King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

372

Sephie

“I’m not sure, princess. This has never happened before so I don’t know how to handle it. Your hand on me helps keep me grounded,” Ivan said.

“I can do that. Adrik knows something is happening. He’ll be able to get most of this conversation when we get back to the table without me saying anything. I’m hoping he can make the meeting shorter. I don’t want to have to look at her make bedroom eyes at my future husband any longer than I have to anyway,” I said.

Andrei laughed. “She’s worse than Giana about making it obvious.”

“Right? Is there no subtlety left in this world?” I asked. Before we walked back to the table, I pulled Ivan toward me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, knowing he was struggling to keep it together. “We’ll get out of here as soon as we can. You’re doing great and I’m proud of you,” I said. He held onto me tightly for a few moments before I felt his arms relax around me.

lost in my own head, thinking about Ivan and how to help him when I felt his grip on my

sitting in my chair, turned toward Adrik, talking to him quietly. Adrik had leaned as far away from her as he could without falling off his chair. He was forced to look at her, but would

Ivan put your

instantly behind me and I felt Ivan’s hand on the small of my back. I crossed my arms over my chest as we walked the last few steps to the table. We were walking behind the

continued talking to Adrik like she didn’t hear me, so I cleared my throat louder this time. She finally glanced at me but didn’t make a move to get up. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, but I was so angry at her blatant disregard for my presence that I didn’t care. As she was talking to Adrik, 1 could hear the thoughts in her head.

such ill-mannered women, or you brought her special for us? If you did, I’d like to thank you. It’s been quite some

everyone looking at her. She finally made a move to stand up. When she turned around to look at me, I felt Ivan’s hand press into my back at the same time I felt his bubble go up around me. When she looked at me, I saw exactly what Ivan saw. It wasn’t her face that

me with every bit of hatred she could muster. It was very much the same feeling that I had when Sal and Armando looked at me when they took me and Ivan. I didn’t like it. I felt the panic start, but I pushed my anger to the surface as much as possible, trying to override the panic. Ivan and Andrei both caught on to what I was doing and I felt their anger feed into mine. The panic was pushed down and I was able to hold her gaze until she looked away.

walk past me, I said in Italian, so only she could hear, “try to touch him again and you will no longer

to her original seat. I graciously sat back down with as pleasant of a smile on my face as I could muster. Adrik moved his chair closer to me, so I could still keep a hand on Ivan. He stretched his arm across my lap, leaning over to kiss me in front of everyone. I had to

of the meeting, but would still interject occasionally. Her little stunt seemed to irritate Battista, as he was much colder to her for the rest of the meeting. Before, he would let her talk and seemed to take her opinion into account. After, he was very dismissive of her and would interrupt her