King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

371

Sephie

“Battista arrived last night. He wants to meet tomorrow. He made reservations at his favorite spot,” Vitaliy said during a lull in the conversation at

dinner.

“Please tell me his favorite spot is someplace fun, like the zoo,” I said.

Vitaliy laughed. “Net, but you might be able to talk him into it next time.”

“Da mmit. Missed opportunity,” I said, “Where’s his favorite spot? Although I can tell you right now, I’m not going to enjoy it as much as I would the

700.”

“He loves one restaurant at his hotel downtown. He always has important meetings there. But since he owns the place, he’s usually the only one in the restaurant for those meetings. It’s very convenient,” Vitaliy said.

“What hotel?”

“Same one Mr. Turner works at,” Ivan said.

ss hotel,” I said. “But my consolation prize is I’ll get to say hi to Mr. Turner.” I hadn’t been back

to the side. “No one is leaving your side this time, princess.

getting very good at reading my emotions, Squish. Even when they’re

I have the same fear as you do. There’s no way I’m letting what happened last time ever happen again. You won’t be alone at any point. Might make the bathroom situation awkward, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make,” he

him. “You’re my favorite, Squish. Don’t tell

behold when we arrived at the hotel the following day, Between the seven of us, plus Vitaliy and all of his

we walked up the steps. “Miss Sephie, you look beautiful as always,” he said, bowing his

stepped away from Adrik to give Mr. Turner a hug. “It’s good to see you, Mr. Turner. How are things today? Good? Quiet?”

Mr. Turner very rarely asked me to come see him, so I had a feeling he knew something he thought I should know. He winked at me as I stepped back to Adrik. “I’m glad to see you fine gentlemen taking

hotel, Vitaliy looked at Adrik and I, somewhat surprised. “He used to be my neighbor. I’m nowhere near that friendly to just anybody.” I said,

skin and black hair gave him the appearance of a much younger man, bowever. Vitally greeted him as warmly as he was capable of. When Adrik stepped away from me to shake his hand, the guys all silently moved closer to me, effectively boxing me in.

L

at least to me. He introduced the first one to Vitaliy. I watched as Vitaliy shook his hand, his cold smile on his face, like normal. The second person had gotten a phone call as were walking up, so she had stepped away just before we got to them. She had finished the call and was walking back to us. I noticed Ivan, who was standing partially in front of me suddenly stiffened. No sooner had 1 felt his unease and I felt his protective bubble go up around me. Since no one was necessarily paying attention to us yet, I grabbed his hand, asking quietly, “what’s going

“Something’s happening. It’s different. I’m okay, but I might need you,” he said. I nodded my head, keeping my hand in his

I noticed the very quick look of shock flash across his face before it went back to cold and hard. Adrik noticed too, as he cut his eyes over to me before looking back at Battista as he introduced him to the

a moment. He nodded his head and let go of my hand. Adrik saw the exchange between us before I walked to his side. After I greeted everyone, he quickly searched my eyes to find out what had happened with Ivan. He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as he gently pushed me back toward Ivan and the other guys. I grabbed Ivan’s hand as soon as I was partially behind him and Andrei once more. I felt him

a table that was large enough that Ivan could sit next to me. I kept my hand on his knee under the table the entire time. I’d only ever seen

Vitaliy had a good relationship. It was obvious that Vitaliy was at case with Battista. Adrik was too. The other man that was with Battista was quiet, but honest when he spoke. While Battista was loud and boisterous, his associate was quieter and almost shy. The woman was a little bit of a different story. She wasn’t quite as old as Vitaliy and Battista, but she was older than Adrik by at least a decade, if not more. It did not stop her from gazing longingly at him every chance she got. After his initial introduction, Adrik hadn’t even glanced at her, but she was almost fixated on him. She didn’t talk much, but when she did, she was fake. Very fake. I did not get a good feeling from her,

look away from her, even. It was starting to concern me. After they got the important business out of the way and the conversation turned to more meaningless subjects, I leaned over to Adrik. “I need to

I went to get up. He looked to Andrei and jerked his head slightly toward me as I stood up, excusing myself for a moment. Ivan was immediately