Chapter 336
Chapter 336
Chapter Three Hundred Thirty-Six
Sephie
“I don’t think so. You know how quick she is, though. She might suspect something has happened.
Misha said she called a few times when I was still really hurt and asked to see me, but he always lied
and said we were away. I’m sure she knows something is going on with Armando, if she hasn’t seen
him in weeks. It’s anybody’s guess as to what Giana has told her about him,” I said.
“The guys that are on her said she never asks about him. Like literally not once.” Viktor said.
“I feel like that’s weird,” I said, turning toward the guys. Adrik kept his arms around me, pulling me back
against him.
“It’s definitely weird,” Stephen said. “We know their relationship wasn’t at all what it appeared to be, but
it did seem like there was genuine affection between the two of them. At least at first.”
“I would not have pegged her as someone who could lie so easily and so well,” Adrik said.
“Maybe like Armando, her id iot persona is just an act,” Stephen said.
Ivan and Misha returned with Ms. Jackson as we were all still discussing possibilities for who Giana
really was. Ms. Jackson smiled at me when she walked in, but she immediately squinted her eyes,
looking me up and down. “Something happened, child. You’re too skinny.”
“It’s a long story, Ms. Jackson,” I said, walking to her to give her a hug. I walked with her back toward
the kitchen, where everyone else was and pulled out a chair for her to sit at the kitchen island. I walked
back to Adrik, who opened his arm for me. “I am very curious what information you have for us about
Giana?” I asked, leaning into Adrik. I was starting to feel nervous again and I didn’t like it. I was also
now worried about my eyes changing in front of everyone. He felt my slight shift in mood and kissed my
temple. His hand found its way under my shirt, his thumb rubbing my skin gently in an effort to keep me
calm.
“I knew something had happened when I didn’t see her for a few weeks. She told me they were
supposed to go to Italy at the end of last month, but I saw guards outside her door. Even an id iot would
know that you don’t need guards outside your door if you’re gone to another country. I didn’t ask
questions and I didn’t contact her. Then she showed up at my door a few weeks after that, almost like
nothing had changed. She looked better. She’d clearly been forced to sober up while she was being
kept to her apartment, but she acted like nothing was wrong the first few times she stopped by to see
me. Only difference were the guards that never left her. I didn’t ask about them, either. For all I knew,
Armando had finally gotten serious about his security. Well, last week, she finally came up with an
excuse to step away from her guards for a few minutes. She brought clothes with her, saying she
needed my opinion on what she should wear to some function she clearly made up. She called me
back to the bedroom to ask for my help to zip up a dress. One of the guards came with me, but I told
him in Russian that there was no way to get out of my apartment except through the front door and that
she would be fine in there. Should’ve seen the look of surprise on his face,” she said, laughing. She
composed herself and continued. “Once we were alone, she came clean on a lot of stuff. She told me
she had been planning to rob Armando, but since she was basically being held prisoner, she didn’t
know if that was still going on or not. She’d had her phone taken away from her, so there was no way
she could get information out to anyone. Robbing Armando was her ticket out. She’d met a guy,
somehow, that was going to take her to South America and keep her safe. She said she took the job
with Armando to try and get away from her family. The plan to rob Armando was to try and get away
from him.”
“Do you know who this other guy is?” I asked.
“No, she said his name was Martin, but that’s all she said about him,” Ms. Jackson said. We all looked
at each other, mosely shocked at this revelation.
“What’s her plan now? Did she tell you?” Ivan asked. He was a mixture of amused and angry. It was
quite the sight to behold.
“She’s somewhat terrified that her entire plan is going to fall through. She’s got no way to contact
anyone. She asked to borrow my phone, but I didn’t bring it to the bedroom with me. You know, young
people are practically attached to those things. Half the time, I forget where I left it,” she said, flippantly.
“She just said the next time she comes I’m supposed to leave my phone in the bathroom for her so she
can use it before she leaves.”
“We’ll give you a phone for her to use. Don’t let her use your phone,” Viktor said.
“I don’t know what she thinks she’s going to plan. She’s got no way to get out of this building without
someone openly declaring war on you. I don’t know who this other guy is, but he’s gotta be a complete
mo ron if he thinks that’s a good idea,” Ms. Jackson said.
“We’ll take care of it, Ms. Jackson. Thank you for coming to us with this,” Adrik said. I could feel that he
was also a good mixture of angry and amused
as well.
Ms. Jackson looked at Adrik seriously. “I didn’t do it for you. I did it for her. If they come after you, they
come after her and she’s had enough of that
in her life.”
I looked at Adrik, slightly worried her words would make his anger take over, but he smiled at her. “I
could not agree more, Ms. Jackson.”
Ms. Jackson stayed in the penthouse a little while longer while Viktor and Ivan got a cell phone set up
for Giana to use. It would work like a normal cell phone, but it would also send all the information of
who she was talking to, along with a copy of her texts to Viktor so he could see what she was planning.
We also wanted to make sure it was the same Martin before we brought Trino in on this newest bit of
information.
“When is she planning on coming back to see you?” I asked Ms. Jackson.
“She said she’d be back tomorrow. They only allow her to come once or twice a week right now,” she
said.
Viktor handed her the cell phone for Giana. “Let her use this one when she’s there,” he said.
“Hide your cell phone when she’s around so she doesn’t happen upon it. You also want to keep your
phone away from this one, as it’ll copy your cell phone information and send it to us,” Ivan said, trying
not to laugh at the thought.
“I might need to borrow that phone and leave it with Edith the next time I see her. I know she’s talking
shi t about me in between Bingo nights,” she said, laughing.
“Let us know when you want to give her something to actually talk shi t about,” Ivan said, smiling
sweetly at her.
Once we were back at the house, we discussed this latest development while I made dinner. “Martin
thinking he’s saving Giana from Armando would explain why he was du mb enough to go to the
Mexicans, Stephen said.
“Agreed. I do wonder what she’s told him, if it’s the same Martin. I don’t know how else she would’ve
met anyone from South America, who’s also willing to steal from a mafia boss, and thinks he can
protect her from the same mafia boss he’s willing to steal from,” Ivan said.
“It has to be Trino’s Martin,” I said. “They had to have started this while we were at Trino’s island house.
That’s the only explanation. He’s never been up here and Armando hasn’t gone to Colombia. It had to
be there that either he caught her eye or she caught his.”
“I would not have expected this from Martin. Trino has always spoken highly of him,” Adrik said.
“Boobies,” I said. They all looked to me for more clarification, which made me laugh. “Boobies make
men do du mb shi t all the time.”
Stephen cleared his throat. “Some men.”
“Valid point, Yoden the Enabler. Boobies make some men do du mb shi t all the time,” I said, laughing.
“But still. Like Ivan said, this still doesn’t quite make sense. Giana is a pretty woman, don’t get me
wrong, but this dude is literally willing to risk his life for a woman he’s probably never slept with and
likely hasn’t even made it to first base with?” Andrei said.
I cleared my throat this time. “You mean how you’ve all risked your lives for me at one point?”
“You’re different, spider monkey,” Andrei said.
I fail to see how.”
“You don’t su ck,” Misha said, seriously, which made me laugh.
“Okay, point well made. But Martin likely doesn’t think Giana su cks either. Or he’s hoping she does
often. It could go either way,” I said, laughing at my own di rty joke, which caused them all to laugh
heartily.
“I rest my case,” Misha said, sliding his arm around my shoulders. He kissed the top of my head,
whispering, “you’re my favorite, gazelle.”
“Even bigger than the question of how often and how well Giana su cks anything is whether Martin will
attempt to rescue her from the building.” Stephen said. He was normally so serious and so straight-
faced when he said anything, but he was still having a hard time keeping the smile from his face.
“He has to be planning on splitting from Trino. Do you guys really think Trino would think him trying to
get with a boss’s girlfriend was a good idea?” I asked. “And there’s no way Trino would support him
moving against Adrik in any way, which is what it would be should he attempt to get her from this
building.”
“I don’t think Trino knows.” Andret said. “Don’t you think we would’ve picked up on it while he was here
if he knew something? When he was thinking about Martin, I only got something about the Mexicans.
Nothing else. Surely, him trying to be Giana’s knight in shining armor would’ve come up. Even if he was
trying to hide it, like he was trying to hide the fight between him and Martin.”
“Valid point, Bubba. I only caught tension because of the Mexicans too. It’s likely he doesn’t know,” I
said.
“We’ll know tomorrow for sure when she uses that phone,” Viktor said.
“What’s the plan going to be if it is Trino’s Martin?” I asked Adrik.
He took a deep breath. “I’m not sure. I’ll tell him, obviously, but I also might let it play out a little more to
see what their plans are before I tell him. I don’t think she’s smart enough to be able to get out of the
building on her own. He would have to come for her. If that happens, he’s dead,” he said.
“She clearly doesn’t really care about him either. She’s a serial user,” I said. “I should hook her up with Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.
Max.”
The guys enjoyed another round of laughter. “We’re so glad you’re back to normal, princess,” Ivan said,
still laughing.