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There was silence for a few minutes, then Viktor’s phone beeped. He looked at the message, but stood up to hand me the phone.
“Is now really the time to be sexting?” I asked as I took the phone from him. I looked at the message and immediately started laughing. “She’s cussing him out. She must type faster in Italian than in English.” I kept reading, laughing more as I went. “She’s calling him a donkey, which is hilarious.”
“Why would she call him a donkey?” Misha asked.
“For Italians, it’s an insult. It’s the same as telling someone they’re stupid. She also tells him to go get fucked, basically,” I said, still laughing. Martin began to reply, apologizing for not knowing. “He says he couldn’t have known. She hasn’t contacted him in weeks. He didn’t know they were living there. He assumed she would be at Armando’s house.”
“I have to side with Martin on this one. I would’ve assumed the same thing,” Misha said.
“Right? It seems like the logical assumption here,” I said as we waited for Giana’s response. “She’s asking him again how he plans to get her out.”
“This could go very badly for Martin,” Andrei said.
“He says he needs time to come up with a plan to get her out of the building. He’s asking her if there’s any way she can ditch her guards and he says trying to send a team into the building is going to be next to impossible,” I said.
“Well, at least we know he’s not a complete moron,” Viktor said.
I laughed at Giana’s response. “She’s still mad. She’s cussing him more and wants to know how long he needs. She said she’s starting to regret sleeping with him that night, so now we know the answer to that question.”
“Plot twist, she popped Martin’s cherry and that’s why he’s completely in love with her,” Ivan said, causing a round of laughter from everyone.
“You’re not wrong, Squish,” I said. “It would explain quite a lot. I’m starting to question whether you guys have been telling me the truth about my extra spicy side though. Seeing it in Giana doesn’t seem very fun.”
“Not even in the same ballpark, gazelle,” Misha said.
Adrik held me tighter, saying quietly, “Never compare yourself to anyone ever again. There’s no comparison.”
Before I could react to his words, Martin replied to Giana. “He says he needs a day or two to scope out the building and see what his options are. He said his guys can watch the building and find out if there’s any way in.”
“So, Ivan was right. This guy is pussy-whipped. Clearly, he’s not had enough of it,” Andrei said.
“She says she can’t wait much longer. She’s going to try to escape with or without him,” I said. “She’s acting like she’s in a dungeon. I mean, granted, she’s being held against her will, but she’s got everything she needs for fuck’s sake. Nobody’s chaining her to the fucking floor while they beat one of the people who mean the most to her in this world in the next room. While she hears everything.” My anger came on so suddenly and so strongly that it almost surprised me, but it was also mixed with fear. I wouldn’t let myself feel the fear when everything was happening. I knew I had to keep my wits about me, so I pushed all the fear down, but it was still there. Waiting to be acknowledged. It all came flooding back to me, overwhelming my anger. I immediately started to shake, even worse than I had days before when I was scared of being apart from Adrik.
He felt it right away, whispering to me to try to keep me calm. He took the phone from my hand and threw it on his desk. “Close your eyes, love. Listen to my voice. You’re safe. You’re with me. Nobody can hurt you here,” he said. He just repeated those words until he felt me take a breath and my body relax slightly. He turned me around in his lap, so he could stand up with me in his arms. He walked us both to the couch, keeping me in his lap. He kept repeating that I was safe and I was with him and that nobody could hurt me now. His hand ran up and down my back lightly, trying to calm the shaking.
I took a deep breath, lifting my head from his shoulder to look at him. I could tell from the look on his face that my eyes had changed. I shut my eyes again and rested my head on his shoulder again. Viktor’s phone beeped a few times. I heard one of the guys get up to get it. I felt Adrik shake his head, telling them to wait. We sat in silence for a few more minutes. I took another deep breath, looking at Adrik once more to see if my eyes had returned to normal yet. He smiled sweetly at me, nodding his head once. He reached up and put his palm against my cheek, his thumb rubbing gently back and forth.
I sighed once more, turning to look at the concerned faces looking back at me. I started to apologize, but Ivan cut me off. “That is never something you should apologize for, princess. You never let yourself feel the fear while everything was happening, but it doesn’t mean it went away,” he said.
“It’s important that you admit to yourself you were scared in that situation, Seph. We all were,” Stephen said.
“You were?” I asked, moving so I was sitting in between Adrik’s legs and leaning back against him so I could see everyone again. I pulled his arms around me, resting mine on top of his.
“Of course, we were. How could we not be?” Andrei asked.
“Well, now that you ask it like that, I don’t know,” I said.
“Just because we’ve been in similar situations before doesn’t mean we weren’t all scared this was the first time we weren’t going to get to you in time,” Misha said.
“Having to be careful and patient when it came to looking for you was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” Viktor said.
“We were all worried we would be able to get you both back,” Adrik said.
I smiled at them. “I was sure you guys would find us. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to hang on long enough for you to find us. Armando doesn’t know how to punch very well, but he’s strong and I was completely defenseless,” I said quietly, looking at the floor.
“You were worried about the one thing I was sure of,” Stephen said. “Once we found you, I knew you’d be able to hold on long enough for us to get you out. I’ve never met anyone as strong as you, Seph. I was more worried they would get rid of Ivan. Armando beating you was completely unexpected for me. I knew they needed you. I didn’t expect him to lose it.”
“I might’ve provoked that,” I said. “I’m mostly accountable for that.”
