Page 53 of Joey

“I’m not—”

He narrows his eyes in warning, and I stop talking.

“There’ll be people who will try to take that power from you using any means necessary. Do you understand me?”

“I know our life is dangerous. I know all that already. But I can look after myself. I’m not a child.”

“Then stop fucking acting like one,” he says, his tone dripping with anger.

“I hate all of you. I’m going to run away the first chance I get, and I will never fucking speak to any of you again.”

His jaw ticks and he glowers at me. “You will not fucking run, Joey.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Watch me.”

“I will be watching, Joey,” he says, his tone menacing. “Know that there is nowhere far enough you can run that I won’t find you.”

I swallow hard as his dark eyes burn into mine. That sounds like a threat but feels like something more. “Why would you even care to look?” I sniff as another tear rolls down my cheek.

He shakes his head in exasperation.

“Max?”

His eyes narrow as they search my face. “You know why.”

I don’t. And this all hurts too much for me to figure it out.

“If anyone ever comes for you, Joey, you give them whatever’s necessary to keep yourself safe. You have one job and that’s to keep yourself alive, you got that?”

I blink at him in confusion. Why is he talking about all this stuff?

He brushes his knuckles over my cheek. “Know that I will always be looking for you, Joey. And I will always find you.”

ChapterTwenty-Three

JOEY

My chest aches. It feels like my heart is actually breaking. I stare at the backs of my brothers’ heads as Lorenzo drives us home. How did my life shift from a dream come true to my worst nightmare in the space of half an hour?

Never in my life have I seen Dante and Lorenzo so angry with Max. I have no recollection of them even having an argument. And now, because of me, they hate him.You’re dead to me.That’s what Dante said.

But nothing hurts more than Max telling me to leave. After everything he said last night, everything we did, he didn’t fight for us.

A sob sticks in my throat. I can fix this. I’ll make my brothers see that they’re being massive overbearing assholes. That they’re overreacting. Then I’ll talk to Max and we can figure out what to do next.

“Did you choose him just to fucking spite us?” Dante asks, his voice little more than a snarl. It’s the first thing he’s said to me since he got into the car ten minutes ago.

“What?”

“You heard what I said, Joey. Did you fuck around with Max just to cause trouble?”

I swear he couldn’t have shocked me more if he’d turned around and slapped me in the face. The rage in my chest spreads to my arms and legs, making them tingle. “Are you serious right now?”

Dante turns in his seat and glares at me. “One hundred fucking percent serious. It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve pulled some fucked-up shit just to piss me off.”

I scowl at him. He’s referring to the time I helped Kat with her escape attempt after Dante kidnapped her. That was before I knew how much she meant to him and how much she loved him. Before I knew she was pregnant with my niece. Before she became one of my favorite people in the world. But I can’t fucking believe he thinks I would use Max that way. His low opinion of me hurts more than it should. “Not everything in this world revolves around you, Dante.” The wrath inside me spills into my voice. It’s not enough for the two of them to treat me like a child, he has to accuse me of being a complete bitch too?

“So, why him, Joey? Why not any other guy?”