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Viktor’s smile made it clear he was happy about this news. He really did love it love it when Sephie cooked. We all did, but for some reason, it was an extra special treat for Viktor. “Apparently, I owe Andrei one,” Viktor said as we walked to the elevator. I raised an eyebrow at him. “Andrei’s favorite happens to be mine as well,” he said. He was practically drooling as he thought about it. We really had become quite spoiled with her cooking for us. Even takeout didn’t taste as good anymore.
As soon as we opened the door to the penthouse, we could smell her cooking. My stomach growled in anticipation. Viktor laughed, as he’d heard it. “At least I’m not the only one overly excited about this,” he said as we walked in. Sephie saw us, her eyes landing on me quickly. Her smile made the room even brighter. She had her hands full, so she couldn’t drop everything and come to me the way I’d grown to adore. Instead, I went to her, standing behind her while she finished what she was doing. I leaned down, pressing my cheek to her neck, my hands on her hips, kissing her lightly. She freed up one hand and pressed her palm to my cheek for a moment before returning to what she was doing.
“Sestrichka, Chen called earlier. I told him you’d call him back in a few minutes. Can you talk now or should I tell him a few more minutes?” Viktor asked him.
“If someone can hold the phone for me, I can talk to him now. These raviolis aren’t going to stuff themselves, Papa Bear,” she said, smiling at him. He dialed the number, putting it on speaker, then handed me the phone to hold for her.
“Yay, teamwork,” she said giggling as we waited for Chen to pick up.
“How did you call exactly five minutes later? Like were you guys just fucking with me and making me wait five minutes for no good reason?” Chen asked when he picked up the call.
Sephie laughed at him. “No, Chen. They had to find me. Sometimes I play hide and seek to keep them on their toes. You know, ongoing training and what not,” she said. We all laughed quietly.
“For real?” Chen asked. He clearly believed her.
“Oh, totally. I once climbed out one of the windows onto the ledge. Took them six hours to find me. Most peaceful day I’ve had in a long time,” she said. There was silence on the other end. She couldn’t contain her laughter any longer. “No, Chen. I’m only messing with you.”
“At this point, I put nothing past you,” he said.
“What do you have for me, my favorite French person?” she asked.
“I did hear from the people in Vito’s area of the city. They’re down to meet. They said name the place and time and they’ll be there. DJ finally got back to me. He apologized for the delay, but he said one of his kids has been really sick. The people in charge in Sal’s area of the city are also down to meet. I don’t know if you guys want two separate meetings or you want to combine them, but let me know when and where. I’ll make sure everyone knows,” he said.
“You’re such a professional public servant, Chen.” She glanced at the guys, then tried to turn around far enough to look at me. I surprised her by kissing her cheek. I looked at Ivan, who was holding up one finger, as was Viktor. I nodded in agreement and looked to Misha, who confirmed meeting with everyone at once would be fine. Sephie saw everything and responded to Chen. “We can meet with everyone at once. Same as last time, we’ll get in touch about when and where. Thank you, once again, for being our go-between,” Sephie said.
“You got it, my girl. Hey, I talked to Max last night. I stopped by the restaurant. He told me what happened. Well, most of it. I’m pretty sure his dumbass left out some important details. I don’t know everything about your relationship with him, but you did the right thing, Sephie. You were always a way better friend to him than he was to you,” he said.
It took her a second to respond, but she thanked him and the call ended. I handed Viktor his phone back, my hands once again moving to her hips. I felt her sigh quietly as she continued what she was doing. I kissed her neck, whispering “I love you” in her ear. She leaned her body back against me, leaning her head on mine.
“It’s less likely that anyone will recognize civilians coming to meet with you. That’s a normal occurrence. Should we have them come here?” Viktor asked.
“If we do, it needs to be while Armando is gone. I want him left out of all plans for the time being, until we have a chance to find out more on him,” I said.
“Is he still leaving tomorrow?” Sephie asked.
“He left today. Keith let me know he had changed plans. He’s moved all his meetings tomorrow to his house,” Stephen said.
“Hmm. That’s weird,” she said.
“Did Ms. Jackson have any insight about Giana?” Viktor asked.
“Not much, but she did say she was just as ambushed as we were that day when Giana pretended to apologize to me. She’s also been suspecting that Giana’s been on something for a while now and she feels like Armando has to know. She said they’ve had dinner with her and Mr. Turner a few times and it was really obvious she was blitzed out of her mind,” she said.
“She also said Giana told her that they were planning on going to Italy at the end of the month,” Misha said. “So, either Armando is planning on leaving, or that’s when Giana is planning on robbing him. Or both, I don’t know yet.”
“He’s really not doing himself any favors by leaving early and he’ll essentially be cutting himself off from any favor if he thinks going back to Italy right now is a good move,” I said.
Sephie had come to a stopping point and wiped her hands. She turned to face me, smiling at me. “Have you talked to them about what you told me last night yet?” she asked me quietly enough that only I could hear her. When she turned to look at me, I felt her warmth spread over my body. I leaned down, kissing her quickly. I stood up, still looking at her gorgeous smile. “I think you should,” she urged. She held her arm up in between us, showing me the goosebumps that were clearly visible. I kissed her once more, overcome with just how much I loved her.
I looked to the guys. “I’ve been thinking I should do away with all the bosses, Armando included, and run the city myself. With Sephie and you five, I think it’s possible,” I said. They were silent for a few moments as they thought about what I’d just said. I was most curious about how Misha would react, honestly. As was Sephie. She turned to look at him, so she could see his reaction. He had his faraway look in his eye, but then we all saw his upper body shudder as he shook off the reaction.
Sephie laughed at him. “Same, Misha. Same,” she said.
Ivan’s sly smile spread across his face. “Trino called this one, you know.” The other guys looked to him, curious as to what he was talking about. Sephie must’ve told him what Trino said when we were at his island house because I don’t remember mentioning it to anyone. I felt Sephie laugh quietly. Ivan said, “This was suggested when we were at Trino’s island house. Trino said the city already had their rightful King and Queen and didn’t need anything else. I happen to agree with him.”
We set a meeting with the people organizing in the different areas of the city that we knew about so far. Since Armando was at his house, I had everyone come to the building to make it easier. I regularly met with groups of people from all areas of the city, so it wouldn’t raise suspicion. It wasn’t the same as having known drug dealers walk into the building to meet with me. After the meeting, we had planned to go to the house. I knew the guys were just as stressed as I was. Being away from everything, if only for the weekend, helped everyone relax to make it through the week.
The meeting went well and Sephie was happy with the people that showed up as well. “It’s obvious the people love you. It’s always been obvious to me. You’re so popular that I still can’t believe I’d never heard of you before the night I first met you at the restaurant. Not once did any of the other bosses mention you when they were meeting at the restaurant,” she said. We were in the backseat, on the way to the house.
