*Sephie*
On the elevator ride down to his office, I could tell he felt much better. I caught him looking down at me, a curious look on his face. I raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was thinking. “You look like you feel better?” He phrased it like a question, like he wasn’t totally sure.
I nodded my head, laughing. “I was just thinking the same thing about you. I think we both needed a few hours away.” He pulled me to him, holding me tightly against him.
“I definitely did, solnishko. I don’t think you fully realize just what you do for me,” he said, kissing my forehead as I looked up at him. Before I could say anything, the doors pinged, signaling our arrival. He wrapped his arms around my waist, picking me up, as he walked off the elevator. He stopped, just outside. “Kiss me,” he said sweetly. I leaned down and pressed my lips to his, still feeling the euphoria from our break time activities.
“I love you, A…” I said, quietly. I started to say his name, but I forgot to check to see who was around first. He set me down, smiling down at me. I glanced around quickly, relieved no one was around.
“I love you, solnishko,” he said, grabbing my hand, lacing his fingers through mine.
All the guys were in his office when we walked in. Ivan said, “Armando should be here shortly.”
“Uh oh, is it serious?” I asked.
Ivan smiled at me. “Depends on your definition of serious, princess.”
“Sarcastic answer equals not that serious,” I said, winking at him.
Armando and Giana walked in the office, followed by Chris and Keith. Her arm was through his. I was surprised to see her. She was usually shy about coming to Adrik’s office. I was glad to see her finally gaining some confidence. She looked relieved to see me. I smiled at her, greeting her in my broken Italian. She smiled at me, answering in Italian as well.
Misha, who knew that he could make her all hot and bothered without much effort, looked to me and said in Russian, “I don’t like this, gazelle. You’re only allowed to speak foreign languages to us. Otherwise, you could be talking about how adorable I am and I wouldn’t know it.”
I laughed, making Giana nervous. I told her, again in my broken Italian, that Misha was jealous. Her cheeks flushed, but she smiled as Armando wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her to one of the chairs by Adrik’s desk.
I walked by Misha, on my way to my usual spot on the cabinets behind Adrik’s desk. I said quietly, “don’t scare her.” I tried to look at him sternly, but failed miserably. I caught myself wondering how his mother ever disciplined him as a child. He must’ve gotten away with murder because he was so adorable. It was physically impossible to be mad at that face.
I walked around Adrik’s desk, but he caught my arm as I walked by, pulling me to him. He pushed his chair back and pulled me into his lap, so I was leaned back against him. He put his lips close to my ear and said, “I still need you close, solnishko.” I felt the goosebumps rise over my whole body. I pulled his arms around me, secretly happy when he slid his hand under my shirt.
“What have you found?” Adrik asked.
Viktor and Ivan proceeded to tell us, mostly Armando who had been kept in the dark, what we knew about the warehouse so far. They’d been unable to get into any surrounding warehouses, as those were all owned by one of Sal’s companies. There would be no legitimate reason for someone outside of Sal’s network to be moving into one of those warehouses.
“We’ve got guys trying to run surveillance, but it’s difficult. Sal has people everywhere around that warehouse,” Ivan said. He was clearly frustrated with the situation. “From what we can tell so far, it’s going to be next to impossible to get into the building. It’s going to be difficult to get access to the outside of the building without drawing attention.”
I leaned my head back and whispered to Adrik, “Trino’s idea might be the way to go. Nothing wrong with dramatic flair occasionally.” He laughed, catching everyone else by surprise. They all looked to us, but Adrik said nothing, so I also kept my mouth shut. Once everyone’s attention was elsewhere once again, he kissed my cheek, smiling at me.
“Do we have any idea of when this is happening, yet?” Armando asked.
Viktor shook his head no. “Not yet, but Sephie’s friend has a way to give us a head’s up potentially.”
“We haven’t heard from him in a couple of days,” Ivan said, looking somewhat worried.
“No, it’s okay. Trino called earlier. Chen’s alive. He dropped my name to Trino’s guy and told him to check it, so he did. Trino called right away. Chen found one of his top guys, so he can get the word out quickly,” I said. Ivan looked relieved. “From what Andy said earlier, if the dealers know what’s going on, they’re not going to go along with the plan. They’re the ones that stopped it before.”
Armando looked to me, puzzled. Adrik said, “Sal has been behind brawn from the beginning. He’s the one that paid to have it created, he’s the one that distributed it originally. The dealers are the ones that stopped selling it because it was killing too many people. The other story was a lie.”
“How do you know this?” Armando asked, clearly surprised.
“We found the doctor that created it,” Viktor said. He paused, then added, “we found him for other reasons, but Andy recognized him and told us everything.”
“Do I want to know the other reasons?” Armando asked.
“No,” we all said in unison. Armando simply nodded his head, crossing his leg as he shifted positions in his chair. He glanced at Giana, who seemed less nervous than usual. He reached over and grabbed her hand, his thumb lightly rubbing the back of her hand.
I suddenly had a thought, about the doctor and the warehouse. I looked to Misha, who had that faraway look in his eye that meant he was thinking about possibilities too. I said, in Russian, “we need to grab the doctor and take care of the warehouse at the same time.”
As soon as I said it, Misha looked to me, grinning. “How do you do that, gazelle? I was just about to say that. I have a bad feeling about grabbing the doctor too far ahead of taking care of the warehouse. Sal is going to know it’s us on both, but if we do them at the same time, he won’t be able to strike back as quickly.” He then said in English, “See? You were made for this shit.” His broad smile stretched across his face, giving him an extra dose of boyish charm.
I couldn’t help but grin at him. I glanced at the other guys, who were in agreement. I happened to glance at Giana, who was trying to not stare at Misha. I couldn’t help but smile. *Yep, he got away with murder as a kid*.