King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

Chapter Three Hundred Fourteen

Adrik

She handed me her sling so I could help her strap her arm back in. I’m trying to be cold on purpose. It’ll help keep

me awake,” she said, grinning at me. I clicked my tongue at her, to which she responded by making her eyes go

dark.

I cursed under my breath. “That is not playing fair,” I said as I pulled her as tight against me as I could. I leaned

down and kissed her passionately, trying to make her knees go weak. My tongue didn’t give her the choice to deny

me entry into her mo uth. Not that she would have anyway. Even though I was trying to make her knees go weak, I

was still fighting against my desire to completely devour her. When I felt her falter, I deepened the kiss for a

moment more until she moaned not so quietly against my lips.

She stepped back from me, a little more out of breath than I thought she would be. “You win,” she said, still trying

to catch her breath. It took her longer to catch her breath than it should have, which worried me. “I’m okay,” she

said in between breaths. “Just let me sit for a second.” I helped her to the edge of the bed, kneeling in front of her.

She didn’t let go of my arm while she

worked to catch her breath.

“I’m sorry, solnishko. I didn’t mean for this to happen. What can I do?”

She grinned at me. “I started it.” She looked down at my worried expression, her smile widening. “I’m okay. I

promise. It’s just difficult to catch my breath right now,” she said, her palm resting against my cheek. “Doesn’t

mean I didn’t enjoy the he ll out of that though.”

I cursed under my breath again, standing in front of her. “Can you walk? I can carry you downstairs. I think I should

carry you after I almost made you pass out,” I said, pulling her up in front of me. I didn’t wait for her to argue, I just

bent down and scooped her up. “I’ll be happy when you can eat again. You’re getting skinny again. You’re going to

be all sharp soon,” I said as I walked us down the hallway.

The guys were all somewhat concerned when I carried her out of the bedroom. “It’s okay. I might’ve gotten carried

away and almost made her pass out. The least I can do is carry her while she catches her breath,” I said, somewhat

sheepishly. I heard several chuckles behind us while we walked to the door. Sephie hid her face against my neck so

she wouldn’t have to see them

grinning at me.

The police commissioner was prompt, walking into my office exactly on time. “Henry,” I said, as I stood to shake his

hand. Viktor, who had escorted him up, stayed by the door after he closed it. The rest of the guys were already in

the office. Henry looked to all of them, nodding. He spotted Sephie behind me. She was already on the cabinet

behind my desk. “You must be Sephie. I’ve heard quite a bit about you,” he said, smiling warmly at her.

She slowly started to get off the cabinet. Ivan saw her and went to help her stand up. She walked over slowly,

extending her hand to Henry. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but hopefully it’s not all bad.”

“Quite the contrary. Vinny’s happens to be one of my favorite places for lunch. Both he and his wife can’t say

enough good things about you. Or him, for that matter,” he said, gesturing toward me.

She smiled widely at the mention of Vinny and Anna. “They’re wonderful people. My stomach is in a long-term

relationship with his sandwich shop.”

Henry laughed. I motioned for him to sit while I helped Sephie back up on the cabinet behind my desk. I tried to

move a chair there for her, but she said she preferred to sit on the cabinet. She said most people forgot she was

back there, so she could watch them without them being completely aware she was doing so.

“So, tell me, what’s this important that we actually needed to meet in person?” Henry asked.

“I know you’re aware of some of what’s been happening, but you need to know the full story. I also have somewhat

of a solution for the situation that I think you and the mayor will be happy with,” I said.

“I know about the brawn situation and the doctor finally being captured, both of which I’m grateful to you for taking

care of. I’ve been hearing rumors of some of the bosses raising taxes in their areas of the city. Does it have to do

with that?”

I nodded. “It’s larger than that. The bosses made a move to overthrow me. Lorenzo has been looking for a way

back to the city. The attempted coup was his way back. Salvadori was behind most of it, although every single boss

is guilty of going along with it.”

“Which means what for the other bosses? That can’t be sitting well with you.”

“It’s not. It means I’m getting rid of all of them. Lorenzo is already taken care of. Armando, Dario, and Massimo are

too. The other three will be shortly.”

Henry thought for a moment. “Are you replacing them, then?”

“Not exactly. I don’t need them. I’ve never needed them.”

Henry’s jaw tensed as he considered what this meant for the city. I heard Sephie say quietly in Russian, “he thinks

that’s too much power for one person. He’s worried you’ll become a tyrant.”

“There’s another player behind the bosses as well. I have enough evidence that makes it look like he’s the one

that’s been running the city for years so that he can easily be tried and jailed, making it appear as though you and

the mayor are being extremely tough on crime. Once the other bosses are taken care of, the increased taxes

they’ve imposed go away. I’ve never been a fan of high taxes. The people know that. I would much rather they

keep their money and invest it back in their community. That will become the norm once I take care of the bosses. I

continue to run the city behind the scenes as I’ve been doing for the past ten years. Crime returns to the lower

rates. Everything goes back to the way it was a couple years ago before the bosses started to get greedy. I have

plenty of money. I don’t see a reason to needlessly raise taxes on hard-working people. That won’t change.”

“This other player who is it?”

“Ricardo De Luca.”

“No shi t?” Henry said, clearly shocked.

“You know him?”

“He’s been slipping out of our grasp for years now. He was instrume ntal in setting up a pipeline for Lorenzo’s

human trafficking before your father banished him. He resurfaced years later as a supposed legitimate

businessman. One of my detectives has been watching his deals with Armando in the city. We could never get him

on anything substantial, so there was never a reason to look further into his finances, etc.,” he said.

“Until now,” Ivan said. He stood up and handed Henry the stack of papers that the journalist had given Chen.

“Where did you get this?” Henry asked, looking through the pages. “Holy shi t. This is what we’ve been wanting to

find.”

“The source wishes to remain anonymous. I will say, however, that he’s a very thorough source. You’ll find

everything you need there to make an arrest,” I said.

Henry continued to look through the papers, but eventually stopped. He looked up to me. “I need to talk to the

mayor, of course. I can’t make this decision on my own. Although, it’s going to be difficult for him to ignore Ricardo

once he sees this.

You’ve always been great at working with us instead of against us. The people of the city are happy that you

stopped the brawn operation. The media had a field day with that one. Those who know you, love you. Those who

don’t know you, loved the peace you brought when you took over.”

“None of that will change,” I said.

He stood up, which meant I stood up as well. He still looked thoughtful. Ivan moved to help Sephie stand up so she

could stand beside me. She asked quietly, “the mayor is getting money from the other bosses, isn’t he?”

Henry’s jaw dropped. “How…?”

“Lucky guess. You genuinely want to work with us, but you’re nervous about something. It’s not anything on our

end. We just gift-wrapped a guaranteed re-election for the mayor, which would mean another appointment for you.

The only reason that would come into question is if he’s getting money from the other bosses. If his loyalties lie with

them, he’s going to want to come after us rather than Ricardo. You’re caught in the middle and you’re wondering

which side to choose,” she said.

Henry sat back down, still stunned that she knew what she knew. “No one knows about the mayor for sure. He’s

done a great job of keeping it very discreet, but there was a hefty amount of money pumped into his campaign

from a non-existent corporation. Since he took office, he’s had unexplainable influxes of cash several times. The

problem is, we can never prove anything.”

“Who’s running against him in this election? Maybe this information needs to go to that person instead,” Ivan said.

“I think that candidate is even worse than the current mayor,” Henry said.

“What about you?” Sephie asked.

Henry looked up at her, not understanding what she meant. “What about me?”

“You run for mayor. You expose the current mayor and the other candidate in your campaign. We get rid of the

other bosses. The city thrives. Seems simple to me,” she said.

She made a great point. Henry was well-liked, both among the police as well as the people of the city. He’d started

great. programs during his time as commissioner.

“But I…I wouldn’t know the first thing about being a mayor,” he said.

“And you really think the current mayor did? They’re called advisors for a reason, Henry,” she said, smiling at him.