Joey: Chapter 17

“You sure you can’t remember anything else about when Monty used to visit? Your father never went anywhere before or after? Never mentioned a video recording or anything like that?”

“No, Max,” Kristin groans and rolls her eyes. “If I knew, I would tell you.”

I guess she’s right. I’ve been interrogating the kid, repeating the same questions over and over since I spoke to Monty a few days ago. “The longer your father’s missing, the more likely it is he’ll turn up dead somewhere.”

Her face falls and her eyes fill with tears. I feel like an asshole, but this is her reality. I’ve spent the past week and a half barely sleeping, trying to find out what happened to her father, but I continue to hit dead ends. Vito hid his tracks well.

“I’ll do everything I can to find him,” I assure her. “Sometimes we forget things though, and it can only take a word or a phrase or something insignificant to trigger a memory.”

“I know. I wish I could remember something.”

“And you’re sure it doesn’t have anything to do with the father of your baby?”

“Jakob? No way. I guess he might be looking for me since Dad made me leave before I got a chance to say goodbye, but he wouldn’t take my father. Why would he?” She shakes her head. “Jakob has nothing to do with this.”

“Maybe he blames your dad for taking you away from him?”

“Even if that were true, he loves me, Max. If he found us, he would have come for me, not my dad.”

I rest my head on the countertop and sigh. I’m grasping for fucking straws here. My phone vibrates, rattling against the kitchen counter. I see Ash’s name on the screen and answer. “Yeah?”

“I know you asked me to check in on Fred at the warehouse, but I can’t tonight. If it can wait, I’ll do it tomorrow.”

“Why not tonight?”

“Joey’s going out, so …”

“Right.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. It’s not like her to go out on a Wednesday night. “Where’s she going?”

“On a date.”

White-hot anger sears a hole through the middle of my chest. I take a breath and count to five. “On a what now?”

Ash laughs. “Yeah, I know. Guy must have balls of iron, right? Wouldn’t think that to look at him though.”

My knuckles turn white as I grip the phone so tightly, I almost bend it in fucking half. “Who is she going on a date with?”

“Toby Fiore.”

Toby. Of fucking course it’s him. “And Dante and Lorenzo are okay with this?”

“Yup.” He laughs again.

Kristin stares at me with concern, and I realize I’m scowling. Going on a fucking date. I’ll kill him. Rip his fucking arms off his body and beat him to death with them. And I will spank her bratty ass so hard—

“Maximo?” Ash interrupts my murderous thoughts. “Tomorrow for the warehouse, yeah?”

My jaw ticks. “Yeah.”

“Good.”

“If anything happens tonight. Anything weird at all. If she even looks the slightest bit uncomfortable or upset or—” I take deep breaths to calm my racing heart. When I get my hands on Joey Moretti, I will remind her exactly who she belongs to. “You call me. Okay?”

“Okay, boss, but …”

“But what?”

“Well, they’re only going to see a movie and then … well, Dante said that if she’s in the Fiore mansion, she’s okay to be left alone, so me and Henry won’t be in there with her.”

My right hand balls into a fist. “He said what?”

“He spoke to Michael Fiore first. Made him aware that Joey would be under his care, you know? That Toby kid would have to have a death wish to try anything stupid.”

I growl. Michael Fiore is a traditional family man, and he’s a loyal employee—who happens to have a healthy fear of his employers. Toby would be a fucking fool to try anything more than a kiss—but don’t all horny twenty-two-year-old fuckwits think with their dicks? Says me, the guy who’s foaming at the mouth just thinking about Joey—a girl I can’t fucking have—going on a date. But what did I expect when I told her there was no future for us? Joey’s not the kind of woman who sits around and waits for life to happen.

“I’ll call you later, Boss.”

“You better,” I snap and end the call. Now all I need is an excuse to go to Michael Fiore’s house later tonight.