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William smiled. She smiled, too, and shook her head with puzzlement. “Rich people,” she said, and he laughed out loud.

It had been a while since they were able to laugh. Especially with Gramps still incarcerated. Their driver, Ed Rivers, was recovering nicely at the hospital, and Max remained fully recovered. But so many of Max’s men lost their lives that day. And the sting of how close a call it was for her and William still stung. But they were pushing through.

Joy got a chance to talk to Gramps when his attorney, who was also William’s attorney, phoned her and put Gramps on the line. His lawyer instructed him to not say anything about the case. But Gramps, being Gramps, didn’t say anything at all.

But Joy said what she had to say: “I don’t know why you decided to take the blame for what your brother and your nephew did, but I know you didn’t have anything to do with it. I don’t think it, I know it. And William is doing everything in his power to make sure the authorities know it too. We’ll get you out of there, Gramps. Please believe me. And yes I know you didn’t ask me to do nothing for you but I’m doing it anyway. I love you. Bye.” And that was the full text of their phone call.

And although it made Joy feel better to just be able to let him know she was still on his side, the elephant in the room was still the elephant in the room. “William?”

“Yes?”

“Why is it taking Max so long to bring in Arthur Davenport?”

“He’s rich.”

“So are you,” Joy reminded him.

“But he has layers of security that we can’t access as easily as we can a regular joe. It takes time to get close enough to him to make a difference. But don’t worry,” he said as his arm squeezed her waist, “we’ll get him.”

He seemed certain, so Joy relied on his confidence. But after their drink orders and then their food orders arrived and they were eating and drinking, she suddenly stopped eating and looked puzzled.

William, who had just put a nice chunk of steak in his mouth, noticed it immediately. “What is it?” he asked her.

“Isn’t that your mother?”

William looked where she was looking, across the huge room, and saw his mother seated with his ex-lover Cassidy.

At first, he didn’t say anything, but just continued to chew his food. That caused Joy to look at him. She’d only seen his mother twice in her life since meeting William. This would be her third time. “That’s her, right?” she asked him.

William nodded. “It’s her. But that’s strange.”

“What’s strange? That she would be in Chicago without telling you she was in town?”

“No. She never tells me when she’s in town.”

“Then what’s strange?”

“That she would be with Cassidy. From what I’ve been told, she was furious with Cassidy after their little scheme to get your mother to lie on you didn’t work. But yet they’re back together again?”

“They’re probably plotting and scheming for another attempted takedown,” said Joy. Then a thought occurred to her. “William?”

He looked at her.

“What if she was behind what happened to us? Is it possible?”

William exhaled. He’d already thought about that. “Anything’s possible with my mother.”

Joy nodded. “Just like it is with my mama.”

William smiled. “We finally have something in common.”

“What?”

“Two rotten mamas.” He tossed his large, cloth napkin on the table. “Let’s go say hello,” he said as he stood up and reached his hand to help her slide across their booth seat. She stood up too.

Both were dressed professionally, which was the dress code at the club, but Joy purposely took it to another level. Although William wore his usual business suit, she wore a bright-blue Valentino cardigan-style dress that hugged her curves perfectly, a blue derby hat with a white band to match her dress, and red-bottom heels. She looked downright adorable to William and to seemingly every other man in that club who couldn’t seem to take their eyes off of her. But Joy wasn’t dressing for their pleasure. She was dressing for her own.

She also didn’t want them to make a scene in this luxurious country club by going to speak to William’s unpredictable mother, but she also needed answers. Her life still felt as if it was on hold until they got some answers. She gladly followed him across the room to see if they could get some from her.