Page 116 of Rise of the Queen

I laughed. “I still find it surprising that he got so angry with her. I didn’t know that kid had it in him, but he clearly loves you. There’s no doubt about that. They all do.”

I felt her mood shift and pulled back from her so I could see her once more. Her eyes were swirling, but they were mostly amber and white, surprisingly. She saw the look on my face and explained. “I sometimes worry that their connection with me is keeping them cut off from living their lives. We all joked about it in Italy, but I can clearly see now that I’ve made it exceptionally difficult for them to find a girlfriend. Stephen might have aneasier time, but only slightly. I don’t want to keep them from making their own lives.”

“I don’t think you are, solnishko. They know that once I’m done for the day, they’re free to go. It’s always been that way. It will always be that way. If they wanted to find girlfriends right now, they could. They’re choosing to spend more time with you because you give them what they need right now. They wouldn’t be able to have the same conversations with a girlfriend that they have with you. At least not right away. What’s happening to all of us is strange and not everyone is going to be able to handle it. They need to be more secure in themselves and what they can do before they’re going to have a chance at finding a relationship that lasts. None of them are interested in just finding a woman to sleep with. They see what we have and they all want the same. They know it’s going to be worth the wait.”

She sighed, her eyes once again landing on the deepest depth of the ocean blue. Her fingers ran lightly through my facial hair as she smiled sweetly at me. “Sometimes I wonder what the hell I did to deserve you,” she said.

“I wonder the same thing every single day,” I said, burying my face in her neck once more. She wrapped her arms around me, holding onto me tightly as she let me have a few more minutes in bed with her before starting the day.

The guys were waiting on us when we came out of the bedroom. Viktor was there with Ilya, as well as Vitaliy and Aleksei. I wasted no time setting my plan in motion. “Viktor, why don’t you take the weekend and spend it with Ilya before he startswork. You guys slept through his first week here. At least you’ll have a couple more days to catch up,” I said.

Viktor started to protest, but Vitaliy surprised me by interjecting. “You can help me find more security for my house, if you really want to work. But after that, you should spend time with your brother.”

Viktor still looked unsure. He asked me, “You guys will be okay?”

Sephie smiled sweetly at him. “We can go away for the weekend. We’ll be fine and you won’t have to worry about us, Papa Bear.”

His entire demeanor melted as she smiled at him. He wasn’t going to argue any further.

“It’s settled then,” Vitaliy said, matter-of-factly.

“Were you trying to keep Viktor away or you just don’t want Ilya at the house?”Ivan asked me as everyone started conversing.

“Ilya. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for him to know about it, but not yet. I really need a break. Sephie does too, even though she’s pushing through like the boss she is. She needs time to tell the other three about Kostya, too.”

“We could all use the break. Except Stephen. He’s still on cloud nine.”Ivan said, laughing.

“You were right last night. That kid is a saint. I’m happy to see it. Nobody deserves it more than he does.”

Ivan nodded his head discreetly in agreement and we both returned to the normal conversation going on around us. Stephen was asking Sephie to come up with a new name for Armando for when we take him to a nursing home.

“Richard. That way you can call him ‘dick’ the entire time and no one will know you’re saying it with a lowercase ‘d,’” she said flatly. The guys all laughed.

“Dickie had a drug problem that caused him to have a massive stroke and now he’s catatonic,” Stephen said, his smile that was showing itself more frequently lately across his face.

“That’s perfect,” Sephie said, grinning at him.

I decided to keep my meetings that day rather than reschedule them. I asked Sephie if she could come to the last one, which always surprised her. “Who is it?” she asked.

“You’ll see,” I said. I enjoyed tormenting her maybe a little too much sometimes.

She walked into my office with the Wonder Twins just before the meeting started. Stephen walked in right behind them. She turned to see who it was and her face immediately lit up. “Vinny!” she said as she walked quickly to him. He brought his wife, Anna, with him as well. “And Anna!” she said, hugging both of them. Neal walked in shortly after, a look of amusement on his face. “I’m so happy to see both of you!” Sephie said, as they walked in, each taking a seat.

“Bella, it’s always good to see you,” Vinny said. He shook my hand before sitting down. “You too, sir,” he said, taking a seat.

Sephie walked around my desk, stopping to kiss me quickly, then hopped on the cabinet behind my desk. Anna’s salon had been repaired and was reopened, as were all the other businesses in that part of town. Since Niko and Vito were still in Italy with Sal, all of the underbosses had backed off from enforcing the increased taxes. They had all heard what happened to Anthony, Lorenzo, and Massimo. They all knew that no one had seen Armando or Dario in months. They were scared.

I looked to Neal, asking if he’d brought the paperwork. We had one restaurant owner in the new building project back out forpersonal reasons, so we had one space empty. I decided to offer it to Vinny at a discounted price so he could expand and open a second location, should he choose to. Neal got up and set down everything in front of Vinny.

Vinny started to look at everything, curious as to why I’d asked him here. Neal explained the building project to him. As he did, Sephie silently asked,“You’re offering the vacant spot to Vinny so he can open a second location, aren’t you?”I just turned slightly so I could see her, but didn’t respond.“Just when I think I can’t love you anymore than I already do …”

Neal explained about the empty space and then offered it to Vinny, should he want to expand to a second location. Vinny looked shocked, as did Anna.

“There’s no pressure, Vinny. It’s only if you want to expand to a second location. I’m offering the space to you first before I make it known there’s a space available,” I said.

Vinny looked at Anna, then back to me. “We’ve been talking about a second location for years, sir. We just could never find the right spot. This spot is perfect. I can keep that place afloat just on the people in that building,” he said.

“Smart man, Vinny. You’d be surprised how not obvious that is to some people,” Sephie said sarcastically. Neal looked at her, unable to keep his laughter in.

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