King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-Four

Sephie

“I was trying to catch Mike talking to Anthony again so I could confirm it, but I haven’t seen him around

for a few days. I know Armando was gone over the weekend, so | figured he was with them, but I

haven’t seen Mike since they got back. I’m worried he went back to Anthony. And if I’m being honest,

you guys always seem like you want to ki ll me anytime I give you Information,” Andy said, running his

hand through his hair.

“And yet, you’re still alive. It’s like magic, really.” I said, crossing my arms across my chest. “Don’t be a

pu ssy, Andy. You’ve been in this world long enough, for fu ck’s sake. They saved your a ss, gave you a

safe place to live, and everything you need. If they wanted to ki ll you, you would’ve been dead a long

time ago. Cut the bu llshit.”

Adrik cleared his throat quietly beside me and I knew it was because he was trying not to laugh. I felt

his hand slip under my shirt, his thumb tracing circles on the bare skin of my back.

Andy looked to me, surprised at my words. He thought for a moment. Ivan was losing patience and

said, “you realize if she’s losing patience with you that mine was gone before I even walked into the

office. It’s in your best interest that you start talking.”

Andy started to say something, then stopped himself. He took a deep breath, then said. “I was trying to

work it into a job here. Either with your security or Armando’s. I knew if I could catch Mike working for

Anthony, it would look good for me and you’d be more willing to trust me, so I waited to try and get hard

proof, But then I haven’t seen him for a few days, so I got worried.”

I looked at Viktor to gauge his reaction. The look on his face said he was not the least bit interested in

hiring Andy at this moment. He said, in Russian, “he’s not working for us. I can talk to Armando and

see if he wants him.”

“Only after all this is over. Not before,” Adrik said. Viktor nodded his head in agreement. Adrik glanced

down at me, like he was asking my opinion on it as well.

“I don’t trust him. It was shaky at best before this, but this would’ve been good information to have

weeks ago,” I said.

Adrik looked at Andy. In English, he said, “next time you have information that directly affects us, you

tell us right away. We’ll consider the job after all this is over. Until then, nothing changes,” I could feel

Adrik’s anger, but I could also feel that he was trying to contain it. It was almost like I could feel him

struggling against it. Each time it happened, I could feel more than the time before. It felt almost like I

could feel what he was feeling in his body and it was mirrored in mine.

Andy nodded and took his leave quickly. As we watched him walk out of the office, I turned toward

Adrik, putting my hands on his chest. I could feel his anger fade away as he looked at me. I felt the

calm return as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I smiled up at him. “That was different,” I said.

He leaned down and kissed me quickly. “We’ll talk about it later,” he said, winking at me. He pulled me

with him to his chair. Viktor had followed Andy to the door, closing it behind him as he left. Andy had his

own guards assigned to make sure he didn’t leave the building without permission, so there was no

need to follow him any farther. Everyone moved to find a place to sit. Adrik pulled me into his lap as he

sat back at his desk.

We all sat in silence for a few minutes, trying to wrap our heads around this new bit of information. I

was frustrated with how difficult it was becoming to know who we could trust and who we couldn’t trust

through all this.

“Do you think this means that Keith and Chris are in question as well?” I asked.

“It’s worth having a very serious conversation with both of them to find out,” Ivan said.

“Call one of them up here. I want to get to the bottom of this right away, but I want to talk to them

separately,” Adrik said. While he had a moment of calm, I could feel his anger rising again. I could also

feel that he wasn’t fighting it this time. He wanted to be angry to talk to Chris and Keith.

If I’d learned anything since being with Adrik, it was that anger was a very useful emotion once you

learned to control it. Especially if you needed to intimidate someone into telling you the truth. I smiled to

myself. While I usually tried to keep him calm, I found myself enjoying being able to feel his anger

because I knew it was needed.

We heard a knock on Adrik’s office door. Viktor opened the door, letting Keith into the office. He walked

in, somewhat curious as to what was going on, but he seemed quite calm. “What’s going on?” he asked

as he sat across from Adrik’s desk.

“We need to know everything you know about Mike,” Ivan said. He was still clearly angry, which caught

Keith off guard.

“Yeah, man. Can I ask why? Seems kind of like a moot point now,” Keith said.

“Did I ask for your opinion?” Ivan asked, a clear edge to his voice,

Keith looked quickly to Stephen. It was obvious that he was confused by what was happening. “I’ll tell

you anything you want to know, but I kind of need a direction here. Why are you asking about him? Like

what are you looking for?”

While the guys were all quickly becoming angrier because it felt like Keith was trying to avoid the

question, I could see that he was being honest and was trying to figure out how to appease them. “Let’s

start with when he left the police force in the small town you guys grew up in. Did he leave before or

after you left the town?” I asked.

“He left before I did. He was gone for a couple years before I decided to leave. Honestly, we lost touch

until we both showed up for this job. I didn’t really like him when we worked together before, so I wasn’t

exactly jumping at the chance to catch up with him,” he said. He looked at Stephen again, this time it

was obvious that he was unsure how much he could say.

“He didn’t know you’re g ay?” I asked. Keith turned back to me, his eyes wide.

Stephen chuckled. “They know, Keith.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, no. He didn’t know. He was not as observant as you.” He cleared his throat. “Clearly.”

The guys couldn’t help but laugh quietly. I’m sure they would’v given him a hard time if this

conversation was a little more light hearted

“Did he ever say anything about what he’d been doing in the couple years between him leaving and

getting this job?” I asked.

“Not much. He said he’d worked security here and there. Mostly odd jobs. He tried to get onto the

police force in the city, but he failed the psych test,” Keith said. “He never really went into details, but I

also never really asked. I almost didn’t take this job. because of him, if I’m being honest. It was so

much better after he left,” he said.

“Why did you leave then?” Misha asked.

“Basically, the same reason that Mike left. It was such a small town that there was no room for

advancement. I’d pretty much topped out early on in my career. There, uh, also wasn’t much of a dating

scene in town. I knew Mike had initially moved to the city, but like I said, we lost touch, so I never

dreamed I would meet him at the first job I applied to after moving here,” Keith

said.

“How long were you here before you applied for this job?” I asked.

“A week. This was the first jub 1 applied for, too. I’m pretty sure I got lucky, but this conversation is

making me wonder, not

gonna lie,” he said.

“You’re doing fine, Keith. Just relax,” I said. He gave me a tight smile, but did not relax.

“After you two started, did you ever notice him making calls that he wouldn’t tell you about or did he

ever disappear with no explanation? Did you notice anything weird?” Viktor asked.

Keith thought for a moment. “A couple of hushed phone calls. Or like he would end the call very quickly

if he saw me. I never noticed him disappear, but once Armando was done for the day, I didn’t keep

track of Mike. I was usually looking forward to getting a break from him by the end of the day, so I didn’t

pay attention to what he was doing or not doing.”

“Do you remember when those phone calls happened?” Viktor asked.

“Not precisely, no,” Keith said. “Can I ask why this is important now? I mean, he’s not really an issue

now, right?”

The guys looked to me before saying anything further. I said, in Russian, “I don’t think he’s lying. I don’t

think he knows anything. I think he likely stayed away from him as much as possible. If Mike had that

much of an issue with me, I can only imagine how ho rrific he would’ve been toward Keith if he found

out. He’s nervous because we’re all here grilling

im, but I

don’t feel like he’s hiding anything.”

While we were talking with Keith, I knew Adrik had been staring him down. It was a very effective

strategy for him, as he could be extremely intimidating when he wanted to be. I saw Keith catch his

gaze once or twice and immediately regret it. Once I told them that he was telling the truth, I felt Adrik

relax slightly. His anger level lowering, but only slightly.