Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Four 

Andrei 

I’ve never seen Sephie get that angry and be able to control it so well. I knew she was going to be lethal once she learned how to control her anger and she proved it today. Mike didn’t know what hit him. We all knew she’d been holding back, but I think it surprised everyone just how much she’d been holding back. 

I glanced at Chris and Keith a few times, trying to gauge their reactions to watching their team member get obliterated by her. I knew there was a chance this could cause problems with them, and I wanted to be ready in the event it did. I caught Misha looking toward them too. I raised an eyebrow, silently asking if it would be okay once the inevitable happened. He got that faraway look in his eye, but quickly nodded his head. He said quietly, “I don’t think they like him, either.” 

The greatest part of watching Sephie finally realize her potential was watching her improvise with Mike. She was playing with him for the first half, trying to make him think she was weaker than she is and keep him convinced he had the upper hand. It made me proud. Not only was she a formidable opponent physically, she was a formidable opponent me ntally as well. I had to say, I was happy to see her messing with his mind as much as possible. And I couldn’t help but smile as I watched her try new things that we hadn’t even taught her as she fought him. 

Sephie’s strength came from her legs. While she was quick with her punches, she was a woman. She’d never be able to deliver the same kind of punch that I could. It just wasn’t physically possible. She knew that, which is why she’d started relying on her legs to deliver the most amount of damage when she’d train. Her kicks were just as fast as her punches, but with four times the power behind them. When she delivered the final kick to Mike’s head, I knew he was done for. I’d been kicked by her when she was still holding back. I knew the power she could deliver even then. She was exponentially more powerful right now that she wasn’t holding back. 

Adrik walked into the ring, as Viktor walked to her with a towel. Mike had spat his blood on her at the end. We all made a move to jump in the ring as we saw her kick him. If she wouldn’t have delivered that last bl ow, we would’ve been on him. You don’t get away with calling her a wh ore with all of us standing there. 

I noticed Chris and Keith walk into the ring. Chris went to check the vitals on Mike. Keith said something to Sephie, but I was watching Chris. I could see the look on his face when he couldn’t find a pulse. He looked up and told Sephie that he’d hated that guy. 

“Hated? As in past tense?” she asked. 

“No pulse. I think that last kick to the head did him in,” Chris said. 

I looked to Misha. We both walked into the ring at the same time Iyan and Stephen did. None of us were sure how she was going to take this, but we were all incredibly proud of her. 

Ivan and Sephie had grown infinitely closer since he was in the hospital. It was difficult to not be slightly jealous of their relationship now. She did a great job of spending equal amounts of time with all of us, but I always felt like she was slightly closer to me than the other guys. Now, Ivan had taken that spot. I felt si lly for feeling jealous, but I sometimes did. He looked at her, saying, “Sephie, he sealed his fate the second he called you a wh ore. If you hadn’t ended him, we would have. There was no walking out of here alive for him today. You just delivered his sentence, Princess.” The one good thing about he and Sephie growing closer is that Ivan was now just as good as Sephie at saying exactly what you needed to hear, exactly when you needed to hear it. I never knew that guy was so wise. He said exactly what she needed to hear, as we could see the switch flip back off and her face softened. She walked to him as he wrapped his massive arm around her. She always looked extra small next to one of us when she was any kind of upset. ile whispered something to her that we couldn’t hear. She just nodded her head, but kept her face hidden in his shoulder. He smiled and said something else to her, causing her to laugh. We all know if we could make her laugh, It would generally make everything better. He knew the right thing to say to make her laugh. She reached up and kissed his cheek. 

“Oh God I’m using my sexual charms again!” she said, dramatically, “Somebody please stop me.” 

We all laughed loudly. This one was going to stick around for a while. Somehow, we found ourselves standing over a dead man, laughing like it was a completely normal Monday morning. 

Once Adrik and Sephie left, we got to work taking care of Mike’s body. It wasn’t the first dead body we’d had to dispose of. It wouldn’t be the last. 

I caught Viktor away from Chris and Keith. “What about Chris and Keith? Are you worried they’ll be a problem after today?” 

Viktor shook his head no. “I got the impression that both of them were happy about the outcome. Chris, especially. It might be a little more difficult for Keith, since he grew up with Mike. I think we should ask Stephen if he has any insight into that. And Misha.” 

“I already asked Misha when Sephie was still in the ring. But it might’ve changed now that he’s dead,” I said. 

“I think those two will be fine. I’m a little more worried about Armando. Mike was his guy. I don’t want to cause friction between him and Boss,” Viktor said. 

“Mando loves Sephie. We just have to tell him what Mike said to her and he won’t care,” I said. 

“Once we get the body out of here, I think we all need to have a talk. Sephie is likely going to need some support after this too. I know this isn’t the first person she’s killed, but I want to make sure she’s okay with what happened today,” he said, a look of genuine concern on his face. 

“Whatever Ivan said to her definitely helped. He should know how to best help her until we can talk to Boss.” My mind was racing, thinking about the morning’s events. I had so many ideas for her training now, but Viktor was right. We needed to make sure she was okay with everything that happened. It could go one of two ways. Either she was going to be fine and her training could reach a new level of seriousness, or this was going to set her back a little as she struggled to deal with it. I would need to 

talk to Ivan to find out how to make sure the former option happened.