Page 148 of Joey

“No,” I say, holding up a hand. “You’re right. Maisy is staying right where she is.”

“What?”

I nod. This was hard for Joey. But in the end he had to admit that nothing good could come from ripping Maisy away from that totally secure, as-safe-as-it-gets, family compound.

Not until this is all over, anyway.

“She’s staying with you. For now,” I add. Just so it’s clear that this is temporary. “But if you agree to our plan, and you help us, and we win—which is a big if—then… then Joey gets his chance with Maisy. He won’t rip her away from you. He just wants his chance.”

“What plan?”

“Read the offer,” I say. “It’s OK. I’ll wait.”

He opens the envelope, takes out the letter and begins to read.

It only takes him a second to look back up at me.

“Keep reading,” I say.

He does, and when he’s done, he puts the letter back inside the envelope and hands it back to me. I get up and take it. Then sit back down.

“Well?” I ask.

He turns his head away from me. Looks out the window.

“You’re the one who wanted out,” I remind him. “You’re the one who set us up last weekend. You started this, Michael. You. And if you want to be a coward and pretend none of this is happening, well… too bad. It is happening. With or without you, it’s happening. Because regardless of what you think, the Boston brothers aren’t running this show. They want out too. This is your one and only chance to finally make it stop. If you truly love Joey’s little girl, then you’ll think of her first. Because Charlotte isn’t dead and she isn’t missing either.”

“What?” he says, turning to look at me.

“You heard me. Johnny knows where she is. Johnny knows what she’s doing. And he’s on his way right now to bring her back.”

He looks off to the side. Thinking. Maybe wondering… Do I want her back?

Probably not.

But his feelings for her aren’t the last card I’m holding.

“They’ll take Maisy too, you know.”

This is.

“Maisy won’t escape. Her day will come, just like ours did, and there won’t be a goddamned thing you can do to stop it if you chicken out now.”

He swallows hard and says, “We can’t stop them. It’s not going to work.”

He’s scared. And he has a right to be scared. So I look him straight in the eyes and say, “Do you even know who we are?”

He smiles. Granted, it’s a very small smile. But it’s there. And he’s probably tallying up all the whos and whats about the people involved in this money-laundering scam of global proportions. And he must figure… yeah. We might not be in charge, but we’re a whole lot of big-time somebodies when you put us all together in the same room. Because then he says, “What do I have to do?”

“Nothing,” I say. “Yet. We can’t do anything until Johnny gets back. But Joey’s in charge now so he won’t bother you about Maisy again. Not until this is over. But he has one ask, Michael. Just one.”

“What is it?”

“Tell her… tell her… she is loved.”

EPILOGUE - JOEY

Bright Berry Beach takes the entire month of August off. Everyone at the corporate office, from top to bottom, gets four weeks of paid vacation every August.