Chapter 269
Chapter Two Hundred Sixty-Nine
Adrik
The next morning, the guys were back in the penthouse early. We had agreed the night before that we
didn’t trust anyone else. so all conversations between us were to be had in Russian and in the
penthouse when possible. Sephie struggled to wake up this morning. She was so exhaustedst night
that she was sound asleep almost immediately afterying across my chest. I can’t take the me for
her tiredness this morning. Whatever happened between her and Mishapletely zapped her energy.
Not to mention dealing with the stress of everything Dario told us.
When I came out of the bedroom without her, the guys were noticeably concerned. I smiled at their
concern for her. “She’s awake. She’s still getting ready. She was exhaustedst night and struggled to
wake up this morning,” I said.
“Same,” Misha said as he walked to the coffee maker. “I’m starting to understand why you both needed
extra coffee the day after whatever happened between you two that zapped you both. I feel like I could
sleep for three days right now,”
“It onlysted a day for me. Hopefully, you’ll be the same,” I said,ughing at his exhausted expression.
He looked like he could barely keep his eyes open.
Viktor pulled his phone from his pocket, typed a short message, then put his phone back in his pocket.
“Breakfast will be here shortly,” he said. “Although I can tell you right now that I’m not going to enjoy it
as much.” We allughed at his crankiness over not getting Sephie’s cooking.
Sephie walked into the kitchen just as Misha was pouring her a cup of coffee. “Perfect timing, gazelle.
You’re going to need this,” he said as he handed her the coffee mug. “I might’ve made it a little strong.
Apologies if it’s too strong.”
“Are you as exhausted as you look and I feel, my adorable Russian guardian?” she asked. He nodded.
“What the f**k happened yesterday,” she whispered as she sipped the coffee.
“I can’t answer that yet, but I did get more recordings from Keithst night. Armando is back from his
house as oftest night. Keith sent over what he had from this weekend. He said Armando met with
Ricardo, but didn’t close the door this time. Keith thinks Armando wasn’t aware that he was there. After
what Dario told us, I’m not sure I believe the bumbling id iot persona of Armando anymore, so it
might’ve been intentional. It’s possible he’s caught on to Keith recording his meetings somehow and
now he’s feeding us false information, but we won’t know until we get them tranted,” Stephen said.
Sephie sighed. “I’ll get started after I finish breakfast,” she said.
“Breakfast is on its way, spider monkey. Viktor already took care of it. You need a break this morning,
Game Master,” Andrei said, grinning at her.
She looked at Viktor, her sweet smile that made him melt on her face. “Papa Bear, you’re my favorite.
Don’t tell the others.”
Sephie listened to everything Keith had sent over from Armando’s meetings over the weekend after
breakfast. She had a serious look on her face listening to one of the recordings. She kept reying it
over and over again like she was trying to hear something else on the recording. Stephen had given
her headphones again to help her hear more clearly. She finally looked at Stephen, then looked to
Viktor. “There’s not much that’s useful from Armando’s meetings, but in this one recording, I can hear
Giana talking in the background for just a minute, like she’s walking by on the phone or something. It
sounds like she asks when she can go back to Italy, then it sounds like she says it wasn’t her fault. She
must walk too far away because I lose her voice for a few minutes, but shees back through. She’s
still talking, but it’s too jumbled for me to be able to hear what she says clearly when shees back
through.”N?velDrama.Org owns all content.
“There’s a way to separate the voices on the recording.” Viktor said, “I’ll be right back,” he said, walking
quickly toward the
door.
“What about his meeting with Ricardo this time?” Stephen asked.
“Um, let’s see. They talked about Ricardo needing to see a doctor for his knee. They talked about the
weather, then they talked about how nice it would be to go to a tropical ind because it’s getting
colder here, then they talked about Ricardo needing to pick up his clothes from the cleaners. Oh, f**k
me they’re talking in code aren’t they?” she said, putting her hand on her forehead as she realized what
she’d been listening to.
We couldn’t help but chuckle at her. She really was tired. Normally she was very quick to catch on to
such things. “It’s likely it was code, solnishko. Can you tell me exactly what they said?” I asked.
“I’m gonna need more coffee,” she said as she put the earphones back in and started the recording
again. She started writing the conversation out right away.
Viktor came back with hisputer to try and separate Giana’s voice from the others on the recording.
She handed Stephen his phone back once she was done, then handed me the trantion from the
meeting with Ricardo. Ivan got up to move closer to me so he could read the trantion as well. Andrei
got up and made Sephie another cup of coffee while everyone was busy.
It didn’t take Viktor and Stephen long to get Giana’s voice separated from the others, so we could hear
her more clearly. Sephie went to listen to what she previously couldn’t understand. “I was right on the
first two. She asks when she can go back to Italy, then says it wasn’t her fault. She sounds angry on
thest part. She says, “I’m not a child. You’re lucky I’m still here. The longer you leave me here, the
more likely I’m going to disappear.”
#
“If she’s been a nt all along, she might be tired of the game. Armando has been using her, he may or
may not have gotten her hooked on coke, and we all ha te her now, so maybe her n to rob him is
really her n to get away from Armando and her family,” Stephen said.
I looked to Misha, to see if he had any thoughts on potential oues, but he was still so tired that
there was little to no chance he’d be able to see anything. Sephie saw me look toward Misha, then saw
the look on his face and giggled. “I don’t think it will work on her. Not with the level of hatred Misha has
for her. That’s going to cloud the oue,” she said, smiling at him.
“She deserves whatever she gets,” Misha said tly.
Ivan, who had been looking over Sephie’s trantion from Armando and Ricardo’s conversation, said,
“I think Stephen was right. The persona of Armando as a bumbling id iot is exactly the opposite of how
he really is. He fooled all of us. Unless they’ve changed their codes, they’re talking about a hit on Trino,
although I can’t tell who ordered the hit from what they said. They’re just discussing it.”
“Shi t,” Sephie said. “Could they be referring to what happenedst night? When did Keith record this
one?” she asked Stephen.
He checked his phone. “It was before they got to Trino, so that adds up. They wouldn’t have known it
was unsessful at this point,” he said.
I felt my own anger rising to the surface, but I immediately felt Sephie’s almost overtaking mine. I
nced to her, worried she was about to lose control, but once again, she lookedpletely calm. She
looked to me, her eyespletely dark. “I know,” she said, indicating that she was in control and was
aware her eyes were likely dark. “I’m still not over Dario’sment about Sal and Armando fighting
over me before you came back. I need a minute to be angry about thatplete and utter bu llsh it, as
well as being wrong about Armando.”
I couldn’t help butugh at her response. The guys did too. Stephen looked at her,pletely straight-
faced and said, “maybe your milkshake really does bring all the boys to the yard, Seph.”
That was all it took to make herugh and I felt her anger subside. When she looked at me again, her
eyes were back to their normal three colors. I was bing more and more impressed with her level
of control of her anger. Her eyes only changed
colors when she was a raging inferno internally, but from the outside, she lookedpletely calm and
in control. I could only
tell she was angry because I could feel it, not because she looked it. Other than her dark eyes. My
Game Master was showing me how to increase my own anger to in sane levels while remaining in
control of it. I felt her cool hand on my face, breaking me free from my thoughts. She searched my eyes
for a moment, finding the answer to her silent question of what had me distracted, She just grinned at
me, standing on her toes to kiss me. God, I love her.