mafioso // dreamnotfound [DISCONTINUED]

iii

"he's safe. i'll make sure he knows it." sapnap nodded in response and left the room as a tense silence descended. soon, he returned with karl. "hey, buddy." karl seemed confused as he looked around the room, then seemed to become scared when he saw that alex and charlie were in the room. "papa, no! those men are bad."

karl started to tear up as clay opened his arms for a hug. he consoled the boy. "you're safe, okay? we just need you yo tell us what happened that night." karl looked to me.

"gogy, is it really okay?" i nodded my head at the boy encouragingly. "it'll be okay, buddy. your papa and i are both here. sapnap's here. nobody's going to let anything happen to you."

"really?" he gave me a worried smile. "of course, you're not in trouble at all." karl sniffled a bit, trying to collect himself. "we gotta be brave like a superhero. like iron man." he giggled. "i like captain america better."

"we can act like whichever one you prefer, but we need your help right now, can you do that?"

"o-okay.." clay beamed at me, showing his dimples. clearly appreciating the way i had helped the boy. even schlatt appeared to soften. "thank you? george. karl, tell us what happened, okay? take your time."

karl sniffled a bit as he began to explain, "our driver was taking me back from computer club, and i wanted ice cream. :he pulled over... she went into get my ice cream, but left the door open. i decided to get out and look around, but i got lost somehow." i smiled at him, encouraging him to keep going.

"i got back into the ice cream place, but the car was gone. these guys chased me, said they'd best me up if i didn't give them my shoes.." for a moment, nobody said a word. "thank you, bud. sapnap, take him to the kitchen and ask niki to bake him some cookies. okay?" he kissed karl on the top of his head and sent him toward the door. schlatt turned red and glared at alex.

"it seems like alex was, in fact, lying. how shall we proceed?" he gave a disappointed look to alex. "as you know schlatt, this behaviour cannot stand. i'm entitled to retribution, and the penalty is typically a hand. i appreciate that he's your son, schlatt. still, he acted dishonourably, and one of the aggrieved parties was my eight year old nephew."

"i didn't know that at the time!" alex snapped back. "so you're saying it was only wrong because of who he is?" i asked him.

"i-i-" he stuttered.

"exactly. threatening a child is wrong no matter who the child is. you just happened to do it to my child." schlatt gave alex an open handed smack along the side of his head. "glupyy mudak."

"george here still owes me something. we're we going to talk about that?"

"what is owed?" schlatt looked shocked. i looked to clay, who nodded his approval for me to answer the question. "it's a private matter between us."

"it matters to the resolution here, george. tell us what you owe alex." i sighed and hung my head.

"if alex promised that he and charlie would let karl go, i promised i would- go on a date with him." alex's face flushed red with anger; and no one spoke for a moment. then schlatt began to shake with laughter. "very funny, but my son is no fairy."

"are you saying george isn't being honest?" clay glared at schlatt. "of course." clay's eyes darkened. "you insult me, schlatt, to imply one of my men is lying."

"because he is. my son isn't some woman."

"and george isn't a liar." both men looked at me expectantly, clearly waiting for me to speak up. "clay's right. i'm not lying."

"what was that, boy?" i swallow, but clay gave me an encouraging nod. it gave me enough courage to continue. "alex and i came up with an arrangement. he's been into me for years now, but i didn't want anything to do with him. but when i saw karl was in danger, i-8 agreed to give him what he wanted." clay smiled at me, "thank you, george."