King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

King of the Underworld

471

Sephie

I slid my arm through Viktor’s as we walked around the pool. I stopped to inspect the rose bushes at the edge of the gardens as we passed, noticing the tiniest of little buds starting to appear. It was a sign of warmer days ahead, which made me quite happy to see.

“I’m going to be counting down the days to when I can stop wearing a coat outside now,” I said as we continued toward the woods,

Viktor laughed quietly. “You would struggle to live in Russia during the winter,” he said.

“You are not wrong there. I wouldn’t have survived, I would’ve frozen to death. I know it. I was not cut out to be that hardy,” I said.

He squeezed his arm around my hand. “I think you’re more Russian than you give yourself credit for, Sephie. You’ve survived more than most people 1 know. You’re hardier than you think,” he said, looking down at me. The look of pride on his face was unmistakable. I couldn’t help but grin at him.

We walked in comfortable silence for a while, before my curiosity got the better of me. “How does Ilya like working for Vitaliy?”

A wide smile stretched across his face. “He’s very happy. He gets along well with the other guys, even though they’re much older than he is. Aleksei is catching up his training, which makes them both happy. Ilya is happy to learn more, Aleksei is happy to teach more. Vitaliy is happy to be rid of his little flowers.”

“And once again, we saved the world,” I said, wistfully. “So how likely do you think it is that he’ll call the girl from the fundraiser last night?” I asked. I tried to sound innocent, but he knew this was likely going to make an appearance on the whiteboard.

call. Ilya struggles to be single. I think it’s the baby in him. I’m not that way. Sasha is not that way. I

as he reciprocates,” I said. “Nobody likes

of the problem with the last girl. The one that almost

still stands. I’ll happily kick her a

to worry about without

what matters.”

scoffed. “You’re so reasonable. It’s soooo boring.” I said as dramatically as

the serious one,” he said. We

the oldest and always have been. Makes sense that you’d naturally fall into the father figure role for everyone. You’re so good at it. You’ve had plenty of practice. Remind me to thank Ilya for being irresponsible when you were kids,” I said,

you’re so good at taking care of all of us, though. You were an only child. Aren’t only children supposed

Have you met me? Have you not seen how I refuse to use my own legs to walk as much as possible? Are you unsure of what spoiled and bratty really mean? It’s a translation problem, isn’t it?”

what I mean. Even when I was being an assho le, you

for a moment, trying to think of how I wanted to respond. I was

you do me. I’m your boss’s girlfriend. They’re your brothers. I’m also the reason things got so weird. Literally. From the very beginning. It’s all because of me. If you need someone to

hand out of my pocket. “You’re more than his girlfriend, Sephie,” he said. He held my hand up to look at the ring “And you’re more than that to the rest of us, too.

my ring, but still thinking about how I’d been the catalyst for their

you in some way. It wasn’t. It’s not gone forever, either,” he said. He looked out at the lake, watching the reflection of the cl ouds in the water. He inhaled deeply, then continued. “I have always been the serious one. Abways responsible. I’ve always made sure everyone is taken care of. It’s just how I am. My mother used to worry about me when I was younger. She was worried I would eventually decide that I’d missed out on my childhood because I never was a normal kid. I never got into the normal troublesome situations that kids do when they’re young. I took school seriously, I took the military seriously, I took my marriage seriously. This decision wasn’t any different, with one exception.” He looked over at me.

you’re not comfortable around us. It’s like a constant reminder for the rest of us that you chose a different path. I don’t care that you did. You did what was right for you and I respect the choice you made. I just want you to feel comfortable around us again. I can barely contain my emotions on a good day, which means I can