Chapter 231


    Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-One


    Adrik


    Iughed. “That one has been happening for a while. But that shouldn’t surprise any of you. She does it


    to you guys too,” I said.


    “Not like what she just did to you. Although, I’d be willing to het she probably could do it to one of us If


    we tried it,” Misha


    said.


    “I don’t know. It works the best with Adrik. He’s the only one I know for sure. The rest of you is usually


    my best guess,” Sephie said.


    “Christmas isn’t that far away. What size crystal ball were you thinking you’ll need to get this side hustle


    off the ground?” Ivan asked, causing Sephie to grin at him.


    “It does make sense that you two would be sopletely in sync. I’ve never seen two people as


    connected as you two are. It makes sense that you two feel what the other one feels, but not even


    being in the same room is pretty impressive,” Stephen said. Out of all the guys, he was the most


    scientifically minded, especially when it came to psychology and matters of the mind. I’m sure he was


    constructing an experiment to carry out to prove that what he’d just seen was real.


    “Surely you’ve seen something simr in your 900 years on this earth?” Andrei asked Stephen.


    “Once before,” Stephen said,pletely straight-faced. We allughed. Sephie had set out the food on


    the ind as we were talking andughing. She walked to me as the guys helped themselves to food,


    tucking herself into my side where she fit so perfectly. I looked down at her, reveling in her smile.


    “This is exactly what I needed, solnishko,” I said, brushing a curl from her face. She just smiled her


    sweet smile and stood on her toes to kiss me. Suddenly the stress from the day waspletely gone.


    “So, tell us what happened with Giana,” Misha said after we had all started eating.


    Viktor couldn’t hide his amusement. “You missed a good one, Misha. You would’ve been so happy,


    especially after you were so angryst week,” he said.


    Misha looked at me, clearly still angry as he thought about Giana’s behaviorst week. “I hope you


    made her feel terrible.”


    I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know if she actually heard anything I said, that’s the issue. It seemed


    like Armando had said the same thing to her over and over and she’s still not hearing it. He was almost


    trying to force an apology out of her, like she was a child. I question whether she’s really heard


    anything that’s been said to her if she can’t even apologize on her own,” I said.


    “Thankfully, Boss didn’t ept it. Honestly, I was shocked that Armando did it,” Viktor said.


    “I do feel bad for Mando. He’s in an awkward spot with this one,” I said.


    “What did you say to her?” Sephie asked.


    “I told her she shoulde and apologize on her own, first and foremost. Then I think I told her you


    were smarter than she was and that her insecurity with herself was no excuse to try and use a falsely


    perceived fault to tear you down to make herself feel better. Then I listed everything you’ve done for her


    since she’s been here and tried to make her feel bad for thinking the worst of you. I also might’ve


    thrown in a veiled threat about how angry we all were with herst week,” I said thatst sentence


    quietly. I wasn’t sure how happy Sephie was going to be with that one. Misha, on the other hand, was


    ecstatic.


    “Oh, please tell me you told her how angry I wasst week. She can’t keep from staring at me. Like


    literally all the time. I hope it crushes her to know I was pi ssed,” he said.


    “Not just you, Misha. I told her all of us were angry with her,” I said.


    “He told her that if she hurts Sephie, she deals with us,” Viktor said.


    Misha threw his fists in the air, “YES! Please tell me she was scared.”


    “Serves her right,” Ivan said. “Sometimes you have to learn lessons the hard way. This is definitely one


    of those times for her.”


    “I think Sephie was right about her leading a sheltered life up until recently. Armando made ament


    about her parents fixing everything for her but teaching her nothing or something like that after Boss


    ripped her a new one,” Viktor said.


    “So, her parents have been covering for her?” Sephie asked,


    “That’s what he made it seem like, but I don’t know anything else about it,” Viktor said. “This kind of has


    spoiled rich kid vibes, don’t you think?”


    Sephie was quiet for a moment. I could tell she was thinking about things; she chewed on her bottom


    lip, lost in thought. “Ok, so who here thinks she’s going to want to go back to Italy in the next week?”


    she asked, a devilish grin on her face.


    Four of us raised our hands. Stephen, one of the ones that didn’t raise his hand, said, “I think she’ll try,


    but I think this is the pivotal moment where Armando forces her to grow up. I don’t think he’ll let her go


    back to Italy right now. Not without him and I don’t think he’s du mb enough to think it’s a good idea to


    leave the city right now.”


    “We’re adding this to the wh ite board in the morning.” Andrei said.


    Sephie was still lost in thought as we cleaned the kitchen up from dinner. We’d settled into a routine


    where she would cook, with the help of whoever was around to help her, but we all pitched in to clean


    up after, so she didn’t have to. The guys would happily wash dishes if it meant she cooked more. Viktor


    still hadn’t even advertised that we needed a chef. At this point, I was convinced he wasn’t going to


    until Sephie told him she was tired of cooking.


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    We would order takeout regrly, just to give her a break. I didn’t want her to feel like she had to cook.


    Only when she wanted. to. We were just incredibly lucky that she wanted to cook more often than not.


    She was still sitting at the ind in the kitchen, lost in thought, as we cleaned up and kept chatting


    about everything going on. Ivan noticed her nk expression before I did. He called her name to try to


    get her attention, but she didn’t respond. The other guys noticed she didn’t respond right away too, so


    we all stopped. Ivan walked to her, cing hisrge hand on her shoulder.


    “Princess?” he asked. As soon as she felt his hand on her, she looked up at him. She was almost


    surprised that he was standing


    next to her.


    “Sh it. I did it again,” she said. He chuckled at her as he slid his arm around her shoulders.


    “Tell me what’s going on, princess,” he said quietly. I stood and watched this giant bear of a man that


    could strike fear into any person he chose to be gentle and soft with her. I had never seen him be this


    way until Sephie. I didn’t know it was possible. He generally never liked being touched and from what


    little I know about his past, with good reason. She knew he needed it the most, I think. Ivan had very


    thick walls, but they were no match for Sephie. She knocked them down faster than I thought possible.