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.

you know if either of them made any deals? Like say, for their souls?” I asked, just to see

at me. “How did

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

never knew about it, from what I know. He would’ve wanted his own deal had he known.”

that Massimo hadn’t made a deal with a powerful enough demon that he would reincarnate into roughly the same person each time. Now that we all know what we knew, I was slightly disappointed that we’d let Trino ki ll Massimo. It would’ve been better had

you know the details of that deal?” Adrik asked.

no, as he said, “no, not specifically, Sal just told me that he made a deal with something very powerful. He tried to talk me into doing the same. Said he could get my family back, even. He also promised

did you say no?”

for 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

us snickered at Sal thinking he would be successful in overthrowing

mean? His demon?” Dario asked.

made a deal with. Basically, he

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 at him, until we assured him none of it was

center of them. There is a network of people around the world trying to take them down. Not just us,” Adrik

“I can get information. I don’t know what else I can do, but I can at least do that. If what you’ve said is true, then he must be stopped. His entire family must be stopped. His children take after him in every way. Even

silent conversation that the 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. If he was able to get information

issue with you talking to Sal 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

also knows how secretive I can be. If I tell him I’m in hiding, he likely won’t ask

had already fled to Italy when Massimo was ki

to Massimo. I tell him I escaped and made it somewhere safe, but they’re looking for me. I 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

for a few minutes. “We

the off chance that Sal can trace his call, we can make it look like he’s anywhere

the present, saying, “he’ll be

The important issue is whether to let him talk to Sal and whether that benefits us or

in each scenario,”

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

he’s done. If I

taken back to his room. Once Viktor came

since that was the only spot we really felt

of the Underworld

Sephie

you two discussing 1 asked, looking between Adrik and Ivan.