Page 16 of My Mafia Queen

Now I see how much of a headache having money is.

Managing it and protecting it, not to mention making sure it’s not wasted on stupid things.

So, yes. Hiding my money is not that easy.

A cold, dark place fills my view as I push the door open.

Thankfully, the AC is on, yet the place still smells like garbage and mold.

I go to the kitchen and check it. Stella took the trash out.

Okay.

I turn around and knock something off the counter, getting myself startled.

“Fuck you…” I murmur, picking up a box of crayons that has no business being here and placing it next to a thick candle.

My eyes stall on that box of crayons. I’ve never seen a box of crayons here before.

Besides, no one in the house uses crayons.

Tina is too old for them.

I slide the box back onto the counter, studying it suspiciously.

Maybe it’s Stella’s. She was still here when Tina and I left.

I grab the box and look inside. The crayons have been used.

No way…

Please don’t tell me.

I go around the house and check the rooms. I find nothing suspicious. There is nothing to confirm what just popped into my head.

I don’t want to believe Stella has a kid, and she’s hiding him or her from my father.

But is it such a crazy idea after all?

I lower myself to the edge of the bed in my bedroom, thinking.

She’s always been nice to us. To Tina and me. And she is nicer than the other women my father had brought home.

I still don’t know how anyone in their right mind would hook up with someone like him.

He is careless and reckless, to put it nicely. He’s not interested in them, us, or even himself.

Yes, he manages to bring home some money from time to time before spending it all on booze and them, and maybe he charms them in some way I can’t fathom.

But what brings them to his door to begin with?

What attracts them to him in the first place?

He is a horrible man.

And Stella?

Can’t she find someone better than him?

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