Page 103 of Mafia Toy

“Sage,” I whispered, voice cracking, “I didn’t mean it. I fucking love you.”

Tears trembled in Sage’s eyes, but she looked over at me. I wanted her to tell me that she loved me too, that she would never leave me, that she would be here with us forever. But I … didn’t want to rely on her, like I had relied on Bethany.

She wouldn’t lead me astray, but I … was scared.

“So what if you love me?” she asked. “The only place you show it is in private. To everyone in the family, I’m Constantino’s mistress, the woman who is sleeping with your husband, the measly help who is having an affair.” She tore her gaze away. “I don’t know if I want that for the rest of my life.”

I scooted closer to her and grabbed her hand. She tensed, but didn’t pull away.

“You won’t be anymore. Please, give me another chance.” I grasped her hand tighter. “I can’t lose you, Sage, especially not now. I will do anything you want me to do. I’ll tell the family what you really mean to me, who you are, why you’re here. And that … I love you.”

She stayed quiet for a long time. “Did you only choose me because of the baby?”

“What?”

“Did you only choose me over Bethany because Constantino told you that I was pregnant?”

“No,” I said immediately. Because it was true.

I had chosen Sage over Bethany last night, but I hadn’t wanted to kill.

She peered over at me again, tears threatening to fall. “Will you always choose me?”

I drew my thumb across her cheek. “I promise.”

And before I knew it, Sage threw her arms around my torso, tucked her head into my shoulder, and cried into me. “I love you too.”

64

constantino

“We need to have a little talk,”I growled at Pietro, snatching him by the back of the neck and yanking him away from some pretty girl who probably only wanted him for his money. I shoved him through the crowd and back toward my office. “Now.”

“The fuck do you want?” he said, trying to tear himself away from me.

But I clutched him tighter and pushed him into the back hallway.

When I walked into my office with Pietro in tow, Sage was holding on to my wife with her face buried into Laila’s neck as she sobbed. I clenched my jaw and shoved Pietro farther into the room, shutting the door behind me.

I had completely fucked up.

I should’ve told Sage what was happening. At least that I would put a gun to her stomach, force her to lie, and then push Laila to the edge in order to get her to kill her best friend. Sage’s brain must’ve been scrambled because she looked more than terrified.

And for longer than a moment, she had looked afraid that Laila wouldn’t choose her.

That was what had really broken me.

“Riccardo,” I called from the office, shoving Pietro down in a seat.

Riccardo peered into the room. “Boss?”

“Bring Sage back to her apartment,” I said.

“Sage is staying here,” Laila said, holding her tightly. “You promised that if I did everything you asked, you would let me see her again. I …” She stared at me with heavy tears in her eyes. “I just killed my best friend, as you’d asked.”

I pressed my lips together. She had killed her best friend, but not quickly enough. She had chosen the baby, not Sage and not her own husband. Part of me didn’t give a fuck that those words had come out of her mouth because I’d do anything to keep her as mine. I was a monster who didn’t give a fuck about what she thought.

But Sage …

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