King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Sephie

“You have been in similar situations to her, solnishko. The fear you’re feeling now is the fear you wouldn’t let yourself feel when you were in them. You’ve seen true evil like Martin before, but you couldn’t let yourself respond to it before. You can now. Everything that’s happening to Giana right. now is reminding you of something in your past that you’ve survived, but you never let yourself be scared for you so you’re scared for her,” he said. “Stephen was right. It’s important that you let yourself be afraid. You’ve been keeping it locked away for too long. Just like he’s been feeding his monster, your fear has been growing, too. I can feel how out of control it is when it comes up. I know you don’t know what to do with it. Ivan can feel it too. You’re so in control of all your other emotions, but the fear takes you by surprise every single time. I think that’s why your eyes change to a completely different color when you’re afraid. You have to let yourself feel it. It’s okay to feel it. That’s the only way you can learn how to control it.”

“It feels like it’s trying to take over every time and I start to panic. For the first few months after my uncle started beating me, I remember being terrified. I panicked, I didn’t know what to do, so I did nothing. The beatings lasted forever. Because I did nothing. Eventually something snapped and I stopped feeling anything when it would happen. No fear, just pain. I learned I could live with pain, but I never learned I could live with fear. I don’t know what to do with it,” I said.

“Fear can be useful, but mostly it’s just a reminder,” he said.

“Of what?”

“That you’re alive,” he said. He chuckled when I stayed silent, not knowing what to say. “We’ll talk about it more later. They’re going to be worried about you,” he said, taking my hand and leading me out of the bathroom.

Do

we want to know what he said to her?” Ivan asked when we walked back to the kitchen..

“Martin and Anthony are very similar,” Adrik said. “He threatened to sell Giana if she disobeyed him. Did she respond?”

responded in Italian. It’s much shorter than her earlier texts, though. And that was the end of the conversation,” Viktor said. I walked to him, holding my hand out to read the text, but he hesitated before handing his phone to me. “You don’t have

me figure out her next move if I see how she responded. If she immediately cowers to him and grovels, then it’s going to make our job much harder. I’m worried she’ll think she brought it on herself and that he’s still the only one that can save her. I

scrolled back through Martin’s text to her, so I could read it. to the guys. “He told her ‘you belong to me now and you will do what you’re told or I will arrange your kidnapping. Keep disrespecting me and I’ll sell you as a sl ave.” I thought before that it was fishy that he wouldn’t want her to go to Italy. Now I don’t know if it’s just some weird power move on his part or if there is a contingency on him getting her or if he’s

that to placate him,

“Possible,” Andrei said.

but it was a new message, not one between Giana and Martin. I handed his phone back to him. “That’s a

new message, surprised. “She’s texting someone else,” he said. He handed the phone back to me.

at her newest message. “She’s telling this person that this is her new number.”

her

person says they haven’t talked to her in forever. Asking how she is, says they miss her, and where is she. So maybe not

1/2

person she needs their help. She asks where this person is. Spain. Giana says she can get to Spain, but she needs help hiding from her family. She says she’s done with them and that they went back

what her family promised her? Had to be to get her

to hide and she needs help getting new identification cards.” I looked up at them. “So there we go. We get her

and Ivan looked at each other. “We can get her new ID in a day or two. What else does she