Chapter 358


    Sephle


    This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Adrik and I were thest ones to breakfast the following morning. Everyone gave us knowing looks and


    I suddenly worried that I’d been too loud the night before. Adrik felt my sudden panic. He slid his arm


    around my waist, his lips next to my ear. “Nobody heard you. But if they did, they’re just jealous.” He


    was clearly amused at the possibility of them hearing me. It was an ego boost for him. It was insanely


    embarrassing for me.


    “Good morning, princess,” Ivan said. I was fairly certain he felt my momentary panic as well. He was


    bing quite good at feeling as much from me as I could feel from him. “We made bets as to


    whether you would wake upte today or not. You’re due for ate morning.”


    “Sh ut up.”


    “No, it’s true, gazelle. It’s been a few weeks since you’ve slept in. I think you’re past due, actually,”


    Misha said.


    I couldn’t hide my amusement at them apparently knowing my schedules better than I did. “I had no


    idea I was so predictable,” I said, sitting in an empty chair beside Viktor. He put his giant arm around


    my shoulders, hugging me sweetly. He kissed the top of my head, saying, “you’re allowed to sleep in


    whenever you like. You waste a lot of energy taking care of all of us, sestrichka.”


    “I would not call that a waste, Papa Bear.”


    “I, for one, am relieved that you didn’t sleep in this morning, spider monkey. I was going to feel bad


    about letting you go full speed yesterday morning if you had,” Andrei said.


    1ughed, but before I could respond, Aleksei looked at me, half-confused, half amused. “Do they all


    call you different names?” I smiled at him, nodding my head. “I assume there’s a reason for such


    strange names?” he asked, wanting further exnation. Clearly, Alyosha was jealous at our


    imaginative nicknames.


    “There’s a story for all of them,” Misha said. Both Aleksei and Vitaliy looked at all of us curiously,


    wanting to hear why they called me by the names they did.


    “The first day I stayed with her while Boss was working, she jumped on my back so I had to carry her


    around every chance she got. She still does it. That’s why I call her spider monkey,” Andrei said as he


    smiled and winked at me. I knew he’de to love carrying me around as much as I did. Half the time,


    he’d offer first.


    “She likes to go for runs and since I’m the only one that runs on a regr basis, I was forced to go with


    her. She almost killed me that first time. She’s like a gazelle. I like to remind her that she almost killed


    me as often as I can,” Misha said, his wide smile stretching across his face.


    Ivanughed. “Much like she put you in your ce yesterday, Alyosha, she put me in mine very quickly


    after first meeting her. I had called her princess to try and pi ss her off. I was giving her shi t while she


    was trying to help me. She adopted it right then and she’s been the princess ever


    since.”


    “Why would you try to pi ss her off?” Vitaliy asked.


    Before Ivan could answer, I said, “Ivan has a very special set of skills that he enjoyed using on your


    son’s past girlfriends.”


    “How so?”


    “His demons pull their demons out for the world to see, so everyone else can see the person as Ivan


    sees them. He just didn’t realize that I have many of the same demons he does and I’m very good


    friends with them, so it didn’t work on me.” Iughed, remembering that morning in my kitchen. “He’d


    been hurt and needed stitches. It was before I knew of his aversion to doctors. I was offering to clean


    him up and trying to talk him into going to the hospital but he was giving me shi t. I gave him shi t back


    so he let me clean his wound, but I told him he needed stitches. He said he wasn’t going to the doctor


    and then taunted me about stitching him up. He didn’t know that I really could stitch him up, so I told


    him I was going to enjoy the pain it would cause since I had nothing to numb the area. I also didn’t


    know that was not a thing that happens with him. I was just trying to pi ss him off the same way he was


    trying to pi ss me off, honestly.”


    “It was the first time we’d seen Ivanugh in years when she told him she wished she had a lollipop to


    give him and thanked him for not killing this princess when she was done,” Viktor said, his arm moving


    around my shoulders once again.


    Stephenughed loudly. “I didn’t know about the lollipopment. I would’ve paid to have seen his


    face.”


    Vitally and Aleksei were alsoughing. “You really have nothing to worry about when ites to my


    contacts in Italy, dkaya. You’ll be able to handle them just fine,” Vitaliy said, stillughing. He was


    quiet for a moment, looking at all of us thoughtfully. Then he said, “the more I learn, the more


    impressed I am.” Then he stood up and walked away from the table, leaving everyone slightly stunned


    at his words. I nced to Adrik, who was more stunned than anyone, his mo uth slightly open, his eyes


    wide.


    It was Aleksei that broke the stunned silence. He looked at Adrik, “she offers him a sweet reminder of


    things long lost to him. This was the father were too young to remember.” He ced his hand on


    Adrik’s shoulder as he, too, got up to walk away from the table, once again leaving us all in


    silence.


    you


    “Jesus I haven’t seen this kind of melodrama since d first came to power,” Stephen said,pletely


    straight-faced. We all erupted intoughter, which inevitably grew as we looked at Trino’s confused


    expression.