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She grinned. “Ivan is wise beyond his years. He just doesn’t want anybody to know it. He likes his peace too much.”
“When we get home, you’re coming to work for me.”
She cocked her head to the side, thinking. “I’ll consider it. Maybe if you offer to pay me in Vinny’s sandwiches, I’ll consider it more seriously,” she laughed.
“Are you hungry again already?” I asked, pulling her closer to me.
She laughed. “No. Well, not yet. Give me twenty minutes and then ask. I am dying to get back just so I can go there. Misha promised me all the Vinny’s I could eat after the ball. I’m holding him to it.” She paused, then added, “Someone should probably warn that poor man. He’s going to be so busy…”
We were outside, with Sephie’s head in my lap, her eyes closed enjoying my fingers running through her curls. I couldn’t quite tell if she was asleep or still awake but it didn’t really matter. I would stay like that for as long as she would let me. Armando came up and sat in one of the chairs opposite the couch we were on. He looked troubled. I looked at him, expectantly, waiting for him to speak.
“This project still troubles me. It’s such a large undertaking that I don’t want to fund it entirely myself. I need more investors.”
Without opening her eyes, Sephie said, “Why don’t you crowdsource it? Let the people invest. It’s for their benefit, right? Let them have a piece of it as well. With a large chunk of the city’s population behind the project, the politicians won’t be able to not approve it.”
I looked to Armando, a smirk on my face. Sephie never ceased to amaze me with her ideas. Armando thought for a moment, then exclaimed, “Sephie, you’re a genius! This could actually work! Even better than my original plan. It will give the people even more chances to increase their own wealth, which will inevitably benefit the city too. This could put this city on the worldwide map!” he said, clapping his hands together.
Her eyes still closed, she smiled sweetly, still enjoying my fingers in her hair. Armando quickly stood, taking his phone from his pocket to make a few calls. As he walked away, I leaned down and asked quietly, “So how many sandwiches a day are you thinking you’ll need?”
She giggled and opened her eyes to look at me. I would never stop wanting to see her smile or the way her eyes shined brighter as she laughed.
Armando returned after a few moments, with news from his assistant. “Boss, we have news on the lawyer. My people have been able to uncover some information that they think we’ll be interested in. Since it’s already getting late, I told them to go home tonight and that we would be at the office first thing in the morning to hear the details.”
I felt Sephie tense. She opened her eyes. “Where’s Misha?” She didn’t look alarmed, per se, but she wasn’t relaxed anymore.
“What’s wrong, solnishko?”
“Something about the office. I don’t know what. Where’s Misha? I want to see if he notices it too.”
I called for Misha, explaining Armando’s plan to him. I didn’t say anything about Sephie’s reaction and she was quiet as well. Misha stood for a moment, contemplating, then all at once, his eyes got wide. “Um, Boss, I don’t think that’s a good plan. Something about the office.”
Sephie sat up, her mind racing. “Misha, did you notice anything at the meeting? Like did they leave anything? Were they ever alone in the building? Do you think they could’ve done something while they were at the meeting?”
He shook his head no. “We had eyes on them the entire time. I don’t know what it is, Boss, but we shouldn’t be at the office building tomorrow.”
I looked from Misha to Sephie. If they both felt that way, I wasn’t going to argue. I looked to Armando. “Have your people come here tomorrow instead. Only those that are completely necessary. Tell everyone else to stay home. Be as discreet as you can, make up whatever excuse you need to, but make sure they don’t go to the office.”
Armando looked shocked but nodded his head and left to make the necessary calls. I looked to Sephie, somewhat surprised at her reaction. She looked equally as surprised.
“Misha, how does your gut feeling work?” she asked.
He sat down in the chair that Armando had previously been in, thinking. “It depends, really. Sometimes it’s a bad feeling, uh, like nausea. When we were attacked, it was more like a feeling of impending doom right before it happened. I was just about to stop you when they hit us. This one is different still, like I thought about going to the office and heard something tell me not to.” He looked to me, his eyes wide. “I swear I’m not crazy, Boss.”
I chuckled, but before I could answer, Sephie was asking more questions. “Did you hear a ‘don’t go’ when you thought about the office?”
Misha’s eyes got even wider. His mouth fell open slightly. “How did you know that?”
“Because I heard it too. That’s why we called you over here. I wanted to see if you had the same feeling.”
Now, my eyes were wide in shock. Sephie thought for a moment, a small smile appearing as she seemed lost in thought. I ran my hand down her back, not really wanting to interrupt, but curious as to what she was thinking. Just as she looked toward me, a bird swooped down in between the couch we were on and the chair where Misha was sitting. It flew above us, turned, and swooped in between us from the opposite direction.
She giggled. “You were right. It is magnificent,” she said quietly to herself.
When she turned to look at me again, she had tears in her eyes, but she was smiling. She inhaled deeply, “You might think I’m crazy for this, but that’s my dad. When I was asleep when we were up north, I was stuck in that loop at the ball until you pulled me out of it. Once I was free of that scene playing over and over, I was allowed me to see my dad again. He’s been watching over me my entire life. He told me that what happened was necessary for everyone, especially when it came to believing Misha’s gut instincts.” She leaned into me as I wrapped an arm around her. “He’s the one that told me you’d been laying underneath me for twelve hours so I wouldn’t get sucked back into my nightmare. He’s who warned me about this.” Just then, the bird flew down and landed on Sephie’s knee. He looked right at Sephie for a few moments before flying off again.
I had never seen anything like it before in my life. I glanced to Misha, who was speechless. I looked down at Sephie, who was still lost in a memory, her sweet smile on her face. She turned to look at me after a moment, her eyes questioning as she searched mine. I didn’t give her much time to question. I leaned down and kissed her. “You never cease to amaze me.”
As we were finishing breakfast the next morning, Armando’s assistant walked in, looking completely panicked. He went to her immediately. “Giana, are you okay? What happened? You look terrified.”
