King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Two Hundred Sixty-Nine

Adrik

The next morning, the guys were back in the penthouse early. We had agreed the night before that we didn’t trust anyone else. so all conversations between us were to be had in Russian and in the penthouse when possible. Sephie struggled to wake up this morning. She was so exhausted last night that she was sound asleep almost immediately after laying across my chest. I can’t take the blame for her tiredness this morning. Whatever happened between her and Misha completely zapped her energy. Not to mention dealing with the stress of everything Dario told us.

When I came out of the bedroom without her, the guys were noticeably concerned. I smiled at their concern for her. “She’s awake. She’s still getting ready. She was exhausted last night and struggled to wake up this morning,” I said.

“Same,” Misha said as he walked to the coffee maker. “I’m starting to understand why you both needed extra coffee the day after whatever happened between you two that zapped you both. I feel like I could sleep for three days right now,”

“It only lasted a day for me. Hopefully, you’ll be the same,” I said, laughing at his exhausted expression. He looked like he could barely keep his eyes open.

Viktor pulled his phone from his pocket, typed a short message, then put his phone back in his pocket. “Breakfast will be here shortly,” he said. “Although I can tell you right now that I’m not going to enjoy it as much.” We all laughed at his crankiness over not getting Sephie’s cooking.

Sephie walked into the kitchen just as Misha was pouring her a cup of coffee. “Perfect timing, gazelle. You’re going to need this,” he said as he handed her the coffee mug. “I might’ve made it a little strong. Apologies if it’s too strong.”

“Are you as exhausted as you look and I feel, my adorable Russian guardian?” she asked. He nodded. “What the f**k happened yesterday,” she whispered as she sipped the coffee.

“I can’t answer that yet, but I did get more recordings from Keith last night. Armando is back from his house as of late last night. Keith sent over what he had from this weekend. He said Armando met with Ricardo, but didn’t close the door this time. Keith thinks Armando wasn’t aware that he was there. After what Dario told us, I’m not sure I believe the bumbling id iot persona of Armando anymore, so it might’ve been intentional. It’s possible he’s caught on to Keith recording his meetings somehow and now he’s feeding us false information, but we won’t know until we get them translated,” Stephen said.

started after

spider monkey. Viktor already took care of it. You

looked at Viktor, her sweet smile that made him melt on her face. “Papa Bear, you’re my favorite. Don’t tell the others.”

had a serious look on her face listening to one of the recordings. She kept replaying it over and over again like she was trying to hear something else on the recording. Stephen had given her headphones again to help her hear more clearly. She finally looked at Stephen, then looked to Viktor. “There’s not much that’s useful from Armando’s meetings, but in this one recording, I can hear Giana talking in the background for just a minute, like she’s walking by on the phone or something. It sounds like she asks when she can go back to Italy, then it sounds like she says it wasn’t her fault. She must walk too far away because I lose her voice for a few minutes, but she comes back through. She’s still talking,

the recording.” Viktor said, “I’ll be right back,” he said, walking quickly toward

door.

Ricardo this time?”

then they talked about how nice it would be to go to a tropical island because it’s getting colder here,

quick to catch on to such things. “It’s likely it was code, solnishko. Can you tell me exactly what they

earphones back in and started the recording

others on the recording. She handed Stephen his phone back once she was done, then handed me the translation from the meeting with Ricardo. Ivan got up to move closer to me

Stephen long to get Giana’s voice separated from the others, so we could hear her more clearly. Sephie went to listen to what she previously couldn’t understand. “I was right on the first two. She asks when she can go back to Italy, then says it wasn’t her fault. She sounds angry on the last part. She says, “I’m not a

#

hooked on coke,

to see anything. Sephie saw me look toward Misha, then saw the look

whatever she gets,” Misha