Chapter 77


    Chapter Seventy-Seven


    Ivan


    We all retired to our rooms for the night. Iid on the bed, trying to sleep. I was physically and me ntally


    exhausted, but there was going to be no sleep in my immediate future. My mind kept reying the look


    on Sephie’s face in the ballroom as she saw Boss going down. She looked to us for help and we had to


    run right past her. I nced over my shoulder as Armando’s man grabbed her. I’ll never be able to


    forget her face when she felt him grab her.


    Fear. She was legitimately scared for her life, but I think she was more scared for Adrik. I’ve seen that


    look before. When the one you love more than life itself is dying in front of you. That’s a look I wish to


    never see again.


    When we were on the ne, Sephie had finally passed out from stress, but her mind was reying the


    nights events too. We’d never heard her talk in her sleep. She’s fallen asleep around all of us at least


    once and never once had she talked in her sleep. Adrik thought she was awake at first.


    She would desperately call for him, but then she would desperately call for me. She knew I was the


    closest one to her before everything happened. She trusted that I would save her and I ignored her. I


    could hear her voice calling to him, then me, over and over again while we were on the ne. It felt like


    it went on for hours. My heart broke & little more


    each time.


    Now I was stuck reying those scenes. Thinking about how I had let her down. The one woman I had


    let get close to


    me again. I knew she and Adrik belonged together, but I couldn’t help but love her too. We all did.


    After a few hours of staring at the ceiling, I got up to get a ss of water from the kitchen. I stood


    against the counter,


    now staring at the floor, my mind still on the loop of everything that had happened. I knew we had fu


    cked up bad when she wouldn’t look at me on the ne. I was the first one to see her. She was so


    scared that she couldn’t see past it. She didn’t trust her own brain to recognize me. Or Adrik. We fu


    cked up bad.


    I refilled my ss, sighing. I heard footsteps approaching the kitchen. Misha. He looked at me, “you


    can’t sleep either,


    huh?”


    I shook my head no. “I can’t stop seeing her, first in the ballroom, then when she was curled up in the


    seat on the ne when we first got to her, and I can’t stop hearing her calling for Adrik and me while


    she was out.”


    Misha nodded. “Not gonna lie, I did get some enjoyment out of reying her decking you,” he said, his


    hand on my shoulder. I knew he was just trying to make meugh, but I deserved the hit. I deserved so


    much more than what she did.


    He grabbed a ss and filled it. We stood in silence until more footsteps could be hearding toward


    us. Viktor. “At least I’m not the only one,” he said.


    “Yeah, man. I gave up. It’s not going to happen,” Misha said.


    No sooner had Viktor filled his ss with water than Andrei came into the kitchen. That dude probably


    got it the worst out of all of us. Hits to your junk are one of the worst spots possible. Stephen walked in


    shortly after Andrei. We all stood in silence for a few moments. Misha broke the silence. “Well, now that


    we’re all here, how are we going to fix this?”


    I was proud of that kid. I had no idea how she was doing it but being around Sephie had made that kid


    step into his own. He was the youngest of all of us, only barely older than Sephie. He had always been


    good at his job, but hecked confidence. Sephie managed to somehow get that kid to believe in


    himself. Even after the attack on the sidewalk. I was worried he was going to take a few steps back in


    his progress. It was a bl ow to his ego, really. She pulled him aside one night and read him the riot act


    in her subtle way and he turned it around after. None of us knew what she said to him, but she was the


    only one that could’ve saved him from himself in that situation.


    1 was surprised at how well he was handling this situation. He told her the truth on the ne. He had


    argued with us for hours about telling her the n. He told us he had a bad feeling it would go bad if we


    didn’t. Turns out the kid was right. We were so worried about making it look authentic that we didn’t


    stop to consider what it would do to her. Misha was the only one that thought about that, but four


    against one meant that he was now paying for our poor decision just like the rest of us.


    Andrei sighed. “We can’t leave today. There’s no way we can move her when she’s like this. I don’t


    know how long it’s going to take or what it’s going to take to make her better, but she can’t leave like


    this.”


    Everyone agreed. “So, we stay here a couple of days. Shouldn’t alter the n too much, honestly. We


    still have eyes on Anthony and Lorenzo. We’ll know what they’re nning. I would prefer to be closer,


    but we can make this work,” I said.


    “What about Adrik? He wants vengeance for Sephie. He wants Anthony dead. Will he be willing to push


    pause for a day or two? I know Sephie means more to him than anything, but his taste for blood is


    unparalleled when ites to those that wrong him. I’ve never seen him give that up,” Viktor asked.


    Viktor had been with Adrik the longest out of all of us. Before I showed up, even. Adrik was very much


    like his father when he first took over the business. He would personally take care of people that had


    wronged him. He had as much blood on his hands as the rest of us.


    Stephen spoke. “We don’t give him a choice. There are things in life that are more important than


    vengeance.” He paused, adding, “if he’s h ell bent on getting revenge, then he can send a few of us to


    take care of Anthony and Lorenzo. Without him.”


    I considered the options for a moment. I rubbed my face with my hand. My nose still didn’t feel right.


    She had almost broken my nose. If she had been able to eat and train for the three weeks before, she


    would have, but she had lost some of her strength. I did have a ck eye from it though, so she still


    landed a solid hit. “I don’t think it will be that difficult to talk him into staying an extra day or two. Not if


    she’s not feeling better when she wakes up this time.”


    We stayed in the kitchen talking about variations to the n until the sun came up. In the original n,


    we were supposed to be leaving shortly. We heard nothing from Adrik’s room. We weren’t sure if he


    had overslept or if something was wrong. We had ditched our phones before getting on the ne. We


    had burner phones in our bags, but we hadn’t turned them on yet.


    I went to his door and knocked quietly. I heard him softly tell me toe in. He was on the bed, in his


    underwear, on top of the covers, with Sephieying across his chest, sound asleep. She was just in her


    t-shirt, giving me a full look at the wounds on her legs. It was bad. He put his finger up to his lips, but


    motioned me toe in.


    I walked next to the bed, as quietly as possible. The other guys were outside in the hallway, looking in


    through the open door. I saw the slight reliefe to all our faces when we saw she was sleeping


    peacefully on him.


    He whispered, “I can’t move. Anytime I try to leave, she starts crying out for me in her sleep agairt, then


    she’H call for you. Stuck in that loop that she was in on the ne. Ie back and put her on my


    chest, and she sleeps peacefully again.” He pointed to her fingers, lightly moving on his chest in a


    rhythmic pattern. “This is how I know she’s in a


    happy ce. She ys the piano.” I couldn’t help but smile. Seeing her happy made me suddenly


    happy.


    He looked down at her, lightly running his hands through her hair. She snuggled into him more, making


    a quiet whimper noise. He looked back at me pain evident in his eyes. “She wants nothing to do with


    me when she’s awake,


    but she won’t let me go when she’s asleep.”


    I sighed. “She wille around. Her subconscious is still clearly attached to you. She just needs time


    to process everything. It will take her time to forgive all of us.” I paused, not really wanting to talk


    business now. “Boss, we can’t leave with her like this. She needs time. We all discussed it this


    morning. We don’t think we should leave with her. Either we stay here for a day or two more and give


    her a chance to recover, or you stay here with her, and we go on with the original n.”


    He was quiet for a moment, thoughtfully running his hands through her long curls. “We’ll stay. Nothing


    matters more than her. I won’t ever risk losing her for anything again. They can take my empire. I don’t


    want it if I can’t have her.”


    I stood, cing my hand on his shoulder. I turned and walked back to the expectant looks on the guys


    in the hall. I closed the door quietly behind me, motioning for everyone to move from the door so we


    could give her quiet to sleep. We walked back to the kitchen.


    “He agrees,” I said. “He said he won’t risk losing her again for anything and I agree. His empire is


    receable. She is


    not.”


    There was a collective exhale. We were all happy to stay a little longer. If she couldn’t go with us, none


    of us wanted to leave.Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.