*Sephie*
As the evening was winding down, Viktor caught me and Adrik to the side of everyone, asking, “would you mind if I spent some extra time with Ilya once Vitaliy leaves for the evening? I haven’t seen him in a few weeks. I also haven’t gotten a chance to really meet Jessica yet.”
“Of course, Viktor. You know you’re free to do as you wish once I’m done for the day,” Adrik said.
Viktor looked at me, grinning slightly. “I didn’t want you to think I was avoiding anything,” he said.
“I don’t think that, Viktor. Anymore,” I said, mirroring his grin. “I think you should spend time with Jessica. She’s pretty adorable. I also think you can be good for her, as well. I think you have an inside track to help her understand her gift. She’s slightly overwhelmed. She also knows that we’re different, but she doesn’t know why yet. I didn’t want to hit her with everything yet.”
He nodded. “I have talked to Ilya once or twice since they’ve been spending more time together. He said almost the same thing. He thinks I can help her.”
“He takes after his older brother with his level of intelligence,” I said, winking at him.
After Viktor had walked away, I told Adrik, “even your father likes her. It was like the first thing he told me when they got here. She’s already got Ilya wrapped around her finger.”
Adrik pulled me in front of him, wrapping his arms around my waist. “I can’t imagine what that would be like,” he said, as he pressed his lips to mine. “I would never let that happen.”
I laughed, hugging his neck tighter. He pressed his cheek lightly to mine, rubbing his facial hair against my cheek lightly the way I loved. He whispered, “I love you, Sephie. So very much.”
“I love you. And your giant heart,” I said, hugging him tighter.
After Vitaliy left with everyone but Ilya, he and Jessica stayed in the penthouse for a few more minutes. They eventually left with Viktor to spend some quality time together.
Andrei glanced at me after they left the penthouse. “Did you see?” he asked.
“I did. I’m guessing you did as well?” I asked.
“Yup. I might’ve overheard you ask how you looked different. That’s when I looked,” he said, his handsome smile stretched across his face.
“Are you two going to let the rest of us in on what the hell you’re talking about?” Ivan asked.
“Jessica said I looked different to her this time. You all do too. I asked her to explain how. As she did, I snooped to see what she sees. It’s pretty dang impressive, if I do say so myself,” I said. I quickly shared what she could see when she looked at all of us. Before, she only saw our wings from the perspective of us being able to walk through Heaven. Our wings were white, but they had a different look from other angels she’d seen, so she knew there was something about us that wasn’t like other angels. This time, she could see the black in our wings. It made me wonder if she’d soon be able to see demons the same way she sees angels or if her gift was just getting clearer for her.
“Boss and Ivan are clearly in a competition over who has the cooler wings,” Misha said as he looked at what Jessica could see.
I chuckled. “I’m surprised Vitaliy left without finding out why we’re all different.”
“I fully expect him to be back tomorrow because of that,” Adrik said.
“How was Jessica? Did you tell her why we all look different now?” Stephen asked. I could feel him slightly worried about a new woman. Out of everyone, he had every reason to be. I went to him, sliding my arm around his waist and resting my head on his shoulder as he put his arm around my shoulders.
“She’s still overwhelmed with everything, so I didn’t get into specifics. I think Viktor can be good for her. Ilya is definitely good for her. She’s a very sweet girl. I think she’ll be fine with everything eventually. She’s still struggling with accepting her own gift. I didn’t want to scare her, so she just knows we’re different for now, but she doesn’t know why,” I said. Silently, I said to Stephen, *“I looked in her head. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body. I know you’re going to anyway, but you don’t need to keep your distance as you wait for her to get mean. Besides, you have me as your attack dog if she proves me wrong.”*
He didn’t respond, he just squeezed my shoulders a little tighter.
“I might’ve checked on Trino’s girlfriend too. I don’t know, I got nervous when Andrei said she was Mexican and her uncle was killed when Trino took over,” Misha said, looking a little sheepish.
“What did you find?” Ivan asked.
“She’s good from what I could see. Uh, we’re also going to their wedding once everything calms down. So, yeah. That’s a thing that’s happening,” Misha said.
I laughed. “Now that you know you can use your demon to help you, are you spying on more people?”
“NO!” he said, acting indignant that I would even think that.
Ivan caught my eye. We looked at each other and then back at Misha. “Who else?” we both said at the same time.
“Okay, maybe just a couple people. I was having trouble sleeping. I was bored. It’s not a regular thing,” Misha said, slightly embarrassed.
“Who?!” we all demanded at once.
“I might’ve checked on Giana,” he said quietly.
“And?” I asked.
“She’s doing well. Her and her friend moved recently to Portugal. They’re planning on staying there through this next year, then they have plans to move again. Giana has a job, she met a guy, her friend is trying to talk her into going back to school. She’s living the most normal life ever and she seems really happy about that,” he said.
I just couldn’t help the tears that fell as I was completely overcome with relief and happiness that she was doing well. I still didn’t want to be friends with her, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want the best for her.
“Misha, I’m really glad you spied on her,” I said, wiping the tears from my eyes. “It makes me really happy to know that she’s doing okay.”
“I think we’re all relieved to know she’s okay. I don’t think any of us want to be BFFs with her, but she still didn’t deserve to be treated that way,” Ivan said.
“You took the words out of my mouth, Squish,” I said.
“Who else did you spy on?” Andrei asked. “I know that’s not the only one.”
Misha laughed. “Right again,” he said in between laughs. “I might’ve also tried to find Vanessa to see what she’s up to now that Massimo is dead.” More laughter. “I don’t know how, but I could smell her when I found her.”
We all laughed. “I hope you didn’t watch her for very long. That smell will get on you,” I said.
“What is our dearest Vanessa doing now?” Ivan asked.
“She’s trying to find a replacement for Massimo, but she’s not having much luck. She’s working at a club somewhere in the city. She gets lots of male attention. Lots,” Misha said, his eyes wide.
“I don’t want to know any more. Please stop talking,” I said, making everyone laugh.
*“Come here,”* Adrik said silently to me. I squeezed Stephen once more, then walked across the kitchen to Adrik. He wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me tightly. “Close your eyes, Andrei,” he said before he kissed me passionately. Everyone else laughed.
“I am never going to live that one down,” Andrei said. I turned and leaned my back against Adrik’s warm chest, pulling his arms tight around me.
“I mean, it’s never gonna not be funny, Bubba,” I said, laughing.
“We still need to figure out why you got blocked that one time and couldn’t see anything,” Stephen said to Misha, somewhat cryptically.
“You got blocked, Misha? When did that happen?” I asked. I felt Adrik tense slightly and I instantly knew what he was looking for. I squeezed his arms tighter and chuckled. “I know what you were all discussing. I love you all very much for trying to protect me from that conversation.”
Adrik leaned down and kissed my cheek, saying quietly, “Misha was looking for outcomes pertaining to the families. He could see nothing.”
“Has that ever happened before, Misha?” I asked. I didn’t have a bad feeling about this, but it was definitely a new occurrence that we’d never experienced before.