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“What did you see, spider monkey? What happened?” he asked. He was clearly concerned, his arm tight around me.
“We just watched Max die,” Misha said.
“Oh fuck,” Andrei said.
Chapter Ninety-Eight
Adrik
Armando’s eye was slightly less swollen tonight than it had been last night, so he could open it farther than he’d been able to previously. Good. He’ll be able to see the video more clearly. I walked into the room with Viktor, Ivan, and Stephen. Armando stayed quiet, partly because the gag was still in his mouth, partly because he was waiting to see what I said first this time. He had decidedly less bravado tonight than last night.
“I have something you need to see,” I said. Armando looked at me, trying to remain calm and not let on that he was nervous. I took my phone out of my pocket and held it for Armando to watch the video. You could clearly hear Trino’s voice in the video, warning anyone that tried to betray him in the future. What happened to Anthony and Lorenzo was a message to anyone who considered going against him in the future. The message was loud and clear when the video panned down to show their heads in the boxes.
Armando was stunned when he saw the video. We could see his brain trying to come up with alternatives. He really was still convinced that Lorenzo was coming to save him. His brain was struggling to process the information that he might not be getting out of here now.
I let him try to think his way out of his situation for quite a while. It was probably close to twenty minutes that I let him stew before saying anything. I couldn’t deny that I got extreme satisfaction from watching him try to think of a way to save himself now. The guys were also enjoying watching him. It was obvious what was happening. Finally, I got up and stood in front of him. “I bet you’re really wishing you’d taken Sephie’s advice and jumped off the roof when she told you to, aren’t you?”
He looked at me, with the look of a man that knows he’s going to die. I’d seen the look plenty of times in my life. He was slowly giving up. He was slowly accepting his fate and coming to the realization that he was going to have to pay for what he did to Sephie.
I was standing in front of him, enjoying the silence, as it was tormenting him more than I thought it would. I suddenly got hit with panic. I knew it wasn’t mine. I knew it had to be Sephie. I waited to see if it passed, as I didn’t want to run upstairs if she’d fallen asleep and forgotten she couldn’t move. But it was growing stronger. I felt the pull in my chest so strongly that it was hard to ignore. I needed to go to her. I looked at Armando, then to the guys. I nodded my head toward the door, indicating we were going to leave. We walked out without another word.
Once outside, Ivan asked, “Something happened upstairs, didn’t it?”
“She’s panicked, but I don’t know why. It’s getting stronger, which is why I wanted to leave,” I said as I walked quickly to the elevator.
“Armando will torture himself if we leave him in silence. This actually works out perfectly,” Stephen said.
“How did you know something happened with Sephie?” I asked Ivan once we were on the elevator.
“Apparently, I can feel her panic now too. It came on suddenly but strong. I saw you glance away from Armando right after I felt it, then to the door, like you were deciding if you wanted to leave. The feeling didn’t go away, which is why I assume we’re on our way upstairs,” Ivan said as the doors to the elevator opened.
We rushed into the penthouse to find Andrei and Misha with her on the couch. They all looked panicked, quite frankly.
“What happened?” I said, rushing to Sephie. “Are you okay? Why are you panicked?”
“Oh shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pull you from downstairs,” Sephie said as I knelt down in front of her. Andrei still had his arm around her, trying to keep her calm, but he looked just as nervous as she felt.
“We both felt it this time,” Ivan said. “What’s going on? What happened?”
“I asked Misha if he could see just anybody in his visions. I haven’t been able to get Tori off my mind the last day or two. Like something doesn’t feel right, but I don’t know what. They were able to see her talking to one of Sal’s underbosses, but we don’t know which one. Then Sephie was curious about Max, so they tried it with him. He was at work, like usual, then they said it fast-forwarded and he was leaving work, not paying attention to his surroundings, like usual, and the underboss that Tori was talking to walked up behind him and shot him in the head,” Andrei said. “That’s when she panicked.”
I looked to Misha. “Do you know when this is happening? Has it already happened?”
“I don’t know. This is all so new to me. When we saw him at work, I think that’s where he is now. I don’t know if the underboss is planning on doing it tonight or if it’s another night we saw. I don’t know how much his life got fast-forwarded,” Misha said.
I looked at my watch, then back to Sephie, who was fighting back tears now. “What time did you usually get done with work? It was always well after midnight, right?” I asked.
She nodded. “Usually between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. on busy nights, by the time we got all our chores done for the next shift.”
It was still early. I looked at Viktor. “Go downstairs and get the files for the underbosses for Sal, so we know which one we’re looking for.” He nodded and walked toward the door. I turned and looked at Stephen. “The back parking lot of the restaurant was easy to cover, if I remember correctly? You had a good vantage point?”
“Yeah, super easy. Open. I could see everything,” Stephen said. “I’ll be able to get the underboss before he gets Max, if that’s where your mind is going.”
Sephie’s eyes got even wider as she realized what I was planning. “But you hate Max…”
“Doesn’t mean he deserves to die like this, love,” I said. “Tori might be a different story, but Max is innocent in this one.” She made a slight move toward me, but winced in pain. Andrei helped her sit up and I pulled her toward me. She wrapped her right arm around my shoulders, burying her face in my neck. I could feel the panic subside slowly.
Viktor walked back in with the files, showing them to Misha. He looked through a couple, then found the guy. “That’s him. That’s the guy we saw Tori with and the guy that was in the parking lot with Max,” he said.
