Page 18 of Joey

“We don’t know,” a woman says. “She went missing while traveling through the Gulf of Mexico and—”

“She was really lost at sea?” I ask. Because I thought that was just a cover-up for… I dunno. Rehab or something.

“The yacht was found capsized in the Straits of Florida almost a year ago now,” she explains. “There’s been no sign of her since. She is presumed dead, but it will be several more years before that can be legally finalized.”

“Legally finalized,” I say.

The woman nods.

“I want my daughter,” I say. Then I place both hands flat on the table, lean forward and say, “And I am not fucking around.”

Total. Silence.

I glare at them. Finally, after several awkward seconds the woman says, “Can you give us the room? Perhaps we can come to some kind of agreement?”

“Sure,” I say. I turn around and walk out, flanked on both sides by Huck and Wald.

“Holy shit,” Huck says, walking straight for the lobby door. Once we’re out in neutral territory he says, “They hate your fucking guts.”

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t already know.”

“What was that?” Wald asks.

“What was what?” I say, kinda snapping at him.

“That… threat. You’re gonna tell Johnny?”

“What else was I gonna say?”

“What’s Johnny gonna do?” Wald asks.

“I don’t know. OK?” I look at Wald, then force myself to take a deep breath. “I don’t know what he’ll do. But if I ask him for a favor he’ll help me.”

“Well, they must have an idea of what he’ll do,” Wald continues. “Because shit just got real back there.”

I didn’t tell anyone about what I saw at the Bossy Building that night Johnny had me, Jesse, Zach, and Emma go up into the spire to watch his little… money-making ceremony. Not even my best friends. Because I don’t understand it. Or maybe I do, and I just don’t want to accept it. I’m not really sure.

But it’s no secret that Johnny Boston is crazy.

Not the insane kind of crazy, though he could be that too. But the terrifying kind of crazy. The kind of crazy that involves baseball bats and night sticks. Which is a lot more terrifying than guns, though he uses those too. Beating someone with a bat is a whole other level of violence than guns. Hell, if Johnny Boston wasn’t my brother I’d never even look at the guy, let alone talk to him.

“Well… if they know what’s good for them,” I say, letting the anger simmer inside me, “they’re gonna come up with a way for me to meet Maisy. And they’re gonna be quick about it too.”

“I say hell yeah,” Huck offers. “Hell yeah, you threaten those assholes. Keeping your kid from you. And Charlotte’s gone missing? What the fuck is up with that?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “I don’t know her anymore. Probably never did. We were barely together a month before she got pregnant and after the baby was born, she cut me out, changed her number, and disappeared. She probably got sick of being a mother and just… took off. Or faked her death. She’s that kind of girl, so fuck Charlotte.”

“She could really be dead,” Wald says.

I don’t say anything. Because the only thing I want to say is, So fucking what? And that’s just… a very typical Boston brother response. A very instinctual response that I wish I wasn’t having in this moment. But I have no feelings for Charlotte anymore. She didn’t have to walk away like that. And yeah, I get it. I didn’t have to walk away either. But I made a grand gesture. I made an effort. She’s the one who blew me off.

So fuck her.

The lobby doors burst open and all the Kane lawyers start pouring through them.

I lock eyes with the woman who was speaking to me and say, “Where the hell are you going?”

She averts her eyes and says, “Your lawyers have the details,” as she walks past.