*Sephie*
Misha looked to Ivan. “You’re going to be so happy when you hear this story, man. So, we went to the house the morning after you guys left. Sephie wanted to. We get there and poor Andrei is scared shitless because he hasn’t spoken to Tori since we got back. So, of course Sephie devises a plan to let him go in the house alone for a few moments with her before we all walk in.”
I hugged Andrei a little tighter. “Yeah, so about that, that was a dick move. I’m sorry.”
He laughed. “It was a dick move, but I forgive you.”
Misha continued, “turns out Tori wasn’t there when we got there. She’d gone to the store for more food. Sephie wanted to go for a walk, so Andrei and I went with her. I wanted to go for a walk. Andrei wanted to put off the inevitable.” Andrei nodded his head, completely unashamed of his actions. “We were gone for a few hours. We sat by the lake almost the whole time, which made Sephie’s hip sore. Andrei offered to carry her back to the house, but she refused because of Tori. I offered instead and she refused at first, but took me up on the offer before we got to the house. We walked into the kitchen and Tori had her back to us. We just stopped and waited for her to turn around and see us there. Not gonna lie, I was just as scared as Andrei at this point.”
Stephen interjected, “any of us would have been. She’s scary.”
“So, she turns around and Andrei speaks first. Tori is immediately bitchy and makes a comment about us still being alive. Andrei tried to explain that having to go no-contact was as much for her safety as ours. Then she looks at Sephie and makes a comment about us remaining in contact with her. Andrei tried to smooth it over by telling her she was with us, but it wasn’t what she was thinking. That’s when it all went to hell. She made a comment about us carrying around Sephie like a ’goddamn princess that can’t be bothered to walk’ or something to that effect.”
Ivan interrupted him, looking to me. “She really said that?” he asked, completely shocked.
I nodded my head. “I should also add that she was abusing this one head of broccoli during this entire exchange. Like she slammed it on the counter and then had this giant knife that she was just murdering the broccoli with while this was happening.” I made a dramatic motion like I was stabbing something with one hand.
Ivan clicked his tongue. I could see the anger starting to come to the surface.
Misha picked the story up. “I saw red when she said that, so I set Sephie down and walked toward Tori. I told her she was never to speak about Sephie like that again, not only because she’s Boss’s girlfriend but because she’s our little sister and if she ever said something like that again I would drag her to the front gate so she could leave.” Andrei squeezed me a little tighter when Misha referred to me as their little sister. I caught Adrik’s gaze from the couch opposite to us, his sexy smirk on his face. He winked at me, causing me to smile at him.
Viktor asked, “what did Tori say after that?”
“Nothing. We didn’t give her a chance to say anything. We left the kitchen and went upstairs to the office. I told Boss what she said right away, even though Sephie didn’t want me to,” Andrei said, looking sideways at me.
Ivan clicked his tongue again, looking at me. “Why would you not want him to tell Boss that?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “She was just mad. People sometimes say things when they’re mad. I figured she would calm down and feel differently.”
Ivan looked at Adrik, who nodded his head once. Ivan looked back at me. “What’s said in anger is the truth, princess.”
“I know, I know. That’s exactly what Adrik said,” I said smiling at Adrik.
“So, what did you do?” Ivan asked Adrik.
“I made sure Andrei didn’t want to pursue anything further with her and then I fired her,” he said, smiling.
Ivan stood up, both hands in the air, “YES!”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his excitement. Even Andrei laughed.
“I’m going to enjoy going to the house so much more now,” Ivan said, smiling.
“I told you he was going to be excited about this,” Misha said to me.
“You were totally right. I had no idea that Ivan hated her that much. Why did you hate her that much, anyway?” I asked Ivan.
He thought for a minute. “I don’t know exactly. There was just always something about her that irritated me. She acted like she was scared of us, but I never felt like she really was. There was something always underneath the surface with her that didn’t sit right with me. It changed once you got here, too. I don’t think anyone else caught it, but I caught her looking at Sephie a few times when she thought no one was looking. It was pure hatred, especially when Boss couldn’t keep his hands off her. I think that’s where her jealousy really came from. She really wanted Boss and was mad because he never looked twice at her.”
“Who doesn’t want that sexy ass man. I mean, look at him. LOOK AT HIM,” I said, pointing at Adrik. He just shook his head, laughing at my silliness.
Andrei said, “now that you mention it, she did talk about him a lot. She seemed astounded that we were all so different after Sephie came. Like she couldn’t understand it.”
“She asked me what my secret was like the day after I got you two to talk. Spoiler alert: I have no secret.”
Stephen got up to get a drink from the kitchen. “You’re unapologetically you, Sephie. It allows us the same freedom. She’s still trying to pretend she’s someone she’s clearly not, therefore she doesn’t know how to act and doesn’t understand why we act differently around you.”
I just looked at him, somewhat shocked. “You’re like Yoda, just taller. And less green. You’re so quiet all the time and then you just drop a giant truth bomb on everyone, then don’t speak again for 5-7 business days.”
“My ears are nowhere near that big,” he said, pretending to be offended.
“Valid point. Completely valid,” I said, smiling at him.