King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Two

Sephie

When I walked back outside, Stephen was waiting, my coffee still in hand. “Can you come to Viktor’s desk or you have to wait here?”

“There’s no way I’m not coming. My watch will tell me when the meeting is almost over. Plus, the door is open, so I can see if they get done early.”

“You’re so efficient, Yoden,” I said as we walked to the rest of the guys. “Somebody fill in Yoden while I shove more caffeine into my system,” I said, taking a drink of yet more coffee.

They filled in Stephen on everything we knew so far. Viktor had continued to dig while Misha and I were upstairs getting liquid energy for me and Adrik. “It looks like one of the deals her father made that lost him a substantial amount of money was with Armando,” Viktor said.

“Do you know what happened? Like why the deal went wrong?” I asked.

“No, I can’t tell from this. It’s in Italian, so we need you to translate,” he said, turning his laptop toward me. It was a news article from years ago, showing a picture of a much younger Armando, along with three other men. One of the men was Giana’s father. I didn’t recognize the names of the other two, but one of the men looked vaguely familiar.

I scanned the article, loosely translating as I went. My poor tired brain was having trouble translating from Italian to English back to Russian. “Um, it says…development deal…housing…four investors…approval still pending…three investors backed out… unknown reasons…final investor was Giana’s father. It looks like he tried to fund the project all on his own and it fell through. He couldn’t recover his money and lost a substantial amount.”

“I would be willing to bet she’s planning on robbing Armando to try and recoup some of the money her father lost in that deal. Especially if what we’re thinking about the artwork is true,” Ivan said.

“Artwork?” Stephen asked.

in three locations of the house. Sephie remembered his extensive art collection at his house in Italy. If he has the same here, she’s likely

well before Boss is. He’ll be free once Boss is done and

does he have today?” I asked.

after this

more coffee,” I

two not sleeping at night?” Andrei asked, a devilish grin on his face. “Wait, no. I don’t need to

that’s happening with being able to feel each other’s emotions. I’m not

at a time,” Ivan said. “But I can call the acupuncturist if you

beeped, signaling the end of the meeting. I walked back to the office with him, hoping to take Adrik’s mind off everything in between his last few meetings

I walked in his office this

lots of

to put my coffee on his desk. “Feeling your breasts on

meeting arrives.” I said, laughing. I stood behind him, rubbing his shoulders. He was tense. He leaned back in his

He opened his eyes, looking up at me, curious. “Why are you all down here? 1 didn’t expect to see you until I got done for the day,” he asked.

any of it until you’re done for the day.” I leaned down, pressing my lips to his gently. I heard the elevator doors ding, knowing his next meeting was arriving. “Let me know if you need more coffee to get through your last two meetings. I’ll happily be

last meeting is done and then have Keith come to the office. He has a very

the man downstairs. I walked in quietly, closing the door behind me. He raised an eyebrow at me and sat back

to give us 20 minutes. We both know that’s not nearly enough time for what you’re