Page 72 of Joey

“No. No more drugs.” I shake my head. “I want my thinking clear.”

“Whatever you say. But this is going to hurt like hell.”

Kat urges me to lie down, then quickly stitches me back up.

Only when my head stops spinning do I look up, scanning the room until my eyes lock on Joey’s. I hold out my hand for her, and it feels like a goddamn eternity passes before she gently entwines her fingers in mine. “You are the only fucking girl for me, Joey Moretti.” I say loudly so that there will be no doubt of that fact in anyone’s mind.

“Max?” My attention goes to where Kristin still sits in the corner, a horror-stricken expression on her face, her eyes shimmering with tears. “I’m s-sorry. I d-didn’t know.”

I give her a weak smile. “I know. It’s okay. But you can trust everyone in this room. I promise you that. Tell them who you really are.”

Kristin sucks in a deep breath as every pair of eyes in the room, except for Kat’s, trains on her. “I’m Max’s little sister.” She looks at my girl. “I’m so sorry, Joey. I can’t imagine what you must have thought of me. I didn’t know you and he— If I had…”

“But why did you tell us you were his girlfriend?” Joey asks, her beautiful face pulled into a frown. “Why not just tell us the truth?”

Kristin opens and closes her mouth like a fish out of water, but no words come out.

“Because of who your father is?” Dante offers for her.

Closing her eyes, my sister nods.

“I don’t understand.” Joey looks between Dante, Kristin, and me. “Who is her father? Why didn’t you tell me you had a sister? Why didn’t any of us know about her, Max?”

I squeeze Joey’s hand. So many questions, and I don’t have all the answers yet. “I didn’t know myself until about two weeks ago when Kristin showed up on my doorstep.”

“So you’ve known for two weeks. Why couldn’t you tell me? Is that why we didn’t go back to your apartment that night?”

I open my mouth to answer, but Kristin beats me to it. “I asked Max not to tell anyone I was here,” she says, standing and walking toward the bed. “My father told me that I couldn’t trust a Moretti, so I made Max promise to keep me a secret.”

Joey shakes her head. “But why are you here? Why now? Why couldn’t you trust us, but you trusted Max? You know he’s one of us, right?”

“Because he’s my big brother,” Kristin whispers. “My father told me if I was ever in trouble, Max was the only person I could rely on.”

“You knew about Max then?” Lorenzo’s eyes narrow with interest and suspicion.

She shakes her head vigorously. “No. Not until two months ago. I had no idea.”

Dante pinches the bridge of his nose. “But your father is Vito DiMarco, right?”

Joey’s frown deepens. “VitoDiMarco?”

“My uncle,” I explain.

“Your uncle is also your sister’s father?” Her eyebrows shoot up to her hairline.

“Yep.”

Lorenzo claps his hands and gets everyone’s attention. “Can someone start at the beginning and explain what the fuck is going on here?”

“Kristin? You know the whole story and Nurse Ratched here isn’t exactly being gentle, ya know?” Wincing, I glare down at Kat who just stabbed the needle into my flesh with more force than before.

“I will kick your ass, DiMarco,” she says good-naturedly, keeping her head down and remaining focused on the task at hand.

“A-are you sure?” Kristin asks me.

I give her a reassuring nod. “These people are my family. There’s nothing you can’t tell them, I swear.”

“Okay.” She chews on her lip for a second before she goes on. “A few months ago, my dad started acting strangely. Like he was always pretty paranoid, but he upped the ante, you know? Wouldn’t let me leave the house. Always checking in on me.”