King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

380

Sephie

I hooked my arm through Viktor’s as I followed him to his desk while Adrik had his meeting. “What’s his schedule like today, Papa Bear?” I asked.

“Three more meetings after this one, then he’s done. Unless I hear back from Henry’s office saying he can meet tonight,” he answered me in Russian, since there were plenty of ears around the office.

“What about Vitaliy? What’s he doing today?”

“He begrudgingly left this morning and said he won’t be back until tonight. I don’t think he’s going to stay much longer. He’s annoyed at having to see so many people,” he said, trying not to laugh.

“I find it both ironic and hilarious that he’s as popular as he is when he returns to the city,” I said. I thought for a few moments, then asked, “when will you know if he has an extra meeting tonight? I’m trying to make a plan for feeding you all since I’ve been slacking on my duties lately.”

He chuckled. “You’ve been exhausted, sestrichka. You haven’t been slacking. I’ve already ordered dinner for tonight anyway, so you don’t need to worry.” I squinted my eyes at him, but didn’t argue. I decided I would spend the afternoon making him a treat instead.

I looked around to see who else was in the office. Stephen was the only one, other than Viktor. I couldn’t steal Viktor since he was on master of schedule duties. “Yoden, are you busy this afternoon?”

be busy right now. It was starting to get boring, so I

arm, pulling him up. “You’re

gone? Am I properly dressed? Do I need a coat? Never mind, 1 don’t get cold. It’s physically impossible,” he said. He let a sly smile slip out when I looked up at him. Very uncharacteristic of him, but I loved him

are? Like I love you even more each time it happens. The look on his and Alyosha’s faces is just perfection. They’re so lost. It’s so great.” We

fre aking funny. He was so quietly hilarious that he kept us all entertained. And he could say

schedule duties, it meant I didn’t get to spend as much time with Viktor and Stephen as 1 did the other three. I was starting to suspect that wasn’t helping those two realize how they were special, so I’d decided to try and change that

the kitchen and I started to pull a few things out of the cabinets. Stephen said, “you know Viktor already ordered dinner for tonight, right? You don’t

at him. “I know, Yoden. I’m making him cookies. You’re helping”

weird. It’s very unorthodox, but he’s very much in love with you. It’s to the point that he almost revolts if I eat food made by anyone else. He’s not happy about it and he’s very loud about that

like it was a whole other person inside him. “My stomach feels the same about Vinny. So much so that t think Adrik got a little

was his turn to laugh. “Is he capable of getting jealous? I’ve never

much time with all of you guys since I did nothing but sleep and apparently I’m incapable of sleeping on my own anymore that he started to feel jealous. It’s why you guys only just found out about my eyes. That’s been happening for quite a while now. He wanted to keep it just between us for

never

noticed. Your brain is very busy. You should cut it some slack for not noticing

and a curse,” he said. He followed me to the pantry so I could hand him everything I needed for this project.

a gift than a curse. You just struggle with believing in yourself so you’re overanalyzing. Your first instinct is always right. Stop second-guessing yourself. Whoever told you that you were du mb when you were younger