Chapter 175


    Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Five


    Viktor


    We were stillughing and joking, throwing out possible ho rrific oues for Massimo when Armando


    came back with Giana and his men. He had a muchrger file in his hands than what Giana hade


    upstairs with earlier.


    “Any problems?” I asked Mike as they all walked to the kitchen.


    He shook his head no. “We didn’t notice anyone following, even. Either they stayed very discreet, or


    they have no idea we’re the ones that took Andy tonight.”


    Armando walked to Ivan and handed him the substantial file he had on Brian. Ivan immediately got to


    work looking through the pages. One of Ivan’s greatest strengths was finding a person’s weakness. He


    almost had a sixth sense about it. It was partly why most of Adrik’s former girlfriends always hated him.


    We knew they wouldn’tst long if Ivan could make them mad. He had a way of uncovering a person’s


    true nature.


    It was one more reason we all knew Sephie was special. She never once changed around him. Misha


    said she was initially scared of him when she first saw him in her kitchen, but she was initially scared of


    Misha too. She was expecting me and Andrei when she woke up, not Ivan and Misha. That fear was


    completely gone when he came back and she noticed he was hurt. She was determined to help him,


    even though he didn’t make it easy for her.


    Sephie, always curious, walked to Ivan. She stood behind him, reading over his shoulder as he flipped


    through the file. If anybody could find how they got to him, those two could.


    We were all quietly waiting for them to find the answer we needed. I watched as they both came to the


    same conclusion, at the same time. She looked at him while he said to her, in Russian, “that has to be


    it.” She nodded her head in agreement, Ivan looked up, finally noticing all of us watching him. “Brian


    has a sister. Single m om, struggling financially. Her kid was just diagnosed with a rare form of ca ncer.


    I would bet good money that Sal is offering to pay for the kid’s medical treatments in exchange for


    ess to the water system. It looks like Brian has been supporting her financially for a while.”


    As he talked, Sephie continued to look through the pages over his shoulder. She was leaned over his


    back, reaching over his shoulder flipping the pages like that’s exactly where she was supposed to be.


    “So, do I fire the guy? I can’t fire the guy if he’s supporting his si ck nephew,” Armando said, clearly


    worried about this situation.


    I looked to Misha, who had that faraway look in his eye that meant he was running through scenarios in


    his head. His gut instinct was unparalleled. He was right about our n at the ball. He was the only one


    that was right about that n. He also saved all of us by keeping us from going to Armando’s office


    when we were in Italy. We were reliant on his gut instinct now. Just as he made a face that I knew


    meant something was off, I heard Sephie say, “sh it” under her breath.


    We all looked to her, as she looked to Misha, looking for confirmation of what she’d just discovered.


    She saw the look on his face. “Double sh it,” she said. We all knew this was not good, but Armando’s


    guys were a little clueless.


    “Care to expand on what ‘sh it” and “double sh it’ actually mean?” Mike asked.


    Ivan nced at him, a serious expression on his face, that caused Mike to add a “please” to his


    question. Sephie didn’t see Ivan’s expression, but she knew it had happened. She just wrapped one


    arm around his shoulders, as she answered Mike. “The father of Brian’s nephew is none other than


    Anthony.”


    None of us were expecting that answer. She looked to Adrik, a puzzled look on her face. “Didn’t you tell


    me Sal had given you some bracelet with a tracker in it when you banished Anthony? Andy told you it


    was for a former girlfriend, right? One that


    Anthony was suspecting of cheating?”


    Adrik nodded. We were all putting the pieces together. “I think we found the cheating girlfriend,” he


    said.


    “In her defense. I’d cheat on that, too. I’m honestly impressed she even got pregnant,” Sephie said. It


    was a funny statement, but we all recognized that edge to her voice. She was getting angry.


    Mike, still notpletely connecting the dots, asked, “what does that mean?” Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    We’d all heard about her revtion about Anthony when they were talking to Trino and Martin, so we


    were all trying not tough. We all looked to Sephie, who stared at all of us, clearly not amused with us


    forcing her to say it one more time.


    “You’re all going to pay for making me say this out loud yet again,” she said, ring at all of us. She


    sighed, then looked to Mike. “Anthony has a tiny d ick, which he felt the need to press against me when


    he was choking me in the hallway of the restaurant I used to work at.” Ivan reached up and held onto


    her arm that was still wrapped around his shoulders, trying tofort her.


    Mike looked surprised. “Okay, I’m going to need to hear that story at some point. But why is she


    financially struggling if she’s got his kid? Cheater or not, that’s still his kid, right?”


    Adrik said, seriously, “you don’t know Anthony.” Sephie kissed Ivan’s cheek, then walked back to Adrik,


    tucking herself into his side as he wrapped his arm around her.


    “He’s right. Anthony is…. Well, he’s a bit of a psycho. He gets off on inflicting pain on others. One of the


    things he said to me as he was choking me was that he loves it when they fight back. It’s likely why he


    got into the flesh trade, as well. It gives him a sense of power to determine someone else’s fate. The


    change in finances for the mother of his child is likely from Sal, not Anthony. And is only happening so


    they can have ess to the water in Armando’s part of town,” she said.


    “Or Lorenzo. Sal seems to make excuses for Anthony. He might even be scared of his own son,” I said,


    remembering the meeting that Adrik had with Sal when he banished Anthony.


    “Would Andy have more insight into that dynamic?” Sephie asked.


    I nodded my head. “Likely. We’ll keep him at the safe house through tomorrow for sure. If there’s no


    one lurking around the building, it might be safe to move him here sooner than we originally thought.”


    Adrik looked at me, seriously. “Sephie meets him when he moves here. We need to know we can trust


    him.”


    “Agreed,” I said.


    Mike looked surprised. “Why does that matter? I mean no disrespect, of course. You’re obviously a


    smart girl. Are you a human lie detector or something?”


    She smiled at him, but it was a tight smile, shrugging her shoulders. “More or less.”


    Armando interjected, “Sephie’s observation skills are next level. I’m going…”


    She cut him off, “he knows, Mando. He’s observant in his own right. He’s just confused as to why I


    have so much input when I’m just the girlfriend.” She crossed her arms across her chest, almost daring


    him to argue with her.


    He stammered for a moment, trying to find the words to say. She saw that she essentially had him on


    the ropes, so she went in for the ki ll, taking a few steps toward him. “You thought when I said to let me


    know when you have problems with Giana at the airport that I meant she was going to be the problem,


    didn’t you?” She chuckled. “It’s because you have a hard time with


    women in any kind of an authority position. We can discuss what happened to make you this way at a


    later time, but I told you


    to let me know when you had problems with her so I could tell her how to handle it, not you. You see,


    Mike, I can read people like a book, so yes, as a matter of fact, I am the deciding factor on whether


    Andy is trustworthy or not. Anymore questions?”


    We were all trying to hold in ourughter, as we watched Mike’s face turn even more red than Sephie’s


    hair. He wasn’t going to live this one down for a while. I nced at Giana, who waspletely shocked


    at this revtion. Given Mike’s reaction, we all knew that she was right. She had called him out and he


    wasn’t sure how to handle it.


    Adrik walked behind Sephie and put his hand on her waist. He looked at Mike, with every ounce of


    intimidation he had in him. “That’s the first andst time you will question either my decisions or


    Sephie. Understood?”


    Mike nodded his head, “yes, sir.”


    Ivanughed and said to us, in Russian, “make that two for our team, zero for their team.” We couldn’t


    help butugh as Armando and his guys looked at us, confused.


    We were definitely getting that wh ite board set up. Sephie might have to learn how to read Russian


    before this was all over with.