King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

390

Adrik

It took me a few days, but I finally managed to talk to my father without Sephie around. I had to enlist the help of all the guys to keep her busy while I had a conversation with him. I wanted to make sure she didn’t overhear what I was going to ask him.

“How did you propose to my mother?” I asked him after he walked into my office, closing the door behind him at my request. I’d even asked that Aleksei not be present. He was slightly worried.

He exhaled, the relief visible on his face. He got a sly smile across his face. “I was wondering when you were going to think of this. I was worried you would wait too long.”

“I’ve been thinking about it since right after I met her. I didn’t want to scare her by asking her too soon. I’ve had the ring made for months now. I was going to ask her before she and Ivan were taken. After, she was so hurt that it didn’t make sense to ask her then. Now, she’s dealing with finally being forced to feel her fear and she’s insecure for the first time in her life, I think. I want her to know without a doubt that I’m not going anywhere. Or that the guys aren’t either. She’s worried they’re all afraid of her now.”

He scoffed. “How could they be afraid of her?”

“I don’t know, but that’s what she’s worried about. She spends so much time taking care of everyone else, sometimes she forgets to take care of herself. She has six of us that she expertly takes care of, but we have one of her and I feel like we fail miserably most of the time. I want to do something special for her to try and help make up for that.”

few of my men, but not as strong as what Sephie has. My men were not the same. Your mother was not the same. But it was similar enough.” He was thoughtful for a moment. “I see why you love her. I haven’t met a woman like her, including your mother. When you have a woman like that by your side, you become unstoppable. Everyone worries about men when it comes to business, when it comes to war, politics, all of it. Men are in charge. But it’s the women that hold the world together. She’s what will hold you and your men together so that you can rule this city the way it should be ran. For the benefit of the people, not only those few in charge. That’s what

a few hours. He told me more about my mother in those few hours than he had in 30 years. I knew it was all because of Sephie. She made me see him completely differently than I had when I was growing up. She helped me understand why he did the things he did. I had a new perspective on why he was the way he was when I was a kid. She was right. I would’ve been the same as him, had the roles been reversed

keep her from coming down here. She’s starting to get worried

up. “Come. We mustn’t make her worry.”

on our way to the house that weekend and Sephie was none-the wiser. She just thought I wanted a couple nights to ourselves. Which

know, without a doubt that I wasn’t going anywhere and that I was never going to send her away from me for any reason ever again. I was tired of waiting for the perfect moment to ask

great job of acting completely normal and coming up with a reason to not go to the house until after dinner. Once there, they all pretended to be very tired and went straight to their rooms, leaving me and Sephie to

She walked a few steps into the room, taking it all in before she turned back to me, I was nervous. I never get nervous. I took the ring out of my pocket

her to turn

she turned toward me. Her hand went up to cover

didn’t happen

for very long. It meant I couldn’t have my hands on her. Unacceptable. I stood up, grinning at my inability to keep my hands off of her. I pulled

you. But with each day that passes, you’ve proven that the love I have for you knows no depths or no bounds. I fall more in love with you each