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Adrik looked to Viktor. “Definitely needs snacks.” Viktor threw a protein bar at Adrik, who ripped the wrapper open with his teeth and handed it to me. As soon as the protein bar was in my hand, my stomach woke up.
“I don’t know why men think women are that complicated. Keep us warm and give us snacks. It’s not rocket science,” I said, taking a bite.
“I feel like most women are slightly more complicated than you are, spider monkey,” Andrei said.
“That’s fair. Totally fair.”
Once I ate one protein bar and managed to keep it down, I was starving. I ate three more in the span of an hour. Viktor had also brought me some superprofen, so I took that, which helped take the edge off the pain. An hour after I took my first dose of superprofen, Ivan asked, “What’s your pain level now, princess?” I thought for a moment, then held up four fingers. “So, an eight for normal people then?” he said, grinning at me. I was starting to feel more like myself, despite my pain. I felt like I could finally smile genuinely back at him.
“Ah, there it is,” Misha said. “Viktor, she’s gonna need more protein bars. Maybe get her some beef jerky or something too. Clearly protein makes her soul return to her body.”
I laughed, but grabbed my ribs with my good arm. “Fuck. Laughing is not an approved activity right now. I’m currently regretting bringing out your hilarious side.” I felt Adrik shift me so I was leaning back against him, his arm around me protectively.
“How much easier is it to talk now, princess?” Ivan asked.
“It’s better. I can breathe a little easier sitting up,” I said. “You want to know about when I was with Armando, don’t you?”
He chuckled, nodding his head. Stephen said, “We all heard that conversation. What happened when you asked him about who was pulling the strings?”
“Ricardo,” I said. “He wasn’t looking at me until I said Ricardo’s name, then he looked at me. I could tell he was livid that I had said Ricardo’s name, but he was also afraid. There was fear in his eyes. When he walked back over to me after I said all that to him, it was the only time I was actually afraid for my life. If you guys hadn’t shown up when you did, he might’ve killed me.” Adrik tried to pull me closer, but it was difficult given my sling. He nodded to Andrei and Ivan, who both stood and walked over to the bed. “Pick her up so she can lay back against me,” he said. They lifted me gently while Adrik moved underneath me. They put me down in between his legs, so I was leaning back against his torso. He wrapped both arms around me, his legs on either side of mine. I leaned my head back and kissed his cheek. “This is much better,” I said quietly.
Viktor took his computer out of one of the bags he brought back. “I still don’t understand how Ricardo could be pulling the strings with Armando. What does he have over him?”
“I don’t think life is as rosy for Armando as we’ve been led to believe. When he first cut my clothes off me, he told me I was going to solve a lot of his problems. He got pissed when he saw how bruised I was from them slamming me into the car when they grabbed us because I wouldn’t fetch as much money. That’s when I told him about my back. He turned me around and saw my scars and that’s when he lost it.”
“Why would Armando be needing money? He’s worth more than the other bosses,” Andrei said.
“Maybe he’s only worth more on paper. He could be in debt to someone or several people and be struggling to pay them back. Just because he has plenty of assets on paper doesn’t mean any of those are actual liquid assets. He might be strapped for cash,” Adrik said.
“The million-dollar question is why he’d be strapped for cash,” Ivan said. “Princess, you didn’t overhear them talking at all when they were both there, did you?”
“No, I only heard the other two guys speaking Italian. Sal and Armando kept their conversations completely private when they were both there. Armando never said anything in Italian in front of me. Neither did Sal. Only those other two dudes.” I thought about what I’d said to Armando for a few moments, trying to remember all the details that the guys might’ve missed. “The exact moment when you guys came into the chat escapes me. Did you guys hear me asking him about Sal?”
“No, what did you say?” Stephen asked.
“I was trying to make him angry when he found out that I was damaged goods, basically.” Adrik clicked his tongue, flexing his arms around my waist. I know he wanted to squeeze me, but he didn’t want to hurt me. “It was part of trying to make him mad. I told him he might’ve been able to sell me with just a front picture, but because I was bruised all the angles were just fucked up. I asked him what Sal was going to do when he found out that I wasn’t going to fetch top dollar and what he was going to do when he found out it was Armando that fucked it up. That’s when he snapped. There’s something to Sal and there’s something to Ricardo,” I said. “And also fuck him for thinking I was damaged goods. That is all.”
“What if we’re looking in the wrong spot?” Stephen asked. “There’s somebody behind Armando and likely has been for a very long time. Seph thinks Lorenzo is really the brains behind Sal. What if Ricardo and Lorenzo are the connection and we’ve missed it?”
I could hear Viktor starting a new search after hearing Stephen’s theory.
“What did your father think of Armando?” I asked. Adrik would only speak about his father on rare occasions. Their relationship was strained, but respectful. On some level, Adrik understood what his father did to keep him safe and make sure he could survive this world. On another level, that also meant that Adrik didn’t really have a solid father figure in his life. Viktor was more of a father figure to Adrik than Vitaliy. Since handing over the business to Adrik, Vitaliy had basically disappeared. He would resurface from time to time for a few days, but then he would be gone for years. Adrik knew how to get in touch with him, if he needed to. He just never needed to.
Adrik sighed. “As far as I know, he had a good relationship with Armando. Armando was new to being a boss when my father handed everything over to me. I think Armando just did whatever my father told him to do, not many questions asked. He told me when I took over that Armando would never be a problem. He was under the impression that Armando was an idiot.”
“I think I agree. He’s an idiot, but he’s also a psycho. It’s a very weird combination. You guys heard him confess what he did to his first wife, right?”
“I missed that part. It was hard to hear everything with the guys trying to make me less pretty,” Ivan said, smiling. He motioned like he was flipping his non-existent hair over his shoulder.
“He told me he beat her to death when she wouldn’t shut up. I asked him if he’d gotten her hooked on coke the same way he did Giana. He didn’t know we knew about that, so it stumped him for a minute. I asked him if he knew that coke was a stimulant and told him if he wanted his wife to be quiet that he should’ve gone with heroin or another opioid. He looked genuinely confused. That’s where the idiot part comes in. That’s also when I first asked him who was pulling his strings because he was clearly too stupid to have stayed in this business for this long without help. He did not like that,” I said.
“Dario was right about Armando’s first wife,” Misha said.
“Yeah, I remembered that part too,” I said. “Now I’m curious to know how Dario knew.”
“It might be worth having another conversation with Dario. He might tell us more when he sees that we have Armando,” Misha said.
“I agree, but I think Sal is his biggest fear, after Massimo,” I said. “Sal is what made him react. Armando just made him angry.”
