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“I would venture to guess they’re cut from the same cloth,” Chen said thoughtfully. He picked up the stack of papers. “Is this everything? Do you have more? Henry is a good man, he’ll want everything. He’ll also want to know how the hell I got myself into this. I’m gonna have to listen to a lecture from my father,” he said, shaking his head.
The journalist laughed again. “I’d appreciate you keeping me anonymous for now.”
“Consider it done. I’ll get this to Henry right away,” Chen said. The journalist stood up, offering his hand to Chen, who also stood at the same time. They parted ways without another word.
We had one of the security guys from the building, who was a normal human size, pick Chen up down the block in a taxi, should the journalist be watching him. He did. He walked a short distance from the café and waited until he saw Chen get in the taxi, then continued on to his apartment.
“You’re a natural at this, Chen,” I said once we were all back at the building. I gave him a quick high five.
“The fact that I had a sniper over my shoulder made it surprisingly easy to talk to a stranger. Can I borrow him for my next blind date?” he asked.
“I’m not entirely sure you’re grasping the concept of dating,” I said, squinting my eyes at him.
“Presumptuous coming from someone who’s out of the dating pool. It’s anarchy out there, my girl,” he said, laughing.
“The French isn’t working the way it used to?” Misha asked.
Chen laughed loudly. “She told you about that, huh?”
“They’ve heard every conversation we’ve ever had, Chen,” I said. I watched as the lightbulb came on in his head.
“That’s how they always know when someone shows up at the apartment. Oh my God, I can’t believe I didn’t put that one together before right now,” he said.
“See? You’re not just a pretty face,” I said, laughing.
Adrik, who had been laughing at our conversation, extended his hand to Chen. “Thank you for doing this, Chen. Can you come by the office again this week? I have a couple of projects I’m in need of a contractor for. Sephie tells me you have your license.”
Chen’s eyes were the size of saucers as he shook Adrik’s hand. “Yes, sir. Let me know when to be here. I have a small crew, but we do excellent work.”
“I’ll take a look at my schedule and have Viktor call you to set it up,” Adrik said as we all got on the elevator to go back upstairs. We stopped at the lobby to let Chen off, then continued to the penthouse.
Adrik caught me smiling at him on the way up. He raised his eyebrow at me, saying, “He strikes me as the type to try to refuse money for what he just did for us. Instead of having that awkward conversation, he can do some work on one of my projects and I’ll pay him handsomely for it. He won’t argue then because his crew is also involved.” I felt the warmth slowly spread over my body as I looked at him. I didn’t say anything. I just stood on my toes and pressed my lips to his.
Once we were in the penthouse, Ivan and Viktor started to look over everything the journalist had given to Chen. They were quiet for a few minutes. Viktor finally looked up. “I’ll give this guy credit, he does have good instincts. From someone on the outside, it would look like Ricardo is toward the top of the business. He just doesn’t know there’s another level above him.”
Ivan looked at Adrik. “What are your plans for Ricardo?”
“I haven’t decided, honestly. He’s never moved against me directly, so I’m struggling with justifying killing him outright. However, I’m not going to just leave him alone and hope for the best,” he said.
“Let’s say we did take this to Henry. It’s coming up an election year, right? Politicians love to appear tough on crime. We hand them Ricardo, gift-wrapped, they get to pat themselves on the backs and tell everyone how good of a job they’re doing while no one is paying attention to us,” Ivan said.
“They get the doctor and Ricardo all in the same year. That’s gotta be worth at least two terms for the mayor and the commissioner,” Stephen said.
“I really feel like we’re single-handedly bringing the city together here, boys,” I said.
Chapter One Hundred
Adrik
I woke up the next morning before Sephie, which was becoming the norm. I wrapped my arm around her tighter, so she wouldn’t move too fast, kissing her neck gently. She moaned quietly as she started to wake up. I felt her move her good arm on top of mine that was holding her. “What does it say about me that I’m kind of loving you holding me down all the time now?” she said, still fighting to wake up. She coughed quietly, holding her ribs.
“I’ll keep that in mind, love,” I said as I wrapped both arms tighter around her, pulling her back to me as close as possible. She surprised me by rolling onto her back without too much effort. She laughed quietly at the look of surprise on my face, only to cough once more. This was a new development that I was beginning to worry about.
“I like to see you,” she said, smiling her sweet smile.
“You’re making progress. I think the doctor will be pleased this afternoon,” I said, leaning down to kiss her.
“I’d like it to go faster,” she said. “There are still things I can’t do that I would very much like to do.” She cut her eyes over at me, chewing on her bottom lip. “And by that I mean you. I’d very much like to do you.”
