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Misha spoke up, “She said she missed the gardens at the house when we got her flowers the other day. Maybe she needs a day or two at the house. She seems like she can relax there. I think being able to go to the lake helps her recharge somehow.”
Adrik nodded. “We can go after tomorrow for the rest of the week. My schedule is empty the rest of the week. We can still keep working on the warehouse situation from there. Did we ever get a chef?”
Viktor laughed, but looked at the floor. “Nope. That’s my bad.”
We all laughed quietly. He really did love it love it when she cooked for us. Even Adrik laughed.
“What about Armando?” Viktor asked. “I don’t want this to cause problems between you and him. Mike was his guy after all.”
“It won’t. Armando won’t question me and as much as I don’t want to take advantage of that, I’ll use it if I have to in this case,” Adrik said. “I’m more worried about Chris and Keith. How were they?”
Ivan said, “I don’t think either one of them will be a problem. They both readily admitted that they weren’t at the same level as Sephie. Both said to please start them at the beginning because they both knew Sephie could kick their asses easily.”
Viktor said, “Neither of them wanted Mike’s position either. At least not yet. They said they were happy to defer to us until they caught up in their training. We can have that discussion with Armando and find out what he wants to do about filling Mike’s position.”
Adrik ran his hand through Sephie’s curls as he thought about what Viktor and Ivan had just said. She made a muffled noise and snuggled into him closer. He looked down at her. “She’s probably going to be here a while.” He looked at Viktor, “Can you reschedule my meetings this afternoon for tomorrow? I’m not leaving her today.”
I couldn’t help but smile at their relationship. My mind drifted off, wondering if I would ever find that kind of love in my lifetime. I’d never seen anything like it before, but I knew I wanted the same kind of love.
Chapter Seventy
Sephie
Mike was on his knees in front of me. He could barely see. I think I broke his nose, based off the amount of blood gushing down his face. He still wouldn’t give up. “Wanna reconsider your opinion of me yet?” I asked, giving him one more chance.
He took a shallow breath. I know I broke his ribs. I heard the crack when I kicked him. He used all his breath to spit blood at me. “Fuck you, whore.” I knew it was Mike that said those words. I was looking right at him when he said them. But my brain heard my uncle’s voice. He was coughing up his own blood, in between trying to take shallow breaths because of his broken ribs. He looked at me and said one last thing, so quietly that I almost didn’t hear him. “Sicario.”
I don’t even remember moving to kick him, but I know I did because now I was standing over his motionless body. It didn’t even look like he was breathing. I just stared at him, completely numb. I glanced at my knuckles. They were sore. There was blood on them. Was it mine or his?
Viktor walked to me, handing me a towel to wipe Mike’s blood off me. He also handed me my shirt. I only vaguely remembered taking it off. Guess Chris and Keith are in the club now. I felt Adrik next to me, but I couldn’t see much except what was directly in front of me. I felt like I did the day that Misha and I were attacked, like I was waiting for the darkness to come. I knew Mike hadn’t landed a square hit, so I didn’t know why I felt like that.
I heard Adrik tell Viktor, “He’s done here. If he wakes up, make sure he understands he won’t next time if I ever see him in this city again.”
I stared at Mike’s body. He still hadn’t moved. It still looked like he wasn’t breathing, but nobody was checking to see if he was still alive. I looked at Adrik. I saw the surprise in his eyes when his eyes met mine, but it quickly turned to … lust? He held my gaze for a moment before he forced himself to look away. I looked to Viktor, then back to Mike’s motionless body. “He’s done on this Earth. He’s not going to let this go, ever. He’ll either spend the rest of his life trying to get to me or he’ll run to Sal to tell him everything he knows about us. Or both. He can’t walk out of this building,” I said in Russian since Chris and Keith were still around.
Viktor looked at me, every bit the proud older brother. A slight smile crept across his face, like he wanted to beam at me, but was trying to hide it. “You both are assuming he’s going to wake up. Ten bucks says he’s already dead.”
I noticed Chris and Keith walk into the ring. Chris was the one that finally went to check Mike’s vitals. He seemed to be the only one concerned with that, but he waited several minutes, so he clearly wasn’t that concerned. Keith said something, but I honestly wasn’t paying attention. I was watching Chris.
“I hated that guy,” Chris said, looking up at me.
“Hated? As in past tense?” I asked.
He nodded his head. “No pulse. I think that final kick to the head did him in,” he said.
Huh. So, I just killed a man and I felt strangely fine about it. Maybe it would hit me later, but right now, I felt very much the way I did when I killed my uncle. Completely void of everything. I feel nothing.
I looked to Viktor. “I guess I owe you ten bucks, Papa Bear.”
I could see that the guys came into the ring, but I was still struggling to see correctly. I kept staring at Mike, like I was expecting him to get up and curse at me for kicking his ass. He’s not getting up. He’s never getting up again.
I heard Ivan’s voice, but it took me a second to find him. “Sephie, he sealed his fate the second he called you a whore. If you hadn’t ended him, we would have. There was no walking out of here alive for him today. You just delivered his sentence, princess.” His voice softened when he said that last sentence, like he was trying to coax me out of the fog he knew I was in. It worked. I could see more clearly. I walked quickly to him, just wanting to hide. I buried my face in his good shoulder as he held me tightly against him. He kissed the top of my head and whispered, “Do you believe us now that what’s said in anger is the truth?” I nodded my head, but kept my face hidden. I felt the tears coming now. He squeezed me tighter, then whispered, “I’m just glad no broccoli was harmed today.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. I looked up at him, his handsome smile across his face, clearly relieved that I had laughed. They knew if they could make me laugh, it was generally going to be okay. I stood on my toes and kissed his cheek, thankful he knew what to say to snap me back to reality. Then I remembered what Mike had said to me.
“Oh God, I’m using my sexual charms again!” I said as dramatically as possible. “Somebody please stop me.”
And just like that, we were standing over a dead body, laughing like it was the most normal thing ever, forgetting completely the severity of the situation. Normal is completely overrated, anyway.
