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.

her face. Unlike Henry, her demon was even more defined and more prominent, which

Williams’ face brightened when he saw me approach him. “Hello again, Sephie,” he said, smiling warmly at me.

friend Battista. You’re going to be very happy to meet him, in

got right to the point, telling Dr. Williams that he had 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 hospital needed a new

some kind of approval to move this process forward?” Battista asked, innocently.

He just stood in front of us for a moment, unable to speak. Ivan laughed.

now snapped back to reality. His mind started racing, as his excitement level increased. He quickly looked around the ballroom, his eyes landing on the representative who wasn’t very far away. He pointed to her, saying, “she’s the person we need to speak to.”

I said, 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

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, but I ne rd hull

his discomfort at the thought of lowering his bubble, but he did so. Begrudgingly

her head as she was talking to 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 on making the publicity around the project

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 she would be. I should’ve known.

for Battista, we quietly left and went to join Adrik and the others once again. Ilya caught us walking back toward the group. “Sephie, something’s happening and I can’t explain it,” he said, urgently.

I asked.

to me. It’s the wait staff that’s here. I was by the door to the kitchen a moment ago. One of them is having some kind

as we followed Ilya. We tried to be as discreet as possible, but it was difficult given the size of the men I chose to keep company with. Most people noticed us leaving toward the kitchen, but

struggling, urgently telling people that she could see things no one

was just a little thing. She was definitely younger than me, with blonde hair and pretty grey eyes. I’m sure when she

you describe him

described Vitaliy perfectly. It was Lena

you’re seeing?” I

Viktor before looking away. There’s another one,” she said in almost a

and Kostya. Get

in a matter of

your name?” I asked.