Hideaway Strath maybe my hearing ain’t 20/20 no more

“I have missed you, too, Nightingale,” and he always would because she is the moon, the sun, the whole damn galaxy of his life. He will never love another as he loves Lotte — this Arturo knows in the very marrow of his bones. This, the gangster has known for quite some time. He awaits Lotte’s wrath as she speaks the words he has been expecting for a while: that Hemlock broached her upon the subject of the offer. Ideally, it should have been discussed between Lotte and him first but it wasn’t something he’d spent time contemplating, admittedly. It had struck him as an idea in the moment. He knows Lotte and thus her utter calm is …alarming to the gangster. More alarming than if her teeth would have torn into his flesh. Almost, he thinks he would prefer that outburst because this serenity he does not know what to do with. Then again, Arturo also isn’t sure what the fuss would be about if there was fuss. He sees things in a different way. It is not as if he is cheating on his wife. He simply offered a donation to Hemlock, remembering what she had spoken to him long ago and seeing how she loves Sirius and the Lotturos; and beyond that it is not an offer he made with any semblance of lightness. He does not make it a habit of offering to sire women’s children (a mess he’d much rather avoid for numerous reasons in all honesty but he knows Hemlock and he trusts her and thus it is different). He is certainty not aiming to replace Lotte by any measure. Arturo loves Lotte more than life itself.

“I see,” The gangster broaches the subject carefully, testing the waters before he dares to dive straight in; yet at the same time he will not deny it, or try to hide, nor make excuses for he believes there is nothing to hide. “if it upsets you or you tell me not to, I won’t.” Arturo tells Lotte straightforward, in a manner that he expects her to return with honesty about her feelings on the matter to him.