Page 41 of Mafia Toy

She reached for one of the unopened burgers, but I seized her hand before she could touch it.

“You’re not eating food from the trash.”

“It’s okay, Constantino.” She attempted to release herself from my hold. “Really.”

I tightened my grip. “Where was Laila when this happened?”

Instead of struggling to escape, Sage lifted her gaze to mine, pressed her lips together, and widened her eyes. “S-she was … in the other, um, room. She didn’t see.” She stumbled over her words, which only made me fucking angrier.

“She watched the whole thing happen, didn’t she?” I growled.

Sage clutched my shirt in her tiny fists. “Please, I don’t want her to get in trouble.”

“Fuck!” I growled, ripping myself away from her and turning around.

Laila was sweet, but not when she was with Bethany. She had literallywatchedBethany dump Sage’s food into the trash and hadn’t done anything to stop it? She hadn’t ordered another dinner for her and stayed here with Sage? How could she do such a thing?

“Please, Constantino,” Sage pleaded, “don’t be mad at her.”

“I’m not mad.”I am fucking furious.

“Constantino, please, I—”

“Come on.” I grabbed her hand. “I’m taking you to dinner.”

“Dinner?” she asked, eyes widening. “You don’t have to. Really.”

“Don’t fucking fight me on this, Sage. I’m already pissed off.”

Sage snapped her mouth closed and shuffled along after me to the front door. I walked out of the house with her hand in mine and three guards in tow behind us. Unlike Laila, I didn’t care who saw us. Right now, I would kill anyone in the family who said shit about Sage.

24

sage

A Mafia bossin a suit sat across from me in Burgerland.

I stifled a giggle at how silly Constantino looked in a fast-food joint and popped a fry into my mouth, burning the sensitive skin of my palate. Constantino belonged in a high-end restaurant with five-hundred-dollar plates. Not sitting in a colorful plastic booth.

But he didn’t seem like he mindedthatmuch.

“I could’ve taken you somewhere nicer,” he said, scarfing down his burger.

“This is fine for me,” I said. “This was my favorite food, growing up.”

He chuckled. “Burgers and fries?”

“Hey, don’t make fun of me.” I giggled. “My family was low-income, so it was a treat to eat out at a restaurant like this. It … brings me back. My parents might not have had a lot, but they tried for me.”

When he didn’t say much—not that I wanted him to because I was definitely oversharing now—I cleared my throat. “I don’t mean to be rude,” I started, chewing a mouthful of my food and setting my fries down, “but I have a question about Laila.”

Constantino wiped his mouth with a white paper napkin. “Go ahead.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek and frowned. I didn’t know if it was okay to ask him this about her, but he didn’t seem to like Bethany either. “Why does she let Bethany push her around?”

After tensing slightly, Constantino straightened himself out. “Don’t tell her I told you,” Constantino said. “Nobody in the family knows, except me.”

“I won’t say anything,” I promised.

---