Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Sophie
I start crying the second I get in my car.
I don’t know what to do about Joey. I should have realized he wouldn’t let us go without a fight.
I respect that. He’s a man who knows what he wants and refuses to take no for an answer. Those are great qualities in a leader.
But right now, I really need him to back off. If he doesn’t, I may have to leave town even sooner than I planned.
As I drive home, I consider my options. You can’t tell a man like Joey what to do. I thought telling him I miscarried would make him back off, but apparently, he’s still all in with me.
That thought brings on full-on sobs.
God, I didn’t know it would hurt this much to lose him.
I didn’t think I was that attached to him. To a future with him. When did that even happen?
It doesn’t matter. I need to stay strong. I remember his mother’s words and steel my resolve. It wasn’t going to work and ripping off the bandage now is better than a fractured marriage years down the road.
His mother.
She might be the one person who could influence him to let me go.
When I get back to my place, I text my Aunt Marie and ask for Donna Teresa’s phone number.
There must be a god because Aunt Marie texts it to me without calling for an explanation.
I pick up the phone and call Donna Teresa, drawing a deep breath as I wait for her to answer.
“Donna Teresa? This is Sophie Palazzo.”
“Yes?”
“I wanted you to know that I considered your advice, and I’ve broken off the engagement with Joey.”
“You have.” She’s not giving me much back in this conversation, but that’s fine by me. I’m trying to get through it without breaking down.
“Yes. But I wondered if you could help me.”
“How, Sophie?”
“Joey won’t stop calling me and stopping by my work. I wondered if you could talk to him?” My voice starts to break on the last work, and I hit mute as I drag in a sobbing breath.
There’s a pause. “I see. Yes, all right. I will speak with him. Of course. Let me know if it continues.”
“I will,” I manage to choke out. “Thank you. Good night.” I end the call and hold the phone against my chest, weeping openly.
There. Now it’s over.
Now I really won’t hear from Joey again.
I wish that made me feel even one ounce better, but it doesn’t. It only makes me feel five million times worse.
Chapter Seventeen
Joey
“I’ll see your C note and raise you by another.” I toss two hundred dollar bills onto the table. My phone buzzes, and I glance at the screen. My mom. Great.
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 with la 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 your consigliere. 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.