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.”

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

“Sephie…”

oh. This is serious.”

“Huh?”

serious. I feel like I’m in

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

took the

be Ivan?” I asked,

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

we were in Italy. You’ve got the basics

happened to Ivan too. But I heard the pain in his voice that night when I heard him talking in his sleep. He’s haunted by it, but he still shows up every single day. If that’s not the definition of courage, I don’t know what is.” He sighed. “You’re the same. You’ve been through so much and you still show up every single day, making sure everyone around you is happy, despite carrying the enormous pain of your past. I don’t know how you do it, honestly, but I admire the he ll out of both of you for it,” he said, pulling me back against him and kissing the

all weepy,” I

door to the penthouse open and close. I’ quickly wiped the stray tears from my eyes, looking to see who was coming in. It was Misha, Viktor, and Ivan. Misha and Ivan both had shi t-eating grins on their faces. “Oh, this is gonna be good,” I said, unable to contain my

a small kit with him that he set down on the coffee table. “What’s that?” I asked, as 1 leaned

us

said, leaning back against Andrei once more.

about the guy? Does she give him anything other than money?” Andrei asked.

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 Viktor, who had

of the powder into another container with liquid already in it. He swirled it around. “What’s it supposed to do? Should I duck?” I was curious

worked.

color,” he said as he held it up to the light. As he

or a boy?” I asked, not able to contain my laughter. They all laughed.

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

pulled a small sheet of paper from in between two of the hundred-dollar bills in