I excuse myself from the table and enter my office, which adjoins the room.
“Hi, Ma.”
“Joey, I just got off the phone with Sophie.”
“You did?”
“Yes. You have to stop calling her and showing up where she works. She doesn’t want to see you anymore.”
My body goes hot, and I can’t splutter a reply.
She goes on, “I talked to her at Angela’s shower. I knew she’d never be happy withla famiglia. I told her she’d just make your life miserable, just like her mother did to her father. I told her I don’t want that for my son.”
“Fuck!” I throw the phone across the room, and it shatters when it collides with the wall. I toss my desk chair onto its side, just as Al opens the door.
My brother shows no surprise, just looks coolly at the wreckage, his eyes settling on the phone. “Who was that?”
“Our mother,” I say through clenched teeth.
Al’s eyebrow shoot up. “Oh yeah? What happened?”
“She pushed Sophie into breaking up with me.”
“No shit?” Al sounds surprised. “Yeah, she never liked Nancy. I guess she didn’t fit well with the Family, you know? Always made a fuss.”
I look at my brother, suddenly certain if I don’t speak my mind I will break in half. “I want out,” I spit. “I don’t wanna be your underboss, or yourconsigliere. I don’t even want to run this club anymore. I just want to be your CPA—the guy who makes it all come out clean. Can I just be that guy?”
Shocked disgust registers on Al’s face, but before he can speak, a deafening boom comes from the lounge, and the wall flies out and hits us.
Sophie
I send my Aunt Marie’s call to voicemail. I can’t face talking to her. I don’t even know what I’d say about Joey. About why I broke things off. About me leaving town.
Actually…Marie could present a big problem. Hiding a child from my own aunt is harder than just moving out of town.
She calls again as soon as I decline the call. Then a third time.
Fine. I’ll pick up.
“Sophie, did you hear?”
I tense, my heart picking up speed at the sound of emergency I can hear in my Aunt Marie’s voice. “What?” I brace myself.
“A bomb went off at Swank. You know, it’s poker night. A lot of our guys were there. No one knows who’s alive or dead.”
“Tony?”
“No, he wasn’t there, thank God. But Al and Joey both were.”
No. Please God, no.
I run for my shoes and purse, even as my vision momentarily goes black, and I see stars. Waiting for them to clear, I bark, “Is anyone alive? Were they taken to a hospital?”
“The ones who lived were taken to St. Michael’s.”
“Oh God,” I feel light-headed and sick. “Is Joey...?” I croak, afraid to even ask.
“I don’t know, honey.”