His Little Flower (Felix and Flora)

The next day, I woke up early and went out for a jog. It was more of a jog than anything. I had never been a runner. Besides, I hated the way running made my breasts look, I wasn’t ready for that kind of attention so carly in the morning.

At around 9 am, when I had gotten home and taken a shower, I texted Julian a good morning. He called me instantly.

“Good morning.” He said. His voice was groggy y and deeper than usual. His morning voice. I giggled a little. It had been a while since I’d heard it.

15

“Morning!” I sang

“Someone’s happy. And up early,”

might go back to wor

to work, today, I told him. “And

1 him. “And yes, I went out for a run.”

He hummed in response. “Come see me today, I have the whole day for you.” His voice was soft, the sentence a plea and an order, both.

“Maybe I’ll come after work,” I told him. “Will you be at home?” He hummed his affirmation. We spoke for a few more minutes before I disconnected the call. He told me to eat a full breakfast, which felt nice.

I did have a full breakfast. I made myself some eggs and toast, along with coffee. Gabriel was just stepping out when I’d finished eating. He stopped and

asked me about this

change of routine, then before I could answer, he said it was a good thing I was allowing things to go back to normal.

He also invited me to come back to work. I would of course, eventually go back. But today I hadn’t woken up early and resumed normal functioning to go to work. Today I had a mission – a goal. And 1 was determined to fulfill it, or at least, try my best to

I drove to the Central determinedly. In my car, I played Taylor Swift’s new album so that it would pump me up. It did, to some extent. But I also felt nervous and jittery, scared even. I wasn’t wrong to. I had expected it. but it would have been a good idea to have skipped the coffee in the moming

When I reached the Central, it was the same as before. I bumped into a soldier Jason, who was more than a little surprised to see me. Of course, 1 had no reason to be here.

And since I was the face of mafia gossip right now, it made it even more scandalous.

Ignoring the disguised stares of people, and trying to hide from any higher–up officials, I took the stairs right up to the second floor, where Don’s office was located. If he

wasn’t inside, all this effort would have been in vain.

I knocked twice, and someone opened the door, peering at me through the small gap. It was Donna. She looked at me for a second, then opened the door wide. “Ginevra!” She exclaimed. I don’t know if she was surprised or shocked, but I ignored it. “Hi, Donna,” I said in my politest tone, my voice soft and my gaze submissive. “Is Don in?”

She looked to the side, then back at me, and nodded. “Come in.” She said. I stepped in and Donna took a step back. I turned to the right and came to face Don. He was standing behind his chair, his face expressionless, but his eyes moved as I did.

“Don.” I managed to stutter. It came out

out much more confident sounding than I had expected. “Hello”

He nodded toward a chair, asking me to take a seat. I did so. I had come in very determined to stand my ground, but one look at Don and one moment in his presence had turned my knees into jelly.

He was scary and intimidating. He was so tall and kind of huge, and he looked like an older, more refined version of Julian. The way he spake was so calm and collected, it made me shudder on the inside. Only the most ruthless people were so calm and collected in real life.

He looked behind me, smiling softly at Donna. Even with his facial expressions softened like this, he was still scary. Donna pranced from behind me and sat down on his chair.

He kept standing behind her. They looked good together. They were good together. Donna’s sweetness balanced out his rough, daunting persona. It worked so well, it was like they were made for this life, and for each other.

When I had been with Julian, I could only hope that I was able to complement him like this. Donna was a common gal before she married Don, but the

had adjusted to her new role and this new world so well. I, having been born into the mafia, still could only ever dream of being like her. A mafia wife.

Nua had been much better suited to the role. That is why they had chosen her for him.

My heart pinched at the thought of Nua. She must be heartbroken and confused, too. Four lives just completely messed up because of all this chan

“How can I help you, Miss Expocito?” Don asked me. His tone was pointedly disapproving.

I gulped. Donna looked up at him, a disapprming expression on her face. He rolled his eyes at her.

Donna turned to me.

“Ginesta, I hope you haven’t taken the things people are saying about you to heart.” She told me. I didn’t even know what things people were saying about me. “You know how gossip works.”

Still, I shook my head. “Im not concerned about that,” I said truthfully, I didn’t know what they were saying, but it was not hard to guess.

She smiled sympathetically. “How is your health?

No one had ever asked me so much about my health in my entire life. But since I’d announced my pregnancy it was all anyone said to me. Would this go on for the entire nine months?

“Good, thank you.” I smiled. “But I’m here to talk about something important.” I looked up at Don. “May I bring something up. Don? If you allow?”

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