King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Three Hundred Forty-Four

Adrik

“We won’t let that happen, princess. I don’t know what to do with her, but it’s clear she doesn’t need to go back to Italy and she doesn’t need to go to South America either. I think we’re going to have to tell her what’s going on,” Ivan said, his voice had the soft tone that I only ever heard him use with her.

“We may not like her, but that’s f**ked up,” Stephen said. “Surely we can come up with an option to give her a fresh start on life. Away from her family. They give new meaning to dysfunctional.”

Viktor’s phone beeped. Sephie just held it out for someone to grab, without moving her face from my shoulder and neck. Viktor took it, looking at the message. “She’s telling Martin. They’re all going to think Armando is dead by tonight,” he said, somewhat amused.

“I mean, is it a lie though?” Andrei asked. “He’s not dead, yet.”

We waited for Martin to respond to her text, but there was nothing. I saw Andrel’s eyes glaze over, which meant he was getting more information than the rest of us. I waited for him to snap back to reality, my arms still holding Sephie tightly. She kept her face hidden against my neck and shoulder so they couldn’t see her eyes as she worked to calm down. The guys noticed Andrei’s look, so they all turned to look at him expectantly. Ivan glanced back at me, a questioning look on his face with a slight nod toward Sephie, silently asking about her while everyone else was distracted. I mo uthed “talk later to him, which satisfied his curiosity for the time being.

Andrei joined us in the present once again, surprised to see us all staring at him, waiting for news. “I still have to work on being subtle. Clearly,” he said.

“What do you know now that none of us know yet?” Viktor asked.

“They know Trino is gone. That’s why he’s not responding to Giana’s text yet. They’re searching for Trino. She’s not going to be happy that he ignores her. She’s liable to explode on him when he does finally respond,” he said.

Stephen looked at Misha, asking, “you’re sure that Trino made it out safely though? They’re not going to find him? He had a good head start, but there’s no telling who is working with Martin at this point.” He was obviously worried about Trino being on his own.

when he left, but the vehicle at his parents’ house was not the same one. He’s changing vehicles along the way to

beeped again. “She’s worried now that he’s not answering. She wants to know when he can come to Italy to

she thought about the possibilities of Giana going back to Italy. “These people are

long until Trino makes it to his parents’

showing him the location that Trino sent me. He studied it for a few minutes, calculating the

the kitchen, saying, “I’ll make the coffee.”

was okay to look at everyone else. I smiled sweetly at her, still lost in her once again normal eyes. Even normal, her eyes were still gorgeous and unique. She smiled at me, then turned toward the guys. “I need something to do. I’ll make the cookies,” she said, following Andrei to the

arms around her waist. She leaned back against me as she pulled bowls from one of the cabinets. “How long are you going to be occupied, love?” I asked, kissing her

to go downstairs?”

saw earlier with him,” I said

to one of the spare rooms. The other four glanced at us, but said

Ivan shu t the door behind him. “I need to call Panama and we should discuss what you saw earlier. I have a feeling you’re

or two ago when she finally let herself feel the fear she’s been ignoring. F**k me, I don’t know how she stays so calm when it happens. She jokes about being out of control emotionally, but if I felt things as strongly as

there,” I said. “She’s the opposite of out

eyes turn almost wh ite when

I’m being honest. We haven’t told anyone because of me. I first saw it happen the first time we had

you for that. It’s necessary. You’ve also been very generous in allowing all of us ample time with her while she was healing so that we could deal with what happened better than after the ball. They all noticed and they’re all very appreciative,” Ivan said.

control a few other colors, but the whi te that’s brought on by her fear is almost out of control for her. It feels like she doesn’t know what to do with the fear when she feels it. She almost had a complete meltdown the first time it happened. All because she was terrified to be apart from me,” I said. “She started shaking as

at me, his eyes going wider the more he thought about it. “She’s absolutely right. I never put that together. I know why you separated yourself from her, both times, but both times ended very badly for her. That’s