King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Three Hundred Fourteen

Adrik

She handed me her sling so I could help her strap her arm back in. I’m trying to be cold on purpose. It’ll help keep me awake,” she said, grinning at me. I clicked my tongue at her, to which she responded by making her eyes go dark.

I cursed under my breath. “That is not playing fair,” I said as I pulled her as tight against me as I could. I leaned down and kissed her passionately, trying to make her knees go weak. My tongue didn’t give her the choice to deny me entry into her mo uth. Not that she would have anyway. Even though I was trying to make her knees go weak, I was still fighting against my desire to completely devour her. When I felt her falter, I deepened the kiss for a moment more until she moaned not so quietly against my lips.

She stepped back from me, a little more out of breath than I thought she would be. “You win,” she said, still trying to catch her breath. It took her longer to catch her breath than it should have, which worried me. “I’m okay,” she said in between breaths. “Just let me sit for a second.” I helped her to the edge of the bed, kneeling in front of her. She didn’t let go of my arm while she

worked to catch her breath.

“I’m sorry, solnishko. I didn’t mean for this to happen. What can I do?”

She grinned at me. “I started it.” She looked down at my worried expression, her smile widening. “I’m okay. I promise. It’s just difficult to catch my breath right now,” she said, her palm resting against my cheek. “Doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the he ll out of that though.”

I cursed under my breath again, standing in front of her. “Can you walk? I can carry you downstairs. I think I should carry you after I almost made you pass out,” I said, pulling her up in front of me. I didn’t wait for her to argue, I just bent down and scooped her up. “I’ll be happy when you can eat again. You’re getting skinny again. You’re going to be all sharp soon,” I said as I walked us down the hallway.

The guys were all somewhat concerned when I carried her out of the bedroom. “It’s okay. I might’ve gotten carried away and almost made her pass out. The least I can do is carry her while she catches her breath,” I said, somewhat sheepishly. I heard several chuckles behind us while we walked to the door. Sephie hid her face against my neck so she wouldn’t have to see them

grinning at me.

The police commissioner was prompt, walking into my office exactly on time. “Henry,” I said, as I stood to shake his hand. Viktor, who had escorted him up, stayed by the door after he closed it. The rest of the guys were already in the office. Henry looked to all of them, nodding. He spotted Sephie behind me. She was already on the cabinet behind my desk. “You must be Sephie. I’ve heard quite a bit about you,” he said, smiling warmly at her.

She slowly started to get off the cabinet. Ivan saw her and went to help her stand up. She walked over slowly, extending her hand to Henry. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but hopefully it’s not all bad.”

one of my favorite places for lunch. Both he and his wife can’t say enough good things about

mention of Vinny and Anna. “They’re wonderful people. My stomach is in a long-term relationship with his

for her, but she said she preferred to sit on the cabinet. She said most people forgot she was back there, so she

we actually needed to meet in person?”

been happening, but you need to know the full story. I also have somewhat of a solution for the situation that I think you and the mayor will be happy with,” I

the brawn situation and the doctor finally being captured, both of which I’m grateful to you for taking care of. I’ve been hearing

The bosses made a move to overthrow me. Lorenzo has been looking for a way back to the city. The attempted coup was his way back. Salvadori was behind most of it, although every single boss is

other bosses? That can’t be

means I’m getting rid of all of them. Lorenzo is already taken care of. Armando, Dario, and

for a moment. “Are you replacing them, then?”

need them. I’ve never needed

quietly in Russian, “he

tried and jailed, making it appear as though you and the mayor are being extremely tough on crime. Once the other bosses are taken care of, the increased taxes they’ve imposed go away. I’ve never been a fan of high taxes. The people know that. I would much rather they keep their money and invest it back in their community. That will become the norm once I take care of the bosses. I continue to run the city behind the scenes as I’ve been doing for the past ten years. Crime returns to the lower rates. Everything goes back to the way it was a couple years ago before the bosses started to get greedy. I have plenty of money. I don’t see a reason to needlessly raise

other player who is

“Ricardo De Luca.”

shi t?” Henry said, clearly shocked.

“You know him?”

businessman. One of my detectives has been watching his deals with Armando in the city. We could never get him on anything substantial, so there was never a reason to look further into his finances,

Ivan said. He stood up and handed Henry the stack of

asked, looking through the pages. “Holy shi t. This

I will say, however, that he’s a very thorough

He looked up to me. “I need to talk to the mayor, of course. I can’t make this decision on my

against us. The people of the city are happy that you stopped the brawn operation. The media had a field day with that one. Those who know you, love you. Those who don’t know you,