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.”

they do. Your mother was much the same. Aleksei will tell you. She had a similar bond with him and a 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

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

from coming down here. She’s starting to get worried about you,” he said, a small smile on

stood up. “Come. We mustn’t make her

a few more days to make the plans, with the help of the guys, but we were on our way to the house that weekend and Sephie was none-the wiser. She just

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 her, so I made my

normal and coming up with a reason to not go to the house until after dinner. Once there,

taking it all in before she turned back to me, I was nervous. I never get

for her to turn around.

toward me. Her hand went up

It didn’t happen

grinning at my inability to keep my hands off of her. I pulled her to me. She, of course, immediately picked up on my amusement. “I like this better, too,” she said quietly, as I took her hand and slid the ring on her finger.

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 and every day and I want to keep falling in love with you every single day