Page 35 of Joey

“Nah, I’ll shower after. I’m going out with some friends this afternoon.”

“Toby?” Dante asks.

Her cheeks flush pink. “He’ll be there, yes. But I’m not going outwithhim.”

Dante chuckles softly while my muscles tense at the thought of that douchebag being anywhere near her.

We continue walking down the hallway and Joey falls into step beside us. Once we’re inside Dante’s office, he takes a seat behind his desk, and Joey and I sit opposite. I try to avoid looking at her, but when I glance sideways, she gives me a wicked smile.

“Tell me how it went with Ralf last night,” Joey says as she leans forward in her seat. “Was he open to the buyout, or did he take some convincing?”

Feeling like I just stepped into an alternate universe, I frown at Dante. I know I should keep my mouth shut, because this is their family business and she’s as much a Moretti as he is, but I can’t. “You told Joey about Ralf?”

“Yeah,” he replies. “She wants to be more involved in the family business—”

“And you thought the casino deal was a good place to start?”

Dante frowns at me, unaccustomed to me questioning his methods, but those methods have never involved putting Joey in harm’s way before. And he’s never blindsided me like this. Usually, I know everything that’s going on. I guess I’ve been more distracted than I thought.

“Fuck’s sake,” Joey mutters under her breath, but I ignore her. I’ll deal with her later.

“It’s not like I’m asking her to blow someone’s head off, Max, but…”

“But what?” I snap.

“She’s a fucking Moretti. This is her legacy too. If she wants to be a part of the business…”

I can’t believe the change in him. The same man who sent her off to school in Italy at the age of eighteen, even though she cried and pleaded with him not to, is telling me that she can be part of the family business. “You really think that’s a wise move? Putting her at risk like that?”

His hands ball into fists. “Are you seriously questioning my decision-making when it comes to my family?”

“Yourfamily?” I say with a snarl at the suggestion that somehow I’m no longer a part of it.

He bangs his fist on the desk. “Yes!Myfucking family.”

“Jeez, guys, calm down,” Joey yells, but I keep my glare focused on her older brother.

“This city. All of this”—he waves his hands in the air—“is as much hers as it is mine and Lorenzo’s.”

“I’m not suggesting otherwise,” I bark. “But it’s too fucking dangerous.”

“You’re the one who’s spent the last two months telling me how tough she is,” he snaps back.

“He has?” Joey says. I glance over. Her cheeks are bright pink, but I can’t think about the reason why right now.

“That’s different,” I say, returning my attention to Dante. “Why now, D? When all of those years you were determined to protect her, why are you letting her be a part of this now?”

“Because the man I needed to protect her from is fucking dead, Max,” he shouts. “I fucking killed him, remember?”

He’s talking about their father. We all protected Joey from the worst of him. But when Dante found out their father was operating a sex trafficking ring with the head of the Bratva and had known about an assault on Kat years before, he went to his house and put a bullet in his head. But Salvatore wasn’t the only threat. There are too many people who’d see Joey Moretti as an easy target. Too many people who might use her to get to her brothers.

“Are you telling me you don’t think she has what it takes?” he asks, and I swallow harshly.

Both their eyes are locked on me as they wait for my answer. How do I answer that? Of course she has what it takes. She’s a fucking Moretti through and through. Smart and tough. I have no doubt she could be as ruthless as her brothers if necessary, but there’s more to it than that.

“Max?” he says.

“She’s…”