King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

*Sephie

I could feel Adrik’s surprise when his father asked him what he needed. We had come to Panama for Trino, nothing more. I knew Adrik wasn’t planning on asking his father for help. In his mind, this was his problem and he was going to deal with it. His father, however, was more than willing to help his son finally realize the plans he could never materialize when he was in charge of the city.

“We might’ve just f**ked up part of their plans. We got Sal’s goddaughter out of the picture, so now Martin has no payment for whatever his part in this plan is. That just happened yesterday, so we’re waiting to see how he handles that when he finds out,” Ivan said.

“She was being held at my building. Martin’s plan was to get her away from the building and grab her. I’m taking it as a move against me since it’s my guys that are on her,” Adrik said.

“How do you know this?” Vitaliy asked.

“We have the messages between Martin and Giana to prove it. We’ve also overheard conversations between them,” I said. I caught Misha and Andrei looking at me. Both were clearly surprised I would tell him that. The exchange did not go unnoticed by Vitaliy.

Vitaliy looked at Trino. “What’s his relationship like with the Mexican cartels?”

“Not good. If it weren’t for Sephie, he’d be dead. He went to try and negotiate with them while I was still in the city. I enjoy making personal deliveries, Trino said, a sly smile creeping across his face.

Vitaliy was quiet for a minute, then he ordered all of his guys but Aleksei to leave. Once they had left, he looked at me, asking, “how?”

I glanced to Misha and Andrei, then looked at Ivan, asking them if they were okay with what I was about to say. They all nodded. Adrik whispered, “you can tell him.”

“It wasn’t actually me. It was Misha. Me and Andrei are just batteries for him.” I said. They weren’t aware yet that we’d already told Vitaliy about what they could do.

“Don’t let her lie to you. She plays a bigger role than she’ll admit to. She keeps the focus on her to protect them,” Ivan said.

Trino looked surprised. “It’s not just you, Miha?” I shook my head no. “You were right to make it appear that it was only you when I was there. My guys couldn’t have handled knowing it was more than just you. They would’ve killed me on the flight home.”

I felt Adrik and Ivan both starting to get angry. “I knew they had a bigger problem with me than you were letting on,” I said. “What about Gus and Oscar though?”

He laughed. “Oh, those two love you as much as I do. Your friend Chen has told them what you did for him and how awesome you are. They have to listen to me tell them how awesome you are. Then they both witness it firsthand. Literally every time they see you. Shi t, you’re the reason Oscar got to bl ow up an extra building. For that reason alone, he’s always going to love you.”

“Good news for Gus and Oscar. They won’t mysteriously drop dead from a random bullet through their head,” Stephen said. He’s definitely still angry about this.

“Wait until they find out what happened with mi madre. You won’t ever have to worry about them,” Trino said.

“Her threat still stands. We’re also happy to add to it at any point,” Stephen said.

he was checking the accuracy

to Misha. “How long have you had this?”

for sure, really. it’s changed. It started with a gut instinct. I would know that a plan was going to go horribly wrong. It’s developed into me being able to see things

• said.

you?” Vitaliy asked. He was clearly curious how

happened the night the Mexicans tried to ki ll you. When you didn’t answer when Boss called, Sephie knew something was wrong. I was

that kitchen to bl ow the way

I made sure you had plenty of time to get away,” said. I still had a hard time believing I was

cursed in Spanish, which always made me laugh. “Now I understand

now curious, looked to Andrei. “And

with his newfound ability looked a bit like a deer in the headlights when Vitaliy wanted to know what he could do. I couldn’t help but laugh. “Bubba’s like

too.”

you had this?”

very long at all. It just started happening. I’m

at it, Bubba. You just don’t trust yourself and you have a bad habit of comparing yourself to me, who’s been doing

said.

good track record so far. He’s also my backup for when Sephie doesn’t want to tell me things because she thinks she’s bothering me,” Adrik said, holding me a little

a sly smirk as I squinted my eyes at him. Adrik laughed quietly at our exchange. “You have a unique advantage

that with Sephie and these five, it’s definitely

Dario,” I said.

him?” Vitaliy asked.

disappear. He’s given us very useful information. I told him I’d

your opinion of that

He has nothing. He

made it seem like Dario was in charge,

Ivan

looked surprised, yet again. “How?”

have their own meeting after everyone else left. She would hang around and listen because they never considered her anything above a servant. Since they were speaking Italian in front of her, they also spoke very freely.

Italian?” Vitaliy asked.

to surprise me when he responded in Italian, telling me that

I wouldn’t need to learn Spanish as well. The Colombians and the Mexicans were not big players yet