*Adrik*
The guys were waiting on us as usual when we came out from the bedroom. She seemed like she had more energy this morning than she’d had in weeks. I didn’t have to wait on her to walk slowly down the hallway. The guys noticed she was brighter this morning, too.
“You look much better this morning, gazelle,” Misha said. He smiled at her, but was clearly surprised as well.
“I feel better this morning. First time I haven’t been in a fog when I wake up in a while,” she said. “I might actually want real food this morning, too.”
Misha looked around at everyone else. “Thank God you’re all here to witness it this time. I can’t handle the pressure of how to document these milestones in her life,” he said.
For the first time since she’d been hurt, she laughed without grabbing her ribs. I could feel the dull ache that was constantly present there, but no sharp pains this time. It was a nice change.
“Let’s make a deal,” she said, turning to me. I raised my eyebrow at her, wondering what she had in mind. “If I can eat real food for breakfast, then we can try Andrei’s idea of Misha using both of us to find Sal, as well as Martin. I want to know what those two are doing,” she said.
“Deal,” I said. I also wanted to know what those two were doing. If Martin was trying to make a deal with the Mexicans behind Trino’s back, that could put Trino in even more danger. The smile that she gave me when I agreed made my heart stop.
“How did you know that Trino and Martin were disagreeing on what to do with the Mexicans, princess?” Ivan asked.
“It just popped in my head. That’s how it works for me. Trino was thinking about it, probably trying to decide if he should bring it up or not. Given his reaction, I think he’d decided to not bring it up,” she said.
“His guys think she’s a witch now, too,” I said, laughing.
Andrei laughed. “I noticed several of them made the sign of the cross. At least we don’t have to worry about them around her now. They won’t want to be around her.”
“Did you have the same thing pop in your head, Andrei?” Stephen asked. “I know you knew Trino was lying when he made excuses for Martin not being here.”
Andrei nodded his head. “I didn’t get as many details as Sephie, though. I knew they’d had an argument, but that was all I could tell. She filled in way more details and Misha confirmed when he said Martin wasn’t in Colombia.”
“It does make me nervous if he’s not in Colombia. I wanted to ask Trino if he knew where Martin was, but he clearly didn’t want to talk about it,” I said.
“We can find out more after breakfast,” Sephie said, grinning at me. Andrei got up to make her the usual bowl of broth, since that seemed to be helping the most right now.
Viktor had been busy on his computer since we walked into the kitchen, likely trying to find the connection between Ricardo and the Mexicans he’d mentioned the night before. His phone beeped, indicating food was waiting for us. He started to get up, but Stephen put his hand on his shoulder. “I’ll get it. You keep working. I’d like some real answers today,” he said as he got up to get food.
After Sephie managed to eat half her breakfast, plus the entire bowl of broth, she got up on her own from the kitchen island. She motioned for Andrei and Misha to come with her. She glanced over her shoulder, asking the rest of us, “Sal first or Martin first?”
We looked at each other, then answered, “Martin first.”
She giggled. “Good. That’s what I wanted, too.” She’d stopped in the open area between the kitchen and the living room, grabbing Misha’s hand with her one free hand. “Somehow I think this will work even better once I have two hands again, but we’ll see how it goes this time,” she said. Andrei extended his hand to Misha as well. Misha got his usual faraway look in his eyes as he searched for Martin. After just a minute, Andrei and Sephie were clearly watching something that the rest of us couldn’t see.
“Got him,” Misha said quietly. They watched for a few moments, then Misha’s broad smile stretched across his face. “You got sound, gazelle,” he said as she laughed quietly. They continued watching, the looks on their faces turning very serious. After a few minutes, the movie was apparently over.
Misha was smiling ear-to-ear as he said, “that was the clearest one yet, gazelle. I’ve never had sound before.”
She looked at Andrei. “It was Bubba. He’s the power boost we needed.” Andrei was trying not to be too surprised at what had happened, but he was still coming to terms with it.
Misha looked to us, saying, “Martin is with the Mexicans. We could hear them, but since none of us speak Spanish, I have no clue what they were saying. It looked like they were negotiating, though. Then somebody hit the fast forward button.” He paused, running his hand through his hair. “This is not going to end well for Martin.”
“They’re going to use him as revenge for killing Anthony and Lorenzo. He’ll be displayed in a very public way so Trino can’t mistake the message,” Andrei said.
Sephie was quietly chewing on her bottom lip, contemplating what they’d just seen. She looked to me. “I think we can stop it, but it would have to come from Trino, which means he’s going to know what we can do.” She glanced at Ivan after looking at me.
“I don’t like the idea of him knowing, but if they kill Martin like you say, it’s going to start another war. Guaranteed,” Ivan said.
I pulled my phone from my pocket, dialing Trino’s number. He picked up on the first ring. “Jefe, you’re calling early,” he said. We could hear the surprise in his voice.
“Trino, you need to come to the penthouse. Your guys can wait downstairs. It’s important,” I said.
“I’ll be there in 10 minutes,” Trino said and hung up.
Viktor, who had still been searching on his computer this whole time, finally found what he was looking for. “Found the link between Ricardo and the Mexicans. It’s a deal from years ago, when Vitaliy was still in charge. Major development deal in Mexico. He also has a multi-million-dollar house there. Ricardo is the link between the Mexicans and Lorenzo.”
Sephie turned to look at Misha and Andrei. She grabbed Misha’s hand again, saying, “let’s find Sal before Trino gets here. I should be able to know what they’re saying this time, if he’s with Ricardo like I think he’s going to be.”
They went through the process again to find Sal this time. It went faster this time, but they watched for longer. Misha and Andrei both looked to Sephie when the movie only they could see stopped. She was chewing on her bottom lip again. She looked up at them, then to me. “He’s using the Mexicans as his army. Since we took out half the bosses already, he needs manpower. This wasn’t about going around Trino, on the bosses’ end. That came from the Mexicans. Ricardo needs manpower. He promised to support them in taking out Trino if they helped him take you out,” she said. “Sal is angry about Lorenzo and wants vengeance. Never mentioned Anthony, though. That was weird.”
“Sal is with Ricardo now?” Ivan asked.
Misha nodded his head. “They’re definitely in Italy, but I’m not sure exactly where,” he said.
Andrei walked to Viktor. “Something looked familiar. I’ve seen it in pictures before, but I don’t know what it’s called,” he said. Viktor pushed his computer toward Andrei so he could try and find their location. It only took a few minutes and he had found where they were. “They’re in Amalfi.” He looked to Misha. “You were close yesterday. It’s really close to Naples.”
Viktor’s phone rang, indicating that Trino was downstairs. “Be right back,” he said as he walked out. Sephie walked to me, tucking herself into my side. I could feel her nerves beginning to get bad. I pulled her to me, saying quietly, “I love you. More than anything, but a little more each day.” She sighed and rested her head against my chest. “How much did that zap you?” I asked.
“I feel it, but it wasn’t like the first time. Andrei definitely helped take most of it. It didn’t zap him at all the first time he did it. He must have superpowers,” she said, laughing.
“Andrei still holds back, gazelle. That’s why it’s not quite as clear with him. You don’t hold back,” Misha said. “I figured out the difference this time.”
Ivan laughed. “Sephie doesn’t know what that means.”