Silvia handed the empty tray to the patiently waiting Beta on the other side of the door. He stopped twirling his handgun around a finger when she opened the door, taking the tray from her with a polite nod.
She turned around to focus her full attention on Angelo, he had curled up on a sofa the same way he always did in her office, it made her stomach turn sour.
"Did you fall in love?" She asked in a half-whisper, walking closer.
Angelo looked startled at that, the dark red marks standing out against the pale of his neck. "Love?"
He said the word like he had never thought of it before and it brought some relief to Silvia. If things hadn’t gotten that complicated yet, maybe she could still get him back.
Without Angelo’s willingness, Nikolai would never let him go. Just the suggestion of leaving had made him hound Angelo like a rabid wolf.
"...no, it’s nothing like that." Angelo spoke calmly but Silvia couldn’t help but notice that he no longer spoke without inflection, his eyes brighter than she had ever seen them.
"Then why do you want to stay?" She pushed to ask. She could see that by the reason of an anomaly, Mafia King Nikolai didn’t want to hurt Angelo but it was difficult to accept. It was like the devil suddenly wanting to play nice.
So even though Angelo seemed to be thriving here even, her first instinct was to try to get him out, away from the danger that was Nikolai.
Angelo never kept anything hidden from Silvia, she had already seen him at his lowest. "No one cares that I’m an Omega here, especially Mafia King Nikolai." He spoke softly, his eyes down like he was organizing his thoughts.
Silvia’s eyes went wide, her expression troubled. That was something she couldn’t give Angelo, after all, she also had to hide her secondary gender to be able to run her company.
"...so I want to stay here for a little while, maybe work for Mafia King Nikolai." He fiddled with his hands, clearly nervous. "I saw a delicate Omega the other day, she was working for Nikolai, it... it made me see there was nothing wrong with me."
Silvia’s expression turned ugly, her eyes stinging with tears. It was great that Angelo wasn’t looking at her right then.
She hadn’t been the best role model for Angelo and she had done an even shittier job of protecting him. She wanted to say something that an adult should, some useful advice, some piece of encouragement, some words of comfort.
But she also needed it right then, she wanted someone to tell her that she was who she was regardless of her secondary gender.
Instead, she forced out a whispered, "Okay."
Angelo looked up in surprise, he hadn’t been expecting to convince Silvia so easily. "Really?" He uncurled from the sofa and rose to his feet.
It was Silvia’s turn to look away, "You’ve always been free to do what you want, even if I’m worried about you, I won’t stop you." She muttered, "But if you get hurt, I’m coming right over to take you."
Angelo smiled, his left check dimpling faintly. "Deal."
Silvia looked up at that moment, staring in disbelief. She had never seen Angelo smile before, at most there was a faint smile on his face but that was all she ever saw.
For the first time she didn’t feel completely abhorred by Nikolai, maybe she could even try to get along with him. If he could make Angelo smile in a week, hell, she would become his lackey if he asked her.
Silvia wanted to hug Angelo again, usually she would have squashed down the urge but the scare of nearly losing Angelo had cut her deep. She crossed the distance and pulled him into another awkward hug, the sweet scent of black cherries soothing.
"Deal," She repeated even though she didn’t need to, pulling away. "I’ll leave now, I’ve been away from the company for a while, Kris will be worried."
Angelo had his arms around himself like he was trying to mimic Silvia’s hug, listening to her quietly.
"I had your things from the hotel moved to a spare room in my house," Silvia went on, essentially telling him that he had a room at her place whenever he wanted to visit.
"Thank you," He said, his voice baring the genuine sincerity he felt.
"If you’re grateful, don’t die." She tossed at him, sounding more like herself.
Angelo didn’t give a response to that, he wasn’t as eager to die as the first day he charged into this very living room, so maybe he would actually be able to fulfill Silvia’s request.
He waited until she left, standing in the living room for an unknown amount of time, deep in thought.
"You didn’t leave," Nikolai’s rough voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
Angelo turned around, Nikolai’s words hadn’t been a question but he found himself replying instead. "I know I didn’t talk to you about it beforehand..." He started sheepishly, realizing that he had basically said he would be working for the Mafia King without his input.
Nikolai didn’t seem to be listening to him, the Mafia King closed the distance between them and picked him up, intending to take him back to the room.
Angelo squirmed, valiantly trying to get down. "I can walk just fine," He bit out, a few inches away from choking Nikolai out.
"I know." Was all Nikolai said but he made no move to let him go, ignoring his squirming.
Angelo had no choice but to stop resisting, if he went through with asking Nikolai and the Mafia King agreed, he would be his new boss. He pressed his lips together, not entirely pleased with the thought.
The idea of being in a place where his worth wasn’t measured by his secondary gender was alluring but he wasn’t too excited about working for the Mafia House that killed his mother.
He hadn’t thought about it while he was speaking to Silvia, too caught up in trying to convince her to let him stay. He glanced up covertly at Nikolai’s inscrutable expression, he really couldn’t work for him, so what else could he do?