King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Two Hundred Fifty

Sephie

After falling asleep again for a short time, we finally managed to drag ourselves out of bed. I was happy to stay in bed for as long as possible today, but his meetings and my early Christmas present beckoned to us.

Adrik’s schedule was quite full that afternoon, so while Viktor, Ivan, and Misha set about to ruin Giana’s day, I stayed in the penthouse with Andrei while Stephen was in charge of Adrik’s meetings.

“Why are you not in on the pickpocketing party, Bubba?” I asked him as I curled up next to him to keep myself warm. I was on my third cup of coffee of the day. It helped keep me warm as well, but I also needed help staying awake. Turns out having mind-blowing s ex first thing in the morning completely zaps all my energy.

He stretched his giant arm around my shoulders so I could lean against his torso. Since my research confirmed he was, in fact, the warmest of all the guys, he took his heating pad duties very seriously. He would happily offer his body heat anytime I needed it when Adrik wasn’t around. I think he was happy to have something that the other guys didn’t have once again. Adrik was right. Andrei loved being the closest one to me in the beginning. He’s been much happier since he was put on heater duty.

“I’m not good at it. I’m actually quite terrible at it, if I’m being honest,” he said, seriously. I sat up, turning to look at him. He

was serious.

“I can’t imagine you being terrible at anything, Bubba,” I said, settling back against him once more.

“No, it’s true. I am. I get nervous and it makes it obvious that I’m trying to steal something every single time. Pickpocketing is an art,” he said.

“Why do you get nervous?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really like touching other people unless I have to.”

I laughed, trying to move away from him. “You should’ve told me this earlier. I didn’t know I’ve been torturing you.”

He laughed, pulling me back against him. “Don’t be st upid, spider monkey. You’re different. If it’s someone I know, it’s fine. You’ve always been fine. I’m not like super weird about it. I just don’t like touching strangers.”

know how you feel though. I’m not a fan of it either. It makes me secretly happy I’ll never be able to get pregnant. Have you seen how many people just randomly touch a pregnant woman’s stomach? It’s disturbing. The body count would be so high…” I said,

“Sephie…”

This is

“Huh?”

serious. I feel like I’m in trouble. Don’t ever use my full name. I’ll have a panic attack,”

in voice. “I know that humor is the way you deal with your trauma and I appreciate it. But I want you to know that I’ve never met anyone that I admire as much as you. It actually used to

took the top spot.”

to be Ivan?” I

he got hurt. He didn’t have to go to the hospital, but years ago, even just getting hurt and having to be bandaged would send him back to fight his past. He wasn’t struggling, so the other guys didn’t wake up, but I couldn’t sleep, so I heard everything. It was just like when we were all on the plane and heard you struggling against your uncle and everything he beat into you. I don’t know all the details, obviously, but I know Ivan’s m om sent him away to some facility when he was a kid. And I know he was tortured there. But I also know it made

when we were in Italy. You’ve got the basics of it. Why did you never tell him that you

really. But he was always so quiet before you. I wasn’t sure if it would make him angry to know that I knew, so I kept it to myself. It’s why his fighting at the hospital never bothered me. It would take all of us to hold him down. Viktor struggles with taking it personally. The other guys do too, just not as much. Adrik doesn’t. I think he knows what happened to Ivan too. But I heard the pain in his voice that night when I heard

me all weepy,” I said, sniffling.

see who was coming in. It was Misha, Viktor, and Ivan. Misha and Ivan both had shi

set down on the coffee table. “What’s that?” I asked, as 1 leaned forward to put my now empty coffee cup

It’ll tell us for

said, leaning back

what about the guy? Does she give him

It was rolled tight, so it would be easy to hand off. “Let’s find out together,” he said, smiling, as he started to unroll the money. As he did that, Misha handed the small vial of powder to

feel like I’m in science class again,” I said, waiting for the results. Viktor put a small amount of the powder into another container with liquid already in it. He swirled it around. “What’s it supposed

worked.

explosions. Andrei is the expert at that anyway, so you’re safe. It changes color,” he said as he held it up to the

I asked, not able to contain my laughter. They all

means she’s a coke addict, sestrichka,” Viktor said,

from in between two of the hundred-dollar