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.

“I’ll get started after

Viktor already took care of it. You need a break this morning,

her sweet smile that made him melt on her face. “Papa Bear, you’re

over the weekend after breakfast. She 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

to separate the voices on the recording.” Viktor said,

door.

with Ricardo

to see a doctor for his knee. They talked about the weather, then they talked about how nice it would be to go to a tropical island because it’s getting colder here, then they talked about Ricardo needing to pick up his clothes from the cleaners. Oh, f**k me they’re talking in code aren’t they?” she said, putting her hand on her forehead as she realized

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

gonna need more coffee,” she said as she put the earphones back in and started the recording

computer to try and separate Giana’s voice from the 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 so he could read the translation as well. Andrei

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 child. You’re

#

tired of the game. Armando has been using her, he may or may not have gotten her hooked on coke, and we all ha te her now, so maybe her plan to rob him is really her

Sephie saw me look toward Misha, then saw the look on his face and giggled. “I don’t think it will work on her.

gets,”