Page 197 of Rise of the Queen

I laughed with him, looking forward to Stephen’s reaction when he learned that Henry was still trying to outmaneuver us. He was definitely looking forward to being able to break Henry. Stephen was so quiet most of the time, but much like Ivan, we would occasionally find people who simply rubbed Stephen the wrong way. Henry was definitely one of those people. Henry had no idea what was coming for him.

I found myself enjoying that fact more than I probably should.

Sephie’s old apartment was proving to be more useful than I ever would’ve imagined it would be. I originally kept it in case she ever changed her mind. I knew she was never going to change her mind at this point, but I still kept her apartment for the convenience of an out-of-the-way meeting spot when I needed one.

Chen met us downstairs. If nothing else, he was always early to every meeting he attended with us, proving once again that one could be professional no matter their profession. He was slightly taken aback, as Vitaliy and Battista were with us this time, which meant all of Vitaliy’s men were with us as well.

“You guys are multiplying. This must be serious,” Chen said as he walked up to us in the parking lot of the apartment building.

“Why use six Russians when twelve will do?” Sephie said, her mischievous grin on her face.

“Hey, you miscounted, pretty lady,” Boris said in his very thick Russian accent. Battista’s arms dealer turned out to be exactly who we thought it would be. Boris was so tough and crotchety on first impressions that he made Vitaliy look like a nice guy.

“My bad. We have a baker’s dozen, Chen. Because one can never have too many Russians on their side when the shit hits the fan,” Sephie said, grinning at Boris. Like all of the men in her life, she found a way to politely put Boris in his place when he tested her. Mostly polite. Afterward, he’s shown her nothing but respect.

“This maybe lesson your country don’t learn too well,” Boris said, laughing as he walked to join the rest of Vitaliy’s men, who were unloading weapons from the back of their vehicles.

Sephie and Chen looked at each other, trying not to laugh. “My entire life, I’ve been told that Russia is the enemy. Now I find out these people are just as crazy as we are, only much larger,” Chen said thoughtfully.

“It’s the governments that are the enemy, Chen. Never the people,” I said, pulling Sephie with me toward the stairs to her old apartment. She looked at the building as we walked. I could feel her emotions as she remembered her life before she met me.

“It always looks so run-down when I see it now. It never used to seem that bad to me when I lived here,”she told me as we followed Andrei up the stairs.

“When it’s all you have, you cherish it. It did its job. It got you through until you found me,”I told her.

She turned to look at me, her sweet smile on her face.“I never thought about it like that before, but you’re absolutely right. I might love this dingey little apartment a little more right now,”she said.

“I, for one, am grateful for it. It’s proven to be very useful,”I said, pulling her closer as we walked into her apartment.

“I, for one, am grateful for you,”she said, reaching up to kiss my cheek.

Misha, who had followed us up the stairs, said, “I can feel you two being disgustingly cute right now.”

Ivan, who was still in the parking lot but heard Misha over his earpiece, started laughing. “I am so glad I’m not the only one that’s happened to,” he said.

Sephie’s cheeks turned red. She went to apologize, but Misha stopped her before she could even get it out. “Don’t apologize, gazelle. I’m having jealousy issues. That’s why I brought it up,” he said, grinning at her. She went to him, laughing as he reached down and picked her up in a bear hug.

As everyone else finally made it upstairs, Sephie’s apartment got very small, very quickly. We eventually decided that Vitaliy’s men would stay outside, mostly to give us more room. We asked that all the leaders from the resistance in the city were there tonight, not just the ones from Niko’s and Vito’s areas of the city. We wanted to make sure things were as quiet as we’d been told and we also wanted to make sure that everyone was as prepared as possible. It was clear that Sal cared nothing for the people of the city, given his brawn operation, so the idea that he would use the people of the city to cause more chaos was not off the table for him.

Stephen, who was across the street monitoring things from above, alerted us to everyone’s arrival. Surprisingly, Dr. Williams showed up along with the rest this time. He was just as surprised to see us standing in the apartment as we were to see him walk through the door.

Battista laughed, telling Sephie in Italian, “I knew I liked that doctor for a reason other than his willingness to accept massive donations.” She couldn’t help but laugh before sharing the translation with all of us silently.

“Dr. Williams, it’s nice to see you here. Unexpected, but nice,” Sephie said as she went to shake his hand.

“That feeling is mutual, although I don’t know why I would be surprised. Of course it’s you,” he said. “I think you enjoy yourlegend in the hospital more than you let on and you’re looking to add to it.”

“I mean, who doesn’t want to be immortalized with a few legends told about them? I’m no different,” she said nonchalantly. Dr. Williams just laughed quietly, shaking his head as he moved off to the side.

Both Ivan and I were somewhat uncomfortable with so many people in such a small space. Sephie, of course, felt it. After speaking briefly with the doctor, she stepped quietly behind both of us. I felt her hand find mine, which helped me keep my murderous aura under control. I squeezed her hand lightly before taking one step forward to begin the meeting.

We discussed Niko and Vito coming back, as they were scheduled to arrive the following day. “The reason you’re here, gentlemen, is that it will send a much bigger message to Sal, as well as the underbosses that are left in the city, if you stop them from collecting taxes once they return. We can and will support your efforts as much as possible, making sure you have everything you need to resist. The message will be much clearer if coming from you, however,” I said. “The only request I make is that you leave Niko and Vito alive and hand them over to me.”

“What happens after they’re gone? Are we just going to be fighting you next?” one older gentleman asked.

I chuckled. “That would be somewhat foolish of me to provide you weapons for this and not expect you would use them on me should I attempt the same thing later,” I said. “Things will go back to the way they’ve been for years before the other bosses got greedy. I don’t need your taxes. Your communities do. The more money you make, the more you can invest in your local areas of the city. That’s what I want and that’s what will happen once the other bosses are taken care of.”

“How do we know you won’t change your mind?” someone else asked.

---