King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Sephte

“Everyone is going to fetch him?” I asked. I knew the answer, but I wanted to toy with him.

“As long as you think you can make that trip, solnishko,” Adrik said, hesitantly. “But i would like you to meet my father.” He looked almost shy about his request. I could feel his uncertainty.

“Of course I’ll go. I would like to meet him as well,” I said, unable to string him along any longer. He relaxed as soon as I said I would go.

“We need to figure out security for Trino,” Ivan said. “He shouldn’t use any of his guys he has now going forward. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were all loyal to Martin now.”

“What about Chris or Keith?” I asked. “You guys have been training them still, right?”

“That might work,” Viktor said. “They’ve progressed in their training. You’d be proud of them.”

“You might have too many guys volunteer once they find out they’ll be spending their time in Colombia. I would imagine the winters there are much easier than the winters here,” I said.

Viktor langhed. “Most of our guys are from Eastern Europe or Russia. The winters here are mild, sestrichka. They all love it here.”

“Valid point. I do not know what winters are like in Russia. I’m also fairly positive I do not want to know what winters are like in Russia,” I said, pulling the cookies out of the oven. Misha was overly excited since I ended up going with chocolate chips, since that was the easiest solution for the evening’s bake. Andrei got up to make a fresh pot of coffee to go with the cookies. After pulling the cookies from the oven, I leaned against the counter, watching everyone again, enjoying the moment of peace. I loved that they had a place where they could talk about st upid things like types of cookies and just forget about everything we were facing at the moment. I knew how stressed everyone was. I was fairly certain a couple of them were having trouble sleeping. They were constantly on edge and tense. But they got a few hours to forget about it all and just be friends. It was quickly becoming one of my favorite things.

cookies and coffee. We heard Adrik’s phone beep. Then we heard Viktor’s phone beep.

first,” I said, looking

you that you already know how

as I thought about his situation. I knew how heartbroken he would be to lose his mother, but I also knew how much peace it would bring him to know he got to see her one last time. I wiped the tears from my eyes as Adrik walked to me, pulling me to him. I saw the look of surprise on his face as he held my gaze. I

again. “Is that her or him?” Ivan

at his phone. “It’s both. He finally got back to her and she responded. Andrei was right. She’s not happy he waited so long

did he say about her going to Italy?” Misha

not happy about us sending her anywhere. He says he’s still going to come

stood up straighter, looking at Andrei, then looking at Misha. Finally, I looked at Ivan. “Is that fishy to you

“Very,” Ivan said.

to bet that Martin getting Giana as payment is

said. He got up to hand me his phone.

1/2

for di

faster in Italian than she could in English. She sent five more lengthy texts in a matter of seconds. “Oh, she’s definitely cussing him out. She wants to know why he’s being stubborn. Lots of creative name calling, though. I’ll give her that. She says that if he comes here to get her, then there’s a chance she’ll d ie. If she goes to Italy, she’ll be safe. More name calling. More regret over sleeping with him. More threats of her trying to escape on her own. She also says

few moments, then Martin responded. I looked at the texts. He responded in Italian. “Well, that’s surprising. He’s responding in Italian,” I said, reading through his texts. I suddenly felt very si ck to my stomach. “Oh my God…he’s threatening her.” I quickly handed the phone to Adrik then I ran to the nearest bathrooms, hoping to make it in time. Luckily, most of the contents of my stomach had already been digested, but I did pu ke up the cookie