Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Nine
*Adrik*
Sephie was somewhat refreshed after a little time away from her new Italian shadow. We ventured out to find Trino. I needed her to spend as much time around him as she could, to get a feel for whether I could trust him or not. We found Ivan almost immediately when we left our room. He had been sleeping better, with the recording of Sephie playing, so he was looking much more like himself, aside from still having his entire arm bandaged and in a sling. Andrei was almost back to normal. He could use his arm lightly and only had a small bandage over the wound the bullet left when it hit him.
“Super Squish the savior,” Sephie said with a grin on her face as we met Ivan.
“I didn’t know I needed to tell you to keep all hands and feet inside the plane until the ride had come to a complete stop,” he said as he cut his eyes down at her, a small grin on his face. I was still surprised at how much funnier he was after being around Sephie for a relatively short amount of time. He had always been so quiet before she came into our lives. We all were. But now, because of her, we saw the lighter side of everything.
I found myself thinking about watching her at her piano a few days ago. She really had brought out the best in all of us. I’d never cared about making anyone happy before her. We all saw how much effort she put into making everyone around her happy. It was contagious. She did such an amazing job of it that we wanted to do the same for her. We were so excited for her to get her piano back. Every single one of us, men who had killed without a second thought, were wiping tears from our eyes watching her get her piano back. She was so happy and in turn, we were all happy. She was incredible.
Trino’s island house was spacious, with just as much outdoor space as indoor, given the perfect climate most of the year. We found him outside, with his second-in-command, Martin. Good. Sephie will be able to meet him as well.
“Jefe, come and sit,” Trino said, motioning for us to sit on the couches next to him. “I have to say I’m not sad about you bringing Sephie with you. She’s much nicer to look at than your men.” Sephie didn’t say anything, but she made sure she sat in between me and Ivan. I put my arm across her lap, my hand on her thigh.
I nodded toward Martin. “Good to see you again, Martin.”
He returned the nod. Martin was generally a very quiet man, which I appreciated. I looked to Trino, asking, “have you met with Dario and Massimo yet?”
Both Trino and Martin laughed. “No, man. It’s too much fun to make them wait. I would’ve thought they would have caught on by now, but they’re still down there waiting for me to see them. They call Martin every day to see if I can see them that day. Every day he says something came up. I’m a very busy man, as you can clearly see,” Trino said, opening his arms and gesturing around him to the empty island house. We all couldn’t help but laugh at his games with the other bosses. “Honestly, I wouldn’t mind not meeting with Massimo at all. That cabron...” He trailed off, but didn’t finish his thought. He looked to Martin as Martin cursed under his breath.
“What has Massimo done to you to make you hate him so much?” Sephie asked.
Trino looked at her, clear disgust on his face as he said, “we could never prove it, but we’re certain that Massimo killed my nephew. Or had him killed. I sent him to the city to keep an eye on Dario and Massimo. There were…discrepancies in their profits versus the product I was sending them. I knew they were stealing from me but needed someone closer to keep an eye on their operation. I sent my nephew. He got close. He let me know he was going to get the proof we needed the next day. I never heard from him again. No one knows what happened to him. Or more like no one will say what happened to him.”
“What’s your nephew’s name?” Sephie asked. It was an innocent enough question, but I knew she was only asking because she might be able to give him a definitive answer.
“Mateo.” I felt her squeeze my hand, still resting on her thigh, but she said nothing further about his nephew. I knew she would tell me later. I didn’t want to tell him too much until Sephie had a chance to “approve” Trino. I would wait to tell Trino about the information Sephie had on the other bosses until after she gave him the okay, not before. Trino continued, “it’s only out of respect for you, Jefe, that I don’t put a bullet in his head when I eventually see him.”
I scoffed. I caught Ivan shift his position as well. We’d gotten confirmation that it was Massimo’s men that had tried to get to Sephie when they left the piano gallery that day. “You’re free to put a bullet in his head, Trino. If you don’t, I will,” I said. I felt Sephie squeeze my hand again. She mumbled, “amen to that,” causing Ivan to chuckle.
Trino looked at me, surprised at my reaction and curious as to what Sephie had said as well. She looked at him, frankly saying, “Massimo is the reason that Ivan almost died and Andrei got shot a few days ago trying to keep me safe. Massimo can choke on a bag of dicks for all I care.”
Trino looked to me again, trying to contain his laughter. He was clearly not expecting that to come out of her mouth. Ivan and I both laughed at her. She never ceased to surprise us with her comical creativity. Even Martin, who was normally quiet was trying to hold in his laughter.
She looked at both Trino and Martin. “It’s okay to laugh. You know you’re thinking about the image of him choking. You can admit it.”
That was all it took. They both erupted into laughter. We all did. Trino, still chuckling, said, “I can see why she’s so special, Jefe. You better keep her or I’ll convince her to move to Colombia.”
Before I could answer, Ivan said, “good luck getting her to do anything she doesn’t want to. The day that Massimo’s men tried to grab her? She killed more men on her own than the rest of us did that day.”
“Dios mio. Really?” Trino asked Sephie. She just shrugged her shoulders, leaning closer into me. I put my arm around her and pulled her closer. Trino, now curious, asked, “why did Massimo try to grab her? To get to you, Jefe?”
“Possibly, yes. Right now, we just know that it was his men,” I said.
We continued to talk about business, the other bosses, and what had been going on recently. Trino wasn’t happy with any of the bosses, except Armando and I. Considering Trino controlled the pipeline that delivered all the product we needed to fund our illegal enterprises, it was important to keep him on your good side. I didn’t feel like this was a difficult task, but clearly the other bosses were struggling with it.
Armando and Giana joined us eventually. Armando seemed at ease with Trino. Giana seemed slightly terrified, but at least she was being quieter than on the plane. I watched Sephie watching Trino and Martin carefully, as well as how Armando and Trino interacted. Eventually, Trino’s men showed up, as well as Andrei, Misha, Viktor, and Stephen. Sephie stayed mostly quiet and watched everyone for most of the evening.
I would catch her eye occasionally, but each time she would smile sweetly at me, indicating that there was nothing to worry about on my end. After dinner, I pulled her aside and asked her what her thoughts were. I was almost positive I knew her answer but wanted to make sure before I went into any more details with Trino.
“I don’t see anything weird with Trino. Martin is a little harder to get a read on, because well, he never says anything, but I don’t feel like he’s got any hidden agendas. I get a good feeling from both. From what I’ve seen so far, you can trust him. It’s obvious he respects you and to a lesser extent, Armando. He has zero respect for the other bosses, especially Massimo.”
“I’m seriously considering letting him put a bullet in his head for me,” I said, pushing a stray curl from her face.
She looked at me seriously, then quickly looked around to see if anyone was close enough to hear. She stood on her toes, her mouth next to my ear, “I know what happened to Mateo. I heard them talking about him after one of the meetings when they stayed later than everyone else. I’d never heard Mateo’s name mentioned before, so it piqued my interest. Massimo had him killed. I also remember Dario yelling at him for it. He was scared. More scared than I’d ever seen him. I didn’t know about Trino at the time. I don’t know if he was scared of Trino or you. Or Massimo. Or all three.”
I looked at her as she stood in front of me. I could see the fear in her eyes. Knowing so much information about Massimo had already brought one kidnapping attempt on her, almost killing Ivan in the process. She was scared to tell anyone about what she knew. I inhaled deeply, trying to think of options. On one hand, Trino would be even more in debt to me for knowing what happened to his nephew. I could also get him to take care of Massimo for me. On the other, it put Sephie in danger for others to know just how much she knew about the organization.
I kissed her forehead. “We’ll sleep on it. We can discuss it with the guys in the morning. As far as I’m concerned, being able to trust Trino is the main concern right now.”
She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She silently nodded her head, leaning into me, resting her head on my chest.
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