Page 73 of Joey

“Seems like he didn’t keep that much of a careful eye on you.” Dante tilts his head and stares at her rounded abdomen.

Kristin flinches and rubs a protective hand over her belly. “Well, that, um. That’s a different story.”

My brotherly instincts flare to life. She isn’t here to have her actions judged by a room full of strangers. While I know that wasn’t Dante’s intention—he’s an asshole, but he isn’t that kind of asshole—she doesn’t owe them an explanation. Especially not like this, not right now. We’ll need to talk about that prick soon enough, but she doesn’t need to be here when we discuss how we’re going to find and kill the father of her baby.

Reaching out with my spare hand, I gently squeeze her wrist. “Maybe we don’t focus on the jackass who knocked you up right now?”

Kristin nods gratefully and continues. “Dad was extra suspicious, but he said he was just being careful. We moved twice in the space of six months. When I finally had enough and demanded to know what the hell was going on, he was still sketchy, but that’s when he finally told me about Max. How our mom was married to Max’s dad when she fell in love with him. How they risked everything to run off together.”

Lorenzo snorts, and I throw him a warning look. That’s clearly the version of events Vito told his daughter, and it’s the story she believes. None of the choices our mother and her father made back then are on Kristin. She feels alone enough in the world right now without all of us telling her what a piece of work her father really is.

“Go on,” I say, urging her to continue.

“He said that if anything ever happened to him then I needed to find Max because I’d be safe with him. He drummed two messages into me. The only person I could ever trust was Max and that I should never trust a Moretti.” She pauses, letting the information sink in.

The tension in the room goes up several notches, and I’m relieved that she’s intuitive enough not to share the message my dear old uncle told her to give me. That would almost certainly send Lorenzo and Dante off the deep end.

“Then, one night about three weeks ago, he didn’t come home. I called and I waited, hoping I’d hear from him, but after two days I knew something bad must have happened. So I took the emergency fund and came to Chicago.”

“That’s when she showed up at your door?” Dante asks.

“Well, my apartment building, but yeah. I knew as soon as I saw her…” I trail off, recalling the first time I saw her. How frightened and pale she looked. How much she reminded me of our mom.

“And she’s been hiding out at your place in secret ever since?” Joey’s words drip with venom. I can’t blame her. She has every right to be pissed at me.

“We’ve been looking for Vito. I was going to tell you…” Sighing, I shake my head. I’ve never kept anything like this from them before. “And I didn’t want to bring any more drama to your door right now…”

“And she made you promise not to tell us, right?” Joey snaps and turns her rage on my sister. “Never trust a Moretti, that’s what your father taught you?”

Kristin looks down at the floor, her cheeks flushing pink.

“Joey, don’t.” I squeeze her hand tighter. “She’s just a kid. She was scared. She only knows what her father told her. That’s not on her.”

My girl scowls at me, but she doesn’t pull her hand away.

“So when you came here, you told us you were Max’s girlfriend because you didn’t trust us enough to tell us you were really his sister?” There’s no malice or accusation in Lorenzo’s tone, but Kristin’s throat constricts as she swallows under the heat of his gaze.

“Y-yeah.”

I gesture for her to come closer and wrap my arm around her waist. “It’s okay. They just need to know what’s going on.”

Dante clears his throat and addresses Kristin. “You can stay here until Max is back to full strength and we find out what’s happened to your father.”

Her eyes widen with surprise. “I can’t stay here now that Max is back.”

“You can and you will,” Kat says in a steely tone as she finishes off the last of my stitches. “Your father may have had his reasons for not trusting this family, but you are Max’s sister, and he’s our brother. You have nothing to fear from anyone in this house.”

Kristin gives Kat a faint smile. Dante’s wife, with her confidence and kindness, is impossible not to trust.

Still, my sister looks at me for reassurance. “You’re safe here, I promise. And I’ll be right here with you. Okay?”

“Okay,” she says, nodding and blinking back tears.

“We’ll fix you up in the guest room that’s just down the hall from Joey’s room. And Max, where will you be staying?” Kat arches an eyebrow at me, and the mischievous glint in her eyes has me biting back a grin. I need all the help I can get and having her on my side is more than I could’ve hoped for.

Dante scoffs, glaring at his wife. “He’ll be in the guest room on the other side of the house.”

“Dante,” Joey huffs.