King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

King of the Underworld

489

Sephie

What I found in Dario’s head was not wholly unexpected, but it was surprising that it came from Sal and not Massimo. The reason he was so willing to help us get information from Sal was because Sal had been the one to tell Dario’s family about his family dying when he was younger. Sal is the one that told them Massimo ki lled Dario’s parents, but Sal also framed it like Dario knew about the plan and was in on the plan.

“Bubba, you’re seeing this too, right?”I asked, Andrei.

“Yeah, I knew Sal was evil, but this is past even what I thought he was capable of. Why would he do this?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but I want to ask him about it.”

1 quickly shared what we’d found with Adrik, who was equally as shocked as Andrei and I. “That’s a good reason to want revenge on a person,” he said.

“I agree. I want to ask him about it and see his reaction. Just ask him why he wants to help us take down Sal. It can’t be just because he wants to go free,” 1

told Adrik

Adrik looked at Dario. “Is there another reason you’re offering to help take down Sal, Dario?” Adrik’s gaze was intense enough that 9 times out of 10, when he would ask a direct question like that, the person would always give a truthful answer. There was something about Adrik that usually compelled people to tell him the truth. That attribute had only grown stronger lately. His intimidation factor was ever present, even when he didn’t mean to. Most people got the feeling that he was looking at their soul when he stared at them. It made many people uncomfortable.

Dario adjusted his position in the chair he was in, contemplating his answer. He decided the truth was the best option. “Sal is the one that told my family about Massimo ki lling my parents when I was young. That wouldn’t have been the end of the world, except he made it seem like I knew about the plan and went along with it. My family was so disgusted with me that they left. Massimo is to blame for a lot of things, and he’s partially to blame for that too, but Sal is the real reason my family left me and won’t speak to me.”

“Why would he do such a thing?” Misha asked, completely appalled at Sal’s behavior.

Dario shrugged his shoulders. “Evil doesn’t need a reason.”

“Dario, you keep talking about Massimo and Sal and referring to them as evil. Granted, they’ve done many evil acts. That’s not being argued here. I’m just curious if you’ve ever seen anything else that makes you think of them as evil?” I asked.

He looked slightly uncomfortable at my question; he didn’t answer right away. Everyone picked up on his unease.

I could feel Andrei looking further through Dario’s mind, as well as feel Misha’s nausea as Dario thought about Massimo and Sal. Ivan still felt normal and Stephen still felt normal, so it wasn’t anything to do with Dario himself, but he knew more about Massimo and Sal than he was saying.

He opened his mo uth to speak, but then stopped himself, trying to find the words to say.

deals? Like say, for their souls?”

looked at me. “How did

know that I shouldn’t,” I said. “Which

what I know. He would’ve wanted his

made a deal with a powerful enough demon that he would reincarnate into roughly the same person each time. Now

know the details of that

with something very powerful. He tried to talk me into doing the same. Said he could get my family back, even. He also promised I

you say no?” Ivan

sure. I think it was when he found out that Sephie knew everything about Massimo. He said then he was going to use her to get to Ghost so he could ki ll him and that he had

also oversold and underdelivered.” A few of us snickered at Sal thinking he

you mean? His

made a deal with. Basically, he literally sold his soul,” Adrik said.

he had one to begin with,” Dario said thoughtfully. While he was not trying to be funny when he said it, it did make all of us laugh. We unwittingly made him nervous by laughing

easily explained and Sal and Ricardo are at the center of them. There

I can do, but I can at least do that. If what you’ve said is true, then he must be

rest of us weren’t privy to. I didn’t get anything but honesty from Dario, nor did Andrei. He passed Misha’s tests as well. We really could use all the help we could get at this point.

on the phone, but anything past that is not going to be safe for you. I’m not worried about betrayal, even. That would mean you’re dead with the rest of them. I’m

expecting Adrik to be worried for his safety. He thought for a few moments, then said, “Sal knows how paranoid I am. He also knows

fled to Italy when Massimo was ki

want to know what he’s going to do to make it safe for me to return to the city. Then maybe I offer my area and Massimo’s area for helping me. He won’t be able to turn that down. He’s too f**king

about it for a few minutes.

Sal can trace his call, we can make it look like he’s anywhere in the world

Misha, who was checking on outcomes. He finally returned to the present,

him talk to Sal

us in

“you’re sure you want to help us get information from Sal? You can say no. It changes nothing about our

to help. I’m tired of ignoring the evil he’s done. If I can help hurry along his comeuppance. I’ll gladly do

after and Dario was taken back to his room. Once Viktor came back, we moved upstairs

penthouse since that was the only spot we really felt comfortable discussing; anything these

of the Underworld

Sephie

were you two discussing 1 asked, looking