King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Sephte

He had reason to worry. Trying to control my eyes from changing color at a whim was proving to be more difficult than I thought. Luckily, my future husband happened to be very wealthy and could get things made in a very short amount of time. In the few days it took to get Giana’s new ID and passport sorted out, he had someone make me a custom pair of contacts that matched my normal eyes. They were almost an exact match to my normal eye color. The guy had made the contacts from a picture of my eyes. I was still getting used to wearing them, but at least I didn’t need to worry about anyone seeing anything I didn’t want them to see. Ivan was still the only one that knew about it aside from Adrik.

I smiled at Adrik. “I’ll be fine. You guys aren’t going to listen anyway. You’ll be able to see if I need you,” I said in Russian, looking from him to the guys, who were clearly not happy with being ordered to stay. Adrik’s father or not, they didn’t like the idea of me being apart from them in new surroundings. Vitaliy laughed, which caught everyone by surprise. He turned away from everyone, shaking his head, leaving them all in stunned silence.

Once we were far enough away from everyone that he couldn’t be heard, he took a deep breath. He placed his hand over mine, which was still holding his arm lightly. “His mother knew you would be coming. I wish she could’ve met you,” he said. I glanced at him. He was deep in thought, but his face softened at the mention of Adrik’s mother. I knew she had d ied when Adrik was very young. He could barely remember her. His father never had another wife, nor did he father any other children after she passed away. He would have girlfriends here and there, but Adrik said he was never very serious about any of them. His father wouldn’t speak too much about his mother, so Adrik felt like she was almost a stranger to him. He could barely remember what she looked like. He said when he was younger, he would ask some of his father’s men questions about his mother. He got the sense that they all thought fondly of her. Once he got older, he stopped thinking about her.

I got the very clear sense that he felt about her the way Adrik felt about me. I said quietly, “you’ll see her again, you know. And you’ll fall over again.” He walked quietly for a few steps, then I heard him sniffle.

Tin love all

“You’re not like normal women. I can feel it. You’re different than everyone else except Adrik. He’s special too.”

Normally, I would’ve kept my mo uth shu t about the guys, but something compelled me to tell him everything. I looked into his eyes and I knew he’d been waiting to hear everything I was going to tell him. “You’re right about both of us, but not about everyone else. We’re not the only ones who are special,” I said.

He laughed again, patting my hand. “You’ve just made his mother a very happy woman. She told me Adrik would find people that were special like him and he would realize all the dreams I had when I ruled the city. And more.”

should’ve listened to her,” I said, grinning up at him.

you have. Even Adrik struggles with seeing through it. He thinks I’m a cold man. He’s right, but it prevents him from seeing the love I have for

nervous, which is somewhat hilarious for me since he never gets nervous about anything, but he respects you. I know him well

his name?” he asked. He looked down at me

like twenty minutes, tops, from the first time I saw

longer while he quietly thought as he kept my arm intertwined with his, his opposite hand on top of mine. I knew he was thinking of Adrik’s mother, I just wasn’t sure I

likes direct women…

angry after your wife died, weren’t you?”

much so. I still am some days,” he said.

your anger,

smile on his face once again. “Like no one has ever been

to contain it. It made you a very effective leader, but it also increased the chaos more than was needed at times. Adrik is the same, but he saw the collateral damage of your anger so he fights against that. His anger is more calculated, but when unleashed, it’s just as destructive. I’m guessing it’s a trait he got from you. I’m also guessing you saw it in him when he was

He barely remembers his mother.” I could feel the sadness he had when thinking of how much different Adrik would be

don’t think you should feel sad about him not knowing his mother. Well, it is sad, but it also made him into the man I love today. Our lives, they’ve been connected from the beginning. Everything that happened, got us to right here where we are today. For that, I’m incredibly grateful. You should be too. Your son is an incredible man, a fierce leader, and

had stopped walking and was surveying the green fields ahead of us. I glanced behind us to see the guys within sight of us. He didn’t take his eyes from the scenery around us, he just asked, “they’re behind us, aren’t they?” He