AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I caught Andrei’s worried eye, winking at him. “Viktor?” I said as sweetly as I possibly could, to help diffuse their growing anger with each other. Both he and Ivan turned to look at me. “Why don’t you let Ivan and Andrei drive? They can do that much, at least, right?”
Viktor thought for a moment, then relented. “Fine. They drive, but nothing more. I won’t risk it.”
I looked to Misha, who was also watching this entire exchange with an amused look on his face, for confirmation that it would be fine. He nodded his head. I walked to Viktor, reaching up and hugging his neck. I said quietly, so only he could hear me, “Thank you, Papa Bear, for always worrying about me.” He kissed the top of my head, holding me closer for a moment.
The plan was Stephen would leave first, with two other guys and set up across the street from my old apartment building. They could cover all the possible ways to the apartment building from above. It seemed a little overkill for a conversation with my old neighbor, but after Massimo’s attempt to grab me, I was happy to be overprepared. Andrei and Ivan would drive. Misha and Viktor would stay with me at all times. There were also three other guys that normally stayed at the building but that Viktor trusted, who were going with us, just in case. They reasoned it would be harder to separate us with three vehicles, rather than just two.
I did try to argue that someone should stay behind with Adrik, but I got shut down very quickly. Apparently, Team America was running backup for his security since Armando was also at the building. Adrik and Armando were planning to meet while we were gone anyway, so Team America would be with him.
Adrik pulled me close. I could see the worry in his eyes. “I’ll find out everything I can. As quickly as I can, so I don’t give you a heart attack,” I said, smiling up at him. He was in his usual battle with the curls around my face.
“Stay with Viktor and Misha, please. If anything feels off, you leave right away,” he said. I nodded my head. He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. He surprised me by wrapping one arm tighter around my waist, the other hand ran through my hair to the back of my neck as he deepened the kiss. My knees went weak, but he had such a tight hold on me that I didn’t move. Just as I felt myself starting to lose control, he stopped, kissing my forehead. He pressed his forehead to mine for a moment, as he caught his breath. “I love you, solnishko.”
I looked up at him, kissing him once more. “I love you the most. Plus infinity. Plus one,” I said, grinning at him. He laughed as he loosened his grip on me.
Ivan walked up with my jacket in hand. “Come on, princess. He’ll never let you leave if we don’t go now.”
I took my jacket from him, laughing. As I turned to leave, Adrik pulled me back to him for one more kiss. I laughed against his lips. “I’ll hurry back. I promise.”
We pulled into the parking lot of my old apartment building. It looked so run-down now that I hadn’t seen it every day for the last few months. It made me realize just how much my life had changed since I’d met Adrik.
Chen’s car was in the parking lot. I pointed it out to Ivan and Misha. “That’s Chen’s car. He should be here.” There was one other car in the parking lot, but someone was walking toward it as we pulled in.
I walked to Chen’s apartment, followed closely by Viktor and Misha. I knocked three times, waited, then knocked twice more. Chen opened the door, completely surprised to see me standing there. Or maybe he was more surprised by Viktor and Misha standing behind me. Either way, he was surprised.
“Sephie! What’s the word, my girl?” he asked, raising his hand for me to grab it. When I did, he pulled me in for a hug, causing Viktor and Misha to take a step closer to me. I laughed to myself. They hate it when I hug people they don’t know. “Where you been, girl? I haven’t seen you in forever. I stopped by the restaurant a few weeks ago. Max said you haven’t worked there for a minute.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of a long story. How was Max? He looked well?” I asked, suddenly curious about how he was doing.
“Yeah, he’s good, but I think his girlfriend might be driving him insane. She’s a cook there. You know Max. He flirts with all the girls. That’s how he makes his money, you know? If I had a face as pretty as his, I’d be working it all day long too,” he said, smiling. His smile faded and he added, “She don’t like that. Yo, she’s got jealousy issues or some shit. She came out the back like twenty times while I was there to check and make sure he wasn’t flirting with anyone. He said he’s going to go into debt soon because his tips have basically fallen off. He was talking to me about dealing because he needs the money.”
I suddenly felt terrible. I hated it for Max. Misha noticed my mood shift and said, “Serves him right,” as he coughed, trying to cover up what he said. I glanced over my shoulder at him. He just shrugged his shoulders.
“Chen, I’m actually here to see if you’ve heard anything about your supply being replaced with brawn?”
His face fell. “Are you fucking serious, Sephie? I don’t fucking touch that stuff. Why would I want to kill my client base? That’s a terrible business decision.”
“Sooo…you haven’t heard anything then?” I asked. I was relieved that he wouldn’t sell it, if he knew that’s what his supply was. The problem was that it was shaping up to look like they weren’t going to tell the dealers they were switching out the supply.
He thought for a moment. “I haven’t heard anything about it. I can talk to the other dealers I know and see if they’ve heard anything. Why are you asking? Are you dealing now? Is that why you have quite possibly the biggest security force I’ve ever seen behind you?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Not dealing. But the biggest security force is with me all the time now. What boss do you deal for, Chen? I never asked you that.”
“None of them. This is kind of like no man’s land. I’m small-time, anyway. This is just a side hustle to help fund my legit business I’m starting. I’ve been contracting for a few years now, trying to build a customer base for that. I have a couple guys working for me now. The dealing helps pay for that.”
“Chen, you never told me that. I knew you had a real job somewhere, but I didn’t know you had your own business. That’s awesome, man. I’m proud of you,” I said, giving him a high-five.
He smiled at me, like he’d never had anyone tell him they were proud of him before. His eyes lit up as he said, “Wait, hold on. I have a business card. Wait here.” He ran back into the apartment and came back with a card. He handed it to me like it was a prized possession. “If you ever need anything, you call me. I got my contractor’s license and everything. It’s totally legit. My guys do great work too. If you need anything, I’ll hook you up. I still owe you for all the cheap food you used to hook me up with and for preventing me from making the biggest mistake of my life.” His face got dark for a second as he remembered his ex-girlfriend.
“I’ll keep you in mind, for sure. Would you mind asking the other dealers you know? Do you know what bosses they work for, by chance?” I asked.
“Uh, one of them works for that Vito. One for Sal. And the third guy is loyal to some guy in Colombia. I still haven’t figured out how there’s a Colombian running things in the city, but whatever, I guess he is.”
I laughed. “You can leave the dealer that works for the Colombian out. He’s already been talked to by his boss. He’s a nice guy, for the record.”
Chen’s eyes went wide again. “How do you know that?”
“It’s probably best that you don’t know. There are some very bad people that are trying to replace the entire drug supply with brawn. That’s what’s important. We need to know what they’re planning, so we can stop them. How often do you talk to the other dealers?”
