King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

King of the Linderworld

463

Sephie

Once Henry left us, I explained that I felt I needed to get closer to Henry’s switch-hitter. We caught Battista and Vitally up on the plot twist imolving Henry that Misha and I had seen earlier. Battista looked at me, completely ammised. “I can introduce you, if you like.”

Adrik bristled immediately. “I don’t like that idea.”

Vitaliy agreed with Adrik. “I don’t either. Sladkaya, you don’t need to actually talk to her, do you? You just need to be close to her?

“Right. I don’t need to talk to her. But if Andrei and I can get close to her, we can take a peek and see what we can find out,” I said. Battista thought for a moment. I’d never seen him smile as much as he had tonight. He was absolutely gleeful at the events that had transpired so far

“You know a doctor from the hospital, no?” he asked me.

I nodded. “Dr. Williams.”

“I need his help. We’re going to discuss a new wing for the hospital, but we’ll need her input,” Battista said. “It’ll be obvious if all of you follow me, but Sephie has already been seen with just two of you. Sephie introduces me to the doctor, he and I go to the representative while Sephie stays in the background, but close enough she can get what she needs from the representative.”

“We should warn poor Dr. Williams that he’s part of our plot,” I said.

“Why would we do that? He’s getting a new wing out of this plot,” Battista said, very matter of factly. I just stood and stared at him for a moment. He laughed. “Money is a means to an end, Sephie. I will gladly spend it on something that will help the people of the city if it means I can be devious.” He grinned at me.

There really is something to this generational wealth thing

“Ivan and Andrei, go with her,” Adrik said. He pulled me closer, kissing my temple. “We’ll be close by. You’ll be able to see us the whole time,” he said quietly.

Battista offered me his arm as we set off to find Dr. Williams. As luck would have it, he wasn’t far from the representative. This should be easy.

representative. Just like Henry, her demon had gained access and was the shadow behind her face. Unlike Henry, her demon was even more defined and more prominent, which I was beginning to learn meant that it had been running the show for quite some time.

saw me approach him. “Hello again, Sephie,”

like you to meet my dear friend Battista. You’re going to

heard about what great work he did for both me and Ivan, which I didn’t even know he knew about, and he had decided that the

we need to get some kind of approval to move this process

of us for a moment, unable to

at Ivan, now snapped back to reality. His mind started racing, as his excitement level increased. He quickly looked around the ballroom, his

winking at Dr. Williams. He objected, wanting me to come with them. I smiled warmly at him, saying, “I enjoy this anonymous thing, too. Ivan and I already have a legend told about us among the hospital staff. That’s enough for me.” He laughed loudly, but motioned for Battista to follow him to speak

Before we started, I told Ivan he needed to lower his bubble. “You’re very quick now, Squish. I have full confidence you’ll catch anything before it gets to me,

feel his discomfort at the thought of lowering his bubble, but he

Battista and Dr. Williams. She was quite excited for the possibility of getting a new wing on the hospital, but not for the reasons one would think. She was already planning on ways to launder money through the project, taking a significant portion for herself, of course. She was also planning

likely was by now. She was following his orders when it came to anything to do with the city. She was going to be slightly more problematic to get rid of than I originally thought. But not impossible. She was just more connected than I thought

join Adrik and the others once again. Ilya caught us walking back toward the group. “Sephie, something’s happening and I can’t

I asked.

of them is having some kind of attack. They’re trying to keep it quiet, but nobody knows what to do. The person is screaming

tried to be as discreet as possible, but it was difficult given the size of the men I chose to keep company with. Most

down by three others. She was still struggling, urgently telling people that she could see things no one else could see. They thought she was being violent and a danger to everyone around

me, with blonde hair and pretty grey eyes. I’m sure when she wasn’t scared for her life, she was quite adorable.

can you describe him

perfectly. It was

you’re seeing?” I asked.

She glanced around the room, her eyes landing on Viktor before looking away. There’s another one,” she said in almost a

Lena and Kostya. Get everyone

was cleared in a matter

your name?”