King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Three Hundred Thirty

Sephie

“How much work do you have today? Can we go for a walk or do you want me to drag one of the guys with me instead?” I asked Adrik as we were walking down the stairs.

“I will go with you, but you need a jacket,” he said, stopping me from walking down another step. He pulled me back toward the bedroom once more to get the jacket that I hadn’t thought about.

“I like where this is going, too,” I said, grinning at him. I heard him curse under his breath as we walked back up the stairs.

“You are not making this easy on me,” he said, shaking his head.

Once downstairs, I realized that it’d been so long since we were at the house that there likely wasn’t very much food there. “Can I send someone to get groceries?” I asked Adrik as we walked into the kitchen.

“You can do whatever you like, solnishko,” he said, following me to the kitchen island.

“What about me cooking? Am I still banned from that? You guys said I was banned until I had use of both arms again.” I held up my left arm. “I can use it again, so the ban should be lifted, right?”

He smiled at me. “Only if you let us help you,” he said.

“Deal.” I said, right as Stephen walked into the kitchen.

“What kind of deals are being made?” he asked.

“I can cook now as long as I let you guys help me,” I announced.

“Oh, Viktor is going to be so happy. VIKTOR!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, which made me jump and laugh at the same time. All of the guys came rushing toward the kitchen like something was definitely wrong. Ivan and Andrei had their guns drawn, even. Stephen was standing there quietly waiting on them.

What happened??” they all asked urgently once they saw Adrik and I in the

cook again,” Stephen said, his sly smile stretching across his face.

me and picked me up in a bear hug.

100%, but somehow

smiling at how happy they were about this new development. I made a quick grocery list, handing it to Viktor. I knew this was one task he would happily take care of. Adrik announced that we were going for a walk and would be back shortly. Once we were outside and alone, he was still laughing at Viktor’s reaction. “He really does

his language,” I said, grabbing Adrik’s

you mean?”

is that for him. It’s the way I show my love for all of you, but it’s his language.

does make sure everything and everyone is always taken care of. He’s so good at it that sometimes I forget he does it all,” Adrik said.

smiled at his somewhat worried expression. “I don’t think you should feel bad about that. That’s what he wants. He wants it all to appear effortless and mostly it is, because he’s set the systems in place for

“I think Trino is right. You

my own

insights are

almost life he lived. In the beginning, it was painful to think about. Now, he’s healed enough that it’s more curiosity to think about what

he talked to you about this, solnishko?” Adrik asked.

mentioned her around me. I haven’t asked either. I really do try not to pry in anyone’s head, but I’ve picked up on a few times when he’s been thinking about her. I pieced together the

about what I’d just told him.

understandable sadness there. I think that’s why I pick up on it, but I don’t feel like he’s still struggling with feel more like he tries not to think about it too much. I’m guessing he struggled with

I don’t think you’ve ever seen Viktor get truly angry, but he almost lost his grip on sanity for a while there. He was consumed by revenge, which as you know eventually led to his landing himself in the Syrian prison. Honestly, it was a suicide mission for him. He didn’t expect to live through it. We’d tried to talk him out of it. We thought we had talked him out of it, but he left in the middle of the night without a word to the rest of us. Ivan was pi ssed. It almost ruined their friendship completely. They had a few heated arguments after we got Viktor out,”

and Ivan seemed very close. I couldn’t imagine

opinions on suicide. Very strong. He told Viktor if he ever thought about doing anything like that again to let him know. Ivan would put a bullet in his head for him instead

But also, partly

had a conversation with me about it shortly after we got back from Italy. He said he owed Viktor an apology because he was starting to understand how he felt after his wife was killed.

a negative effect on him during all