His Mafia Prince
Chapter 244: Light Me Up Again

Chapter 244: Light Me Up Again

(SASHA)

The next morning, I feel so much better than I have for the last few days that I sweet-talk Tyler into letting me go downstairs for breakfast.

He really doesn’t like the idea, but I compromise by agreeing to the wheelchair after he points out that I should preserve as much strength as I can for sex. I kiss him breathless to show him just how much I agree with him.

After that, he’s even prepared to plead my case to Darla, who is disinclined to let me get out of bed for more than bathroom and shower needs. But then I suggest she go back to bed herself for a while, have breakfast sent up, relax for a while...and I win her over.

Miles left yesterday, but Giulio and Vicente are downstairs in the breakfast room, at the lounging area in one corner. They’re talking with Conor, Gloria’s guard and his sidekick, Rory Byrne, about security protocols. Byrne has his arm casually slung along the back of the small sofa they’re sharing, and I suspect his finger is tracing circles on Conor’s shoulder.

At the large round table in the main part of the room, Gloria is reading something on a propped-up iPad, sipping tea while she waits for the staff to serve up. She looks up with a smile when Tyler wheels me into the room, her eyes going first to him. "Good morning," she says, and then adds, "Good morning, Sasha. I hope you slept well."

But I don’t like how much of an afterthought I appear to be, just because I’m not walking on my own two feet. Still, I’m not going to let something like that spoil my mood. I hold up my hand for Tyler to stop the chair, and reply, "We both slept very well," before I kick the footpads aside and get out of the chair.

"You promised," Tyler says, throwing up his hands.

"I am perfectly capable of walking to a table and sitting at it."

The chatter at the other end of the room pauses. Gloria sets her teacup back in its saucer and waves a hand to the table. "Please," she says graciously, "join me."

The security crew start talking again as I take a place at the round table. "Tyler has been talking about taking on staff," I say, as he noisily clatters himself into the seat next to mine. "Perhaps you can give us some hiring tips."

"Oh," Gloria says vaguely. "Conor takes care of all that, usually. I think." She raises her voice. "Is that right, Conor, you do the staff security checks? Or is it Rory?"

"Rory’s on comms," Conor calls back. "Murph does the background checks these days."

Tyler gives a snort. "I haven’t mentioned getting staff for months," he says. "And besides, no one would pass Miles’ checks. He’s way too harsh."

"Not without reason," I point out.

After an awkward pause, Gloria says, "Of course, yours is a very different situation here, Tyler."

"I don’t want fucking staff, okay?" Tyler groans. "I just think Hudson should get a morning off now and then. Gio agrees, don’t you Gio?" he calls across the room.

Gio, who has evidently been keeping one ear trained on our conversation, grins. "Would be nice to sleep in now and then, Tyler, can’t deny."

His remark brings smiles, and I try to push the conversation back into safer territory

After breakfast, and with Darla’s permission, Gloria invites me to walk in the yard with her

"It’s quite safe," she adds, a hint of acerbity in her tone, "and I have something I’d like to discuss."

"Business this early?" Tyler groans.

"Not exactly," Gloria says. "And you can come too, Tyler."

I crook a finger at Giulio once I’m standing, which I do without Tyler’s help and only slightly regret as far as the pain goes, and he shadows us from a distance.

Gloria waves us out before her into the walled yard, and then I hear her say, "Stay here, please, Mr. Giulio." I turn to see Giulio looking uncertainly at me. "We have the entire block under guard," Gloria tells me. "I’d like to speak with you in private. We’re quite safe out here, unless the Irish decide to send a plane over and parachute in."

"Drone strike?" Tyler ponders. "Then your bodyguard wouldn’t be able to protect you anyway,"

Gloria tells him, "and even if there was a drone strike, my guards would warn us well beforehand; they have radar and remote radio interception. Nor can anyone eavesdrop on our conversation, because we have disruptors in place. Any other problems I can address for you?"

"Alright," I say, because I can see she means to have her way. Under the leafy, abundant trees, we’ll make a difficult target anyway, and I’m enjoying the warm morning sun on my back. "Stay there, Giulio."

The yard is not enormous by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s large enough to do an ambling circuit, and that’s what I do. Darla might have warned me to take it easy, but I know my body, and I know what it needs right now is to move.

"You and I need to have a talk." She leads me slowly away from the tree an so I give her my attention. She puts her arm through mine, and walks me slowly across the path towards the back wall.

"You’re a very powerful man," she says, smiling up at me. "It makes me happy to know that Tyler is so safe with you."

"I wish I shared your confidence."

"You should. How many times now have you saved him? And not only from would-be assassins, either. You saved Tyler from himself. For that, you will always have my gratitude." Her smile dies away, replaced by a serious stare. "However," she says.

Shit. I know that tone. Tyler gets it sometimes when he’s about to say something I don’t want to hear. "As Tyler reminded you at the breakfast table, this is my town, Sasha. My home. My Family."

I give a little shrug, unsure what she means, unsure why she’s addressing me like so.

"You need to stop throwing your weight around," she says bluntly. "Acting like—like some emperor visiting the far-flung regions of his own lands. I’m your ally, not your vassal. I have responsibilities and I have difficult choices to make, just like you. Your attitude is particularly unhelpful at the moment and, frankly, it’s rude."

I let out a surprised laugh, but she remains unmoved. "Gloria," I say at last, "that’s not at all what I’ve—"

"Oh, yes it is. At least do me the courtesy of recognizing your own behavior." I want to deny it, to demand examples, to laugh it off, but the truth is... The truth is, I do know what she means. And Gloria is not some innocent young girl, for all her charm. She’s the matriarch of a Family much larger than my own, with even more complex politics, I have no doubt.

So I nod, and I look across to the shaking tree. "I apologize if you feel I’ve undermined you, or if you think I’ve been disrespectful."

"It’s not a matter of my feeling that way. You have done both those things."

She’s really not going to let me get away with anything less than a real apology. And nor should she. I give a rueful smile. "I apologize for undermining you and disrespecting you."

"Thank you." She stands against the wall, leaning her back up against it, and I do the same, letting the already-warming bricks comfort my back and ease some of my aches.

"We do things a little differently in my world," I say after a few moments, "but I’ll try to remember that your ways are not ours."

"Honor and respect are just as important to us," she says, but then concedes, "It must be difficult dealing with the prejudices you face."

"Less so these days. If anything, it helped me when I first ascended to have my enemies make foolish assumptions about me. They underestimate me less these days, unfortunately. Tyler couldn’t think of anything the Irish and the cops might be looking for, by the way," I add.

Tyler is making his way towards us again. He talks to Gloria a little then Gloria slings an arm around his waist and they give each other a side-hug.

"See you later," he says, turning to me once we get inside. "Now it’s time to get you clean, baby." The wicked look in his eye is a promise I intend to make sure he keeps.

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