Heat: A Mafia Doll Retelling

Chapter 21: Chocolate Cake

Fifty-five missed calls.

That's how many times Carissa had called Brooklynn in the past three days.

Each time she had been promptly ignored and after a while Brooklynn even turned off her phone.

There was really nothing she could say to Carissa that wouldn't involve Stefan, so for her sake, she was choosing to stay away.

Two months had passed since her little incident with the bottle of whiskey. Her feet had completely healed and she was able to walk without pain. Around a week ago, Rita had barged into her room while Franco was gone on a job with her father and demanded that she start attending dinner again.

Brooklynn didn't want to.

She didn't want to be seen by anyone.

She barely allowed Franco to stay with her.

The only reason she gave into Rita's demand was that Rita was too smart for her own good and had brought Junior in with her. His adorable face as he told her that he missed her was the only reason she agreed.

And so she sat quietly at the dinner table, pushing around the food on her plate occasionally taking a small bite of the steamed broccoli on her plate. She was making a complete mess of the spaghetti Rita had served her.

"Brooklynn?" Rita said.

Brooklynn, who was letting her face rest against her fist looked up at her.

Franco put down his fork and turned to look at her too.

"Yes?" She asked quietly.

Damiano frowned sadly as he looked at his daughter. Her normal golden bronzed skin was becoming pale from the lack of sun and her normally impeccable hair was thrown up carelessly into a messy bun.

She just looked so... sad.

"Brooke! Daddy said you shouldn't play with your food!" Junior told her while shaking his finger at her.

Brooklynn half smiled at him, "You're right. I'm sorry, Junior."

Junior looked at Damiano, "Daddy she deserves time out! Brooke go to the time out corner!"

Franco knew exactly what Brooklynn was doing.

His eyes narrowed as he looked down at her plate, she was trying to get out of eating dinner. She had started eating again but not much. Franco had scrutinized every single bite she took because he was sure she was losing weight.

"Junior, why don't we forgive her this one time. Just give her a warning," Franco said.

Junior tapped his chin before finally agreeing, "Fine! But don't do it again."

Brooklynn smiled at him and nodded but immediately after pinned Franco with a glare. He had caught on to her little game almost immediately. She didn't appreciate him ruining her attempt at escaping the awkward atmosphere she was causing at the dinner table.

"Brooklynn?" Rita called once more now that Junior was satisfied.

Brooklynn turned to look at her once more, "Yes?"

Rita smiled, "Do you want something else?"

Brooklynn looked down at her plate and played around with the spaghetti one more time. She was deliberating whether or not she should take Rita up on her offer.

"Chocolate cake."

Franco and Damiano looked at her incredulously along with Rita.

Junior suddenly bounced in his seat and demanded to have a slice of cake too.