King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter One Hundred Ninety

Adrik

I watched Sephie’s reaction at Stephen’s solution to the Mike problem. She thought for a minute, clearly unsure about it.

“I don’t know how I feel about this,” I said. “It’s one thing for you guys to spar with her. I know you guys won’t hurt her. I don’t know that I can say the same for Mike. If he hurts her, he’s a dead man.”

She leaned into me, smiling sweetly at me. She had that spark in her eyes that only I could see. I felt my heart jump in my chest as I looked at her.

“Mike doesn’t have the same training as Sephie does now,” Viktor said. “This could actually work out really well. I was going to have them start training with us starting Monday anyway.”

“Sephie can be his first test. I heard him trying to convince you that he didn’t need any training. Tell him if he can best her, then he can skip it,” Ivan said, a sly smile stretched across his face.

“But what if he really can best me?” Sephie asked.

Misha and Andrei looked at each other, laughing loudly. “Gazelle, you don’t need to worry about him besting you. We need to worry about being able to pull you off him, so you don’t seriously injure him.”

“But he’s not you and Bubba. He’s not going to know what to say to pi ss me off. I don’t know how to just summon the anger,” she said. She still had a worried look on her face.

“That’s what we’re for,” Andrei said. “We’ll get you to see red and throw you in there with him.”

Stephen had been quietly contemplating this plan, as he was want to do. He looked at Sephie, “from the impression I got from talking to Keith, Mike is more talk than anything. He likely did well on the force in the small town, but it’s not saying much when you’re King Turd on a pile of shi t.”

to his face from now on, so thank you for that. And

to move that much mass as quickly as you can move your lighter, smaller body. And when you’re angry?” He scoffed, “you’re like lightning fast. That’s why me and Misha enjoy pi ssing you off so much. You’re a serious challenge

“If Keith is right and Mike never really took his training seriously, it’s going to be painfully obvious very quickly. And something tells me that you don’t need to worry about being able to summon your anger with him. I don’t even think you’ll need Andrei and Misha as backup to make you angry. I’m fairly certain Mike is going

more than we’re able

to the wh ite board. Both for how long it takes her to take him down and for how long it takes him to say something that will unleash the fire we all know is

wouldn’t happen if I didn’t want it to. I looked to Sephie. “This only happens If you’re okay with it and want to do it. I have zero

at me for a moment. I could still see the uncertainty in her eyes. She then looked at each of the guys. “You’ll all be there?” Everyone nodded. She looked down, her hands fidgeting in her

elated yells. I couldn’t help but laugh. I knew Sephie would be able to handle herself. My guys were trained by the best and they trained her. I’d seen what she could do and I knew she was still holding back. This might even be good for

all five of the guys to pull me off Mike and Ivan still only had the use of one arm. The odds were in my favor and I knew it. That didn’t bode well for Mike, if it came down to that.

to her agreeing to this. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it could be good for her. She was holding back, but only because she didn’t believe in her abilities

until after noon, to give him time to recover from his night of partying that !

que pasa, amigo?” he said, the sleep still evident in his

want to hear,” I said. I filled him in on what we’d found out about Dario. and Massimo, as well as what Salvadori, Anthony, and Lorenzo had been planning. When I got to the part about them negotiating with the

he yelled into the phone. I could hear him move the phone away from his face, cursing loudly. He gained control, but he was still cursing in Spanish as he said, “do those pendejos not know that

actually the one that informed everyone else of that fact. Mando didn’t even know that, nor did his guys, or Sal’s guy that’s giving us this

going to steal her, Jefe. I respect you, but I’m telling you right now, I will risk it all to get her. She can learn to love Colombian

might actually like to see you try, if I’m

hurts, Jefe. I’m a sensitive man,” he said, still laughing.

to have New Year’s fireworks

concerning how much I’m enjoying toying with them. They still don’t know that Dario and Massimo are down here. I’ve kept them separate from each other. I can let that slip and watch them fight each other for at least two weeks. It’ll

truly a slek fu ck, Trino. He killed