Chapter 286: Unnamed
Once Miles and the others have left the room, I take Tyler with me to the other corner, push him up against the wall, and lean over him.
"He was going to kill you," he says, before I can speak. "He was going to bash your fucking brains out, and he wanted me to see it. So don’t you tell me I did anything wrong, Sasha."
"You didn’t." That surprises him. I tip his chin up and kiss him, a soft press of my lips. "Don’t get me wrong," I say afterward. "I wanted you to have that gun with you tonight to protect yourself, first and foremost. But it also gave me options with Clemenza, if it came down to it. And, well..." I glance over at Clemenza’s body. "It gave you options, too. Thank you, angel, for defending me. But I couldn’t have anyone knowing—"
"Yeah, yeah," he says. "I know the score. If Clemenza refused to step down, you and you alone were supposed to kill him. All that tradizione shit that I don’t understand, right? Guess Clemenza was right about that."
He gives me a wicked grin, but I’m not ready to smile about tonight just yet. I pull him away with me, heading for the door. "Let’s get out of here. It’s over, baby bird."
Tyler gives Louis Clemenza’s corpse a dispassionate look as we pass by. But when we get outside to the hallway, his face goes from stony cold to exhausted. "Is it really over?"
"I believe it is. Clemenza’s dead. The money is gone. His Capos will fall into in-fighting, and we’ll see if we can scoop up the most useful leftovers, the ones Vollero recommends, and make them Triple Triads." We both turn as the doorbell sounds, and Giulio jogs past us to get the door. I pull Tyler to me and kiss him softly. "Go on," I murmur. "Go wait in the kitchen for me."
I don’t want Tyler to see the next part, watch me showing off the corpse of Don Louis Clemenza to my men, so they can see for themselves that the work we’ve put in has paid off. It’s important to me, to them, but I don’t want Tyler to see us gloating over his handiwork.
I’m a monster, and I know what I am. But Tyler will always be my anchor to a brighter world. I want to make sure, despite everything, that he does not lose the light that I see in him.