King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Two Hundred

Sephie

Stephen thought for a moment. “Boss is the only thing I’ve seen stop it for her. His touch seems to calm

it down.”

I looked at both of them. “I’ll be okay. It goes away after a while, but I never know how bad it will get

first. Sometimes I lose control of my body when it gets really bad. That’s what I’m trying to avoid.”

Viktor moved behind me, his giant hands on my shoulders. He didn’t say a word, he just calmly stood

there like he was willing my trauma to calm down. I took a deep breath. It did actually help.

Dr. Williams walked back into the room with the x-ray films in his hand. He handed Stephen a card, as

well. “That’s the police unit I’m working with. Each time I hear of a new person who’s come in contact

with that doctor, I send them there,” he said as he clipped the films on the wall to look at them. He

looked at them, looked at Ivan, then looked at the films again. He scratched his head, then turned to

look at Ivan. “Your break is completely healed. Not only that, but I can’t even tell where it was to start

with. That’s virtually unheard of except in very young children.” He looked to me, grabbing scissors

from a drawer at the side of the room. He sat on a stool and rolled himself to Ivan. “Let’s get the

stitches out so you can leave.”

He worked quickly, telling Ivan that he still needed to be careful with his arm. “Have you had any pain in

your arm lately?”

1 couldn’t help but laugh. I looked at lvan, asking in Russian “have you had any pain in your arm ever?”

Viktor squeezed my shoulders as he laughed quietly behind me. Ivan grinned at me, but looked at the

doctor completely straight-faced, “nope, Doc. It’s felt great. You do great work.”

As he pulled out the last of Ivan’s stitches, he said, “okay, well take it easy for another week or so and

then you can start to use it more. It’s healed. It’s healed better than I’ve ever seen an injury like that

heal in such a short time, so I think you’ll be fine.” He looked to me. “And please, give the police unit a

call. You’re the only one that knows what he looks like. We’ve been trying to get him for over ten years

now.”

I nodded my head. I went to say something, but Viktor answered for me. “We’ll make sure it’s taken

care of, Doc.” His giant hands were still gently resting on my shoulders. He was the calming presence I

needed to keep the shaking from getting too bad. Ivan squeezed my hand as he pulled us both up.

“Thanks, Doc,” Ivan said as we all quickly walked out of the room. In the hallway, Ivan looked down at

me, “you okay, princess?”

I nodded my head. “Papa Bear helped in there. He kept the shaking from getting worse.” I felt Viktor

silently grab my other hand as we walked quickly down the hallway to the exit.

We were back to the penthouse in record time. Once in the elevator, Viktor told me he was taking me to

Adrik’s office. I looked to Ivan, still worried about him. “No, Papa Bear, I’m okay. I promise. I screwed up

his schedule yesterday. I don’t want to sc rew it up two days in a row. We can go to the penthouse. I’ll

be okay, it’s getting better. I promise,” I said, trying to convince him not to interrupt Adrik.

He looked at me skeptically, but relented. “Then you’re stuck with us for a little longer until I’m sure

you’re okay. You’ve had a rough couple of days, sestrichka.”

“I’m surprisingly okay with what happened yesterday. Like, I might be a ps ychopath I’m so okay with

it,” I said. I looked at all of them, gauging their reactions to what I said.

Stephen started to say something, but the doors dinged and started to open. He was waiting until we

were in the penthouse before he said anything. Before he could speak, I said, “wait a minute, there’s

something I need to do.” I still had a hold of

Ivan’s hand. I stopped him and opened my arms for him to give me a real, two-armed hug. “I fre aking

need this,” I said quietly as I wrapped my arms around his waist. He wrapped both of his giant arms

around me and held me tightly as 1 rested my head on his chest. I inhaled deeply, feeling my body

relax a little more.

I stepped back from him, unexpected tears in my eyes. “I can’t tell you guys how nice it is to feel safe

with you. Like life- changing and that’s not just me being overly dramatic, even though I do enjoy that,” I

said, trying to laugh to keep the tears from falling. I felt Viktor’s giant arm around my shoulders, pulling

me to him. Once again, he said nothing. He just held me tightly for a moment.

Stephen said, “Sephie, you realize you do the same for us, right?” 1 tried to peak over Viktor’s shoulder

at Stephen, who was still behind Viktor, but he was too tall. I turned him so I could see Stephen without

letting go of Viktor.

“I do not realize that, Yoden. What do you mean?” I asked.

“Yoden?” he said, looking at me skeptically.

“Yoda and Stephen. Yoden. Come on, not all nicknames stick the first time. Give me a break here. I’m

just throwing things out there, seeing what sticks,” I said, laughing.

He just shook his head as he said, “we give you physical security, but you give us emotional security.

It’s the classic masculine/ feminine dynamic. We give you a space where you feel safe physically which

allows you to give us a space where we feel secure emotionally. So, while you’re grateful to us for

making you feel safe, we feel exactly the same toward you.”

My eyes went a little wide as he was talking. I stepped back from Viktor to look at him and Ivan. They

both nodded in agreement with what Stephen said. I thought for a moment, chewing on my bottom lip,

not knowing how to respond. I looked at Stephen sideways, “so you’re telling me, this whole time, it

wasn’t my sexual charms?”

He laughed. “You know those things don’t work on me, right? I have immunity.”

I looked at him, in feigned disbelief. “My milkshake does not bringeth all the boys to the yard?”

That got a loud laugh out of all of them. Stephen walked to me, pulling me into a hug. “Seph, you’re just

the best.”

Viktor and Stephen stayed with me and Ivan in the penthouse for a while longer. I think they were

enjoying the break. Eventually, Viktor’s phone pulled them away, leaving Ivan and I alone. He looked at

me, a serious look on his face.

“Uh oh, Super Squish. Shi t’s about to get real,” I said, grinning at him.

“About this doctor that did your procedure. I’ve run into nothing but dead ends. If you can give me a

description of him, I can see if that helps jog people’s memories. People have heard of him, but no one

knows details,” he said.

“What about the police?” I asked.

“We should talk to Adrik about that. He’s close with the police commissioner. He should be able to get

us the information this unit has on this guy, but they’re going to want that description in exchange.” He

thought for a moment, looking at me. “We can do things the police can’t, princess, but they don’t give

up information for free. They need to still feel important,” he said, chuckling.

I nodded in understanding. “Have you talked to any prostitutes or their pimps? I’m almost certain that’s

how my uncle knew about this guy. I think he mostly does abortions for prostitutes. My uncle’s friend

that knew about the doctor was a pimp. He would come to the house occasionally, but I would always

leave when he was there. He gave me the creeps.”

“Do you remember that guy’s name? We might be able to find him, Ivan asked. He reached up with his

previously bandaged

arm to run his hand over his goatee like his arm hadn’t been in a sling for weeks.

“Only his street name. His girls used to call him Chucky and that’s all I ever heard my uncle call him. I

don’t think that was his real name though,” I said.

“It’s a start,” he said. “Are you sure you’re up for talking to the police about this?”

I looked down, my hands starting to fidget in my lap. I thought for a moment, then looked back up at his

concerned face. “I can do it if it means finding this guy. There’s no telling what else he’s done to other

people.” I paused, then added, “but you guys are gonna have to go with me. I might not be able to

avoid screwing up Adrik’s schedule that day.”

“His schedule is the least of his worries when it comes to you, princess. He’s going to be mad at us for

not bringing you to his office today once he finds out. He’s told us all before, nothing else matters

without you.”

“Sh ut up.”

He thought for a moment. “I think the first time he told us that was when we were at the ranch house in

Italy. When you were passed out and he couldn’t leave you or you’d get su cked back into your

nightmare. I went into the room the morning we were supposed to leave and told him we’d all decided

we couldn’t leave. He agreed and said nothing was more important than you. His empire is

replaceable, princess. You are not.”

I sat, somewhat stunned, for a moment. I didn’t know how to respond. Luckily, Misha came into the

penthouse and saved me from having to.

“Gazelle, are you hungry yet? Because I’m starving and we can’t decide what to get for lunch, so you’re

the deciding vote,” Misha said, his broad smile stretched across his face. He sat down next to me, his

arm around my shoulders.

“What are the choices? Do any of them involve a burrito the size of my head? Because if they do, that’s

what gets my vote,” I said.

He leaned over, kissing my cheek, “this is why you’re the best, Sephie. Be back shortly with a burrito

the size of your head.” My stomach growled loud enough for them to hear. They both looked at me,

pretending to be shocked.

“What? Sometimes my stomach feels neglected and needs to be included in the conversation. She has

a mind of her own,” 1 said, laughing.