King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Four

Sephie

“So, you really confirmed she’s buying drugs when she goes to the lobby?” Keith asked. It was almost like he was expecting us to tell him his suspicions were false.

“She’s apparently got a nasty little coke habit,” Misha said. He held up the vial he picked off Giana earlier that day.

Keith’s eyes went wide. “That’s what fell out of her purse that day!” he said, pointing to the vial in Misha’s hand.

“If she’s buying that much coke twice a week, she’s got to be staying high almost constantly right now. It’s likely why we haven’t seen much of her. That kind of habit eventually gets difficult to hide.” Ivan said.

“I wonder if that explains her nervousness around you guys from the beginning. I’m positive she caught on to how observant we all are right away. She’s never liked being in the same room as all of us. He ll, she’s never really liked being around us much at all, unless there’s shopping involved,” I said.

“It’s easier to hide when shopping. She can be more animated without arousing suspicion,” Andrei said.

“Have you noticed her having nosebleeds?” Ivan asked Keith.

“She’s had a couple lately. She blames the weather. She says she ha tes it when it gets cold,” Keith said.

“Have you seen Armando questioning her about anything? Not that he would do it in front of you, but I just wonder if he’s noticing any of this,” I asked Keith.

“I haven’t seen anything. Ever since they got into a fight about her basically accusing you of being an addict, which is really ironic now, they’ve had a strained relationship. I think they even slept in separate rooms this past weekend at least one night.. I’ve heard them arguing, but they’re always arguing in Italian so I can’t understand what they’re saying,” he said.

love for each other and it would probably still sound

on the phone several times lately too. Again, always in Italian. There was one argument that got really heated, so I recorded part of it,” Keith pulled his phone out of his pocket. We all looked at him, somewhat surprised. “I don’t like not being able to understand what’s going on. I’m not being nosey, but if I’m supposed to be keeping this dude safe, then I need to know what’s

He tossed his phone to me so I could put it closer to my ear. It was just Armando’s voice, so he wasn’t on speaker. Not that I could’ve understood the other person on this recording. I listened to it a couple of times to make sure I was hearing it correctly. “He’s talking in very vague terms. Saying things like ‘I’ll take care of it’ and “you have to give me time. At the end he says, ‘I told you that wasn’t going to work but you wouldn’t listen to me.”” ! tossed the

I am

out the way it’s supposed to. I would like to stick with that option rather than the other

want to know the otlier option?”

to either. the ball or the explosion in Italy. Or the failed kidnapping attempt,” Ivan said. He had a habit of rubbing his hand over his goatee when he would

stick with the first option,” Andrei

through mine, keeping my arms on top of his that were wrapped around my waist. “What else did you find out about Giana this afternoon? You guys have

arms as

been there recently,” Viktor said. He produced the note that I had translated earlier and handed

his safe is impossible. You have to have Armando to get into that thing, so that checks out.” He read the other three sentences and then read them again. “Top of the stairs, third door on the

in there or is he the special thing?” I

it’s just like the bigger one in his office. You have to have Armando

pricey art on his walls in his house in Italy. Do you know if that’s the

see the light bulb turn on in Keith’s head. “That’s what that means. Look, I don’t know art. I couldn’t tell you how much these paintings are worth or even what the paintings are of, in a couple of cases, but he has the majority of paintings in these rooms on the first floor. He has a few upstairs as well, all in his room. Maybe that’s why his room is specifically pointed out. It’s really the only one

if you can’t access the safe. But stolen art is very hard to sell. Given that her family used to be wealthy, she might have connections on how to move it, but this seems well

no longer wealthy,

with Armando. Why would she be trying to rob him, if not for a larger reason? When she ‘apologized’ to me,