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.

Italian. They could be confessing their love for each other and it would probably still sound like a heated argument,” Adrik sald sarcastically.

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

way up. It wasn’t the best recording, so I couldn’t hear it well enough from across the office. 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

saying quietly, “if I haven’t told you how grateful I am to

lately?” Ivan asked. “He could be talking about a business deal that isn’t working out the way it’s supposed to. I would like

we want to know the

he’s really considering switching sides, that could explain the first two statements. The third could be in reference to either. the ball or the explosion in Italy. Or the failed kidnapping attempt,” Ivan said.

why you’d prefer to stick

did you find out about Giana this afternoon? You guys have been down here all afternoon, it can’t be just that

as we

dealer. We’re thinking it’s all in reference to Armando’s house, but none of us have been there recently,” Viktor said. He produced the note that I had translated earlier and handed it to Keith. “Can you make sense of any of that, in reference to his house?”

thing, so that checks out.” He read the other three sentences and

in there or is he the special thing?” I

in there, but it’s just like the bigger one in his office. You have to have Armando to get into

his house in Italy. Do you know if that’s the case here as well?” I asked.

these paintings are worth or even what the paintings are of, in a couple of cases, but he has

for maximum profit, that’s the way to go if you can’t access the safe. But stolen art is very hard to sell. Given that her family used

family is no longer wealthy, then?” Adrik asked.

with Armando. Why would she be trying to rob him, if not for a larger reason?