King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Three Hundred Eighteen

Sephle

“We can just call the doctor. We don’t have to go all the way back to the hospital,” I said, knowing full well I was not going to get out of having to go back to the doctor this moming. “Andrei can call him. He’ll tell him my lung is doing better.” I had a mischievous smile on my face, trying to see how they’d react to me being bratty about going to the hospital.

“You do feel better this morning, spider monkey. That’s not a lie for once,” he said, grinning at me.

“See? No need to go to the hospital. Dr. Bubba told me I was okay,” I said.

Adrik smiled at me, instead of being frustrated like I thought he was going to be. “You’re still going, but it makes me happy that you’re feeling better, solnishko. Yesterday was the first day you were awake for more than two hours in over a week.”

“It was a big day. Andrei’s a genius,” I said, laughing when his cheeks flushed.

“No arguments from me,” Adrik said. “I’m happy he found something that helped. I was beginning to have abandonment issues.” He smiled widely at me, causing the warmth to spread over my entire body.

“We all were,” Ivan said.

The trip to the doctor was much easier this time. Not only was I starting to be able to breathe better, finally, but my shoulder was starting to hurt less when it had to be taken out of the sling. The x-ray wasn’t nearly as painful this time.

“I have good news this time around,” Dr. Williams said as he walked into the exam room. “Your lung looks much clearer this time.”

“She’s finally feeling better, but it took until yesterday for her to start to really make improvements,” Ivan said. “Yesterday was the first day she was awake for more than a few hours.”

“How’s your appetite now?” Dr. Williams asked.

“Still not as good as it should be, but she’s been able to keep bone broth down the last two days,” Andrei said.

“That’s a good option. Unfortunately, I want you to continue the antibiotics for another 7 days, which isn’t going to help your stomach. Yogurt helps, broth is great, basically whatever you can stomach, but you need to eat. I can clearly see that you’ve lost weight since the last time I saw you,” the doctor said. He had a chastising tone to his words.

I sighed. “I know. Trust me, I’d rather eat.”

“It’s not her fault. She has a very sensitive stomach,” Andrei said, protectively.

can write you a prescription for an appetite stimulant,” Dr.

me more nauseous. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but things tend to react the opposite of how they’re supposed

heal. At this point, a candy bar is

could feel my anger at being chastised by the doctor. I realize he was concerned for my well-being, but he clearly wasn’t understanding that I wanted to eat, but couldn’t and I wasn’t in the mood to be lectured by him. Adrik reached across my lap, almost like he was trying to push me behind him. He said quietly, in Russian, “look at the floor.” He then looked to the doctor,

won’t need to see her for four more weeks. Her shoulder will continue to make improvements, but keep it in the sling as much as possible.

your lung has collapsed once. Take any issues with your breathing very seriously and come back here as soon as you notice something is off,” Dr. Williams said as he stood to leave the

immediately smiling when he looked at my eyes. “I knew it,” he said, his expression a mix of

days at a time. I’ll take it from you guys because I love your all, but he can f**k right off with his lecture on my need to eat. I f**king know, doctor,” I said, pronouncing the “doctor” as

at me for a few moments, his smile still prominent on his face. Then he looked at Andrei. “You

better.”

Ivan to help me up. “I am feeling better and I want to be gone from

leave faster?”

Adrik’s arms around me as he picked me up. He looked in my eyes, telling me, “keep your eyes closed until we get

I felt him slide me onto the backseat of the SUV. I opened my eyes as he got in beside me. He was still clearly amused at my attitude with the doctor. He leaned over and kissed me passionately, but stopped much too

don’t want to risk you not being able to catch your breath again,” he said

don’t like it,

not soon

rang on the way back to the penthouse. He pulled it out of his pocket. “Trino,” he said, answering it. Because we were in the SUV, he

likely wasn’t good news. “When did it happen?” he asked. He worked until his hand was under the sweatshirt and thermal shirt I was wearing and his fingers were running lightly over my bare skin, trying to keep himself calm. “And your guys have no idea where he was headed? Have you checked the private airport?” He paused to hear Trino’s answer, then added, “okay, we’ll do

We actually expected this. Sephie called it when you delivered Anthony and Lorenzo. She’ll

more

conversation ended soon after. As Adrik was putting his phone back in his pocket, Ivan said from the front seat, “so Sal

run?”

for a couple days. They were all gone. They’re currently looking for how they got out of the house. Since we don’t know when they left, he could be anywhere by

Ricardo is right

know to have anyone on him, so the short answer is no.

from Sal’s bet pool that he’s going wherever Ricardo

did not peg him as having a thing for women who like to gamble.”

complicated man,” I said.

Misha off at the building while they went to the private airport to see what they could find