his past, with good reason. She knew he needed it the most, I think. Ivan had very thick walls, but they were no match for Sephie. She knocked them down faster than I thought possible.

He pulled a chair up next to her, his hand still on her shoulder. He was trying to keep her here. The rest of the guys quietly went back to what they were doing, trying to give them as much privacy as they could, but I was sure they were all eavesdropping as much as possible. She sighed, looking up at him. She glanced at me as well, then back to Ivan. "I was thinking about everything that's happened the last week or so. Mostly about the Giana thing. I feel like it's my fault, somehow. Like I should've been nicer to her and this wouldn't have happened. Then I started to think about Chucky and my mind went blank and you were standing next to me," she said.

While the guys had tried to appear busy when she started talking, they were now blatantly listening to what she was telling Ivan. It made me smile that they were all so concerned about her.

"Your mind is going blank, Seph?" Stephen asked her.

She nodded her head. "I didn't know I was doing it until Adrik pointed it out."

"Does it happen often?" Andrei asked. He gave Stephen a knowing look, which surprised me.

"She's done it a few times since Mike. It's been a few days since it happened last, I think. It didn't happen at all when we were at the house, did it?" Ivan asked, looking at me.

"No, I didn't catch her doing it at all when we were there," I said. I looked at Stephen, asking, "Do you have more insight into why she's doing it or what we can do to help her? It seems that talking about things helps her not do it for a while."

In his usual calm, serious manner, he thought for a few minutes. While he was thinking, Andrei said, "It's happened to me before. After a bad concussion. Sephie's had at least two bad concussions fairly recently. It eventually went away for me, but it took a while. I think her brain is still healing. It doesn't help that she has to deal with everything else on top of it."

Ivan looked at me, then back at Sephie. "Maybe the acupuncture will help again. It helped before. You might need it again."

Sephie looked at me, silently asking my thoughts. She still wasn't used to believing that she could do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. She still felt like she needed permission. I found it amusing, but very endearing. I smiled at her, trying to tell her that she didn't need my permission. She looked back to Ivan. "I think I still have her card somewhere. It did help me feel better last time."

"I've got her number. I've been going to her for years," Ivan said, a smirk on his face. She raised an eyebrow at him. "What? It's not like I can feel when something is screwed up. Sometimes I need an outside opinion," he said. Sephie laughed, leaning over, and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Did this ever happen before to you, Seph?" Stephen asked.

"I think so. I would lose time after that night in the basement with my uncle for a while after I got away from him. It mostly happened when I was alone, so I'm not sure if it's the same thing. I'm not exactly aware when it's happening, but I would realize that the movie was over and I had no recollection of anything that happened. Things like that," she said.

"Any idea how long it lasted after you got away from him?" Andrei asked.

"I don't really remember. How long was it for you?" she asked.

"I think it lasted around six months for me, but it was a nasty concussion," he said.

"How did you get it?" she asked.

"Car accident. My buddy was a little too drunk. He swerved to avoid an animal in the road, lost control, and hit a tree. I got thrown through the windshield," he said.

I glanced at Sephie, who's eyes were wide in shock. I never knew about this story, either. "When did this happen?" I asked.

"Just after high school. I was a shit in school. Always did what I wasn't supposed to do. My friend was worse. It was good though. The accident was the wake-up call I needed," Andrei said.

"What happened to your friend?" Misha asked.

"He walked away from the accident. You know how they always say the drunk people survive the accidents? It was true in this case. He had a couple of bumps and scrapes, but they had to life-flight me to the hospital. They thought I was going to die. I haven't touched alcohol since that accident. I don't think my friend can say the same. Last I heard, he was spiraling out of control. He couldn't deal with the guilt," Andrei said.

I felt Sephie's eyes on me. I knew she was connecting something, but wasn't sure what just yet. She looked to Ivan with the same look on her face before she looked back to Andrei. "Bubba, were you unconscious when you were in the hospital for the first however long?"

He nodded. "I think I was out for four days."

That's what she was connecting.I caught Ivan's eye as he realized where she was going with this as well.

"Do you have any memories of when you were out?" she asked. There was a flash of immediate recognition on his face, but he looked like he was uncomfortable talking about it. She quietly got up and went to him. "You don't have to talk about it, Bubba. But I have a feeling I know exactly what you remember," she said as she put his giant arm around her shoulders, so she could hold onto his waist. He looked down at her, curious. "Was it like swimming in the nothing? Like you could see your own body but nothing else?" she asked.

Andrei's eyes went wide. "How did you know that? Did you just do that mind reading thing to me? Get out of my head!" he said as he put his hand over her eyes.

She laughed, taking his hand from her eyes. "No, Bubba. It happened to me too. When I was on the plane, that's what was happening. Adrik's voice pulled me out of my nightmare and pulled me there. His voice is eventually what helped me find my way out."

"That's what happened when I was at the hospital. Sephie's voice pulled me there out of my nightmare where I'm trying to kill the doctor that experimented on me when I was a kid," Ivan said.

"That's what happened when I was a kid the first time someone tried to get to my father through me. My father's voice is what pulled me out of it," I said.

Sephie laughed softly at the shocked expression on Andrei's face. She then looked to Misha, Stephen, and Viktor. "Have you three had similar experiences too?"

They all had equally shocked expressions on their faces, but they just nodded their heads. Sephie smiled, looking at me. "That's why we're all here together. We've always been connected."