King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Nine

Adrik

We wrapped up the meeting with Gus, Smith, DJ, and Chen. They gave us all the information we had on the brawn operations they’d found, as well as the surveillance they’d already put in place. Gus and DJ were smart men. They would prove to be useful. Chen, too.

Smith left the meeting first, which was advantageous. Stephen had a team grab him a couple blocks from the apartment building and take him to a safe house. He would stay there, under constant guard until this was all over. I agreed with Sephie that we wouldn’t be able to trust him. Before Sephie, I would’ve just killed him and called it a day. She was right though, it likely wasn’t his fault he was caught up in everything if he’d been forced to deal. Now, he would sit this one out and get a second chance once it was over. Or he would get shot if he was du mb enough to try and escape.

Before we left the apartment, I informed the other three what we had decided on Smith. I needed them to trust me, so I made extra effort to be honest with them. It’s what had made my relationship so strong with Trino in the beginning. I was as transparent as possible with him and he’d stayed loyal to me, even through the other bosses’ attempts to undermine me.

“Smith will no longer be a part of this,” I said. Chen’s jaw dropped. He looked to Sephie immediately, shocked.

“Please tell me you knew him before too and he wasn’t to be trusted either,” Chen said.

She laughed quietly. “No, Chen. He’s being held until this is over. I don’t trust him, but if he’s being forced to deal by Massimo, it’s not necessarily his fault. He’ll go free once this is all over with.

Chen audibly exhaled. Gus laughed at Chen, shaking his head. “You would never last in Colombia, man.”

“Which is exactly why I do not live in Colombia,” Chen said.

Gus looked to me, a serious look on his face. “I appreciate your discretion, sir. I’ve had a hard time trusting him since this started. He commands a certain respect from a small group of dealers, but I think it’s because they’re afraid of him. The rest of us want to be here. I never got the same feeling from him. I think it’s better if he’s not running anything through this.”

to Gus, sir,” DJ said. “He’s well-known in his area of the city, too. He’s got a good rep with the people.”

Trino’s guys,” I said. Gus simply nodded to me. “I’ll be frank with you all. This is likely going to get messy. Very messy. But once the other bosses are taken care of, I’m going to need people I can trust throughout the city. I’m very generous to people who are loyal to me.” They all nodded in understanding. “We’re going to check on everything you’ve given us tonight, to see what plans we can come up with. We’ll be in touch soon after.

leave. Once we were alone in the apartment, I

this, as well as after everything calms down. I get the same feeling from them that I did about Trino. Good guys, trying to

we’ve been told it was the bosses that stopped the first wave of brawn years ago, but it was really the dealers?”

that this whole time. Maybe they were trying to keep me from finding

time has been that the dealers were

that made it, so

for him to catch up to us outside the elevator. As he walked toward us, Sephie met him hathway. I knew she was still struggling with what had happened earlier that night. Once

on the concrete, opening his arms to her as the got closer to him. She ran the last few steps to him, her arms wrapping around his neck. He held

conversation.

vampire,” she said as he held her.

sure of that. You survived it once completely on your own, but you have us now. We will never let another bad thing happen to

tears. Finally, she sighed, saying, “squishiest vampire ever.” We heard him laugh as he picked her up and hugged her tighter for

me happy to see them so close. It was a long time coming. I had my doubts in the beginning of whether Stephen would ever warm up to her, but it was evident that he loved her just as much as the other guys. Almost as

bestroom. I had to admit to loving it when she demanded 1 hand over my shirt when we were finally alone. As much as I hated putting clothes on

said you could feel my anger without having to look at me now?” I said. She looked at me curiously as she jumped down to rinse her mo uth out.

“Was it like a living thing