King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Two Hundred Forty-Four

Adrik

I couldn’t keep my eyes off Sephie even on the elevator down to my office. This is going to be the longest meeting ever.

“Am I expected to remember everyone’s names? Because that’s not a thing I do,” she asked, chewing on her lip.

I laughed. “No, love. You have me. That’s a thing I do. You don’t need to.”

She cut her eyes up at me, a mischievous look in her eye. “I knew I kept you around for a reason,” she said as the doors opened. She walked off the elevator like she owned the place. I’ve never been more turned on in my life.

Armando was already in my office when we walked in. He had a habit of being extra early to large meetings to make sure last- minute details were taken care of. I appreciated it about him, as it meant fewer details for me to have to worry about. He looked up from the papers in his hand as Sephie walked in. “Sephie, my dear. You look beautiful as always, cara mia,” he said, opening his arms for her.

She walked to him. “Mando. It’s so good to see you,” she said as she hugged him.

“It’s been too long. I’ve missed you, but I’m very happy you decided to come today,” he said, kissing both her cheeks. Sephie right. Giana had kept herself away from us so far. Armando had taken her to his house over the weekend again, so it had been a few days since I’d seen him, even. Things seemed calm, for the moment, so I wasn’t complaining.

meeting again?” she asked. She already knew the answer to that question. She was giving Armando a reason to talk to her. I turned so he couldn’t see me and winked at her as Armando began filling in

Sephie a high-five as she walked by. “You look like you’re about to run this meeting, sestrichka,” he said in Russian as we

room. I saw her hesitate once she glanced around the room. She turned to me, saying in Russian, “second man from

“Is that a problem? I can get rid of him if

at me. “He’s fine. He’s a nice guy. I just didn’t expect him to be here,” she said. “But thank

as we continued to the table. “Always, my love.” I kept my eye on the man she had pointed out. He was clearly surprised to see Sephie walk into the meeting. Even more surprised that she sat down next to me. I pulled her chair next to mine,

building was finished. There was space for at least five restaurants, with the potential for splitting the space up into smaller restaurants il necessary. The location was in a great part of town, so it should’ve been an easy sell. A few of the

And what kind of taxes are we going to be hit

The tax question was more about which boss that part of the city belonged to. The building was in Armando’s ared of the city, thankfully, so we didn’t need to go into details about how that wouldn’t matter very soon. Two of the other restaurant owners nodded in agreement to his question. I wasn’t

the project yet. The building will be full by the time it’s finished. As for taxes, I

restaurants within a 5-block radius of your restaurant. Those are just the ones I could remember off the top of my head. I’m guessing it’s a similar situation for the rest of you, give or take.” She pointed to the map. “This building will be here.” She ran her finger over an entire block of buildings on the map. “These buildings? Apartments. There’s one bodega, but no restaurants.” She moved to the next block. “These buildings? Office space. Two more bodegas and one coffee shop. No restaurants.” She continued for three more blocks around the location of the new building. “So that makes 5 restaurants total in this 5-block radius, not counting the restaurant space this building will provide. I’m not the best at numbers, but even I know those are pretty fu cking good odds. You’d be id iots not to jump at this chance, but by all

back to sit down. My business associates were all trying not to laugh as well. The restaurant owners who were on board originally were also trying not to laugh. The ones who were hesitant all had the look of being

owners were on board by the end of the meeting, all signing contracts to lease space in the building once the building was finished. As the meeting concluded and everything was being finalized with the lawyers in attendance, several of my business associates, including Neal, came up to me and Sephie. “Can she please come to every meeting?” Neal asked, finally able to laugh.

again,” he said, extending

she asked. I knew she was likely

a rough patch after you left, but we’re