King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Two Hundred Sixteen

Sephie

Adrik stepped out of the bedroom while I finished getting dressed to make a few phone calls. He was trying to get Dr. Williams to come to his office so Ivan and I wouldn’t have to go back to the hospital. We wanted to make sure that the hospitals could be prepared if we weren’t able to stop Sal from switching the supply. We were trying to put in place as many fail safes as we could to make sure his plan didn’t work like he wanted it to.

When I walked out of the bedroom, Ivan was in the penthouse. He and Adrik were having what looked like a serious conversation, although I couldn’t hear what was being said until I got closer. They both looked at me as I walked down the hallway. Ivan smiled at me, opening both of his arms to me. I walked quickly to him. “Super Squish. I didn’t know how much I really missed your regular hugs. No more one-armed hugs,” I said as I wrapped my arms around his waist. He held me tightly, kissing the top of my head.

“You only have yourself to blame for that one. I kept telling you I could’ve given you a normal hug that whole time, but you wouldn’t let me. So, really, it’s entirely your fault.” I heard Adrik laugh behind us.

I poked him in the ribs as I laughed too. “Where’s everyone else?” I asked.

Adrik said, “I wanted a few minutes with Ivan. I told him about our conversation last night, solnishko. I also told him about your pinky swear this morning.” He looked at me seriously, but I could see the concern on his face. “I’m serious about this, Sephie. I want to make sure you’re always okay. Selfishly, I need you at your best. I need your light to always be this bright. I need to make sure you’re always good. So, we’re holding you to your pinky swear.” Ivan’s giant arm slid across my shoulders. He gave me a stern look, in the way that only he could. I couldn’t help but laugh at him. We’d come a long way from me being convinced he wanted to murder me in my sleep.

I looked at both Ivan and Adrik. They were both so concerned about me that I couldn’t help but feel loved by them both. It was still a new feeling for me. I remembered feeling loved when my m om was alive, for sure, but when I went to live with my uncle, it went to the other extreme. There was no love in that house. It was so dark in that house that it made me question whether love really did exist. Then I met Adrik and the guys. They’ve shown me that it does exist, that there is light in the darkness, all while telling me I’ve been doing the same for them. I knew both of these men would do everything in their power to make sure I was always protected, always safe, and always loved.

“I pinky swear to both of you that I will come to you more. And I love you both. That is all.” I said, smiling sweetly at them. Ivan kissed the top of my head, squeezing my shoulders once more, before pushing me gently toward Adrik. He opened his arms for me, a small smile on his face.

“You do look better, solnishko. I can see when things get too heavy for you. You’re obviously lighter this morning,” he said as he wrapped his arms around me.

“I can see it too, princess. It’s obvious when you’re trying to hold things in too long. At least to us,” Nan said.

“You can both tell me when I zone out, then. Because I didn’t know I was doing that. I really didn’t know I needed to talk about anything until we started talking about it last night. I’m very accustomed to holding everything in and not telling anyone anything So please feel free to tell me when you notice these things,” I said.

“Deal,” they both said.

care of everyone else, princess. Like you were made for that role, honestly. Just let us do the

these mic drop moments where

got nothing here,” I said, grinning at him.

They looked slightly wary, like they weren’t

through that last night. I didn’t mean for any

spider monkey. We just don’t know

as he opened his arms for me. “You guys just have to keep loving me the way you always do. That’s a bigger help than you could ever imagine.”

here for you,

happy to see him start to really come out of his shell, I

so only I could hear, “I needed that, spider monkey. You’re

then he looked to me. “It’s Chen,” he said,

it, putting it on speaker so they could all hear. “Hey Chen, what’s up?”

not calling too early?”

all, Chen. Did you find more

think you’re going to want to hear this,” he said. I glanced up at the worried faces around me. “The dealers are organizing against Sal. Word got out

how?” I asked.

They’re scouring the city now, trying to find where they’re

dealers are we talking about here, Chen?”

+

still mad about the last time brawn was around. It killed a lot of people. There was a lot of

in Russian, “we can use this to our