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.

note she slipped her dealer about clean wills in three locations of the house. Sephie remembered his extensive art collection at his house in Italy. If he has the same here,

said. “Armando is always done for the day well before Boss is. He’ll be free once Boss is done and we

does he have today?”

more after this

need more coffee,” I said, mostly to myself.

not sleeping at night?” Andrei asked, a devilish grin on his face. “Wait, no.

much. It’s this weird shi t that’s happening with being able to feel each other’s emotions. I’m not complaining. It’s amazing. But it zapped us both this morning. Like completely.”

“But I can call

I walked back to the office with him, hoping to take Adrik’s mind off everything in between his last few

when I walked in his office this

lots of details. It’s more difficult when I’m

my coffee on his desk. “Feeling your breasts on my shoulder does not hurt,

shoulder, then leave when your next meeting arrives.” I said, laughing. I stood behind him, rubbing his shoulders. He was tense. He

he said. I worked on getting his muscles to relax while he had a moment of peace. 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,”

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 your personal barista,” 1 said, grinning at him. He grabbed my hand, kissing the back of it. “What would I do without you,” he said wistfully

done and then have Keith come to the office. He has a very short fuse right now, so he needs at least a short break before we

Stephen escorted the man downstairs. I walked in quietly, closing the door behind me. He raised an eyebrow at me and sat back in his chair. I could feel his di rty

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