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Just as expected, he was waiting for me. I sat next to him, looking out at the river that ran next to this area of the park.
“Sir,” he said as I sat down.
I nodded. “What do you have for me?”
“That bracelet, sir. It belonged to Anthony. He had it custom-made for one of his girlfriends. He thought she was cheating on him, so he gave that to her so he could track where she went and listen to what she would say. It was Anthony’s idea to give it to you for Sephie. Salvadori wasn’t going to do it at first. I’m not sure what changed—he’s been taking another guard with him when he meets with Anthony. They’re planning something, sir. His brother in Sicily has been waiting for a chance to come back to the States and feels like Anthony is his chance back. They want to take over, from what I can gather. I think they have Salvadori convinced they can do it. He’s become greedy in his old age.”
“I see,” I said. It did not surprise me that Lorenzo was trying to come back, nor that he would use Anthony and Salvadori to do it. “To your knowledge, are any of the other bosses involved?”
“No, sir. He tried to recruit Niko, but I’m not sure of Niko’s reaction.”
“Thank you, Andy. Anything else?”
“No, sir.”
“Are you okay still at Salvadori’s? He doesn’t suspect?”
“He might be getting suspicious. I think this needs to be the last meeting for a while, sir. My apologies.”
“No need, Andy. You know where to find me. If it goes south, we will get you out.”
“Thank you, sir.”
I got up and walked away. “Viktor, schedule a meeting with Niko tomorrow,” I said as I climbed in the vehicle.
“Yes, sir. To the house, sir?”
“I think we should go back to the penthouse first. I want to take the helicopter instead of drive.”
“I’ll have the pilot waiting when we get there.”
“Thank you, Viktor.”
My mind replayed my conversation with Andy on the drive back to the penthouse. It angered me that Salvadori was actively trying to turn the other bosses against me. He was quickly becoming a cancer that needed to be cut out. But he could prove useful to me for a little while longer. This wasn’t the first time I’d dealt with unruly bosses. It was more of an annoyance than anything. I’d been so much more generous than my father ever was that I had a feeling they all thought of me as soft. Good. Let them think that. I could be just as ruthless as my father in matters of business. But I now had the one thing my father never did.
Sephie. I would destroy the world to protect her.
Chapter Nineteen
Sephie
I woke up and slowly stretched, fully expecting to feel Adrik’s body next to mine. Instead, I felt the cold bed. I sat up, not realizing it was as late as it was, searching for him. I reached for my phone on the bedside table and saw his note.
Sephie,
You were sleeping so peacefully that I couldn’t bring myself to wake you before leaving. Know that I’m counting the minutes until you’re in my arms again.
-A
I checked my phone. It was 12:30 p.m. They’ve probably been gone for a while already. I decided to get dressed to go see who the lucky guy was that got to stay with me today.
It didn’t take me long to find that answer. Andrei was reading a book, sitting on the top stair when I came out of the bedroom. He closed his book and stood up. “Good morning, sestrichka. How did you sleep?”
“It’s not technically morning anymore, Bubba. That’s how well I slept,” I said, rubbing the last bit of sleep from my eyes.
“You must be hungry, sleeping beauty. You slept through breakfast. It’s not like you to skip a meal,” he said, squatting down in front of me with his arms out to the side so I could hop on his back.
“You spoil me, Bubba. But I fucking love it and hope you never stop. Walking is highly overrated,” I said as I hopped on his back. “I’m going to have to make some kind of agreement with Tori so you can keep doing this when you two get married. Like grandfather me into your relationship.”
