Page 120 of Mafia Toy

It might not seem like it, but I’m so happy that you and Constantino finally get to have a baby together. Honestly, I don’t want to get in the way anymore of you and him being happy and raising a family together.

Hot tears welled up in my eyes, but I pushed them back for Laila. Sage was so fucking wrong. She had never once gotten in the way of our relationship, only made it stronger. And now … now, she was fucking gone?!

I guess what I’m saying is … I need some time to figure out what I want and what you need because I can’t add anything into your life that you don’t already have. You’re pregnant with an amazing man. You deserve this.

I balled the note into my fist. Wrong. She was so fucking wrong!

After dropping the crumpled note onto the table, I pulled Laila tighter to my chest and held myself together for her. She continued to sob into my chest, screaming out in pain, like I wanted to do, and fell to her knees.

Why did it sound like Sage wasn’t planning on returning? Because if she were, she wouldn’t have emptied out her apartment. She had fucking lived with us for so long. I’d thought she was falling for us the way we were with her. How could she get up and leave?

“She’s not coming back,” Laila cried, grasping on to my thigh from the ground like a child. “I know she’s not coming back. Why does everyone I love end up leaving me, Constantino? Why did she leave us?”

Crouching next to her, I picked her up, walked to the couch, and sat down with her in my lap while I desperately tried to gather my thoughts. I didn’t have the answers to her questions. This wasn’t the Sage we had asked to join our family.

This family had broken her.

Wehad broken her.

“If she’s not coming back,” I murmured to my wife, “then we’ll bring her back.”

She curled up in my arms and continued to cry, cradling her bump with one hand and grasping on to me with the other. Her body trembled uncontrollably, tears streaming down her cheeks and sobs escaping her mouth.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Riccardo’s number. I was almost immediately sent to voice mail. I left him a message to return my call and let me know his whereabouts as soon as fucking possible.

“What are we going to do?” Laila asked, stress written all over her face. “Sage is gone. The gala is—”

“Fuck the gala,” I said. “You and Sage are more important to me than keeping up a good image. We’re a family, and families stick together. We’ll find her, and we’ll get her back, no matter the cost.”

Laila stared up at me through heavy tears. “Do you promise?”

“I fucking promise, baby,” I said. “Sage is ours.”

77

sage

After a much-neededafternoon at the pool, Poppy and I walked back to the hotel room. We weren’t staying in a super-luxurious resort or a private villa, like I had with Constantino and Laila, but it was just what I needed.

We had been here for just under a day, and it was drama-free so far. We spent all day relaxing, getting massages together, taking shots of alcohol at the bar while guys flirted with Poppy, but Poppy only flirted with Riccardo.

My little heart was so happy that they were getting along. I really wanted them together.

“I would’ve appreciated a warning that you two had planned to sneak off,” Riccardo said, stepping into the lobby with us.

Dressed in all black, he stuck out like a sore thumb anddefinitely didn’t—note the sarcasm—look like he was part of a secret society.

“And I would’ve appreciated a foot rub at the pool,” Poppy teased him.

I nudged her. “He was too busy asking the bartender if they had cookies.”

We broke out into a fit of giggles as the elevator doors opened. Poppy looped her arm around mine and pulled me onto the lift, peering up at Riccardo with a small smile on her face.

The flirting was literally killing me! I needed them in my life.

When the elevator doors closed, I rested my head against hers, my smile slowly fading. While I was having a really great time and much-needed time alone, I really wished that I had come back here with Laila and Constantino.

I had made such a hasty decision, leaving out of nowhere. I should’ve explained myself.

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